Blackouts sounding thin and lacking gain

Jr_vw2

Jr_vw2

New member
So I have had several set of blackouts over the years. I have had an ahb-1 set in a les paul copy for about 5 years now and it had always sounded killer. I recently decided to put that setup in my charvel model 5. In the charvel it sounds terrible, lacks gain not crunchy at all. My other guitars with passive pickups sound way hotter that these do. I thought...ok. maybe it's a bad pot or a bad solder joint or something like that. So I have tried to eliminate things one at a time and at one point I had the bridge pickup wired directly to the jack and it still sounded the same. Bramd new battery and I have resoldered the jack to make sure it's right. I'm really at a loss right now. Why would it sound so much worse in a far superior guitar? Any ideas would be great. Thanks.
 
Re: Blackouts sounding thin and lacking gain

Test the battery, you might have a bad batch.... lick the top (as long as it aint leaking acid lol) if you don't have a tester handy, good one should give your tongue a solid jolt

Also could be a broken power hot wire or clip, or miswired stereo jack. Some actives still make "barely there" sounds without power iirc.

You COULD temporarily wire the battery always-on bypassing the jack to check
 
Re: Blackouts sounding thin and lacking gain

Do these blackouts have the "quick connect" type setup on the bottom of each pickup? If yes, did you check that the quick connect piece has been attached correctly (i.e. the side with the engraved arrow is facing you and positioned on the left), like in pic below? I've been guilty of this small error myself a couple of times ...

20190127_114953.jpg
 
Re: Blackouts sounding thin and lacking gain

Yes I have tried more than 2 batteries. And I did pull the pickup out to check the harness.
 
Re: Blackouts sounding thin and lacking gain

Jr_vw2 said:
Yes I have tried more than 2 batteries. And I did pull the pickup out to check the harness.
Click to expand...

Maybe one of the wires in the quick connect has become broken somewhere along the wire run. Try a different quick connect.
 
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