C5 With More Mids. How? Custom Shop?, Other?

[KLINKDETROIT]

Re: C5 With More Mids. How? Custom Shop?, Other?

I don't know Rob, I heard you guys play at the 89X party and your tone was far from lacking and I definately didn't hear anything that came close to sounding thin but you may have played the Schecter more that evening.

If you like the EMG 85/500t thing I do have a Duncan Distortion set laying around that you could try out. The DD in the bridge will definately get you more juice and mids.

I was noticing a simular thing with my C-5 using the Recto channel on my Mesa rig. It sounded killer through the other channels and through my Marshall but the Recto voicing is a bit different and I did find it too thin for some things. Just out of curiosity I swapped magnets and started trying the CC. Then yesterday in my knob spinning haze to find a fatter tone for one of the bands I'm working with I dailed the drive to zero and dimed the gain on the recto channel. I lost a lot of the edge in my tone and the lower mids and mids shot through the roof. It still cuts and sounds very agressive but it's more of a cranked and pedalled master volume amp tone than a cascaded and driven tone. Running the amp that way seems to allow the highs and mids when pushed up to add gain to the signal instead of the drive.

While i know the Triaxis/2:90 is a bit different from your modded Recto head, it's worth a try. Right now I have the gain at 10, treble at 6, mids at 7, bass at 4.5 and the lead drive at zero. I also have the presence at 3 oclock on the 2:90 which takes some of the top end and urgency off of the tone. With these settings the C-5 may actually be a better choice for me over the CC as my tone is now very thick with a good dose of bite on the top end for lead work.

I'm going to run an Antiquity set and a JP set through the amp today and see how it holds up to a brighter set of pickups before i switch the magnets back again.

Actually the distortion was the first pup I tried and it was a litttle too hot. But much thanks though. If ya ever want to check out any of my setup you are welcome to. I am probably headed to the loft at some point today actually. I am going to swap the C5 for a PATB1 in the goldtop and try some foam and thicker guage speaker wire in my cab.
I think the fact that my mids were cranked live works but all my friends like their mids scooped and with the C5 + scooped mids on Marshalls it was very dark and thin. Hey isnt that what Michael Jacksons accuser said? LOL

 

[KLINKDETROIT]

Re: C5 With More Mids. How? Custom Shop?, Other?

Well I just replaced the

 

[KLINKDETROIT]

Re: C5 With More Mids. How? Custom Shop?, Other?

I replaced the C5 with a PATB1 in my 1994 Goldtop. I love the mids and lows but the high mid spike thing like the JB is there. I can dial most of it out but it accentuates the Mesa Rectifiers bansaw frequency/ ARRRRRGH. I just want a pickup that works with my rig so I can be done with the craziness of posting on this site everyday. I love this site but come on my bandmates think I am nuts for going to the extremes for "THE TONE". I think I can deal with the PATB1 for a while and I love it in my Ibanez. For some reason it doesnt have that High mid spike in the Ibanez as much.

Does anyone know what the PATB1 is close to in tone but without this high mid (JB) spike?

 

[Stevo]

Re: C5 With More Mids. How? Custom Shop?, Other?

I just want a pickup that works with my rig so I can be done with the craziness of posting on this site everyday.

:saeek: oh no.. it does not work that way.. you are hooked.. :laugh2:

With my c5, I put the adjustable poles on the bridge, side, and raised them all about a quarter inch. The poles were just close enough to the stings where they would not touch. That gave the pickup some more "mid" tone and a little more personality.

 

[BachToRock]

Re: C5 With More Mids. How? Custom Shop?, Other?

You may want to consider some other options... adding more turns to a Custom coil will give more mids, but it will also sacrifice clarity and it may get mushy in the low end.
To answer Lew's question... the JB is not a hotter Custom 5... the Custom coil is 43 guage wire and the JB uses 44 guage.
Try to think of it like this:
Each wire guage has it's optimum wind zone for tone & response...
A PAF style uses 42 guage and seems best around 8k-10k for a BRIDGE pickup
43 guage are typically around 12-15k CUSTOM = 14k
44 guage are typically 15.5-19k JB/DISTORTION = 16.5k
Sometimes LESS is MORE, so instead of going hotter, you may want to go slightly cleaner with an Alnico II magnet possibly to fill in the mids.
The Blues Trembucker is a really even sounding pickup... it would probably be really nice with an A2 magnet as well!
The Custom/59 Hybrid that I use is the most even sounding humbucker I have heard combining the benefits of a PAF 42 guage coil and a CUSTOM 43 guage coil.
You might also try experimenting with POT values... a 250k pot might work better for you than a 500k

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: C5 With More Mids. How? Custom Shop?, Other?

Another thing I'm thinking of doing is swapping out the C-5 and using a potted Seth Lover Bridge, just to lose a little bit of the vintage ping, and make it more bold under gain. I'm not primarily a highgain player, but I definitely need potted pickups when I'm standing in front of a cranked Bogner with nickel covers on my Pauls. I've tried most of the Duncans and prefer C-5's and CC's, but I may explore ALL the rest and see what I hear, rather than resorting to the Custom Shop right away. At this point I'm just splitting hairs for the sake of it. All my guitars sound great the way they are.

 

[MattPete]

Re: C5 With More Mids. How? Custom Shop?, Other?

Does anyone know what the PATB1 is close to in tone but without this high mid (JB) spike?

Weird. I just listened to the Duncan sound clips of the PATB1 and the JB, and I didn't hear that high mid spike in the PATB1. But they're different rigs, so that might be the deal.

If you want more mids, maybe you should give the Custom a shot.

 

[KLINKDETROIT]

Re: C5 With More Mids. How? Custom Shop?, Other?

I just bought another patb1 and think I am set for a while as far as pickup buying. although I may trade my CC for a patb1 neck. I Find the mids to be perfect on the PATB1 as well as the lows and its real mean sounding but not too much like the distortion pickup. I really like the A5 magnet pickups the most. The high mid thing is not as bad as the JB so I can deal with it. Happy for now with either the PATB1 or the C5. I have a blues trembucker as well and may switch between the 3 pickups to see what guitars they work in best. I love the patb1 so far.