Checking if a livewire pickup is faulty or bad

Y

Yash

New member
Hi guys. I have two guitars that came stock with the Dave Mustaine Livewires - 2014 Dean VMNT Fear (made in Korea, SN starting with WK1407xxx) and 2006 ESP Ltd Axxion (SN starting with W0604xxx) I assume they were both made in the same factory, World Musical Instruments, I am guessing, the Axxion for sure was made there, the WK on the Dean kinda threw me off). However, there seems to be some problems.

And they sound quite different. I do agree that the fingerboard wood is different, ebony on the Dean, rosewood on the Ltd, other than that, woods and bridges are the same thing. The Dean has this too much of a mid spike, loses a lot of definition when I play around with the tone knob. And, just lacks the crunch, I don't know a better way to put it. And the neck pickup lacks the warmness and sounds kinda thin and tinny. And the pickups are closer to the strings on the Dean, than the Axxion, approximately 1.5-2 mm of difference between them. Why is there such a big difference between the pickups? I use the same strings on both the guitars, same new battery. I tried to eliminate as many factors as I could to keep it even.

I can record any kind of A-B videos between the two, just tell me what to record :D

Is there a way I can test out if there's bad pickup or bad wiring? How do I troubleshoot?
The wiring on it looks stock and clean. I am suspecting that I've got a bad or faulty pickup from the factory :( If so, my guitar is under the warranty period, anyway I can contact Seymour Duncan on Dean for replacement pickups? Or will I just have to go out and buy a new set of Livewires (which I really do not want to). I do love the sound, but there's something lacking on the Dean.

Any help will be highly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
 
Re: Checking if a livewire pickup is faulty or bad

Is the control configuration the same on both guitars? From what I understand with the pickups themselves, they either work or they don't. But the preamp connected to them might be the culprit here.
 
Re: Checking if a livewire pickup is faulty or bad

Mincer said:
Is the control configuration the same on both guitars? From what I understand with the pickups themselves, they either work or they don't. But the preamp connected to them might be the culprit here.
Click to expand...

Yes, dual volumes and tone with a three way toggle switch. Absolutely same. How do I check if the preamp is the culprit? And if it is, what to do next?
 
Re: Checking if a livewire pickup is faulty or bad

I think these use a quick connect system for the pickups. If they do, I'd just swap the pickups from one guitar to another and check if they are working.
 
Re: Checking if a livewire pickup is faulty or bad

I remember Zakk Wylde saying even gibson les paul customs he would play on stage one would be brighter than the other so it comes with the territory. Even with guitars having everything down to the same tuners, bridge and down to something insignificant.

The only accommodation I do when I put blackouts in a guitar is put a 470nf (0.47uf) capacitor instead of the 100nf (0.1uf) capacitor you usually find in EMG as most active guitars that originally came with EMG don't have that high of a value of capacitor. Usually it's 100nf. It's easier to visualize this with "NF". You can google what is on the side of the capacitor for reassurance. However this is more the less just the ability to cut frequencies when you turn the tone knob down as pot and capacitor value doesn't have that much of an impact as it would with a passive pickup. My 2 cents about the LRC circuit aspect of it, i didn't notice any difference in a guitar when i changed the capacitor. But back on topic as the last thing I want to end my year with is post yuletide pick measuring from an angry candy cane.

To test an active pickup if it works the best way is to do the tap test on your guitar or play some songs you know to hear the guitar pickup. But seeing as the sound is just different from what I skimmed over I wouldn't worry too much about it. Sometimes I'm surprised by what sometimes can work in a guitar with pickups.

This is a little tester to see if the pickup works I have in a drawer when I used to buy used pickups off of local classifieds and wanted to make sure they work. This is to just test if the pickup works so I don't have to undo the strings on a guitar and all this extra work. A 9v battery is very necessary in this.
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Re: Checking if a livewire pickup is faulty or bad

My livewires used to have 100 KOhm pots, whereas EMG use 25 KOhm . If newer Livewires still use 100 KOhm (and I think they do) then dropping the pot resistance to 25K value would cause much of the signal bleeding to ground. So an EMG with 100K pots would sound loud and ugly but a livewire with 25 would sound dull and dead.
 
Re: Checking if a livewire pickup is faulty or bad

The Mustaine LiveWires do indeed require 100K pots and the last ones I purchased maybe 2 years ago still had 4-conductor leads coming from the back of the pickups, not the 3-prong quick-connect.

Could be a lackluster soldering job or a dying pot involved here. Could also be that the magnets in the newer set weren't charged fully or got degaussed slightly somehow in handling along the way.

Could also be the fact that the pickups are in two different guitars (no 2 guitars sound the same, even with same "specs") and the production dates of the pickups themselves are nearly a decade apart.
 
Re: Checking if a livewire pickup is faulty or bad

I'll do some DI recordings and swap pickups and do DI recordings. In all honesty, this is just plain weird. Now, to figure out how to swap them. Hope it would be easy
 
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