Re: Clips of a JB on an Alder bodied Carvin Guitar
My 59 will be ordered first thing Monday. I have to agree about the Carvin BBS. I have seen a lot of ignorant people there as well. When I got my C66 I was a bit upset that the guitar didn't "cut". Well...I tweaked the pole pieces on the Carvin PUs...adjusted the height, etc. And I got a decent tone. It worked for a few gigs I played with the guitar. Now, don't get me wrong...the guitar itself is amazing. Best guitar I;ve ever owned. But when I put in that JB...Holy crap!! There it was...the "tone" I wanted in a PU. The "cut" was there as was the punch. The guitar by itself unplugged is loud and very clear...so putting a Duncan PU in it only made it better.
The specs are as follows:
Carvin C66 "contour" model (essentially a "super strat")
Hardtail bridge (I personally HATE trems)
Two humbuckers with a 5 way switch
Black stain on flame (which ironically looks more brown than black...but depending on the light...it can even look purple at times)
Bridge PU was a Carvin C22b..(barf!) Neck PU is an H22n (Holdsworth model)
The holdsworth neck PU is a double screw model...which I think is kinda cool..
Okay...here's what is THROWING me. I seriously don't get this. The H22n sounded like ASS with the C22b in this guitar...but when I installed the Ducan JB...WOW...the H22 all of the sudden sounds killer....It's like a different PU....I don't know how that's possible...but the tone has changed to my ears. It's still muddy sounding like a Carvin pickup...I will keep it and install it to another guitar...
As far as my POD settings...I have no clue. I downloaded a patch from the tone library one day and have been tweaking it every since. Depending on the tune, the backing, or just my mood, I'll change the patch every day. I don't use all 9 banks..and never have. I use usually 1-3 and even then for lead tone I usually just tweak one patch over and over....
As soon as I get the 59 installed, I'll post more clips for sure...and I'll make sure I do a few where I'm changing between pickups during a solo to show the different tones, etc. I can't say enough good things about Duncan pickups....I've owned mostly Dimarzio and one Screamin Demon. The Demon upon first hearing after it was installed almost made me cry it was so sweet. I installed it to a Washburn MG94 guitar. The Washburn PU had a lot more gain....but the Demon just...well......SCREAMED!!! Sadly, I had to sell the guitar and the Demon PU during a rough patch a few years back.
I recorded a clip with the C22b in my Carvin...then again on the same backing with my JB..I played it for my wife and she said it sounded like someone had taken the blanket off the guitar's tone. I mean...how do you better describe it? I thought the same thing myself,..My Carvin PUs...as well as most stock PUs to me are like wearing frequency filtering earplugs...then when you install a Duncan...it's like taking the ear plugs out. If that makes any damn sense.
More to come when I get the 59n!
John R.
