Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

Grindspine

Grindspine

New member
Question above.. When setting your amp, do you use bridge or neck pickup?

My friends who play guitar and I have always set the tone while using the bridge pickup, use that pickup most of the time, then kinda hope for the best with the neck pickup.

Do any of you set your amp to your neck pickup, then switch to bridge, or even set different amp channels to bridge & neck?
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

No... I found pickups that work with the same settings on my amp no matter what pickup position i'm in.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

Hmm, I typically still roll off the volume pot a touch if I use the neck pickup, and can generally get a better cleaned-up sound out of it than using bridge. I have never really tried to set my amp to the neck specifically since it is always looser than the bridge pickup.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

Edgecrusher said:
No... I found pickups that work with the same settings on my amp no matter what pickup position i'm in.
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Bingo. Find a well matched set and the amp takes care of itself.

I should note however, that I am old school in a 70s vein, and simply dial in my crunch tone, and then work my guitar for varying cleans/crunch, and sometimes a goose pedal for leads.
 
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Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

I set my amp tone very neutral then adjust my programmable EQ to shape my sound for different pickups/guitars. In most cases I am dialing in the bridge pickup first.

JeffB said:
Bingo. Find a well matched set and the amp takes care of itself.
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The problem for me is I have very eclectic pickup configurations in a lot of my guitars. I like my guitars to have a wide berth of available tones.
 
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Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

Grindspine said:
My friends who play guitar and I have always set the tone while using the bridge pickup, use that pickup most of the time, then kinda hope for the best with the neck pickup.
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Similar,although I usually have good results w/teh neck p/up,too...

.02
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

Good to know that I am not alone in that approach. I use the neck pickup here and there, just not as often as bridge.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

i spent a lot of time playing with the knobs on the amp, i would highly recommend it, its worth the time! the knobs move around a little, but i basically use the same settings for every guitar...
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

j9fd3s said:
i spent a lot of time playing with the knobs on the amp, i would highly recommend it, its worth the time! the knobs move around a little, but i basically use the same settings for every guitar...
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I'm not unhappy with my neck tones, just wondering if others pretty much set their tones to their bridge pup like I do. It was more of a curiousity than asking for recommendations.

Chocklit, you mean that you do set your amp to your neck pup?
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

Yep. I play using the neck pickup or the middle both on setting most of the time. It's got a nice dark warmness that I like. Usually I cut the bass and the treble a tad and boost the mids anyway so that when I do switch to the bridge it isn't overly bright either.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

The bridge, my lead tones take priority. That's where I cut loose, and I have to have a tone that inspires me. I use magnets, pots, and resistors to warm my bridge HB's and P-90's. That allows me to add more treble at the amp than I normally would, which in turn benefits the neck PU's clarity and high-end. I also use 9's for strings, and .88 picks, which give me a sharper sound. I find that for me it works far better to bring the PU's closer together in EQ; then one amp EQ setting is likely to give good results for both PU's.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

What some people do is actually set the tone for their neck pickup, and have the pickup levels different: the bridge pickup set louder so it can act as a boost for solos. Ideally you would want similar sounding pickups.

I think this is actually what Tony Iommi does, or at least used to do. Hey a Gibson switch chip does say "Rhythm" for the neck pickup and "Treble" for the bridge pickup.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

I've got the best set of pickups I've ever had - BK Rebel Yells. I actually spend some time on the neck pup at gigs but - I just don't like neck pups that much. The best neck pup sound I've ever heard doesn't hold a candle to an average bridge pup sound. I don't like the woolly organish sounds of neck pups with gain and don't much like their smoothness played clean.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

I set the amp to the bridge pickup, but I pick neck pickups that'll suit the bridge pickup, so that whichever pickup I'm using, it still sounds great.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

No bridge tone = No care.

The bridge has got to be perfect. I match it with a suitable neck pickup and tweak the neck pup height and the amp to a good overall setting such that no change is needed other than the guitar's volume knob, depending on what I'm doing, especially for cleans. Once the amp itself is set for a given guitar, it is done.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

If I have to change the amp settings to match the various pickups on the same guitar, in my view, my guitar is not set up correctly. I should be able to switch pickups on the guitar and just have a smooth shift in tone, even in sound/frequency response with no dramatic spikes or dips that require changes to the amp settings. But that's just my preference. I want to be able to manage my tone, level and drive from my guitar.
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

beaubrummels said:
If I have to change the amp settings to match the various pickups on the same guitar, in my view, my guitar is not set up correctly. I should be able to switch pickups on the guitar and just have a smooth shift in tone, even in sound/frequency response with no dramatic spikes or dips that require changes to the amp settings. But that's just my preference. I want to be able to manage my tone, level and drive from my guitar.
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+1. This is why I hate the 490r/498t in my Les Paul Supremes. That set just doesn't work TOGETHER.

I set most of my guitars to the bridge pickup...especially the G&L Strats. I set the amp for the maximum twang and treble I need and go from there.

I do solo often on the neck pickup of my 2HB Pauls and 335s. I love that throatiness.

Bill
 
Re: Do you set your tone to neck or bridge pickup?

Boogie Bill said:
+1. This is why I hate the 490r/498t in my Les Paul Supremes. That set just doesn't work TOGETHER.
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+1. And how many complaints do you think they've gotten from customers over the years about that pairing, and they still put them in a number of models. The 498T/490R set is probably one of the world's hardest to get dialed in, since they're polar opposites in EQ. I bet most players with them EQ their amp to one PU, and just use that all the time.

But, swapping mags makes a big difference. An A8 in the bridge and an A5 in the neck give you Gibson's version of a C8/'598N.
 
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