Fred's A Little Bright...

[Butch Snyder]

Hey guys,

As a follow-up to my Fred/PAF Pro combo, I thought I add a bit of comments. The PAF Pro is very cool in the neck. Very modern in tone and clarity with enough meat to be dangerous. It responds really well to your picking attack too.

The Fred is very cool as well. I think it might have been a Tele bridge pickup in a past life. The problem I'm having is that the Fred is a little too bright. It's really "pingy" on the B and E strings. Now, my guitar is basswood with a maple neck and fretboard. It has a vintage style trem and one 500k pot for volume and no tone control. I thing the combination of the 500k pot and no tone control is contributing to the brightness. I'm thinking of replacing the 500k pot with a 250k and see what happens.

What do you guys think?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Fred's A Little Bright...

Mayhap a stacked 500/500k pot would work in your axe.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Fred's A Little Bright...

Mayhap a stacked 500/500k pot would work in your axe.

What would I want one for? What would it do for me?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Fred's A Little Bright...

It would add some load and capacitance to the circuit, thereby warming up the sound a bit.

Also, having a tone control might give you some more control.

 

[GOLDWING68NV]

Re: Fred's A Little Bright...

try a dimarzio "breed"-neck model.it's just like dimarzio's website describes it to be...a slightly warmer,hotter "paf pro".definately a great pickup.i believe it's one of dimarzios hidden gems.i have one in my '91 ibanez rg565,basswood body,all maple neck & fretboard...sweet,rounded highs,solid lows(bass & lower mids)without being boomy and,my personal favorite,CLARITY under high gain.it's a very versitle bridge pickup.does everything form jazz to blues to rock to brutal forms of metal.yes that good!!! i had the paf pro,then fred models in my ibanez first and,even though they sounded pretty good,they were both still a lacking a litlle on the bottom end...just a thought! good luck!

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Fred's A Little Bright...

I talked to Steve Blucher today and he said to first try a 250k pot. If it was still too bright to trade the Fred for a Breed neck or a Norton.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Fred's A Little Bright...

Well, last night, I found a 250k pot and replaced the 500k pot. THere wasn't a huge difference; but enough to make a difference. The pickups sound much much better now. I still get the snap I like; but it's meatier now.