After asking for advice, I decided to put a Dimarzio Bluesbucker in the neck of my Ibanez As83. At the same time, I went with a Virtual Hot PAF in the bridge. I followed Blueman's advice and went with 500k pots for the neck, and 250k pots for the bridge. I also threw in a push pull pot for the neck, since the coil tapped bluesbucker is supposed to sound great clean.
First the success- the bridge Virtual Hot PAF is fantastic :fingersx:. It is exactly what I wanted; not too tight and aggressive, not flubby or overly mid focused, but balanced, creamy with lots of gain and crunchy with lower amounts, with a ton of responsiveness on pick attack. My sliding riffs have chime and definition, and my bluesy riffs have attitude and sing. I am extremely happy with this pickup, so I thank you guys that advised me on that.
Now the problem- the neck Bluesbreaker seems like it has something wrong.
Problem #1
I remember a few people saying the neck pickup in this combo would be as loud if not a tiny bit louder. Mine is softer- noticeably. This makes me think something is wrong.
Problem #2
It just sounds dull. It isn't raspy raspy like the p90's I've played, and is less hot than the bridge (doesn't breakup as much). It sounds thin (I expected some of that, but not to this degree) and almost like the tone pot is on 7. It has 500k pots for both Tone and Volume, and a .22 cap on the tone (one of those orange ones people are so fond of).
Now I thought this might be a parallel / phase thing, but this is with just the neck pickup selected (so it can't be parallel, right?) and it definitely is not bright- it is borderline muddy.
Suspected problem- I screwed up and used the push pull 500k for the tone and liked my solder job (its hard for me to do), and I didn't care where the push pull was (I only have one- it isn't like I'd get confused), so I just went with it. It seemingly works- pulling up starts that hum I don't like, and the sound gets a bit less in output and a bit brighter (this is what the Dimarzio site says will happen). But this is the only thing that went "somewhat odd", so I'm wondering if this is the problem.
Or do I have a problem? Is the bluesbuckr supposed to sound somewhat "wimpy" compared to a bridge Virtual Hot PAF? If so, I might have to go another direction. Thanks ahead of time.
First the success- the bridge Virtual Hot PAF is fantastic :fingersx:. It is exactly what I wanted; not too tight and aggressive, not flubby or overly mid focused, but balanced, creamy with lots of gain and crunchy with lower amounts, with a ton of responsiveness on pick attack. My sliding riffs have chime and definition, and my bluesy riffs have attitude and sing. I am extremely happy with this pickup, so I thank you guys that advised me on that.
Now the problem- the neck Bluesbreaker seems like it has something wrong.
Problem #1
I remember a few people saying the neck pickup in this combo would be as loud if not a tiny bit louder. Mine is softer- noticeably. This makes me think something is wrong.
Problem #2
It just sounds dull. It isn't raspy raspy like the p90's I've played, and is less hot than the bridge (doesn't breakup as much). It sounds thin (I expected some of that, but not to this degree) and almost like the tone pot is on 7. It has 500k pots for both Tone and Volume, and a .22 cap on the tone (one of those orange ones people are so fond of).
Now I thought this might be a parallel / phase thing, but this is with just the neck pickup selected (so it can't be parallel, right?) and it definitely is not bright- it is borderline muddy.
Suspected problem- I screwed up and used the push pull 500k for the tone and liked my solder job (its hard for me to do), and I didn't care where the push pull was (I only have one- it isn't like I'd get confused), so I just went with it. It seemingly works- pulling up starts that hum I don't like, and the sound gets a bit less in output and a bit brighter (this is what the Dimarzio site says will happen). But this is the only thing that went "somewhat odd", so I'm wondering if this is the problem.
Or do I have a problem? Is the bluesbuckr supposed to sound somewhat "wimpy" compared to a bridge Virtual Hot PAF? If so, I might have to go another direction. Thanks ahead of time.
