How to kill icepick treble?

[Rushfan2112]

Hi everyone. My tone sucks. I'm playing a Reverend Warhawk 290 (P90 guitar) into a Fender Blues Junior. I keep getting that nasty icepick treble tone, and I need to finally kill it. I like to play on my bridge pick up for that bit of twang, but that seems to only add fuel to the fire. I sometimes even get it on my neck pickup. I have my EQ at high noon for each of them, gain at 12:00, master at 2.

What should I do to stop this? Cut the treble? Beam blocker? Graphic/Parametric EQ? Also, I'm in the middle of building a boost pedal, which includes a treble boost. How can I set up the treble boost for solos without getting that nasty icepick treble?

Thanks guys,

Rob

 

[Mephis]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Have you tried using your tone knob? A little more gain will get rid of it some times too.

 

[brit84]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

turn treble down, presence if it has it. As above turn down tone on the guitar. An eq will work but costs $$$$$$

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

What is the speaker?

A speaker swap can change ice pick highs but it will change your tone too...if you like the over all tone but want to tame the top end get a beam blocker from Weber...

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

I used to have a Blues Jr. One thing that really helped was a set of JJ pre-amp tubes. They really warm up the amp. A set of power tubes may help as well.

Speaker as Christian said can also make a big, big difference. If it were me, I'd try the speaker change first, tubes second and then perhaps an eq. I can't for the life of me remember if the Jr. had a presence knob or not...wierd.

 

[Rushfan2112]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

No presence.

I'm going to play around with EQ/placement right now. I don't know if a speaker is within my budget, but I could probably get new tubes.

Thanks guys!

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Hey man, I remember what it' like to be 16 (or 26 or 36) and not have much in the budget for gear. I think I have a couple of JJ's sitting around from when I owned my Blues Jr. Let me see if I can find them and if I can, I'll ship them out to you for nothing.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Well, no JJ's. Must have got rid of them a while ago. I do have an EH and a Mesa 12AX7 that I'd still be happy to send you. Not known to be the warmest pre-amp tubes, but if you want them PM me your info.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Before ordering the Weber beam blocker, try taping a 3-4" square in the center of the speaker grill. Not as precise as the beam blocker, but it can tell you if it will work.

(I took a couple of paper towels, folded them to spec, and duct-taped it to the grill).

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Hey man, I remember what it' like to be 16 (or 26 or 36) and not have much in the budget for gear. I think I have a couple of JJ's sitting around from when I owned my Blues Jr. Let me see if I can find them and if I can, I'll ship them out to you for nothing.

Now How Cool is That!:fing2:

BTW, In a few weeks you will be remembering what it was like to be in your 30's.:11: I'll be the 1st one to welcome you to the SD Ole' Fuddy Duddy Club.:alcoholic Ha Ha

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

BTW, In a few weeks you will be remembering what it was like to be in your 30's.:11: I'll be the 1st one to welcome you to the SD Ole' Fuddy Duddy Club.:alcoholic Ha Ha

Already a fuddy duddy bro. I just mail ordered some Geritol and Ben Gay, just in case. :damnit: : party:

 

[WhoFan]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

i like the Blues JR but the small cabnet size i know would never produce enough lows for me..

 

[aleclee]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Adjust the treble with your ear, not your eye. If 12:00 is too much, turn it down.

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Check your preamp tubes - some brands are more robust

Also, speaker changes can really help. Try some darker speakers.

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Play with your EQ's.
Things change from amp to amp... In a few types ice pick treble happens because the mids and treble are both too high up...

Playing with the EQ's on your amp is something that takes time...

 

[baritone]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Preamp, pickups, speakers, tubes. I think that's the order in which to change things for a new sound. Preamp refers to all kinds of effects, pedal to rack.

 

[ES350]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

If it's a Blues Jr. from after 2001, it has a 100pF bright cap (C1) hardwired to the volume control---so 'bright' is on all the time. I clipped mine out---much better. Lose C1...

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Get a crappy branded 25 foot cable in front of your guitar to sap away those highs . . . there's no way you'll be complaining about ice-pick highs then!

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

You know that sounds kind of like a joke, but that's what I was going to recommend as a test. I would say get a loooong cable. 25 feet of lousy cable could be enough. Anyway what you'll discover is whether you're hearing an amp artifact, or simply the sound of your P90's. P90's can give off an icepick treble sound, but most of the time, since it's pre-overdrive, the amp will compress that, making it sound more like white noise over the pick attack. A long cable, or turning your tone knob to "9" would tell you if it's really the amp producing this phenomenon during or after the overdrive stage. If so, then you start putting in 250k pots (if you haven't already) and messing with the tone cap. If the noise is still there, it's at the amp.

In that case, tubes, speaker, beam block, EQ in the fx loop, etc. are all possible remedies. There are some rigs that really amplify and produce a lot of white noise in the upper treble, and it's ear-splitting. Some guitarists suffer hearing loss, usually in that 3k-up range, and it doesn't bother them. I can't stand it though, and I don't really like the Blues Juniors either.

 

[ES350]

Re: How to kill icepick treble?

Older BJ's did not have that tone---they were a lot darker in tone and not bad sounding (for what it is---a 350$ amp). Voila---2001, Fender redoes the circuit and decides a permanent bright cap is a good idea in an EL84 amp. Not.
With volume at 12 o'clock (about 6-7?), it's still in the circuit...unless you clip it out.