I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

[Yzerman]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

Update!

I had a chance to gig with the PRS and here's what I thought.

I'm really starting to like the AP2 in the neck so it's staying for sure but the JB has to go. It's really muddy sounding and the bass response was not tight... Almost like the tone was down 2-3 notches. One thing that puzzles me is when I split the JB it sounds great! It's got bite and it sounds like a nice full single coil bridge. I'm leaning towards a C5 but I'm going to try to find someone with one locally so I can try it through my amp.
I know it won't be my guitar but it will give me an idea of the tone.

Thanks

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

Wire the JB for parallel and see if you like it that way.

By "violin tone" I'm assuming this is an Eric Johnson reference, and not so much a Stradivarius/Ytzak Perlman tone?


Lastly, a PRS may have the same wood species as a Les Paul, but they are without a doubt two completely different guitars with two completely different tonal qualities. If the JB in your LP is nice and chunky but flabby in the PRS, this is an amp EQ setting issue. It's not the pickup. Your amp is dialed in for your LP with a JB in the bridge, so unless you're playing an LP with a JB in the bridge (and even then you'll most likely get different results), any guitar will sound different, unless it is of a similar weight and material density and tonal character. Just because the PRS has a mahogany body and neck with a rosewood fretboard does not mean it has the tonal character of a Les Paul. Honestly I don't even know why that has to be said over and over.

Then, as was stated, if the LP has 300K pots and the PRS has 500K or 1Meg pots, you're also getting a different tonal character from the pickup itself. Put in a 250K volume pot for the JB. Be aware that if the pickups share the volume pot, this is going to change the tonal character of the neck pickup as well, so if you like that one as-is, change the JB, or wire it for parallel operation, or permanently split.

 

[freefrog]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

Update!

I had a chance to gig with the PRS and here's what I thought.

I'm really starting to like the AP2 in the neck so it's staying for sure but the JB has to go. It's really muddy sounding and the bass response was not tight... Almost like the tone was down 2-3 notches. One thing that puzzles me is when I split the JB it sounds great! It's got bite and it sounds like a nice full single coil bridge. I'm leaning towards a C5 but I'm going to try to find someone with one locally so I can try it through my amp.
I know it won't be my guitar but it will give me an idea of the tone.

Thanks

Is the distance between the center of each pickup and the bridge similar on your LP and PRS ? That and the 25'' scale length of the PRS (vs 24 3/4'' on Les Paul's) could explain a part of the difference that you're noticing...

Anyway: as stated above, you might experiment with pot values or simply try a no load tone pot for your bridge pickup. It's relatively easy to do: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/pots.htm

If it doesn't work, putting the pickup in series with a small value capacitor might be interesting.
Too high a value would make it sound like a banjo but if the value is selected just to cut the extreme bass that you find annoying, it should do the job. Start with 4,7n (= 0.0047µ) then increase or decrease the value if needed. A capacitor costs a few cents so it's not an expensive experiment...

Footnote: I see what you were meaning about the "mid scooped" sound of the A2P in neck position: in my humble experience, the A2P can produce slightly scooped high mids in some guitar (same thing with Seth's, IME).

Good luck in your tone quest!

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

Thanks. I just found out a couple of videos on YouTube of me playing several years ago (look up 'Resurgence Fort Myers', there's two songs recorded outdoors; the indoors one was bizarrely edited).

Man, you are killing it onstage! Totally dig your style and playing! :yourock:

Geez, you even found out about the competition: I won Guitar Center's 'King of the Blues' for the SW Florida district in 2009.

Dude, you are so modest with your accomplishments! Anyone else would have put that in their signature... that must have taken some serious self control.

You guessed it, Bloomfield & Moore, along with Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, Jimmy Page, early Clapton, early Trower, early Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor, Mick Abrahams, Paul Kossoff, Kim Simmonds, Alvin Lee, Luther Grosvenor, and...a lifelong passion for Hendrix.

I had to look up a few of those guys but we share many influences... those are some of the best players of all time!