Invader in distress

[metalf7479]

I play a Gibson LP Standard with an Invader in the bridge and a stock pickup in the neck through a Line 6 Flextone II HD halfstack. Whenever I crank the amp up to band rehearsal volume and use heavy gain through the Invader, I get a really high pitched, nasty feedback. I have tried dropping the pickup, but that only waters down the sound, and the feedback is still there. Even when I mute the strings, it hits as soon as I stop playing. I tried plugging a Les Paul Studio in at the same volume in the same room, and the feedback was gone, which leads me to think it's something with the pickup. Any ideas on what might be causing this, and possible resolutions? Thanks.

 

[Marcel]

Re: Invader in distress

Welcome to the forum...

Remember the Invader has much more output than the stock ... so you have more "gain" ... more gain = earlier feedback... this could be the prob but I'm not sure...
Try to lower the amps gain a bit.

btw this kind of feedback is nice - you'll learn to get very fast with the volume pot

 

[metalf7479]

Re: Invader in distress

Well, the problem is that it doesn't take much gain at all to send this thing into dying cat mode. And the feedback does not sound natural at all. I've heard of digital amps having problems like this, but it doesn't seem to be an issue with other Flextone II users. Any chance the pickup may be wired incorrectly or damaged? And mind you, this feedback is overpowering an automatic noise gate, so it's obviously substantial. I was considering putting in a JB. IS this a lower output pickup? Thanks.

 

[Marcel]

Re: Invader in distress

No experience with noise gate and modeling amps. Does the PU sounds good. Maybe the PU isn't wired correctly so that there is noise which is over the treshhold (sp?) level of the noise gate so it doesn't gate at all.
Is The PU noisy or something?

 

[metalf7479]

Re: Invader in distress

No, not at all. Although, I played the same guitar through a solid state Marshall halfstack and had similar squealing problems.

 

[korinastratkyle]

Re: Invader in distress

I've found similar problems with basically all pickups using screws for polepieces. I bet you could lower your feedback by taking an allen wrench and tightening the screws tighter on the pickup, but not so hard that you like crack the bobbin. If that doesn't work, take the pickup out and melt some candle wax along the screw poles sticking out of the back. I have installed cap screws on a Gibson 500T and never had feedback problems; but the screws are treaded into the baseplate making it more solid (also making it a PITA to disassemble the pickup, LOL.)

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Invader in distress

You've got a hi-gain passive pickup into an amp with high gain in what i'm assuming is a small rehearsal area -- you're gonna have feedback.

Try standing away from the amp, turning down yur amp's gain, or getting a lower-output pickup.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Invader in distress

Cut your gain back. I have the same problem if I try to push the amp to amplify a signal that's already too hot for it to accept. Trust me, you can cut your gain and still have a great, ballsy tone. It may even sound better since the amp can figure out what the hell it's receiving; ie, better clarity, etc....

 

[pvallo1]

Re: Invader in distress

Hey, not sure if you solved your problem yet. I believe that I had a similar situation with a hot rails in my telecaster. With a high-moderate amount of gain I was getting lots of high pitched feedback. Try holding/gripping the pickup when it starts to feedback. If this stops the feedback then the PU may be mounted to loosely. A high output PU will be more senstive to vibrations etc. I had to add some more (1/2 inch) surgical tubing around the mounting screws to get my pickup mounted properly/firmly. Now when I do get feedback it is not of the same high pitched variey, but a more musical one.

Hope this helps.

p