Mustaine experiments.

[holycross1]

I have a set of Mustaine Actives that I have rotated through 3 guitars over the last 2 1/2 years.
I have found that the Neck pickup is worth its wieght in gold set up 9volt in my mahogany Jackson Fusion HH with a PRO neck with ebony FB.......
The sound is just classy it responds to volume adjustments well. I use a 25k pot instead of the 100k they included. This improved the sound many times over. Don't know why, it just did. The Bridge never did well with that guitar for some reason.
I removed the bridge pickup before I changed the pots to 25k. I replaced it with an AHB-1 without the jumper. And replaced the pots then. I had no idea that the neck would change so much and give me what I was looking for. The only problem is that the AHB-1 is not compatible with the Mustaine in the neck.
When combining the two pickups on the 3 way switch, the AHB-1 just over powers the Mustaine. As in its almost not there. Its faint.
I have decided I am not the biggest fan of the AHB-1 because of its grainy mushy bottom when I palm mute.
I have considered changing it out for an AHB-3. But I want to know if there is a way I can have them work together.
Can I run each one on its own battery and fix this?
If not, can I get Seymour Duncan to make a balanced set with these 2 pickups?

If the AHB-3 and the Mustaine Bridge pickup had a love child I would be in hog heaven.
Especially if they had the load balancing character of my APC's in the other guitars. (but thats another thread) LOL

For the other part. I put the Mustaine Bridge pickup in an old beater 1 hum 1 vol Jackson Fusion and it rocks harder since I changed the pot to 25k and run it at 18v. It rocks hard and lean. What is up with that? It still lacks that harmonic heat I want. Its 90% there. So close but no cigar.
I would try it back in my mahogany Jackson, but I don't want to ruin the perfect neck tone with an 18 volt mod.
Any suggestions?
Does the nickel cover color my tone that much? Or is it just time for Seymour to make a blackout upgrade to this pickup?
I am a bit frustrated trying to decide. And thought your great knowlege of these issues would help give me the right advice.
But I want to add that the 100k pots are not the best choice for these pickups.

Thank you for your ideas ahead of time.

 

[holycross1]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

Wow. I thought I asked a couple of good questions. :feedback:

 

[mustaine-who?]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

Wow. I thought I asked a couple of good questions. :feedback:

Not many people have experience with the Mustaines bro. Give it sometime for people to answer.

I've only run the Mustaines as a set...and didn't care for them at all.

 

[holycross1]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

Not many people have experience with the Mustaines bro. Give it sometime for people to answer.

I've only run the Mustaines as a set...and didn't care for them at all.

I totally felt the same way. But after getting rid of the crap 100k pots the neck pickup just came to life. The bridge never got the second chance so I can't say. The blackout balanced preamp technology was a little to late.
Thanks for your candure. It is appreciated.
I am still an Adder Plus Pickup diehard. Since the designing founder has passed away.
I will stop there. I am not here to talk about them.
I really want to get Seymour Duncan to make a custom set. I actually set aside a grand last tax season for a pickup set. I went to Guitar Center after several failed atempts to call the custom shop. Thats how badly I want what I have in mind. For 2 pickups!
I was at the NAMM 2005 Summer session when I meet Seymour and he said he had made, or could make me an interphase style pickup. I finally tried the Mustaines just to try something new. Tone has some really sweet applications in country and classic rock for my taste.( after some experiments)
But I am really into writing. I like clean snappy notes to "Klank" style heavy riffs. Or Slipknot if you will.
I have the amp I have been in love with since 1994. A Lee Jackson XLS-1000 half stack.
I like pickups that make pedals and processing a waste of time.
My APC pickups are balanced and responsive. But the mid range of the Mustaines and the bottom punch of the AHB-3 seem more along my style. I am wanting something exotic. I know. But anything that brings me closer to nirvana is worth making a great effort to get.
But reality is that noone making pickups is really going to give me the time of day unless I have a platinum record or two.
Not a problem.
I will take what I can get. Spent my tax money on a ProTools 9.0 studio and a Xeon based Mac tower after a couple of months of Seymour and APC ignoring my calls to at least get the ball rolling.
Was I serious? I beleive a whole new line and use of technology could be developed form what I want.
Probably a good turn of fate (the studio). But I am listening closer to my tone now. And its just eating at me.
I am just crazy probably thinking I could have that. But I Know what I want. And a good idea how to get it from a technical end. Don't know how common or rare that is. But I am not trying to reproduce someone elses tone. Just get mine.

 

[slayest]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

Actually I got a "Blackouted" version of the Mustaine bridge from SD custom shop. But I can't tell you whether it can balance with an AHB-1 or 3, since the guitar it's in has a bridge pickup only.

I did try the pickup on another 2-hum guitar. But the neck pickup is a passive SD 59 while the bridge is active. It came out from the custom shop this way, which is rare so I won't alter the wiring to try 2-active configuration. And anyone can see that the 59 got overpowered by the active bridge (I tried this Mustaine, AHB-3, and some EMGs in it). But the guitar got independent slave volume pots for each pickup. With some twist I can find a setting in the middle position that sounds balance. Thus, I feel that a simple solution to your problem is to wire the 2 pickups with independent volume pots. You can place one of them at the hole of the tone control, and leave the tone pot in the electronic cavity. But be sure to wire both volume pots as slave volume, instead of master volume. You can use the same set of batteries to power both pickups, as AHBs can take 18 volts too, without much different in the tone.

 

[holycross1]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

Actually I got a "Blackouted" version of the Mustaine bridge from SD custom shop. But I can't tell you whether it can balance with an AHB-1 or 3, since the guitar it's in has a bridge pickup only.

I did try the pickup on another 2-hum guitar. But the neck pickup is a passive SD 59 while the bridge is active. It came out from the custom shop this way, which is rare so I won't alter the wiring to try 2-active configuration. And anyone can see that the 59 got overpowered by the active bridge (I tried this Mustaine, AHB-3, and some EMGs in it). But the guitar got independent slave volume pots for each pickup. With some twist I can find a setting in the middle position that sounds balance. Thus, I feel that a simple solution to your problem is to wire the 2 pickups with independent volume pots. You can place one of them at the hole of the tone control, and leave the tone pot in the electronic cavity. But be sure to wire both volume pots as slave volume, instead of master volume. You can use the same set of batteries to power both pickups, as AHBs can take 18 volts too, without much different in the tone.

First. Thank you for responding.
So a black out version of the mustaine exist? Did you try the standard Mustaine before you had the AHB version?
If so. What was the over all difference in your experience?
I remember a Seymour Duncan engineer saying not to run 18 volts on the Blackouts because of something having to do with the preamp.
Also, did you get the nickel cover or black?
Sorry for the questions if they annoy you.
I am going to try again with the custom shop after the beginning of the year.
How did you get them to return a call? I felt ignored.
And thanks again for replying.

 

[slayest]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

There's no an existing black out version of the Mustaine. I just asked the custom shop to made a customized Mustaine for me which is compatible with 25K pots and can accept the quick connector found on the EMGs and Blackouts. And they did it by integrating the blackout preamp into the Mustaine.

For this pickup I also asked for a little twist from a standard Mustaine, so that if they finally come up with a 25K-compatible version of the Mustaine in the future, I won't regret for the custom shop price I paid. Sorry but I'd like to keep it a secret what twist I asked for, so that my one can be unique. But it's nothing major so you won't miss anything having a Mustaine without this twist.

I did try the standard Mustaine in the stores before. On an ESP DV8 (Signature Series. Not custom shop. Nor LTD) it sounds much the same as mine (I can't be 100% sure since I wasn't A/B them with the same setup anyway), while on some Korean Dean Dave signature Vs the standard one sounds significantly thnner. I also noticed that mine seems to sound a little more bluesy, especially on my Korina V. But this might due to the way I set my amp and I haven't tried the Korina version of Dean Dave V.

From what I heard, there's no problem running the blackouts with 18V (don't quote me though). But it won't increase the headroom like it does to EMGs, so there's no need to do so. However, I've never tried it so you've better confirm with SD engineers to make sure that the 18V won't kill the preamp.

I got mine with the black nickel cover, as that of a standard Mustaine. But it's indeed worn easily, as what I heard about the standard ones.

I'm not in US so I didn't call the custom shop. I emailed them instead. They generally reply me in 3-4 days, which is fast since my emails used to contain many technical questions.

 

[Dirtbagg]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

I've played the Mustaine pups, and was nto a big fan.
If you want a Mustaine bridge with Blackout output. I would get the Blackout Modular Preamp and put a JB in the bridge. for Dave is a HUGE fan of the JB, and used them until he had the active pups made.
From the user day, Frank was saying the preamp changes woth the passive pickup put on it, but still have that blackout sound for the most part.

 

[Guitarweb]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

I only judged the live wires in my DM VMNT and they sounded awful through everything i plugged it into (tube amp, solid state, modeling amp, directly into modeling software).

Never had that experience with a pickup before. I actually sold the VMNT based purely on those pickups.

 

[holycross1]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

When I bought the pickups, I was looking for a more "traditional tone" without the noise. I enjoyed the Jazz in a previous guitar. But hated the JB. Used to love JB back in the 80's. But either I have changed, or the pickup build has. I changed to APC back in 95. I loved the clarity and load balancing character of the pickups. They were not active. And they are all modern.
I read that the Mustaine set was an active version of the seymourizer set. I usually will give something a try in several guitars.
I love the Neck. But the bridge needs a serious rethink. Its got a great mid range tone for rock. But its cold on top and the bottom frequency is in the wrong range or something. It needs to be more harmonicaly dynamic. They need a new AHB based on the neck but the bridge with the mid frequency of the Mustaine. But the bottom of the AHB-3.
I want SD to make an active set based on that idea using my APC's magnetic design. I think that would be exactly what I wanted.
Before the founder of APC died we had a talk on the phone, where he said that the patents were nolonger an issue since they had run out. He told me anyone could make a pickup using some or all of his tech.
But since the economy has killed my money flow, I can only afford custom shop stuff at tax season.
I may just find a way to combine my APC in the bridge and the Mustaine in the neck.

Sorry if I overthink this stuff. Thats how I am. But I rarely buy anything I don't like. I keep gear forever it seems. Because I buy what I know works for me. The Mustaines are a good and bad investment. They aren't what I wanted exactly. But they showed me I am wanting to freshen up my tone pallet. And a great direction to invest. I just need SD to return my communication when it comes time. Unless someone knows another custom shop to check with, that is as cpable as SD to make something new.

 

[DalyTek]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

I've got them in my Jackson USA SLS. Before I got that guitar, they were in my Jackson Kelly. They sounded fantastic in both guitars. I have not tried them with different pots or with 18V though, so I don't think I can be much help.

I think your dislike of the JB is why you are having the troubles. The Mustaine Livewires are active versions of the JB/Jazz set.

Have you thought of running the neck at 9V and the bridge at 18V? It would require some very specialized wiring and lots of space for the batteries, but might do what you need.

 

[crguti]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

Have you thought of running the neck at 9V and the bridge at 18V?

^this, and try different pot values.

 

[holycross1]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

^this, and try different pot values.

Already have played the values number. The 100k that come with them holds these pickups back.
The 25k just bring them into a whole new ball game.
I may just get a Jazz for the neck. And run an APC Persuader Lead DRX in the bridge on the Blackout modular preamp and a CAL Redeemer circuit. Its as close as I may get. I just Hope APC can replicate the DRX for me, since Mell Lace passed away. He made a couple for me back in the 90's. Sold both guitars they were in since then. They wouldn't budge on the pickups so I left them in for an extra $200. They were that good.
I have high hopes for the BMP getting me closer.
But right now I have a Lagunitas Stout calling my name witha shot of JD. Soooooooooooo:friday:...Let me get to that. No gigs this week

 

[eschoendorff]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

I have a couple VMNTs and the Mustaine pups work very well in those (25.5" scale, mahogany body and neck, striped ebony fingerboard).

One of these days I'd like to get a set of Mustaines to try in my Jackson DKMG (alder/maple/rosewood). It would be very interesting ( to me) to hear an active JB/Jazz set in an alder guitar.

Now I just need to save some $$$ for the Mustaine pup set...

 

[DalyTek]

Re: Mustaine experiments.

I have a couple VMNTs and the Mustaine pups work very well in those (25.5" scale, mahogany body and neck, striped ebony fingerboard).

One of these days I'd like to get a set of Mustaines to try in my Jackson DKMG (alder/maple/rosewood). It would be very interesting ( to me) to hear an active JB/Jazz set in an alder guitar.

Now I just need to save some $$$ for the Mustaine pup set...

My Kelly is an alder body and they sounded fantastic in that guitar.
I moved them into my Soloist because that's my favorite guitar, and the Kelly now has the standard (non active) JB/Jazz set.