My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

guitarfreak122

guitarfreak122

New member
I bought this new guitar (ESP LTD M-100) from a friend and I love the way it plays, but its pickups (Ibanez INF's) sound bright, thin, and on the same settings, doesn't have as much volume compared to my standard tele, which sounds full and powerful. Could my problem be electrical, or will I have to invest in new pickups?
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

INF are pretty low output. They also sound bright and thin. But since they aren't the original pickups, they could be wired wrong.
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

Think of this as a blessing in disquise. Now you can do a little homework on pup selections and get a guitar that's voiced just for you. I did that on a turd of a 335 clone, and with pup change ( Pearly gates= bri.+ Aph-1=neck ) and a proffesional setup, my guitar will rival the best 335's out there. All for a total investment of under $600.00 Good Luck!
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

I bought a 1985 cort evh model.took out the stock pup,and replaced it with a 35 dollar duncan custom i bought off ebay.15 bucks to install ...and its amazing the difference.you dont have to invest alot of dough to get a great sound.
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

I'd say new pickups would probably do the trick for you. What you've got is pretty much bottom of the line LTD, which means weak pickups and agathis. However, it should play like the more expensive ones. The M series have "extra thin U" necks and feel MAGNIFICENT to play on.

As for pickups, whats your style?
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

I would start with messing with the tone cap, I personally love a .01 but you could try several values to see where you like it. Cheap and easy, I would suspect that is where a big part of your issue lies.
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

Rowan said:
I'd say new pickups would probably do the trick for you. What you've got is pretty much bottom of the line LTD, which means weak pickups and agathis. However, it should play like the more expensive ones. The M series have "extra thin U" necks and feel MAGNIFICENT to play on.

As for pickups, whats your style?
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I like to have a good 80's metal/hair metal sound.
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

larry_emder said:
Whats your amp sound like?
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I don't really have much comparrison, since my G-DEC is my first and only amp. But compared to other amps in its price range that I've heard, it's surprisingly round and warm depending on the selected timbre.
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

Maybe a JB or full shred would work well for you. It depends on if you like alnico 5 pickups, or do you prefer higher output ceramic pickups? I have a JB in my M-255 and it works really well in that axe.
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

Yeah! New pickups would be my guess. ESP in that line usually come with JB(b) and 59 (n) pickups. For heavy chuggage EMG 81's and 86's. Do some research into your pot values also. Does that stlye of guitar need 250k or 500K pots?
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

I'd say experiment with the amp settings. If there's one thing I've discovered after buying a few guitars in the last couple years (I had only one forever), it's that they can sound amazingly different from each other, & one can sound like crap with amp settings that sound great with a different guitar. Crank up the amp's bass & mid, fool around, see what happens. You might find something that makes it sound killer as is.

Or not. ;)
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

Rowan said:
Maybe a JB or full shred would work well for you. It depends on if you like alnico 5 pickups, or do you prefer higher output ceramic pickups? I have a JB in my M-255 and it works really well in that axe.
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Generally I prefer A5 magnets. What are differences btw JB and Full Shred?
 
Re: My new guitar's sound sucks! PLEASE HELP!

Osensei said:
Yeah! New pickups would be my guess. ESP in that line usually come with JB(b) and 59 (n) pickups. For heavy chuggage EMG 81's and 86's. Do some research into your pot values also. Does that stlye of guitar need 250k or 500K pots?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure of the ohmage, but how can I find out?
 
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