Need a thicker sound

G

Gish_85

New member
Hi got sound issues with my guitar. I have got a solid mahogany bodied PRS with a maple bolton neck (CE24). In band practice and sound checks my guitar cuts through great, but when we actually play to an audience, my sound is lost whereas the other guitarist still sounds strong.
My sound is quite bright and cuts over the top. I turn up the mids almost to full, and the other guitarist turns his mids all the way down (I swear that doesn't make sense).
The other guitarist uses a les paul, so I tried it out last band practice and his guitar has a MUCH thicker sound. He uses the stock pickups and I use a custom (tried A2,5,8 and ceramic) and an A2P.

I think one problem maybe that my bridge pickup is too compressed, would that cause this problem?

I am using 500K volume and tone pots, but I have been trying turning down my tone. It makes it darker but not really thicker.

Are there pickup options I should try? I don't want it to sound like a les paul, it just needs a more dynamic, thicker and more well rounded sound.

Help!
Cheers
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

Oh yeah, I play classic metal type stuff. I have got a JVM so gain from my amp is not really an issue
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

interesting, I don't know that much about dimarzios. I will have a look, though I was hoping to stick to SD.

Another thing I forgot to mention, was that because I cut through in sound check so much I think I was turned down at the sound desk comparatively. At band practice we both use marshall valve amps running at 50watts and his is turned up much higher than mine... dno if that helps
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

Gish_85 said:
interesting, I don't know that much about dimarzios. I will have a look, though I was hoping to stick to SD.

Another thing I forgot to mention, was that because I cut through in sound check so much I think I was turned down at the sound desk comparatively. At band practice we both use marshall valve amps running at 50watts and his is turned up much higher than mine... dno if that helps
Click to expand...

Well when you said thick and to be heard(cut through as much as the guy with the LP) i immediately thought of these two DIM's cause they have cut and are thick in tone
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

This doesn't seem to make sense....you cut through in a practice and soundcheck but not in the gig. The only thing thats changing is that there's an audience there.....oh and a sound guy too - you sure he's not turning you down because you cut too much????

Also - is this you not hearing yourself on stage, or is this people in the crown saying the 'mix' is low on your guitar. If you're standing on top of your amp then often you won't hear yourself, but the amp further away will be 'louder'.
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

The LP uses 300k vol pots so that's something to consider... and when you turn the mids way the hell up you have more cut, but it can also thin the tone
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

Yeah I can hear myself fine, it's people in the audience. A couple of people have said they can hear me in sound check but not when we're playing the gig.
I thought it might be because of too much treble, so it cuts but there's not enough power behind the sound??
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

tone 500k... check the gibson website, If I were you in the sound check Id borrow the other guy's LP plug it to my amp and see if it's only a guitar issue and not an amp, tubes or speaker issue.
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

All of those suggestions affect highs. He says that that is not his problem: he's lacking lows and low mids.
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

yeah I switched round amps so that's definitely not the problem. +1 to MattPete's comment.

I am hoping its not but it could be a wood issue. Kind of want to solve it with electronics (inc pups). To describe it I would say my tone is like searing your face off, where as his is more of a punch in the gut. Much more oompf basically

I might try an EQ pedal, dno why I hadn't thought of that sooner
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

if custom8 does not give you a thick tone something has got to be wrong somewhere, some times the speaker placement it's everything.

+1 to the eq
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

Slide the mic away from your amp and crank it up,, let the audience get the true tone from that marshall.
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

Thanks for the comment, but yeah I tried both guitars in with the amp in the same place and with the same settings. The custom 8 was too compressed and gave loads of power to the upper mid region, but was lacking in bass in my guitar. In the end I was using A2 most of the time and A5 the rest of the time
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

I used to use an eq pedal in the effects loop but maybe i should try it out front for this
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

What are your speakers? I might have missed that, but it's possible replacing one or two of those might help. For classic metal and cut, I always think Vintage 30 (or the Governor, which I think I like even better).

The only pickup I might recommend is the Distortion. If that doesn't cut, then you're not going to fix it with pickups.
 
Re: Need a thicker sound

Put a graphic EQ in the FX loop, or use a rack unit that has EQ. You can bump all the frequencies that you need, leave most flat, and cut a frequency or two on top.
 
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