some_dude
Raging BB Gunologist
Here's a bit of back story....
Last year I bought this old Les Paul (1969 Deluxe, converted to humbuckers back in the 70s some time). It's a very middy guitar and it adds a harsh overtone to the top end frequencies.
At first I didn't recognize it to be the guitar. The overtone wasn't so obvious with cleans but with high gain it was brutal, so I assumed that maybe my ear was 'maturing' or something... that maybe I was 'outgrowing' high gain. So... after fighting my high gain heads for awhile I sold them off and bought a low gain Orange AD30.
Well, I ended up fighting with that one too. I eventually figured that it must be the lack of headroom or something, so I sold it and bought an AD140. I've I've just spent the last month fighting with it too.
I've tried alot of different things this past year... minimal treble, minimal presence, longer cables, different pickups (Gibson PAF, JB, Custom 5, 59, Super Distortion, EMG 81, 85, 60), different action, different string gauges, nickel strings, nickel plated steel strings... nothing helped. Hell, every overdrive pedal I've tried has sounded fine with every guitar except this one.... due to an over emphasized and harsh upper end.
As a final note of frustration I ripped the passive pickups out of it this past Thursday and jammed in a set of EMGs.... going for the whole "EMGs make everything sound the same" school of thought. Well, once again all I managed to do was prove that EMGs don't make everything sound the same.... 'cause it sounds like exactly the same guitar, only with EMGs in it.
To add insult in injury... I installed the Duncan that I'd just ripped out of the Gibson into my old Epi Les Paul (been collecting dust for the last year with no pickups in it) and it sounded awesome. Thick overdrive, thicker distortion.... and this is with a '59 bridge plugged strait into a into a low gain amp! It sounded exactly like I wanted the other Les Paul to sound. Even better in fact. I've never wanted to throw a Les Paul before.... but let me tell you, I did come close.
So, I don't know where to go from here. Can this be remedied? Should I simply accept that it's a dog and sell it? Or is there anything I can do to try to save it?
:banghead:
Last year I bought this old Les Paul (1969 Deluxe, converted to humbuckers back in the 70s some time). It's a very middy guitar and it adds a harsh overtone to the top end frequencies.
At first I didn't recognize it to be the guitar. The overtone wasn't so obvious with cleans but with high gain it was brutal, so I assumed that maybe my ear was 'maturing' or something... that maybe I was 'outgrowing' high gain. So... after fighting my high gain heads for awhile I sold them off and bought a low gain Orange AD30.
Well, I ended up fighting with that one too. I eventually figured that it must be the lack of headroom or something, so I sold it and bought an AD140. I've I've just spent the last month fighting with it too.
I've tried alot of different things this past year... minimal treble, minimal presence, longer cables, different pickups (Gibson PAF, JB, Custom 5, 59, Super Distortion, EMG 81, 85, 60), different action, different string gauges, nickel strings, nickel plated steel strings... nothing helped. Hell, every overdrive pedal I've tried has sounded fine with every guitar except this one.... due to an over emphasized and harsh upper end.
As a final note of frustration I ripped the passive pickups out of it this past Thursday and jammed in a set of EMGs.... going for the whole "EMGs make everything sound the same" school of thought. Well, once again all I managed to do was prove that EMGs don't make everything sound the same.... 'cause it sounds like exactly the same guitar, only with EMGs in it.
To add insult in injury... I installed the Duncan that I'd just ripped out of the Gibson into my old Epi Les Paul (been collecting dust for the last year with no pickups in it) and it sounded awesome. Thick overdrive, thicker distortion.... and this is with a '59 bridge plugged strait into a into a low gain amp! It sounded exactly like I wanted the other Les Paul to sound. Even better in fact. I've never wanted to throw a Les Paul before.... but let me tell you, I did come close.
So, I don't know where to go from here. Can this be remedied? Should I simply accept that it's a dog and sell it? Or is there anything I can do to try to save it?
:banghead:
Last edited:
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