P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

[GuitarDoc]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

Have you ever used one?

All of the theory and schematics in the world are no replacement for actual audible experience. You can debate whether it should be called a "bass cut" or not, but that is nonetheless the effect. I have installed the TBX in several of my guitars and compared before and after, and all theory aside, it definitely sounds like it cuts both treble and bass (like putting a bucker in parallel but with more bass attenuation).

 

[gregory]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

Yes, I have a TBX is my '92 American Standard and then there's the second one I pulled from an MIM Strat that I took a picture of.

It's not a bass cut. That you think it sounds like one doesn't inspire much confidence.

Have a look at a PTB control if you want to see how you implement a bass cut.

 

[orpheo]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

Gregory: I have installed this item at least a dozen times in my guitars. I don't frankly care what it says on the box because I judge with my ears: it clearly cuts the treble when I turn it one side and cuts bass when I turn i the other side. Perhaps 'treble pass filter' is the correct term, but it does cut off bass audibly.

Don't be a dick by falling for a semantics issue.

 

[gregory]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

I've fallen for nothing, and I'm hardly being a dick because I don't hear something that simply isn't happening. For you to call me a dick on the other hand...

Show me on a schematic exactly where bass is being cut. Hopefully you won't also be one to dismiss physics because it doesn't comport with what you believe you hear.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

Just a heads up guys...I got an infraction yesterday for calling someone a dick. Be careful.
I’d hate to see somebody get an infraction for the exact same thing I got one for. After all the rules are supposed to apply to everyone.

 

[gregory]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

Words like dick, bass and cut don't matter, it's all semantics. All that matters here is that you can have a "bass cut" by replacing your tone control with 1082 kohms of resistance.

 

[Mincer]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

How about this...you can disagree without calling each other names?

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

I’ve observed guitar players’ reaction to P-Rails for a decade now. The response is actually extremely balanced across all the sounds overall, if you look at the market data in aggregate. However in a thread-by-thread basis you get some echo chambering. Like
“I think the humbucker is too dark.”
“Me too”
“Me too”
“Me too”

But there are large blocks of people that think the humbucker is not too dark, but “thick, beefy...” etc. and I’ve read several comments from people who run it as a Humbucker without regard for the split tones.

The parallel mode gets a lot of positive reviews too.

Single coil mode was never pitched as a “true” Strat tone. We always thought of that in-between tone as something that could get you through the song without having to change the guitar. It’s a good in-between tone, and in my opinion more stratty than most split humbuckers would sound, especially since the blade location is further toward the edge. That makes the in-between sound be from closer together on the string with a narrow string window.

The P90, for many people, is the best P90 sound forced into a humbucker sized housing. It can’t necessarily compete with the full sized P90 because that’s how you get more room for more wire. But of the HB-sized P90’s it’s up there with the best of them.

So in that regard, that’s what I didn’t like about the “jack of all trades/master of none” comments when they were (are) said as an insult. The best way I can think to say it fairly is “jack of all trades, master of at least 1 or 2, depending on the player “

 

[gregory]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

And in the echo chamber of the SDUGF the P-Rails is often described as a true and perfect chameleon.

If you like the tones you like the tones.

I think 2 of the 4 are really great (P90, parallel).
I think 1 of the remaining 2 can be useable (series) so long as you don't have unrealistic expectations that it will sound like a PAF or some other specific type of humbucker.
I think the final tone is horrid (rail), though if you really temper your expectations it could be almost passable.

Let's not kid ourselves, though, the only thing it might be a master at is parallel, and that's not a mode one should aspire to master. By your own (implied) admission, it does not master a P90. Does it provide one of the best P90 tones in an HB form-factor? Sure. I'm willing to go along with that. I'm definitely in no position to (nor do I have any desire to attempt to) dispute it.

 

[Blille]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

I loved my P90 sound in the bridge Prails but kind of needed a humbucker sound and the series sound was way too hot. I was planning to put a neck prails in the bridge given that it has less output I thought that could help with the series sound. I ended up putting a hybrid but it might work for the OP.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[billlorentzen]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

I like to do A/B comparisons, rather than rely on memory, so before I swapped out the original pickups, an SH2 Jazz and a Custom 3, I recorded some direct playing in each position, so I could reamp and compare with the PRails. In the neck position I was quite surprised by how close the single coil SH2 Jazz is to the rail, only the rail is a little weaker (surprisingly). The disappointing thing is that none of the 4 PRails options sounds as sweet and balanced as the original humbucker.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

I've fallen for nothing, and I'm hardly being a dick because I don't hear something that simply isn't happening. For you to call me a dick on the other hand...

Show me on a schematic exactly where bass is being cut. Hopefully you won't also be one to dismiss physics because it doesn't comport with what you believe you hear.

OK, so, wait a minute.

When we play, is it physics (or the schematic) that the audience cares about or is it the sound that they hear?

Don't get me wrong...I love physics. And it's fun to apply physics to explain an electronic circuit. But when it comes right down to it, the ear is by far the best analyst when it comes to tone.

 

[gregory]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

The audience? Now you're projecting your experience to what others hear?

There's a fundamental difference between reducing the resistive load on a pickup and cutting its bass.

All the equivocation in the world, redefining of terms, moving of goal posts and other hand-waving does nothing to change the reality of the situation: 6-10 on a stock TBX control does absolutely nothing to bass frequencies, let alone cut them.

Please, have a gander at the "B" portion of a PTB control.

the ear is by far the best analyst when it comes to tone.

To touch on an anathematic truth: the human auditory system is a horrible tool at discerning reality. It takes a backseat at the first sign of cognitive dissonance.

...and now let the gang-bang of SDUGF elder "gurus" commence to feast on an outsider once again.



@billlorentzen: I apologize for trying to apply scrutiny to the notion that magical elves shave off bass inside a TBX control.

If you want to brighten your P-Rails, you'll be far better served by using a no-load tone control than you will a TBX. If you want to shave (more precisely: shelve) bass, look into a PTB network with a no-load pot for the T portion.

 

[jeremy]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

i dont care for a tbx control, even with some mods it still never served me as well as a straight tone control. i agree that the tbx does not shave any bass, but by opening up the top end as much as it does, it does sound that way sometimes. depends on the amp/guitar/speaker etc... so i understand why people say that even though i dont agree with it. i dont care for no load tone pots much either but the difference between no load and 1meg is pretty small to my ears

 

[gregory]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

by opening up the top end as much as it does, it does sound that way sometimes. depends on the amp/guitar/speaker etc... so i understand why people say that even though i dont agree with it.

TBH, I can understand this too, especially since there is almost certainly always compression in the signal chain (and I don't mean a compressor; rather, the pickup, amp, speakers and the human ear) and that compression becomes greater with increasing volume.

...but, in a forum of people sharing knowledge, to say the TBX control is a bass cut is misinformation, plain and simple.

 

[Mincer]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

Wasn't there also like an MDX or something? What did that do?

 

[gregory]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

That was the active mid-boost that Clapton used. It's still available as part of a kit that includes a TBX control, volume pot and a jack.

 

[Mincer]

Re: P Rails - Options to brighten humbucker mode?

That was the active mid-boost that Clapton used. It's still available as part of a kit that includes a TBX control, volume pot and a jack.

Oh yeah, that is right. Now I remember...thanks!