patb-3 question

[metalmachine]

I know a handful of guys really like the patb3 for heavy stuff. But I also hear that it is much more compressed than the distortion. That kinda turns me off from it. The distortion has this certain punch that comes from the low when I palm mute that sounds like notes are jumping out of the pup. My blackouts don't have that going on and I am assuming it is because of compression.

So I got 2 questions
1 is my theory about compression right?
2 is the patb3 as compressed as blackouts?
Thanks

 

[Mpcoluv]

Re: patb-3 question

The PATB-3 is more of a hot/fat PAF sound.
I suspect that it is nothing like a Blackout.
To me, a PATB-3 imparts a LP stye tone to a 25.5" scale bolt on guitar.
So it is an awesome classic rock tone.
I am not a metal guy, but I suspect that there may be another pickup that suits your needs better.

 

[Ed Hunter]

Re: patb-3 question

The patb3 is not compressed to me? it has a open PAF type tone with more punch,snarl,aggression,etc

 

[metalmachine]

Re: patb-3 question

Sorry I ment patb-2 distortion

 

[Despair]

Re: patb-3 question

The PATB-2 is extremely high output and prone to pushing gain stages into heavier compression. But if you back the volume down around 30% it should be comparable in output to a conventional Distortion, if it behaves like the rest of the Parallel Axis series. Parallel Axis tend to require a bit more volume knob fiddling to dial in a good approximation of the conventional model they most resemble.

It also has more of a lower mid focus than the Distortion, a bit of Invader flavor mixed in.

There's a lot more room for height adjustment with the high output and soft magnetic field of the Parallel Axis series. Try backing it further away from the strings and see if you get a bit more dynamics.

The conventional Distortion is more upper mid focused, not as much lowend growl. Also has a harsher bite, more ceramic presence. If that's what you need, try raising the presence at the amp a bit.

Blackouts are pretty insane output, I'd expect actives to be higher output than any passive. But they have a pretty different attack from a PATB-2.

Most metal sounds are pretty massively compressed, I suspect that's less the issue than the midrange character, treble bite or amount of growl in the low end. A lot of people perceive midrangy or less biting pickups as more compressed, rounder.

Not sure if I actually answered what you asked, have an ugly headache this morning. Will try again later, hopefully my ramblings are more useful than not.

 

[metalmachine]

Re: patb-3 question

Actually that was helpful. I am starting to wonder if maybe its the tightness of the bass I am hearing. Seems like blackouts are looser than the distortion. Its either that or the upper mids

 

[Despair]

Re: patb-3 question

Actives load the preamp differently. Heck, that varies from pickup to pickup as well. It's not just the output of the pickup, it's the interaction with the impedance of the preamp.

So it might be your amp just not liking blackouts. I'm assuming you are tweaking the amp to match the pickups, not just slamming the amp with different pickups and not tweaking settings.

Too much output can be pretty unfriendly to modellers, too. A buffering pedal of some kind may help with many of these issues (Clean "boost" set below unity gain, for example).

 

[metalmachine]

Re: patb-3 question

Actives load the preamp differently. Heck, that varies from pickup to pickup as well. It's not just the output of the pickup, it's the interaction with the impedance of the preamp.

So it might be your amp just not liking blackouts. I'm assuming you are tweaking the amp to match the pickups, not just slamming the amp with different pickups and not tweaking settings.

Too much output can be pretty unfriendly to modellers, too. A buffering pedal of some kind may help with many of these issues (Clean "boost" set below unity gain, for example).

its not just my amp (bias nodded 5150) its other amps too. The blackouts sound good. They just have a different sound than the distortion which I favor

 

[Despair]

Re: patb-3 question

Could be that all the amps you try have similar input behaviors. But that sort of thing is why buffering pedals affect tone in other pedals/amps. Which is often a good thing, except in front of a fuzz face...

Still, if you are used to a particular behavior and have made it a part of your playing style, things that don't behave the same may not do what you want them to do. Whether it's worth adapting or just sticking to what you like and getting better at working with it's quirks is a personal choice.