Pickup Replacement - Advice?

[Communist Monk]

Currently have a Samick Ultramatic (pic is in the sig), with two "Duncan Designed" Humbuckers.

I get amazing tone, really warm sounds, but i just cant cut through in band practices and gigs, and end up having to just remedy this with the "Turn it up to 11" (i hope you all get me :laugh2: ).

What do you think is my best solution to this problem? I was thinking that maybe the answer would be to replace the neck with a Custom-3 P90 for a bit more edge, but then maybe that would just mean that i wouldnt be able to reproduce a very wide amount of tones ( humbucker on bridge toning down that treble, singlecoil on neck brightening what's meant to be soft and mellow).

I'm not completely sure what i'm talking about here, so hopefuly you guys can help me out...

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Pickup Replacement - Advice?

Crank your mids up if you need to cut....The guitar is all about mids...If you scoop your mids back too much,you won't cut..Try that first before you spend your money...Sounds like you like your pickups...Tweak your controls on your amp and effects...Seriously...

John

 

[mjsever]

Re: Pickup Replacement - Advice?

Crank your mids up if you need to cut....The guitar is all about mids...If you scoop your mids back too much,you won't cut..Try that first before you spend your money...Sounds like you like your pickups...Tweak your controls on your amp and effects...Seriously...

John

+1

 

[Communist Monk]

Re: Pickup Replacement - Advice?

This i've done, spent nearly a whole 4 hour band practice trying to get the right sound. I've got my mids and treble cranked up, but still having trouble getting a sharp tone.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Pickup Replacement - Advice?

If you need to go brighter, my choice would be a PGn and a C5 at the bridge with a pair of push/pull pots for coil taps.

BTW, killer guitar!

 

[mjsever]

Re: Pickup Replacement - Advice?

This i've done, spent nearly a whole 4 hour band practice trying to get the right sound. I've got my mids and treble cranked up, but still having trouble getting a sharp tone.

I've been there. There was one point where during each practice I'd rush over to my amp and tweak it a little bit after every song or during every break in a song to see if I could get a more cutting tone. After a while the band got a little tired of that, as you could imagine. Plus I couldn't really concentrate on the song because I was too preoccupied with my tone to pay full attention to the notes.

The answer for me was changing my amp. I used to have a Line 6 AX2 (one of their first models) that was a great sounding amp when I was the only guitarist in the band, but when I played with another guitarist I found I got lost. Once I switched to a tube amp, I had no more problems. This may or may not be what's plaguing you, but that was my experience.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Pickup Replacement - Advice?

you can only do so much with pickups if the problem you are trying to fix is volume ... if you like the overall tone of your guitar, you need to find a way to make it louder .. like a more powerful amp

good luck
t4d

 

[Communist Monk]

Re: Pickup Replacement - Advice?

BTW, killer guitar!

Cheers.

The amp is brand new, basically the best amp iI could afford (Though actually It was paid for by parent for getting good exam results). The amp isnt the problem, the other people in the band play on 15Watt combos and 30Watt combos as well (we're all skint, though the singer currently has an original 1960s Burns London Split-Sonic that his Uncle lent him!).

Its not volume thats the problem, I can drown anyone out if I want to, but then they just moan (similarly if i break into an imprompetu improvised slow tremolo solo. Mhm. The problem is getting the edge. The irritating thing is that at similar volumes my guitars sound just doesnt cut through the medley .

Can someone clear up exactly what benjy means by this: "push/pull pots for coil taps"? Cheers (bit new to guitar electronics).

 

[mjsever]

Re: Pickup Replacement - Advice?

Cheers.
Can someone clear up exactly what benjy means by this: "push/pull pots for coil taps"? Cheers (bit new to guitar electronics).

Your Valvetronix should be a great amp to work with, so that's not your problem unless you're using some scooped patch with too much gain.

The push/pull coil tap thing refers to the ability to turn a humbucker into a single coil by pulling up on your volume (or tone) knob. Doing this brightens up and thins out your sound a little bit to make it more distinct and crisp.