Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

[Rabelais]

I love my Super Distortion/PAF Pro combo, but I would like to know how can I make it scream (more than it already does).

1) I could get a quality 500k volume pot, and bypass the tone pot and capacitor. Many Metal guitarists do that, but I’m not sure how it will affect the output/overall tone. I play with everything wide open anyway.

2) I could get a quality 1 mega ohm volume pot, and as far as I’m concerned, it will make everything louder and brighter.

3) I could replaoce my current volume pot with a Blackouts modular preamp, and as far as I’m concerned, this will turn my pickups into Blackouts (that might be or might not be a good thing).

I would appreciate your opinions.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

Get a clean boost pedal.

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[Mincer]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

Yeah, a clean boost pedal is the key here. Same tone, just hitting the amp harder. Here is a suggestion.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

I'll throw in a recommendation for the Keeley Katana.

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[Chistopher]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

The pickup set you have isn't really designed to scream. Make noise? Yes. Push an amp into distortion? Yes. "Scream"? Not so much.

To me, for a pickup to scream it has to fit certain requirements. It has to be high output. It has to have clear and strong harmonics. It has to have a cutting upper mid edge.

One of the best pickups for this application is the JB, especially if you are playing in a situation in which you risk getting caught being lost behind other instruments such as a loud drummer or certain types of singers. An excellent neck match would a 59n or Sentient to make an excellent all around rock machine.

 

[Rabelais]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

Ok. Maybe I should correct myself. I’d love to get more distortion out of my current set so that’s why I’m considering these options. I don’t know if the SD pickup booster would help me get more disrtortion than my current Boss SD-1

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

An EMG Afterburner would definitely give you some distortion. If you go that way you could hard wire it to be always on without a switch to turn it off.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

1 meg volume with 500k no load tone? Why not. It will let more hair thru.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

I've been dealing with this issue for a while now. Are you certain that you want more distortion? More is not necessarily better. A clean boost will give you more of what you like, and punch through a mix better. The Keeley has a top boost option, which will, as it says, boost the top end even more than just the clean boost.

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[justFred]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

Put one of these in a PRS with APIIs and it does make a screamer when dimed...fits easily into o the control cavity-
http://www.muzique.com/tech/module2.htm

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

^^Can that replace a volume pot or is it just a boost?

 

[Demanic]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

^^Can that replace a volume pot or is it just a boost?

SD makes something called the BMP: Blackout Modular Pre-amp. It replaces your volume control and basically makes your pickups active. I think that it only works with 4 conductor pickups.

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[VinceT]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

+1 for a clean boost, though I’d add to look for one that includes a Treble Boost option.


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[BriGuy1968]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

Thumb screws… they’ll make ANYTHING scream! [emoji33]



Seriously though, I’m going to give another “plus one“ to the clean boost. Demanic made a great point when he said that more distortion is not necessarily what you may be looking for. Many times it just creates more “mush“ when you really just want more gaIn.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

Ok. Maybe I should correct myself. I’d love to get more distortion out of my current set so that’s why I’m considering these options. I don’t know if the SD pickup booster would help me get more disrtortion than my current Boss SD-1

What amp are you going through? And how are you setting the SD-1?

 

[Jacew]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

If you want it really scream, treble booster would be more fitting than clean boost. If it gets too hairy, you can put passive volume in front of it to add load.

I use than combination with singlecoils and it works beatifully.

 

[Diego]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

I genuinely don't understand what "scream" means in this context. And I own lots of high output pickups.

I've owned a Super Distortion for less than a week now, and it's as aggressive as it gets. Abrassive, powerful, thick but far from muddy or congested.
Frankly, I'd look at the rest of your setup. Maybe share a clip with us and we might guide you a bit around?

 

[Gtrjunior]

Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

“To me, for a pickup to scream it has to fit certain requirements. It has to be high output. It has to have clear and strong harmonics. It has to have a cutting upper mid “


This exactly describes the Super Distortion pickup. I have one in my Les Paul and IMO it screams.


I’d also suggest a clean boost. My personal favorite is the BB Preamp. No tone coloration and if you get the “Comp” version you can adjust the level of compression.

 

[Rabelais]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

What amp are you going through? And how are you setting the SD-1?

Orange Micro Dark with the shape knob on the scooped side of things. Gain knob maxed. SD-1: volume maxed, gain at 8:00, tone at noon. It helps to tighten things up, but I’ve tried the amp with an EMG bridge pup and it’s so much easier to get chugs with it. Maybe the guitar’s wiring components are not the very best.

 

[Rabelais]

Re: Please tell me how can I make my current Humbuckers scream

I genuinely don't understand what "scream" means in this context. And I own lots of high output pickups.

I've owned a Super Distortion for less than a week now, and it's as aggressive as it gets. Abrassive, powerful, thick but far from muddy or congested.
Frankly, I'd look at the rest of your setup. Maybe share a clip with us and we might guide you a bit around?

The Super Distortion is a tried and true product, used for virtually everything from Jazz rock to Death Metal. The Micro Dark has plenty of gain, but it’s far, fuzzy and a bit loose. And of course the wiring components might not be the best.