Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

[KLINKDETROIT]

I just moved my band into a different rehearsal space so my sense of tone has no reference now as opposed to the room I was in before. I went through alot of tweaking and now just after moving into another room (all masonry block) I started using the BBQ. I dont know if its the room or the pickup but it seems to sound great on my Line 6 POD but when I get it to rehearsal it sounds rounded and dull. Even my tb-6 sounds a little duller in the room as opposed to the other well soundproofed room. I am dumbfounded.


Does anyone else find the BBQ to be lacking in gain or have a dullness? I know its darker than Duncans and that is why I am using a 1 meg pot now. It was darker witht the 500k. Any input????????

 

[gripweed]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

Bump from a Grand Rapidian.
:laugh2:

 

[Jeff5]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

I found it too dark and bassy for my tastes. It didn't give me that top end sizzle or singing lead tones that the JB does. I also didn't find it had a good bottom end crunch for palm mutes. But again that's my set up, I use a very bassy amp, and my guitar is not overly bright. (at least to me) Tonally not a bad pup, just didn't fit the EQ curve I was looking for from a pick up.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

I've never tried one, but from having been in many bands that practiced in basements and other concrete/cinderblock environments, you have to cover the walls as best you can. We used to hang sleeping bags and other thick material form the walls and it made a huge difference.


Jeff

 

[rspst14]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

That one meg pot you're using might have something to do with it, but I suspect it's more an issue with the room you're practicing in.

Ryan

 

[aleclee]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

In your case it's probably the room but I found the BBQ to have a huge mid peak that sounded fat but it also sounded compressed.

Then there was the TX Special I had in the neck that had too much sizzle for me. I couldn't get a decent clean out of the thing.

 

[papersoul]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

I have had that problem with other pickups in particular rooms.....but the BBQ can be dark in the wrong guitar. In the right guitar, it can be one of the fatest and thickest/punchiest pickups you'll hear with a lot of bite and sizzle. To my ears it was fatter than the JB.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

That one meg pot you're using might have something to do with it, but I suspect it's more an issue with the room you're practicing in.

Ryan

If anything a one meg pot would open up the highs even more. I've tried the BBQ and I found it to be seriously lacking in upper harmonics. Very flat and very dark. I had to pass on it. Not my thing.

 

[rspst14]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

If anything a one meg pot would open up the highs even more. I've tried the BBQ and I found it to be seriously lacking in upper harmonics. Very flat and very dark. I had to pass on it. Not my thing.

True, but there comes a point when jacking up the pot value has a negative effect on tone. Personally, for a dark pickup like the BBQ I would order some of those pots from Blackrose that are over spec'd, measuring close to 600k. Then I would rewire with .01 uF caps and the 50's wiring mod. I think 1 meg might be a little too much, but if it works, then why not.

Keep in mind that the BBQ works best in bright to neutral sounding guitars. If you use it in a guitar that is already dark to begin with (like many LP's,) you're asking for a muddy mess.

Ryan

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

True, but there comes a point when jacking up the pot value has a negative effect on tone. Personally, for a dark pickup like the BBQ I would order some of those pots from Blackrose that are over spec'd, measuring close to 600k. Then I would rewire with .01 uF caps and the 50's wiring mod. I think 1 meg might be a little too much, but if it works, then why not.

Keep in mind that the BBQ works best in bright to neutral sounding guitars. If you use it in a guitar that is already dark to begin with (like many LP's,) you're asking for a muddy mess.

Ryan

Of course it has a negative effect on tone but it doesn't become darker sounding. Sorry dude but your never working on my stuff.

 

[papersoul]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

Going to high in value with the BBQ for me would be too harsh! I found the BBQ in my LP worked best with 300k-500k volume pots. My LP has a lot of natural bite so it worked well! It was thick and tight with insane harmonics. Higher pot values will increase or allow the upper mids to stand out and the BBQ has loads of mids and upper mids. This is why I found 500k pots or less to work. Actually the 300k pot was very smooth with the BBQ in my LP. I still had tons of articulation.

 

[rspst14]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

Of course it has a negative effect on tone but it doesn't become darker sounding. Sorry dude but your never working on my stuff.

Exactly where did I say that increasing the pot value would make it darker sounding? That's right, I didn't.

His exact words were that the pickup sounded rounded and dull. My guess is that it's the room he's playing in, but using a one meg pot will alter the natural EQ curve of the pickup, as it was designed by Rio Grande to work best with 500k pots. I was simply suggesting other ways of brightening up the tone without resorting to 1 meg pots.

Ryan

 

[KLINKDETROIT]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

I swapped the magnet to a ceramic in the BBQ and it seemed to give it more edge and brightened it up a bit. I put the alnico 5 from the BBQ in the crunchbox and love it. It puts both pickups in the range of the c5/jb. I wonder if the Mullard gt preamp tubes I have now contribute to the dullness though as I used to use EH preamp tubes. I play a 1994 LP classic goldtop and it is brighter than other LPs but not as bright as a Fender so i see how the BBQ would be great in a twangy bright guitar. I am still on the fence about the 1 meg pot. I could not find any info on BLackrose? Any links available? Thanks

 

[rspst14]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

Ryan's helped me out several times in the past. His pm's have been long, detailed and very helpful. I offered him a pup for taking so much of his time responding back and he refused.

I wouldn't hesitate to have him work on my stuff if he was in my area. He's a stand-up guy and your a jerk-off.

Now why dont you take your 1 meg pot and shove it.

Thanks for the testimonial, but it's no big deal. I think he just misread my post, that's all. I don't think he meant any ill will.

Ryan

 

[KLINKDETROIT]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

The Mullard tubes have a little to do with the rounded gain. I found that having 2 EH tubes in #2 & #3 helped. I will be putting the ceramic back in the Crunchbox to see what it does as well.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

There's no ill will towards Ryan. I did misread his post and I was messin' with him a little.

Fritz, lighten up Francis. You seem to be the only one with a problem here. If Ryan had an issue he would have said so either in the thread or via PM and we would have settled it like adults.

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Rio BBQ. Does anyone find it to have a dull, rounded gain?

I did not like the BBQ in 4 of my guitars, my 95 LP standard (definitely not a dark guitar), a fat strat, a warmoth walnut fat strat and finally my PRS-like 24 fret tele-gib. In none of them I got what I wanted. It was dark, but had too much uppermids which was making it a very non-smooth pickup. I think I gave them more than enough chance, before going back to PGs and C5s.

B