Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

[Fred0]

Hi all,

I just bought myself a lovely Hagstrom Viking recently and took it out for a spin I quickly changed the strings to suit my taste and tuning, a medium baritone gauge string set 68 for bottom string and Drop B tuning. I play through a variety of pedals (an eq pedal as well) and a th100 paired with an Orange V30 loaded 4x12.
Unfortunately, or more likely very understandably, the sound it produced a sound that is waaaaay too bass-y for my genre (hardcore/mathcore/metal). Can you suggest pickups or tricks I could employ to clean up that muddy low end?

I don't have a budget in the sense I am up for buying reasonably expensive pickups (300 dollars both neck and bridge tops though I reckon). Used is an option but I'm not going to hope for a good pickup set to fall from the sky! New is probably the best bet


• The set up was amateurish at best so the action is waaaay to high (that might be part of the problem, not sure) and the guitar nut needs to be replaced
• EMG 81/60 and Seymour Duncan Distortion are the runner ups at this time but DEFO open to suggestions.
• In terms of genre and bands, well, anything that can be assimilated in the Mathcore (the chariot, the armed, dillinger, Norma jean) subgenre or Converge.
• PLS no hating on the idea of playing heavy stuff on a semi-hollow.

 

[CaptainWhizz]

Re: Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

I was looking at videos of the Dimebucker recently, and that seems to make bottom-end disappear?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

Welcome to the forum!

A semi hollow is going to have a ton of bass and mids at that gain level and tuning, so any sort of pickup that has a weaker bass would be a good idea. I am surprised your guitar isn't feeding back uncontrollably at those gain levels, though.

 

[Fred0]

Re: Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

I was looking at videos of the Dimebucker recently, and that seems to make bottom-end disappear?

Mh according to the Seymour Duncan's website it has tight bass response but then the chart proceeds to say the pickup has more bass than mids?! :33::33::33::33::33:

 

[Fred0]

Re: Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

Welcome to the forum!

A semi hollow is going to have a ton of bass and mids at that gain level and tuning, so any sort of pickup that has a weaker bass would be a good idea. I am surprised your guitar isn't feeding back uncontrollably at those gain levels, though.

Thanks to that old friend of mine the NC-2 I have next to 0 feedback so that issue is manageable at this point in time... Any suggestions on which pickup to look for? In the passive department it seems that the Distortion has a low bass profile... I am up for actives and all sorts really.

Just gotta get that axe in tip top shape it looks soooo good and so out of place for the genre I play which I love!!

 

[VinceT]

Re: Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

Check out Railhammer pickups - they do a great job of tightening the bass.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jeremy]

Re: Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

that seems like an odd choice for a drop b metal guitar. short scale + semi hollow + harp tailpiece = not geared towards detuning and lots of gain. you are fighting an uphill battle for sure but that doesnt mean you cant get closer to what you want.

do you use both tone controls? would you be willing to switch to a master passive treble bass system, meaning one knob removes treble and the other removes bass. you can fine tune the frequencies by changing cap values.

im sure you need a new nut due to string size and the added tension of the heavy strings means im sure the neck and bridge need adjustment but youd have to do that on most guitars. the high action shouldnt cause the muddiness but itll be a heck of a lot easier to play after a good setup

 

[Mincer]

Re: Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

Thanks to that old friend of mine the NC-2 I have next to 0 feedback so that issue is manageable at this point in time... Any suggestions on which pickup to look for? In the passive department it seems that the Distortion has a low bass profile... I am up for actives and all sorts really.

Just gotta get that axe in tip top shape it looks soooo good and so out of place for the genre I play which I love!!

I say if you are going to do it, do it right, Go for the Distortion.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

Yep.....semihollows lose out on the tight bass and also have a muted top-end as well. Great for Jazz/rock/blues but less ideal for the more punchy styles.

That doesn't mean you cannot do what you want however. You might have to look for your own version of the tone though - never a bad thing of course.

For mine the parallel axis line might just be your thing. They seem to never mush out with high gain which will help. There is a Distortion bridge version too.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Semi Hollow Drop B mud pickup dilemma

Black Winters. Clean and even. They become whatever your amp makes out of them.