Snarly Les Paul

[InbredJunk]

I have a les paul studio that has an over abundance of high mids. Has that cocked wah tone no matter the pickup that's in it. I've lived with it just fine until now. Ive joined a band that do alot of different covers, and I find myself in need of a smoother, well rounded sound, and the emg 57/66 set isn't doing it very well.

I play metal, and the characteristics that the emgs have suit my needs perfectly for that genre. But they dont lend themselves very well to early 90s grunge, or stuff like muse, wolfmother, ect.

I play through a 5150 2x12 combo, and I use a line 6 podhd500x for effects via the 4 cable method.

I think I'm needing something a bit smoother on top with a bigger bottom end?


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[InbredJunk]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

I've only tried a burstbucker pro/490r, fluence moderns, emg 81/85 and emg 57/66. All of which accentuate the snarly high mid, cocked wah sound. The fluence moderns most accentuating, and the emg 57/66 the least

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[Aceman]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

Heavy heavy mid guitar - any pup.

Well, the unfortunate issue here is you have identified the culprit: It's the guitar. So you can bandaid the situation as much as possible, but until you get rid of the guitar you are not gonna be satisfied.

However - have you tried a Custom 5? If not, you should. If you have - give up on the pups, EQ's etc. As for the top end - that what the tone knob is for. Try it at 7.2 for an approximation of a 250k pot - but Gibson may already have 300k's in it.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

i agree, the custom 5 has a good amount of output but not a lot of mids and could be just what you need. obviously youll need to swap the pots to go back to passive

 

[InbredJunk]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

I love the guitar to death. It is my holy grail of metal guitars, tone wise, I just wish I could make it sound more balanced so I could pull off other genres of music as well. Aceman, I agree, I knew it would be a long shot to get the mellower tone with this guitar. It cuts so well in the mix. I will try adjusting the tone and volume to see if I can get by for now, but it looks like I may be guitar hunting soon. I havent tried a custom 5 in this guitar, and it does sound intriguing.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[InbredJunk]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

On a side note, do any of you have a super mid heavy les paul? What genres are you using them for? Mine works well in a 2 guitar band, I'm finding it's not so great in a 3 piece.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[Aceman]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

I love the guitar to death. It is my holy grail of metal guitars, tone wise, I just wish...

See - that's your heart talking. If you are saying "I wish" it really isn't your metal holy grail. Gotta let go man. Sometimes it just isn't right...sad, but it happens.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

59s, or even the Alpha/Omega set will stop that honk from honkin' on.

 

[InbredJunk]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

See - that's your heart talking. If you are saying "I wish" it really isn't your metal holy grail. Gotta let go man. Sometimes it just isn't right...sad, but it happens.

Cant do it man. It was stamped the day I got married. The wife says if I get rid of it, our marriage is doomed lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[Mark Le Comte]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

IMO, if you are primarily a metal guy and love the guitar for metal then its a keeper. You either need to tweak the amp/pod or get another guitar.

First thing I would experiment with is the way you are running the amp and pod. You say you are using the pod for effects, try bypassing the 5150 preamp and using the pod for preamp models as well. 5150 is very metal sounding so this might give you enough variety to grunge it up a bit. Try something quite different, say a fender bassman or twin first, then add some fuzz.

You could also try something like a 10 band eq to give more range for shaping the tone profile.

 

[BluesIsBlood12]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

If you think it's perfect for metal then keep it as is and just play metal with it. Bring a 2nd guitar for other genres. You'll have a hard time trying to get 1 guitar/amp to be great at all things.

 

[chris effect]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

Definitely try the Custom or Custom 5. Or even the Omega / Alpha set

I love the SH6 in my les paul but there is a hint of that cocked wah sound depending on how I dial in the amp. It's good for the chuggy & thrashy stuff though.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

I can’t help but wonder if other guitars would have the same problem through that same amp and rig and settings you are using. My studio isn’t that dramatic on high mids, in fact the chambering makes it just a touch brighter and snappy and not as mid heavy as my LP Standard. I’m surprised several different actives are accentuating the issue.

Black Winters flatten out a mid peak in Les Pauls, though they don’t excel at vintage character if needed. Pearly, Custom, even a Distortion set or 500T/496R set would even things out but still have some character. The latter Gibson set might still have a touch of some mid peak to it. The other Duncans are pretty easy on the ears IME in my LP Studio through Marshall’s and Fenders and VOXs.

 

[InbredJunk]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

I can’t help but wonder if other guitars would have the same problem through that same amp and rig and settings you are using. My studio isn’t that dramatic on high mids, in fact the chambering makes it just a touch brighter and snappy and not as mid heavy as my LP Standard. I’m surprised several different actives are accentuating the issue.

Black Winters flatten out a mid peak in Les Pauls, though they don’t excel at vintage character if needed. Pearly, Custom, even a Distortion set or 500T/496R set would even things out but still have some character. The latter Gibson set might still have a touch of some mid peak to it. The other Duncans are pretty easy on the ears IME in my LP Studio through Marshall’s and Fenders and VOXs.

I play a jackson king v through it and it is the opposite. Way more scooped sounding.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[speed2dirt]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

Look into replacing the nut & bridge/tailpiece with Graph Tech. I put a Tusq XL nut and Resomax NVS/NVT on my Les Paul '70s Tribute and it smoothed the tone out. It is a bright guitar as it's supposed to be with minibuckers and a maple neck, but the tone vastly improved. Graph Tech has different saddles depending on whether you want to keep the bite of metal or go a little mellower with their string savers.

 

[bloughlin16]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

The Omega or Custom 5 would definitely help you out there. The Omega is going to sound a little more focused in the mids, while the Custom 5 will sound a little more open.

 

[LonePhantom]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

An earlier member posted, but adjusting the mids via an eq setting on your POD, or just adding a 10 band eq pedal would be the simplest way to deal with the issue. That way you can still get your metal tones, but you can hit the eq pedal for more rounded tones when required.

 

[audiocheck]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

how about an A4 59 in the bridge?

How is the neck tone? Do you need to dehonk that as well? I actually like the cocked wah tone on the neck. A PGn would probably be great.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

FWIW a 59b/A4 in my LP Studio just sounded like a nicer A2Pro. I don’t believe it would eliminate a strong mid-bump if that is what the guitar has. Might need something with more of a scoop to it.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Snarly Les Paul

I have a poplar Music Man that is all mids. The Custom 5/Jazz combo smoothed it out. There are still more mids than any other guitar I own, but it is absolutely usable now, where as before it certainly wasn't.