Tone Crisis

[jlipoth]

A couple years ago, I bought a squire tele showmaster as my second for practices and other places where I didn't want to haul my better guitar around. I particularily enjoyed the tone for the price I paid as it came with the lower end duncan designed pickups with coil tapping wired in and seemed to have higher output. The one thing I wasn't crazy about, was the feel, so this past week I bought an epiphone les paul and swapped the pickups. :smack: I think I've made a huge mistake :no: ! The pickups sounded extremely shrill in the mids and have seem to have lost their edge/output. I tried using them upside down and this helped a bit but I still don't find the sound very playable. I thought the sqiure tele showmaster had a carved top mahogany body, and the les paul I assume has the basic mahogany body with a flame maple top (the top I know for sure) . to get the pickups to fit, I also had to add wiring. What went wrong? Is there a Seymour Duncan Pickup that would be better suited for the les paul that would give me a similar sound? My buddy has a schecter PT custom and I don't mind the sound of that. If I can't get my original sound back, I think I'd be tempted to opt for something like that. As you can probably tell I'm very new to the whole pickup thing, so any help would be greatly appreciated (before I get fed up, burn my guitars and get one of those techno synths to play air supply covers at some casino :no: )

 

[dasfonzie]

Re: Tone Crisis

what model Les Paul is it? also, what are some bands or players that have a tone similar to what you want?

and for love of god... don't go Air Supply on us

 

[jlipoth]

Re: Tone Crisis

It's an Epiphone Les Paul Standard (Plus Top - which is basically flame maple top). The website says the current models have a mahogany/alder body, but the color isn't in the list of available colors. It is a new guitar at the store (I frequent it often). I'm looking for a fairly versatile guitar, but I guess I would say U2, Bon Jovi, Audioslave, Hedly, Switchfoot, and any kind of cover/pop rock. The qualities I particularily liked in the guitar I want to replace this one is that it had a fairly high output and a lot of definition in each string without having a lot of shrill presence. I guess I may have to settle for a mid to lower output to achieve this... ....or do I?

 

[dasfonzie]

Re: Tone Crisis

Well, since it's a darker guitar, and I THINK has 300k pots you could try a JB/Jazz combo (of course everyone recommends that) but the JB should cut thrugh really well.

The only other buckers i've tried are the Invader and th APH1. The Invader kinda sounds what you're looking for but it may be to bassy for your mahogany guitar.

The Custom may be something you want to look into too, maybe a pearly gates in the neck?

 

[jlipoth]

Re: Tone Crisis

Thanks for the advice. I listen to some of the samples on the site, and I'd have to say the my top 3 option are the JB, the Custom Custom and the invader. I think I might try starting with the Custom Custom (which is typically not the best suited for my guitar but I think the sample is what I am looking for) and move from there. If not, I'm almost positive that the good ole JB will work.

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: Tone Crisis

Who said that the CC won't work?

It's a very smooth, warm and thick sounding pickup. Though, it doesn't have that "boomy" bass and harsh mids.

I think you'd like it.

-Erlend

 

[Diego]

Re: Tone Crisis

The CC is very smooth, and has a very fat bass which is cool, but can sound rough and snarly if the player wants it to. Just ask Dave Mustaine. :fingersx: So another vote for the CC here.

Good luck!

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Tone Crisis

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Standard as well. After all the research i've done, it looks like I'll be going with the 59 in the neck & the Duncan Custom in the bridge. I'll keep you posted as to how it sounds. I hope to have this all done in a couple weeks.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Tone Crisis

We need a little more info to go on. Or maybe I missed it -- but what pickups did you replace the stock Epiphones with?

 

[jlipoth]

Re: Tone Crisis

I'm not sure myself. I've e-mailed the company and am waiting for a reply. the undersides have mmh-f and mmh-r on them.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Tone Crisis

PG set - classic paf tone with a little extra mojo. Let the amp do the rest of the work

 

[jlipoth]

Re: Tone Crisis

I put the stock pickups back in to my guitar so I can play it until I can install some other pickups (which will probably be in a couple of weeks). It could be just me, but I think this epiphone les paul is strangely much brighter than the one I had originally purchased 8 years ago and traded away 5 years later. The mid range really seems to be beyond the normal scope for one of these guitars from my experiences with them. The more I play it, the more the idea of try a CC or maybe even an invader. I think I'll go and see what the stores have in stock around here.

 

[jlipoth]

Re: Tone Crisis

I ended up getting a JB and a Jazz neck model. I haven't wired it up yet, but I connected them straight to a jack with clips and so far I am very pleased.

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Tone Crisis

I was thinking of an invader in the bridge position before i figured the custom was the way to go. You have to tell me how it is, if you decide to go that route. I'm really interested in that pickup.