Very disappointed with SD

[Deny]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

Bass you owe me a monitor cleaning lolololol

Try using small rubber or nylon bushings between the pickup legs and the body. I would also try using some soft foam to fill the cavities under the pickups, use something like the type of foam that pickups come shipped in. I can't believe it isn't related to vibration so I would do everything I could to eliminate it, as long as you like the sound of the pickups otherwise.

With the exception of the new custom shop guitar, which is brand new, with all my other guitars I make sure there's enough polyurethane foam between the pickup baseplate and the body for the direct-mount ones, I have a few blocks of foam I keep for this purpose.

Anyway I've just ordered a PAF Pro (bridge) and a PAF Joe (neck) for the new guitar, let's see if that gets the issue fixed.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

Have the amp settings been adjusted at all vs. the problem free, lower output pickups that you have?

Have you attempted to dial the squeal out by lowering the gain and/or boost?

A JB and a Distortion are going to "want" different amp settings than a Fred and a Super Distortion.

Do these two Duncans mount any differently than your problem free pickups, and/or are they in different styles of guitars? Are all pickups in the conversation short legged?

And again...tone clips, please.

 

[Deny]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

Have the amp settings been adjusted at all vs. the problem free, lower output pickups that you have?

Have you attempted to dial the squeal out by lowering the gain and/or boost?

A JB and a Distortion are going to "want" different amp settings than a Fred and a Super Distortion.

Do these two Duncans mount any differently than your problem free pickups, and/or are they in different styles of guitars? Are all pickups in the conversation short legged?

And again...tone clips, please.

I am going to simply replace the Duncans in the new guitar with a pair of DiMarzios and see what happens. I don't get it, why do you want tone clips? I can't think of anything useful about uncontrolled feedback vs silence. BTW, JB isn't louder than Fred (Distortion is).

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

I am going to simply replace the Duncans in the new guitar with a pair of DiMarzios and see what happens. I don't get it, why do you want tone clips? I can't think of anything useful about uncontrolled feedback vs silence. BTW, JB isn't louder than Fred (Distortion is).

I ask for clips to hear how much gain you have, rather than just hearing you say it's not a huge amount.

The JB certainly is a higher output pickup than the Fred. It just has a different e.q., so it isn't as cutting. It's a swampier tone, but it definitely hits harder.

And again, are you using exactly the same amp settings as with the non squeally pickups? You shouldn't be.

 

[chadd]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

Anyway I've just ordered a PAF Pro (bridge) and a PAF Joe (neck) for the new guitar, let's see if that gets the issue fixed.

Those are a lot lower output than the Duncan pickups. When they solve the problem, chalk it up to that and not the brand.

 

[freefrog]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

Before anyone asks if I'm using a huge amount of gain, I'm not, it's an AX8 and the patch is a plexi with a mild boost in front

What comes to my mind is some parasitic resonance between the pickups evoked and a frequency promoted by the modeling rig.

I've used during several years digital modelers plugged in a supposedly "neutral" monitor ("FRFR" or "full range flat response"): there was often a kind of high pitched "veil" going on, along with a "comb filtering" which forced me to EQ the rig unlike my usual amps - the paradox being that I had to apply a strong reEQing to obtain an "amp like" sound able to cut the mix. It worked "in the room"... but once the cab miked on axis, the layers of comb filtered frequencies remained noticeable, even when the EQing had been corrected.

I see intuitively how it could have generated a high-pitched oscillation with some powerful pickups while other pickups with a mellower tone and/or more "compression" would have been immune to it.

EDIT for an example illustrating what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNuJvdKda-M [Record each tone, pass each sample through a frequency analyzer and watch what happens: the two FRFR's boost narrowly some high frequencies... For instance, they spit approximatively + 6dB @ 4500hz than the regular amp or modeler through guitar cab... That's enough IMHO to push a PU to squeal while it wouldn't have done it through a regular amp.]


FOOTNOTE to put this answer in perspective - My way to check if pickups squeal is to crank up my 50 W Marshall amp and to stand next to it. Among the 47 pickups from 19 brands that I've currently in guitars here, most don't squeal, even when they are unpotted... and/or even when they're Duncan (LOL). But I can force my only axe with a DiMarzio Super Dist to squeal if I want it to. It’s really not a question of brand IME...

…And among the solutions against squealing, there’s also Teflon plumber tape, BTW: wrapping in it the screw poles of a P90 was once the only way for me to make this PU “squealing free”.

FWIW. Good luck!

 

[Bowtomecha]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

Was the pickup squealing before you opened up the pickup to flip the magnet?

 

[Aceman]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

I have a new theory...but I'm gonna withhold for a minute or two....but I think I definitely know what the problem is.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

Several guys in this thread have used multiple stock Distortions and JBs from across more than 30 years of production and not had this experience. The only common elements in the issue here are:

1. You took the baseplate off to turn the magnet
2. You repotted the pickup

If you just put the pickups in without modification, I think you would have a valid point. But you messed with the pickups notably before experiencing the issue. Problems that arise after those kinds of modifications are not Duncan’s fault.

You could have ordered the pickup RWRP. You could also have sent the pickup back to Duncan for the modification. In those cases it would be covered. But if you disassemble the pickup and do it yourself, then it’s your work and you are pretty much on your own to troubleshoot it. It‘ll be the same if you tear up a DiMarzio also.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

seems like the higher output of the duncans might be the issue. if the pup is thoroughly potted then it shouldnt be the pup

 

[Mincer]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

It almost sounds like a gain-staging issue. The Duncans just push it over the top due to the output. I've heard this kind of squealing with too much gain hitting the preamp before.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

Still holding my tongue....

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

l
1. You took the baseplate off to turn the magnet
2. You repotted the pickup

I somehow missed this!

I’d say taking the baseplate off might be related.

Also you don’t have to flip the magnet. You get switch the wiring around.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

I was also curious as to the details when I heard the OP say he or she re-potted the pickup.

But was all this stuff done to the new JB as well? Or was it just on the older Distortion.

Personally, it sounds to me like he's playing with a lot more distortion/gain than he might think. Many people's definition of "just a little crunch" is tainted by having grown up listening to EGBR*. And the higher output Duncans are not interacting well with this. He won't say whether he has tweaked his "amp" (which is not even a typical amp, FWIW) settings to accommodate the higher output pickups that are e.q.d differently. He denies that a JB is hotter than a Fred. He won't post an example of his tone so we can see how much distortion he's got going. His amp settings that he posted sound very gainy to me**. Add in the fact that he says he has repotted his pickup, with few details. E.g. How was it repotted? At home, or by a pro? If at home, using what techniques, equipment, and supplies? Then there is his whole twisted logic that this is somehow based on brand, rather than some actual physical element at work. It's just a mess, and there will obviously be no talking sense into this person.

So, I think it's pushing to try to keep up with a loud band by using too much dirt, and not accounting for throwing hotter pickups into the same rig with the same settings...plus perhaps some problematic mods to at lest one of the pickups.

But one thing we can be sure of: a wild, uncontrolled screaming pickup is going to make all those Bon Jovi covers sound a whole lot better than Bon Jovi ever did them!





* Extremely Gainy Butt Rock

** "The patch I'm using in the AX8 is: FAS Boost (drive 1, volume 6) -> Plexi 100W (normal gain 5, bright gain 8.3, boost on, cut on, fat on)"...and then he's got all that piping through a 600 watt powered P.A. speaker with a horn.

 

[Deny]

Re: Very disappointed with SD

At this point this thread has become less than useful, i see people passing judgement without even reading the thread and giving no constructive input other than "Seymour Duncan is awesome, everything they do is perfect, you are an idiot, you are wrong". That's fine, I'm closing the thread, no point in wasting my time and yours. For the record, I was genuinely looking for insight and sharing experiences, but found very little of that here - thanks to the ones who did contribute, you know who you are. Goodbye!