Ball&Chain
Active member
Several months back, I decided I wanted to try some coil splitting on my DK2 with the stock JB/Jazz combo. I didn’t feel like drilling an extra hole to accommodate the toggle switch and I didn’t feel like ordering a push/pull pot, so my solution was to remove the tone knob and replace it with the mini toggle I already had.
I got everything wired in and the coil split seemed to work fine.
A couple months ago, I decided it was time to invest in a cheapo amp since I had nothing and my main source of audible practice was through my Line 6 UX1. I ended up with a 30 watt peavey vypyr I snagged for about 100 bucks at Sam Ash. I didn’t try it out a lot at the store, but thought it sounded more than adequate for what I wanted and for the price.
It was maybe a couple weeks later that I got the opportunity to put the amp through its paces. I get maybe a couple hours a week when the wife and kids are out and I can turn up an amp just a bit. Well, I wasn’t really happy. The tone seemed pretty weak and fizzy with a somewhat spongy sound I tend to associate with a fender strat. The tone was thin and there was this harsh High end I couldn’t seem to dial out and the gain wasn’t enough unless I added a stomp box overdrive effect which made it sound worse. I could at least get a usable tone by cutting the mids and treble quite a bit, so I was thinking, what do you expect for a cheap modeling amp.
On to the next amp. A couple weeks ago, I traded the vypyr for a decent tube amp. The first thing I noticed when plugging it at home was the complete lack of gain again. Luckily I purchased an overdrive pedal, but I could swear I got more gain out of it at the store than that. My next thought was, OK the guitar you used to try it out was an ESP loaded with EMG’s. How much of a difference is there? So, now I’m thinking the JB must not quite have the output of the EMG’s, but the JB is still supposed to be a high output pickup. So, I start looking at pickup height. Sure enough, the pickups are a bit low, so I raise them a little. Output seems a little better, but not much more if any gain improvement. What I do really notice is the pickups are both now really muddy with much less clarity. I’m also hearing these nasty overtones, especially on notes played at half step intervals.
So, I put the pickups back down and I played around with the amp some more and realize I’m hearing that same thin, harsh, spongy tone I had with the vypyr. Next I’m thinking, 2 amps doing the same thing, it’s got to be something with the guitar. It must be the mod I did several months ago, but why am I getting a nice tone through the UX1 this whole time? No harshness or spongy thin sound at all. The thing I did notice with the UX1 was the nasty overtones when I raise the pickups.
Anyway, I decide to take the coil split mod out of the equation, so I remove the toggle from the signal path and wire the guitar up using the schematic for a 2 pickup, 1 volume, and 3-way switch configuration found here. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_3w
All the connections are good; everything works, but no change otherwise when I test it out. Same old sound. Sounds fine through the UX1 but through the Amp, just awful. So I open the guitar again, check the volume pot to see if I can identify what it is. It’s an alpha 500k. Not a CTS, but should suffice. So, my next step is to put the guitar back to how it was originally. So I pull up this schematic. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_1t_3w
One thing I do notice is the guitar is factory wired with the green/bare wires on both pickups grounded to the 3-way switch. It shouldn’t make a difference, but I moved those to ground on the tone pot instead. I wired the tone pot back in according to the schematic, put the guitar back together and set it aside because we had company arriving, So I had to wait till later to check and see if the wiring job works.
So, last night I test. I can’t use the amp because the wife and kids have gone to bed, so I hook up to the UX1. Both pickups work. 3-way switch works and the tone knob works.
First thing I notice is I need to turn down the gain some, so alright, now the output must be back to where it should be. Now I’m noticing the tone is better overall as well. It never really sounded thin through the UX1 even before, but now it was definitely noticeably thicker. So, I raise the pickup back up and try some of the half step hammer ons that always bring out the nasty overtones with the pickups raised. They aren’t there. Now even the overall sustain of the guitar seems better. I haven’t tried the amp yet, but I have a feeling I’m going to see an improvement, which will lead me to the question. Alright, what was the problem? The only difference now is the tone knob and moving the ground connection. Surly a tone knob is not going to add output and clarity? Moving the ground connection? I can’t see it making a difference, though I guess a good way to find out would be to take the tone knob out again and ground the green/bare wires to the volume pot. I dunno, I was playing around with the tone knob a bit last night and was finding it useful, so I’m thinking its staying for now.
I’m not familiar with what other effect different wiring schemes has on the output and tone, so I’m not sure what exactly was going on. Out of phase maybe? Not sure how. Both pickups had the black wires to the 3-way, green/bare to ground and the red/white wired soldered together and covered up as per the schem.
I got everything wired in and the coil split seemed to work fine.
A couple months ago, I decided it was time to invest in a cheapo amp since I had nothing and my main source of audible practice was through my Line 6 UX1. I ended up with a 30 watt peavey vypyr I snagged for about 100 bucks at Sam Ash. I didn’t try it out a lot at the store, but thought it sounded more than adequate for what I wanted and for the price.
It was maybe a couple weeks later that I got the opportunity to put the amp through its paces. I get maybe a couple hours a week when the wife and kids are out and I can turn up an amp just a bit. Well, I wasn’t really happy. The tone seemed pretty weak and fizzy with a somewhat spongy sound I tend to associate with a fender strat. The tone was thin and there was this harsh High end I couldn’t seem to dial out and the gain wasn’t enough unless I added a stomp box overdrive effect which made it sound worse. I could at least get a usable tone by cutting the mids and treble quite a bit, so I was thinking, what do you expect for a cheap modeling amp.
On to the next amp. A couple weeks ago, I traded the vypyr for a decent tube amp. The first thing I noticed when plugging it at home was the complete lack of gain again. Luckily I purchased an overdrive pedal, but I could swear I got more gain out of it at the store than that. My next thought was, OK the guitar you used to try it out was an ESP loaded with EMG’s. How much of a difference is there? So, now I’m thinking the JB must not quite have the output of the EMG’s, but the JB is still supposed to be a high output pickup. So, I start looking at pickup height. Sure enough, the pickups are a bit low, so I raise them a little. Output seems a little better, but not much more if any gain improvement. What I do really notice is the pickups are both now really muddy with much less clarity. I’m also hearing these nasty overtones, especially on notes played at half step intervals.
So, I put the pickups back down and I played around with the amp some more and realize I’m hearing that same thin, harsh, spongy tone I had with the vypyr. Next I’m thinking, 2 amps doing the same thing, it’s got to be something with the guitar. It must be the mod I did several months ago, but why am I getting a nice tone through the UX1 this whole time? No harshness or spongy thin sound at all. The thing I did notice with the UX1 was the nasty overtones when I raise the pickups.
Anyway, I decide to take the coil split mod out of the equation, so I remove the toggle from the signal path and wire the guitar up using the schematic for a 2 pickup, 1 volume, and 3-way switch configuration found here. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_3w
All the connections are good; everything works, but no change otherwise when I test it out. Same old sound. Sounds fine through the UX1 but through the Amp, just awful. So I open the guitar again, check the volume pot to see if I can identify what it is. It’s an alpha 500k. Not a CTS, but should suffice. So, my next step is to put the guitar back to how it was originally. So I pull up this schematic. http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_1t_3w
One thing I do notice is the guitar is factory wired with the green/bare wires on both pickups grounded to the 3-way switch. It shouldn’t make a difference, but I moved those to ground on the tone pot instead. I wired the tone pot back in according to the schematic, put the guitar back together and set it aside because we had company arriving, So I had to wait till later to check and see if the wiring job works.
So, last night I test. I can’t use the amp because the wife and kids have gone to bed, so I hook up to the UX1. Both pickups work. 3-way switch works and the tone knob works.
First thing I notice is I need to turn down the gain some, so alright, now the output must be back to where it should be. Now I’m noticing the tone is better overall as well. It never really sounded thin through the UX1 even before, but now it was definitely noticeably thicker. So, I raise the pickup back up and try some of the half step hammer ons that always bring out the nasty overtones with the pickups raised. They aren’t there. Now even the overall sustain of the guitar seems better. I haven’t tried the amp yet, but I have a feeling I’m going to see an improvement, which will lead me to the question. Alright, what was the problem? The only difference now is the tone knob and moving the ground connection. Surly a tone knob is not going to add output and clarity? Moving the ground connection? I can’t see it making a difference, though I guess a good way to find out would be to take the tone knob out again and ground the green/bare wires to the volume pot. I dunno, I was playing around with the tone knob a bit last night and was finding it useful, so I’m thinking its staying for now.
I’m not familiar with what other effect different wiring schemes has on the output and tone, so I’m not sure what exactly was going on. Out of phase maybe? Not sure how. Both pickups had the black wires to the 3-way, green/bare to ground and the red/white wired soldered together and covered up as per the schem.
Last edited:
