Blue burst LP is basically done! Update - Better pics!

[hannaugh]

I've seen that crap video, and my guitar sounds nothing like that.  I'm having fun with it, I just have to turn the treble up on the amp sometimes to get the articulation that I want.  Now that I'm more familiar with the quirks, I think the pups are functioning fine.  Someone with more electrical experience than I might be able to make them sound better (and more um... guitar playing experince I'm sure), but I can have fun with them for a while before I move on to splitable buckers. 

I spent an hour this morning recording some samples.  I'll see if I can get them presentable by this evening.  I was going to record a bunch on Easter, but unfortunately my back went out.  :sad:

So far I have recorded some clean stuff and some heavy distortion.  I am using borrowed mics, which I have to give back today, but I can probably get them back soon for some more recording fun.  Tonight I'll see if I can record with just the stuff that I have (which isn't as nice), and I'll compare.  I'm curious to see how the line in is going to sound compared to micing it. 

I've been listening to the recordings, and unfortunately they don't really sound like what it sounds like in person.  But if I play with the tracks a little, I think I might be able to get it pretty close.  I also took pics of the settings on my amp, which I will post along with the clips. 

Here's a crazy thing though: I went to my friend's house last night to record her drumming, and I took my Paul and my Roland Micro Cube, and I cranked it up... and the guitar actually stood up to the drums.  Her family was scattered throughout the house, and they said you could easily hear the guitar when she was drumming.  I didn't even have it on full blast either.  I think that's pretty impressive for a tiny amp that runs on freakin' batteries. 

Anywho, I will try to get the clips up and running tonight or tomorrow.

And btw, we started writing a cowboy song last night... about a cowboy going grocery shopping.

 

[Mor Paul]

Grocery shopping cowboy?

Sounds interesting.

 

[dbw]

And btw, we started writing a cowboy song last night... about a cowboy going grocery shopping.

...and what, you're still tweaking it?  Come on Hannaugh, it's a song about a grocery-shopping cowboy, not Beethoven's 9th.  :icon_biggrin:

Okay back to the tone.  Tim and Orpheo are right that 500K pots makes for a brighter sound.  Changing the value of the cap changes the RANGE of frequencies the tone knob works on... the bigger the cap, the wider the range.  Put a big 1uf cap in there and you'll roll off *all* the frequencies!  Put a tiny 100pf cap in there and the knob won't do anything.

 

[hannaugh]

Well, when I say we started writing it, I mean I came up with an opening riff and my friend said "That should be a song about a cowboy," and I said "Yes, a cowboy going grocery shopping,".  Then she said "Yes, and a showdown for the last box of Lucky Charms."

But that was just as I was packing up to leave (it was late), so we didn't really run with it.  But next time, for sure. 

 

[GoDrex]

I just want to say that I just tried an Alnico II Pro in my LP bridge position and dang if it ain't like golden honey classic rock chewy Slash goodness. I highly recommend it.  :laughing7:  Seriously it might end up staying in this guitar indefinitely.

OK back to cowboy and leprechaun songs. :icon_thumright:

 

[hannaugh]

Okay, so I'm still working on those clips. 

Here's the first one.  This is with the treble turned up to about 8 on my amp and to 8 or so on my guitar, and I believe this was in the neck pup.  I added a little reverb to it with Cubase. 

I'll hopefully have more ready soon.  I'm experimenting to see if line in sampling sounds better than sticking a condenser mic in front of my Micro Cube. 

 

[hannaugh]

Here's a line in clip.  Basically the same settings as before, but I ran a line directly into my computer to record.  I think the notes sound better, but there is a tiny bit of a crackle from running cables.  Grr.

 

[hannaugh]

Another clean example.  I realized you guys might want to hear what chords sound like on this setup.

BTW, this is a very simple mono recording done with a Tascam 144, so keep that in mind.

 

[Orpheo]

I don't mean to pry, but I really wish to hear this guitar, but with the tonepots disconnected. just to make sure the tonepots aren't the problem of the lack of treble detail. but I really dig the sound though! nice playing!

also, I am very curious how they would hold up with heavy metal. I am thinking of putting the singlecoil version of these, next to 3 trisonics (to make that 3humbucker look, and a bit nigel tufnel thrown in!), and if they don't to heavy metal well, I don't have any use for them...

 

[hannaugh]

I'm working on some distortion clips.  I'm not really a shredder though, so bear with me.  I've been trying to get some Muse or something recorded. 

 

[Orpheo]

I'm working on some distortion clips.  I'm not really a shredder though, so bear with me.  I've been trying to get some Muse or something recorded. 

cool, thanks. Just simple powerchordprogression is good enough to see how these pickups sound.

 

[GearBoxTy]

Sorry, I just can't get over how AWESOME that top looks!  The curl and blueburst is INSANE!!!!

 

[hannaugh]

K, I took the LP to a party last night, and a guy who has been playing for 25 years who can really shred played it, and he thought the pickups were awesome.  This other guy who has been playing for several years (and was way better than me) also tried it out, and he thought they were cool too. They both repeatedly congratulated me on a great guitar and they thought it played like butter. 

I'm still working on more clips, but I've been busy because I'm getting ready to go on vacation.  I'm probably not going to post any more until I get back in a week. 

 

[stubhead]

The Alumitones have a reputation for being really flat (lots of highs & lows relative to the mids) and really clean - I'm actually looking forward to when they restock on steel guitar pickups, because that's exactly what you want. However, to play rock and roll you want to HAVE excessive midrange, it's just where it lives.... Duncan JB's, PAF's, Jazz are fine, DiMarzio also makes pickups that a whole lot of pro's use - there's no sonic evidence that expensive boutique pickups actually pick up cool, extra-secret frequencies that Gibson & Duncan & DiMarzio and Lawrence don't know about. Of course people like the boutiqueys, they stand in front of their amp going brrang-brrang-brrang after spending $300, they'd darn sure better like them! 
:hello2:
When professional sound people start posting the taped, A/B'd oscilloscope readouts showing exactly which secret new frequencies are being transmitted, well then. For some odd reason, the guitar mags never post info like that, each and every pickup they take ad money for is better than each and every other one - clearly, you need to purchase ALL of 'em. It's like, polytheism for yer ears.... :help: The biggest concern is the output, "vintage" type PAF's and such sound like what you grew up hearing, and more modern high-powered pickups are even more middy and can drive an amp easier, though that really isn't an issue much anymore. New amps have an abundance of nasty, the whole "more power = more better" thing got kinda out of hand there.
On the rare occasion I listen to old Zepp, I'm struck by how clean the guitars sound - any modern country solo is screamier than anything Mr. Page ever did.  arty07:

 

[Orpheo]

The Alumitones have a reputation for being really flat (lots of highs & lows relative to the mids) and really clean - I'm actually looking forward to when they restock on steel guitar pickups, because that's exactly what you want. However, to play rock and roll you want to HAVE excessive midrange, it's just where it lives.... Duncan JB's, PAF's, Jazz are fine, DiMarzio also makes pickups that a whole lot of pro's use - there's no sonic evidence that expensive boutique pickups actually pick up cool, extra-secret frequencies that Gibson & Duncan & DiMarzio and Lawrence don't know about. Of course people like the boutiqueys, they stand in front of their amp going brrang-brrang-brrang after spending $300, they'd darn sure better like them! 
:hello2:
When professional sound people start posting the taped, A/B'd oscilloscope readouts showing exactly which secret new frequencies are being transmitted, well then. For some odd reason, the guitar mags never post info like that, each and every pickup they take ad money for is better than each and every other one - clearly, you need to purchase ALL of 'em. It's like, polytheism for yer ears.... :help: The biggest concern is the output, "vintage" type PAF's and such sound like what you grew up hearing, and more modern high-powered pickups are even more middy and can drive an amp easier, though that really isn't an issue much anymore. New amps have an abundance of nasty, the whole "more power = more better" thing got kinda out of hand there.
On the rare occasion I listen to old Zepp, I'm struck by how clean the guitars sound - any modern country solo is screamier than anything Mr. Page ever did.  arty07:

Indeed, I can't get over it. its 'cleaner', but also dirtier and more nasty than anything you hear today. its quite...special.

what I've heard is that the singlecoilversions have a more balanced EQ, and that is for me worth the shot of trying them out. most likely, I'll be using them in conjuntion with a burns trisonic (trisonic on the left, alumitone on the right, just like a humbucker), and I suppose that will give me a lot of tonal options. I really dig highs and lows, and my guitar will already have a LOT of mids.

 

[hannaugh]

So I've been listening to a lot of pickup sound samples, and I'm leaning toward an SD Jazz in the neck and an Alnico II Pro or a Duncan Custom at the bridge.  I like the Pearly Gates too though.  I checked out DiMarzio, and I liked the 36 Anniversary set.  I'm going to try to make a decision on this in the next couple days, but I'm really busy.  My birthday is tomorrow... oh wait, make that today because it's just past 12 here.  I'm pretty sure my fiance is going to get me the pickups of my choosing for my birthday.  So we'll see.

 

[stubhead]

The only frequencies that sound good in "overdrive" are in the middle, at least if you're looking at classic tones. Overdriven highs sound raspy, scratchy, hissy, some nu-metal guys like that.    Overdriven lows are muddy.... Some nu-metal guys like that.  Au contraire,  (get yer kultshoor here, kids) a wide-ranging, "flat" clean sound is totally cool for chicken pickin', jazz etc. This is why so very many big-name tone-hounds like Steve Morse and Eric Johnson had gone to complicated, multi-amp setups - usually a Fender (or clone) to get a wide, flat, clean sound, and a Marshall type for the midrange dirty juice. (Santana is running four amps at once ) The multi-channel amps are an attempt to get around this, but there's still a fundamental problem in feeding a wide, flat signal to a preamp to get overdrive - too many highs and lows.... it has to do with the EQ before the preamp. This site goes deep into these ideas:

http://www.amptone.com/#distvoicing

I used to do a poor-man's split setup with a Radio Shack Y-splitter, two different stompboxes and a $60 mini-mixer, but I gave up (as many do) and just found an adequate compromise. You can do an awful lot just getting a great amp (and SPEAKERS), and learning how to use the knobs on your guitar to change the effect of your guitar signal on your preamp. My basic point is that trying to do everything at once with one guitar is difficult, especially into a $99 amp....

"But gee Mom, my stompbox say 'HendrixTone' RIGHT ON THE KNOB...."  :help:

arty07: ccasion14:

 

[GoDrex]

Alnico II Pro or a Duncan Custom at the bridge.  I like the Pearly Gates too though. 

Just want to remind you that the Alnico II Pro and Pearl Gates and pretty different from a Custom. The first two are PAF type lower output with Alnico 2 type magnets. The Custom is high output with a ceramic magnet.

 

[hannaugh]

Yeah, I know.  I am having a hard time deciding because I originally wanted a Jazz combined with a high output pup, but I really like the PAF ones too.  I think maybe I'll just leave the high output stuff for my Ibanez at this point.  I've been thinking of switching those pups out for a while. 

 

[stubhead]

A PAF-ish pickup in the bridge and the Alumitone in the neck would get you a really wide range of sounds - depends on how designer-ish you are about appearance vs. function.... you can change one pickup, one cap, one pot at a time. High-powered pickups came about in the 1970's as a way to try to trick an amp into more overdrive, but in these times there are so very many ways to get an amp howling I think pickup selection should really be by tone alone. Hypocritical me, I do like a Lawrence L500XL in the bridge, but specifically because it makes the split-coil sounds equal in volume to the neck pickup. Plus you can turn them down to five and they still bite. :laughing7:

I don't understand people who set up their optimum sound with all the controls wide open, because then you have nowhere to go but down. And then they say "I never use my tone controls, cause they sound like shit." Well, duh.... If you can get your guitar sounding great with the tones and volumes at "7", you can adjust things on the fly from your guitar, both up and down. If you watch Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, Jeff Beck, Steve Morse, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Jimi Hendrix etc. etc. etc. they were all over them knobs. Just listen to Duane's solo live on "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed".... a master of the four-knob setup.