The New Tone Thread

Lt. Bob said:
I'm gonna say if it sounds awesome you might just leave those 250k pots in there ..... or at least be prepared to put them back in if the 500ks don't sounds as good.
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Well I wanna give it a try and see if they add a little extra "shine". The stuff I read recommends them with the P-Rail. And yeah, I can switch it back to 250k if I want to. The pickguard can come off without having to remove the strings and stuff.

My SG has 500ks in it. Maybe I'll swipe them out of it just to give it a try.
 
Greg_L said:
Lol, good God, dude. :laughings: You're setting yourself up for a giant clusterfuck of phase issues unless you do all of that just right. But it can be done if that's how you wanna roll. Just my opinion, I think you'd do better just mixing a sim track with a real track and call it good.
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Yeah, I'm in over my head dude....:laughings: I thought about this shit again while at work, & maybe both amps/cabs, a mic on each & a room mic or something....I dunno, I have tried mixing ampsims with my real amps, & while it's ok, it's really not what I'm after....But, that was before I tried the condensor mic too, which I think kicks ass with the 1w amp myself....I'm just gonna keep doing what I've been doing for a while longer, & if the urge still hits me after Christmas, then fuck it, I'll get another interface & go batshit crazy mic'ing shit up...:D


Greg_L said:
I certainly can't blame you for that. When I got my Hallmark/Mosrite, I went back and forth like "Man, but one day I might want a real Mosrite". The negatives of a real Mosrite far outweigh the positives though, so the Hallmark was the ticket and I don't regret it at all. Besides just being a true vintage semi-rare classic surf guitar, there's no practical reason for me to shell out big bucks for a real Mosrite over the Hallmark. So to put it into your perspective, I basically went with the Epiphone. When I was hunting Les Pauls though, an Epi wasn't even considered. It had to be a real Gibson so I got one, and I don't regret that either. I had the luxury of playing many of them though. I estimate I played over 100 LPs and SGs over the span of a few months looking for the just right guitar. I found it in my Goldtop. I'm a hack though, so in some ways any guitar is fine for me, and in some ways it has to be just right.
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You know, it's kinda like the DSL-1....that's what I wanted to begin with honestly, I tried the HT-5, & it really didn't do it for me, the Tweaker (which is an awesome little amp) was better, but still not quite there, then as soon as I plugged into the DSL-1, I knew that's what I'd wanted all along.....Kinda the same thing with the Epi vs. Gibson, sure the Epi would probably sound as good as the Gibson, but I really want a fucking Gibson, not to settle for something else because it's cheaper, you know??? So, as of right now, the blue LP Studio is gonna be the one, but I'm still gonna look around to see if there's anything I like any better...has to be slim profile neck, I don't like the 50's profile neck at all, my nephew has one (w/P90's), & while it sounds good, it feels like playing a baseball bat to me....

I'll let you guys know what I do decide in a few days, but again, fuck it, I'm gettin' a Gibson...

I'm getting in the state of mind anymore, that I'm only gonna live once, & might as well enjoy myself while I still can (my Dad dying of cancer has taken a big toll on me to be honest...), so there might be a lot more gear hitting my room before it's over, I already told the wife "you know, I bust my fuckin' ass to make a living, to take care of us, so I'm gonna have what the fuck I want..."...That's when she told me "it's ok honey, if you want that pretty blue guitar, you just get that pretty blue guitar, you work hard..."....:D
 
Lol. I agree about the 50s necks on LPs. I don't like them either. I prefer the slimmer 60s necks. Gibsons are very inconsistent though. Their neck profile and chunkiness are part of why you have to play them first if you can. Some of their advertised 60s necks feel just as big and and fat as 50s necks. A big purchase like that might warrant you visiting a city with some guitar stores for a weekend just to get your hands on some.
 
Dude, just get that blue Studio LP and be done with it! :facepalm: :thumbs up: :D :laughings:

You're going to be so fucking happy you did, that guitar (p/u's and all) is 100% pure awesomeness.

BTW, when I bought my Traditional Plus Pro, my local guitar shop quickly cleared up the reasons for the price difference between an Epiphone and a Gibson, and, IMO, in this case you really get what you pay for.

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That's a beauty Sambo. :)
Is that an old pic or have you not taken the tags off of it yet? :D

Black was my backup color. I ranked em like this - Goldtop, Black, Tobaccoburst, Cherryburst. I lucked out and found a Goldtop to my liking.


In other news, I've been doing major surgery on my Hallmark/Mosrite. I swapped in the P-Rails, wired in the extra toggle, and today replaced both stock 250k pots with 500k jobbies. It had a linear vol pot but I put in an audio taper pot and the roll off is much better and cleaner now. Then it buzzed like crazy so I had to chase down a bad ground solder. Fixed that. The new pots really cleaned and crisped up the sound. The guitar sounds better than ever. I love this pickup in P-90 mode.
 
Pretty much gettin' a Gibson guys, just gonna take my time & try to find the right one...I guess you all have figured out blue is my favorite color, LOL...My strat's blue, my bass, & probably the next guitar I buy will be too....unless I find something else that catches my eye, but it's gotta have the slim, 60's neck, that's a must, can't play very well to begin with, much less trying to play on a Louisville Slugger made into a guitar neck...:D

Forgot to tell you guys, a buddy sent me another Duncan Custom Custom to try in the strat again, with some different magnets...Right now, it's got an A8 in it, but he also sent an A2 & A5 to see if I like those any better....I tried the other CC in the strat first, but it was shrill/too bright, & even if I don't like this one with the different magnets, I'm still not out anything, he told me he'd think of something I could trade to him if I keep it....pretty cool of him to do this, & the best part, I didn't even ask, he just sent it out Saturday, it got here sometime yesterday after I left for work....So, there'll be some different tones in a few days from the strat too....

Fuckin' awesome looking LP Sam, really nice!!!
 
minerman said:
Pretty much gettin' a Gibson guys, just gonna take my time & try to find the right one...I guess you all have figured out blue is my favorite color, LOL...My strat's blue, my bass, & probably the next guitar I buy will be too....unless I find something else that catches my eye, but it's gotta have the slim, 60's neck, that's a must, can't play very well to begin with, much less trying to play on a Louisville Slugger made into a guitar neck...:D
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Awesome! Blue is good. You might be limited for blue though. Not many lower priced LPs come in a nice looking blue. The only cheap blue LPs I've ever seen are an ugly light blue satin finish. I don't know if they come in blue, but check out the 60s Tribute. It's a visually stripped down lower priced LP and it comes with Burstbuckers 1 & 2. Awesome vintage-style medium output pickups. Slim 60s neck. All the good stuff about an LP without the fancy visual accoutrements. Just don't get that stupid robot tuning setup. I think it might have "modern" weight relieving though, which is considerably more hollowed out than none or traditional swiss-cheese LP weight relieving. The Studios are a little more money but you get the hotter 498/490 pickups if you're into that and chambered weight relieving. The Studios also have varying neck profiles. Some are 50s, some are 60s. There's truly little to no consistency with Gibson, so be careful. When you find "the one" though, it's pretty awesome.

Forgot to tell you guys, a buddy sent me another Duncan Custom Custom to try in the strat again, with some different magnets...Right now, it's got an A8 in it, but he also sent an A2 & A5 to see if I like those any better....I tried the other CC in the strat first, but it was shrill/too bright, & even if I don't like this one with the different magnets, I'm still not out anything, he told me he'd think of something I could trade to him if I keep it....pretty cool of him to do this, & the best part, I didn't even ask, he just sent it out Saturday, it got here sometime yesterday after I left for work....So, there'll be some different tones in a few days from the strat too....
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I'm not too familiar with pickup magnets. Aren't the higher numbers brighter? Like an 8 will be way brighter than a 2?
 
Greg_L said:
Awesome! Blue is good. You might be limited for blue though. Not many lower priced LPs come in a nice looking blue. The only cheap blue LPs I've ever seen are an ugly light blue satin finish. I don't know if they come in blue, but check out the 60s Tribute. It's a visually stripped down lower priced LP and it comes with Burstbuckers 1 & 2. Awesome vintage-style medium output pickups. Slim 60s neck. All the good stuff about an LP without the fancy visual accoutrements. Just don't get that stupid robot tuning setup. I think it might have "modern" weight relieving though, which is considerably more hollowed out than none or traditional swiss-cheese LP weight relieving. The Studios are a little more money but you get the hotter 498/490 pickups if you're into that and chambered weight relieving. The Studios also have varying neck profiles. Some are 50s, some are 60s. There's truly little to no consistency with Gibson, so be careful. When you find "the one" though, it's pretty awesome.
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I'm already on that track dude, while I'd love to throw a few thousand bucks at this, in reality, I'm gonna have to go the cheapest route I can, trying to get the most bang for my buck...It doesn't have to be blue, but again, I really love that color, so if I can, I'm gonna....Don't really care if it's weight relieved or not to be honest, as long as that doesn't affect tone, I'm not gonna be standing on stage with it (that I can see anyway), so again, doesn't matter as long as the tone's there....I'm still "on the hunt", but I'm narrowing it down a little at a time....

While I'm at it, what's the difference between the 60's & 70's neck profile??? I know the difference between the 50's & 60's....lemme know, a couple LP's I looked at had the 70's neck.....



Greg_L said:
I'm not too familiar with pickup magnets. Aren't the higher numbers brighter? Like an 8 will be way brighter than a 2?
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I think the lower the mag #, the brighter, but I'm probably wrong on that as usual....he did tell me it was a little hotter than the CC I have in the Ibanez, due to the magnet he swapped....I still haven't even took the p'up out of it's case, but I'm gonna give it a shot in the next day or two....I'll keep you guys posted, & will throw up some clips when I get it installed....

Off to work I go, see you guys in about 12 hours or so....
 
minerman said:
I'm already on that track dude, while I'd love to throw a few thousand bucks at this, in reality, I'm gonna have to go the cheapest route I can, trying to get the most bang for my buck...It doesn't have to be blue, but again, I really love that color, so if I can, I'm gonna....Don't really care if it's weight relieved or not to be honest, as long as that doesn't affect tone, I'm not gonna be standing on stage with it (that I can see anyway), so again, doesn't matter as long as the tone's there....I'm still "on the hunt", but I'm narrowing it down a little at a time....

While I'm at it, what's the difference between the 60's & 70's neck profile??? I know the difference between the 50's & 60's....lemme know, a couple LP's I looked at had the 70's neck.....
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The 70s neck starts thin at the headstock and gets fatter and fatter as you get closer to the heel. It also starts narrower at the nut and gets wider as you approach the body more than typical necks do. Basically, to me, it seems like the worst neck profile ever, but many people swear by it. They probably have bigger hands and better skill than I do. The weight relieving definitely affects tone. The chambered guitars are brighter and more resonant than the more solid LPs. My buddy has two LPs - a 50s Faded Standard and a Traditional Pro. The 50s Faded is chambered bigtime and it's very light and bright, much brighter than his Traditional. The Traditionals are minimally swiss-cheesed or completely solid. They're fatter sounding. I haven't X-rayed my Traditional Pro because that's insane, but I believe it's solid. It weighs exactly 11 pounds and it's not nearly as bright as typical chambered LPs.
 
minerman said:
in reality, I'm gonna have to go the cheapest route I can, trying to get the most bang for my buck. It doesn't have to be blue, but again, I really love that color, so if I can, I'm gonna....Don't really care if it's weight relieved or not to be honest, as long as that doesn't.
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That blue Studio LP is a beautiful guitar and the price is right - great bang for the buck!

My impression after looking into the matter is that even a plain vanilla, basic Studio LP is, in terms of playability and sound quality, equivalent to the rest of the line.
The differences are 100% cosmetic; for example the Trads, etc, have a maple veneer that adds to the cost to manufacture, but does not affect tone or playability.

More important (which you already know), is what pick-ups it has and how they are configured, so you don't end up spending $ to reconfigure your guitar to meet your needs.
 
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Yeah I've never even halfassedly considered swapping pickups in my LP. It's exactly as it came and I don't see how I could make it any better. I love the bridge Burstbucker. So crunchy! I'm sure the 57 Classic in the neck is nice too, but I never flip it on. :D

I'm on my third bridge pickup with the Hallmark. The stock original was awesome for cleans, but it was way thick and kind of muddy with the gain dialed up. I wanted something tighter, less hot. The second pickup, the "fat pig", was a custom wind with a ceramic magnet made just for me. I really liked that pickup. It was like a P-90 on steroids. But I got a new guitar gig and I wanted more versatility so in went the P-Rails, and it's awesome.

My Epi SG has had about ten different pickups in it. Right now it has a microphonic 57 Classic.

My Strat has the original stock single coils in it, and I like them. The nut broke though and it's sitting with no nut and no strings on it.
 
I not only like how they sound, I even like the way my pickups look.

Greg_L said:
My Strat has the original stock single coils in it, and I like them. The nut broke though and it's sitting with no nut and no strings on it.
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How the hell did you do that?
Can you fix it yourself?
 
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Telegram Sam said:
My impression after looking into the matter is that even a plain vanilla, basic Studio LP is, in terms of playability and sound quality, equivalent to the rest of the line.
The differences are 100% cosmetic; for example the Trads, etc, have a maple veneer that adds to the cost to manufacture, but does not affect tone or playability.

More important (which you already know), is what pick-ups it has and how they are configured, so you don't end up spending $ to reconfigure your guitar to meet your needs.
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^ this....is what I'm gonna have to decide on guys, I agree 100% about all the extra shit just being cosmetic, although it does look fuckin' good, it amounts to money wasted for what I'm gonna do with it really, which is play & record at home....I honestly don't see any gigs in my future, the last band I was in called me back in the summer (during my vacation too, so I would've had time to do it with no problems at all) for a "reunion" thing, & I turned 'em down....

I'm gonna tear into the strat after I shower & eat tonight, might have some tones in the morning, just depends....

Gonna try my best to order the LP so I'll have it before I go on my Christmas break which starts the 21st (actually the 20th at 10:30 pm, but I gotta drive an hour to get home..:D.) , & ends the 25th (I go back to work on the 26th)...So it looks like I'm gonna have to shag ass in the next couple/few days if I'm gonna have it for my mini-vacation...:)
 
Telegram Sam said:
How the hell did you do that?
Can you fix it yourself?
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The nut had been chipped for years. It finally gave out. I tried putting one in myself, but I halfassed it and it didn't come out well. I couldn't get the curve sanded into it very well. I'm gonna take it in today and have a pro do it.


CrowsofFritz said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I hear that's bad for the neck if there's no tension.
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You're probably right, but sitting around with no string tension is a vacation for this motherfucker. I've had this guitar for 20 years. It's had a pretty rough life. It's not once seen the inside of a guitar case. It's fallen off stages. It's bounced around the trunk of a GTO for an entire Texas summer. It's had every type of drink or bodily fluid spilled all over it. I've never been a big fan of Strats, but this is one tough guitar.
 
CrowsofFritz said:
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I hear that's bad for the neck if there's no tension.
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I don't think so ...... really ..... the whole point of the neck is to be stable under 300 pounds of tension ...... so it's gonna be stable under no tension too. It may take a bit to 'settle down' after it gets back under tension but I don't think it'll be harmed.
 
Still on the hunt for a LP, & I've been looking pretty hard at this one the last couple of days:
Gibson Les Paul Studio 2014 Electric Guitar with Gig Bag

Just guessing, it's probably as good a guitar as the LP Studio Pro, with a lower price....The lower price really is a big thing for me to be honest, & there's a $500 price difference between these two guitars...The only thing(s) I don't like are the butterscotch color on the p'up rings, selector switch, & pickguard, but, I'm sure if it bothered me that bad, I could spend a little more $$$ to swap that shit out...More than likely, this is the guitar I'm gonna get, unless I see something that really changes my mind before this coming Thursday (my $$$ goes in the bank Thursday, & I'm expecting some extra for a Christmas & production bonus)....

I'm gonna try to have 'em ship it to me by the time I go on my mini-vacation, which starts Friday at 10:30 pm, I don't have to be back to work until the following Thursday...

I'll let you guys know if/when I pull the trigger, & wanna say thanks to all who've helped me with info & suggestions, but please, if you have anything else to say/add, feel free...
 
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