Help...Why is my DI clean electric guitar not so bright?

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jerberson12

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Hi guys
I am a keyboardist so I lack skills in guitar technically.

I have a Schecter C1 with a Duncan Design Humback Pickup which is a stock.
It uses an Elixir strings and connected to my preamp through Hi-Z
No matter how I turn the knobs and the switches, I could not get a bright clean electric guitar sound like I usually hear.

It seems that it lacks the high end frequency.
I was wondering if it could be the pickup or the strings.

I hear a lot of clean electric guitar samples and they are so bright even on DI

If you have time to go to IK Multimedia site and check out the guitar samples for Amplitube,
there you can hear guitar samples both processed by Amplitube and unprocessed which is I assume is DI and without any effect or EQ
The unprocessed sounds so bright....

The thing is , my guitar doesnt sound so good if use with guitar effects since its lacking that high frequency.

I attached a sample of my guitar sound
View attachment Clean Electric Guitar.mp3
 
The sound from guitar pickups can be sensitive to loading. Maybe the hi-z input isn't hi-z enough. Is there any way you can get your hands on a decent active DI box for comparison? A Countryman Type 85 would be ideal, but try any good active box (BSS, Radial etc.) you can get.
 
I dont think its the Hi-Z input.
My preamp is one of the high end, its a Digidesign Pre.
I also have another High-Z input from another device which is Eleven Rack, its still sound the same.
Im guessing its probably from the guitar itself.

I posted this thread at Gearslutz...
Some says, a humbacker usually sound like this, and there advice is to use a single coil instead.

Its also probably not the strings. I remember when I first put the string as new, it already sounded dull.
 
Nothing to do with humbucker/single coil. That particular guitar may not have much high end. If you put the pickup selector on just the bridge, it could give a brighter sound. Or if you have a treble pot, turn it up a little. Unless it's on full, in which case, it may be wirth opening the guitar up and making the pot a little more sensitive.
 
Some says, a humbacker usually sound like this, and there advice is to use a single coil instead.
Click to expand...
You probable have already noticed but just in case :) humbuckers generally are brighter wide open.
 
Can you guys post the same sample for me?
Just plugin your guitar and make it bright as you can by just using the guitar knobs and switches.
Plug straight to your DI, without any effects, signal processing, etc....just dry sound
thnx
 
Here's some samples for you. I pulled these from recent demos I did.

Humbucker: Humbucker.mp3

Single coil: Single Coil.mp3

Single coil is definitely brighter, but that's just the nature of the two types of pickups. There's always a bit of brightness compensation that needs to be done.
 
dude thnx for posting those sample.

Ok ....
Listening between your humbacker and single coil just solved half of my problem.
Obviously the single coil is way brighter which is what I am looking for....

Another thing...
and still half of the problem is there.
Please listen between MY humbacker and YOUR Humbacker
This is not about how bright it is.....
and also this is not about how you play the chords or strum it.

Your sample sounds more alive and upfront, I hope you know what I mean....
My humbacker sample is kinda of dead and dull.
It lacks of feeding power

I suspect there is something wrong in my chain or could be a defective equipment, but Im hoping its not true.
My chain is Schecter Guitar -> INstrument Input -> Digidesign PRE -> Digidesign 96 INterface -> Protools
 
jerberson12 said:
My humbacker sample is kinda of dead and dull.
It lacks of feeding power
Click to expand...

I'll bet it's those nasty Elixir strings causing most of your problem. Try a set of Dean Markley or D'Addario strings. You could also change your volume pot from 500k to a 1meg.
 
Here's another humbucker track I did a second ago that should be easier to compare to yours. Humbucker 2 Dry.mp3

I can sort of see what you mean about mine being a bit more alive. My signal chain was: old Ibanez RG guitar (3-way pickup selector set to middle) -> inst. input of Saffire Pro 40 -> Logic.

What really matters though is not how the DI sounds, but how it sounds once reamped/amp simulated. For a test I matched the gain of both of our tracks and ran them both through Logic's amp simulator (simulating a Blackface type amp) with the same amp settings for each track. The result is below:

Your track
My track

The one big thing that pops out to me is that my track sounds a lot more scooped than yours. Both tracks sound good though, each in their own way. Are you happy with the way your DIs are coming out once you reamp them?
 
Unfortunely I dont like whats coming out after the amp.
The thing is your guitar being already has a high end freq initially will come out brighter with amp, all you have to do is just EQ down the high end.

Mine lack that frequency and when it comes out after the amp, its still lack that brightness even if you EQ it up, it will just get worst
They said you cant boost that is not initially there.

I really like a good sound initially before all the processing comes in
Personally I still like the sound of your guitar coming out after your amp.
All you need is EQ it down,

Anyway, Ill start by changing the strings today if see that helps.
Ill post another samples for my new string later.
thnx guys
 
Now that I think about it, ocnor brought up a good point. Is your volume pot 250K? Mine is 500K, definitely brighter than 250K.
 
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