Gear Talk with Kristian!

Please do, Jacob. Thing is, those are $$$!

And thanks to the way my Ironbird is built, I don't even have space to use a tone knob, cos of the limited space in the cavities. Darn it! There's just enough space for 1 9V battery! I don't know if my tech can squeeze in a push/pull pot or something to activate the single coil.

By the way, do you guys know of the new Seymour Duncan 3 in 1 pickups? A humbucker, P-90 and single coil in one humbucker-sized pickup.
 
I don't see any 3 in 1 pickup when I look at SD's website. Didn't hear of it before, but most humbuckers are "2 in 1" in that you can tap them, usually for decent results too.

You don't need a coil-tap to use the EMG 89 in both modes, but I don't think you can do it with a gibson-style 3-way toggle. This switch could probably do it, but it is expensive.

I spent a little time looking into how a guitar electronics work, and I must say that it is time well spent. Like, I know how to make my own wiring-configurations, and when I installed a single coil into the neck of my yellow guitar I could hear that it was out of phase with the middle pickup (thin sound) and instantly knew how to fix it to get a better tone (full and fat).

Off-topic: Here's a little first-take improvisation that I did on my 540P-II :). I used my old Digitech RP100 which I had given up on, but for some reason it works pretty well with the F3 pickup.
 
Darn it, I can't find the link. The banner was in the Guitar World Magazine website. I'm sure it's a 3-in-1 pickup, it actually looks like a P-90 with a single coil underneath it. I'll keep finding!
 
Yup, it's the SHPR-1, thanks ek_erliaR and thanks Kristian for trying! Looks trippy, huh? Like P-90 on steroids or something...
 
Sigh, I'm in gear hell right now. I really, really want to have a good high-gain sound. However, I am totally lost in the jungle of choices. There are so many distortion pedals out there, preamps, and all that crap. I'm looking at a marshall JMP-1 right now which I would want to put in my Peavey C30's power amp. However, I would maybe prefer a pedal over a complete preamp. But it's hard. ARGH.

Thoughts?
 
I don't pay a lot of attention to my sound.
However, I think my Line 6 DM4 distortion pedal gives a powerful metal distortion sound in any case. Its heavy distortion setting is something I've been unable to reproduce with other alternatives. It costs quite a lot though for its features.

Also, I recommend you try out digital sound modeling software like Guitar Rig 3. Real handy. ^^

EDIT:
The mics on my better guitar are EMG-85 and -81. My sound can be checked out at my youtube-profile (below).
 
I Recomend Line6 amps and stuff, i have a small Spider II 30w combo. i know its digital but the insane mode sounds in my ears good, and some times i use a Boss DS-2 in turbo mode to kickup the mids. thou i guess the sound depends on the pups in your guitar to, now a days digital amps can higain distort just about any pup, vintage or modern activ, i have Passive EMG's. so i guess its just what you prefer, tube, transistor or digital. but test a pedal first, i didint think at first a pedal would change the distortion so mutch that it did. I was amazed :D

the hunt for the perfect sound is a life long prusute, the best Distortion i have ever heard is a JJlabs Thunder trans amp throu my Viper-301 cranked upp fully whit a JJlab 4x12.... a small swedish brand, cheap, durable and fucking Brutal Metal!

/Dennis
 
Jacob Kjær;7991729 said:
Sigh, I'm in gear hell right now. I really, really want to have a good high-gain sound. However, I am totally lost in the jungle of choices. There are so many distortion pedals out there, preamps, and all that crap. I'm looking at a marshall JMP-1 right now which I would want to put in my Peavey C30's power amp. However, I would maybe prefer a pedal over a complete preamp. But it's hard. ARGH.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I have a Electro-harmonix "Metal Muff with Top Boost" and it has a great top end for leads.You can turn the top boost off with a foot switch and the case is very strong.It has a Volume level along with a 3 stage EQ and Distortion level and top Boost level.Made for metal not good for much else.
 
I've always wanted to give the Metal Muff a try, but my finances don't allow for any new gear right now so I'm stuck with my DigiTech Death Metal pedal. Not the best pedal, but it works for me as long as none of the knobs go past the 12 o'clock mark. Having the EMG81 pickup has been a blessing, people don't give it enough credit. All they say is 'it's great for metal' but if you mess with the volume/tone knobs and EQ on your amp and pedal you can get a shitload of tones out of 1 pickup.

Slightly off topic: What are you guys learning to play right now? I've been busting my ass working on Loomis' Final Product tapping solo (yeah, that killer one) but now I regret selling my wah! It sounds good without the wah, though, and it has really helped me tap better!
 
BloodLegion said:
Slightly off topic
Click to expand...

Well i have finaly got my thumb out of my ass and started a project, in insperation of demonoid i came up whit an idea that i know a drummer in my home city that is faaaar away, he is going to record some drums for me and my brother. he is truly awsome so i hope i can justify his talent whit mine bargin guitar riffs. but we have to see where this ends :)

and also i am atempting to create my first real solo in a net competition to win an Ibanez prestige :D its soly based upon Pentatonics >_< i dont know the other scales to well, guess i have to practise them more!
 
What are you guys learning to play right now?
Click to expand...
Stairway to Heaven, Enter Sandman, and Hey Joe. I'm not even kidding you! :p I've already been playing through the first two several years ago, but me and my guitar teacher are polishing them up and perfecting them now :). I never played any Hendrix before, so Hey Joe is going to be fun. And who knows, might need it for next time I run into Uli Jon Roth :loco:.

As for the distortion, I'm just gonna keep looking. Thanks for the suggestions, but they seem to be more nice for rhythm than for lead (which is my main focus).

I installed the EMG (89 neck and 85 bridge) into my 540PII, and they sound allright. Very articulated, but not really my style. Definetly gonna try out other pickups once I get the chance.
I don't have a toneknob, Blood Legion, but the single-coil does not really sound "bluesy" to my ears. I recorded some samples with it through my new, cheap interface (M-Audio Fast Track USB) which you can download here. It's all clean stuff, but it is with pretty stretched strings.

The first little piece you are hearing is recorded with 85/bridge, 89/singlecoil neck, and then 89/humbucker neck. Notice the difference in output from the singlecoil mode and the humbuckers. The solo starting around 1:50 is the 89/singlecoil. I don't remember what the others are, it was pretty late when I recorded it last monday :)
 
Hey thanks for going through all that trouble of recording. I'm gonna check the sound clip out!

P.S. Hey Joe is a kickass song!
 
Hey BL, it was the least I could do - it was as much a test of the pickups and my interface as it was for you, so no trouble here :). I should do something slightly overdriven to make it a little bluesier. Also, the 540PII is probably the least bluesy guitar I ever played (acoustically), so it might not be a good indicator :)

P.S. Yes it is.
 
Whoa, I'm listening to the clip right now and there's a lot of difference! The single coil tone is fantastic! Very country-sounding...I bet it would kill for Eagles / Lynyrd Skynyrd style soloing!
 
@BloodLegion: Heh, yeah, maybe you could use it for country/eagles. But not with my guitar, that's for sure! To be honest, I think that the lead tone in Hotel California sounds fantastic compared to what I can get from my 540P-II and EMG 89.

@Kristian: Did you ever happen to wear off/sand down the finish on the back of the neck of your 540P-II? I am concidering doing it, but I'm afraid that the wood might warp.
EDIT: NVM, I googled it, gotta do it and apply some gunstock oil. Should work wonders.
 
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