Guitar Clipping

[Melodeath]

When I hit a note/chord hard, on the bridge pickup, I'm hearing a horrid clipping/distortion sound through my amp right on the attack of the note. Is my pickup somehow too hot and it's overloading the amp? Lowering the pickup helps, but now my pickup is lower than the normal pickup height range.

 

[abyssofdreams]

There's no "normal pickup range".
E.g. EMG says to keep the pups as close to the strings as possible while I still have to find someone who's actually doing that...
The closer the pups the more distortion you get. Sounds like that's the problem.

 

[Melodeath]

Does that pickup distortion generally not matter if you are using the bridge pickup only for distorted tones? I only hear the clipping when I'm playing clean, but maybe it's best to lower the pickup even if I use the bridge only for distortion?

 

[matt youwin]

Sounds like the 9v battery is on it's way out?

 

[Melodeath]

Nah, it's passive. Duncan JB
Lowering pickup height fixed it, but now my neck pickup is too loud in comparison
I'm reluctant to lower it cause it has such a nice, full tone.

If you guys use the bridge pickup for distortion only, would you not worry about the clipping, or would you still lower the bridge pickup anyway?

 

[TomAwesome]

What kind of clipping exactly? Are you talking the kind of clipping an amp naturally imparts to the sound when it gets a hot signal, or something that sounds somehow wrong?

 

[Melodeath]

Something that sounds really harsh. Lots of high overtones. Sounds like a big pop/clip. Lowering the pup gotrid of the issue, so I guess the bridge pup was just too hot. Maybe it wouldn't be too hot for another amp? I dunno.

 

[TravisW]

What kind of amp was it?

 

[Kazrog]

I used to have this problem, but only if I played the A note palm muted on the 8th fret of my 6 string (tuned to drop C# as I did in those days) into my Line 6 Flextone II head with VHT cabinet. Turns out the VHT cabinet was not rated for my head's wattage - so I blew out all 4 speakers instantly one night after the cabinet had enough of the 4 years of abuse I gave it. According to VHT tech support, I was the 3rd person since 1992 to blow out all 4 speakers on a VHT cabinet.

 

[colonel kurtz]

did it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

 

[Morgan138]

Before you lowered the pickup, did turning down the guitar's volume also clear up the distortion?

 

[Kazrog]

did it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?

Haha, well I didn't know a lot about gear in those days, my ex-drummer who worked at the music store sold me the cab and I blamed him for selling me a mismatched piece of gear. I never felt it could get loud enough - even though it was a 300 watt head - no wonder!

But I felt OK about the fact that some weirdo on eBay was willing to pay $400 for a VHT cabinet with blown speakers.

 

[Senseyete]

mmm i guess this is not what you mean but well,could it be that when you hit really hard the strings they fisically touch de pickup?? cause it happens to me sometimes and you hear some kind of -ckshsrikkk-

 

[Melodeath]

Yes, turning down the volume pot (before I lowered the pup) eliminated the clipping, just as lowering the pickup did.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Pickups can clip if you overdrive them.

That's why I prefer EMGs with 18V mod. No clipping.

 

[Disconnekt]

Pickups can clip if you overdrive them.

That's why I prefer EMGs with 18V mod. No clipping.

+1. EMG @ 18V = clean, tight, loud, and punchy as hell.

 

[if6was9]

what amp are you using? if its a tube amp maybe one of the pre amp tubes is on the way out

 

[siegfried]

Yes, broken tube can sound really horrible... almost like digital clipping...

 

[Melodeath]

If you guys use the pup only for distortion, would you still lower to pup and avoid the clipping sound the pup is causing? You can't hear it when distortion is on, but would you still lower it anyway?

 

[colonel kurtz]

yes