Hot pickup or boost pedal ?

[Igigi]

I bought a new guitar. I love it. I can't do pinch harmonics anymore. I'm guessing it's because I had active pickups in my old guitar. I'd hate to change the pickups in my new guitar unless I have to as I'm sure the nice people at Jackson soldered and otherwise connected the pickups better than the jokers at my local shops would. So can I boost the signal to achieve the same sound or does it not work that way?if so can you recommend a pedal? I playa Jackson kv2 through a 6505+.
My old guitar had a SD blackout in it.

 

[colonel kurtz]

it might work to run thru some sort of boost, but not as well as a new pickup would...

it's like the difference between tuning the shit out of a a 4-cyl. engine to get a little more power, or just throwing a massive V8 in there to start with!

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Maybe you have to adjust the gain on your amp a bit. More gain usually helps...

Can you still physically get the acoustic sound of the harmonic? It's hard to get the harmonics on certain guitars I play...well harder to get used to and done consistently.

-Joe

 

[Metaltastic]

Not wanting to change out the pickups because you're afraid your local shop won't solder as well seems like kind of a lame reason tbh - soldering is not exactly rocket science, and since the KV2 has a JB in the bridge (according to a google search), I personally would wanna ditch that for an EMG81 SO fast. That said, squealies aren't impossible with that pickup (or really any pickup), it's mostly in the technique! (though admittedly, actives do make it VERY easy since they're more compressed ) Increasing the gain on the amp (and using a Tube Screamer before it, check here for more info) would help too, though maybe the gain is high enough already; I like to set it by palm muting the open A-string (or whatever you have it tuned to, but you know what I mean), and turning up the gain until the saturation adds some sustain beyond just the initial attack (few things make me like palm mutes on an undergained tone)

 

[slashvanyoung]

If you're not hearing the harmonics dry, straight from the guitar (like Joe said), then no pickup in the world will make 'em magically appear. Yes, powerful pickups (as Marcus said) will make them transcend easier and sound more powerful. And the JB is definitely hot enough to not make a world of a difference to actives. So if you're not hearing them at all, you got to adjust your technique first and foremost.

 

[Machinated]

bloodjinn's guitar sounds are great and have a jb in the bridge, and he also gets some awesome ph's out of them.

 

[slashvanyoung]

I played a Jackson Dinky with a JB in the bridge for years, just sold it a few months ago. It's definitely not a pickup issue... Hell, even the Duncan Designed or stock Jackson pups are powerful enough to bring them through.

 

[Igigi]

Well honestly I haven't tried pinch harmonics without being plugged in. I'll check it out when I get home. Assuming it's the guitar though what would cause one guitar to be harder to do pinch harmonics on over another guitar?

 

[colonel kurtz]

neck raduis, fret heigher, action...there's a ton of variables about the shit

but how about you play that shit thru an amp before asking? :zombie:

 

[Igigi]

I did. I said I didn't try yet without being plugged into an amp