This is really basic and I feel kind of noobish by bringing it up. I've got a pair of Barekunckle cold sweats in my PRS and they sound incredible, tight and huge at high gain and overdriven. But the clean tones are really hard to get clean, there's a gritty-ness to them. I don't just get this on my PRS, but I get it with the Burstbuckers on my 2013 Les Paul too.
I have a very clinical setup, in that a reactive load box and cabinet IR give me a very true representation of what my amp is kicking out (Laney Lionheart L20h). So a real cabinet would normally hide artifacts like this, as it pumps out so much power, but the load box and IR are very great reproductions of the genuine tone being put out, so I'm absolutely sure that what I'm hearing is spot on. It's refreshing to know what I'm dealing with, but it causes hassle in that I'm getting grit now where I didn't notice it before.
So, before looking at lower output pickups, is there a way (other than lowering the volume on the guitar) that I can clean these bad boys up on the fly during the middle of a song (quickly) - ie, from heavy chorus to clean verse. I have a coil tap, but it's not ideal as it's on a pull pot. Plus, I'd rather stay in humbucker mode.
How are you guys dealing with this?
many thanks
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The BK Cold Sweat are ceramic magnets I believe, so as an overview they work better with gain than the alnico magnets on your Burstbuckers - Not sure what PRS you have, so how this stacks up on scale length etc to your LP and maybe this info is required to evaluate further - I'm a PRS fan, sold lots, owned a few, but many models do sound better with gain and less earthy or organic than a Les Paul - I don't like the word sterile, but those who use it I know where they are coming from
Adjusting pick -up height is worth looking at, and so is rolling off the volume pot as required - some PRS models have a treble bleed capacitor, to retain highs and I think this works better on gain levels, so on clean amp settings it stops it been so 'chilled out' and mellow
Just shows that one guitar doesn't do it all, hence why so many of us have 2 or more guitars - You'll probably find the PRS nails the hi-gain better than the LP with Burstbuckers
Let us know what PRS you have and then add appropriate info
Yeah, I have a few guitars and know some have strengths in different styles of music. Issue I have is that I've written a few songs with high gain chorus and really clean crisp verse rhythms. So I'm struggling really. If we had two guitarists, it would be ideal.
I just don't get the high gain tone I need from my strat, or I'd happily use that for everything as it's simply gorgeous for the clean tone I need.
@Rowby1, not discounted it at all mate. It's a matter of convenience really...as stated above, the tonal changes are pretty severe and really quick, during each song, so having to stomp on a pedal and rapidly change pickup and turn volume up isn't going to happen! haha :-)
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
I always prefer the sound of lower output pickups. You can always add more gain to them. Unless you want really tight high gain metal low end then I'd get some more vintage spec pickups.
In one way, the Les Paul is better equipped to deal with changing from high gain to clean. It has a dedicated volume and tone per pickup so a simple flick of the selector switch from bridge to neck would do it. But ideally, I'd really want to use the PRS for these songs, just sounds bigger (brutal for high gain, in fact - love it) and is nicer to play.
I may have to play about with some sort of EQ pedal maybe.
Thanks for the advice fellas!
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
My music:- https://soundcloud.com/hubobulous
Chances are there will be a treble bleed on the volume pot - try taking that of and see if you prefer it, but again it will have an impact on your gain settings when you roll off the vol pot a touch
As a matter of interest when you say you want a clean tone, are you basing this on cleaning up an overdriven amp setting, or just a pure clean tone with no gain on the amp
Compared to your LP clean tone I don't think you'll find the CU24 will offer the same clean tone - different voice -
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
I'm basing this on a dead clean channel, no gain, grit or overdrive.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
I might be wrong, but memory seems to suggest that Gibson put this on some recent Les Pauls as a push pull. The Suhr Blower is a push/push, but you should be able to find something similar out there.
Not suggesting for a second that Suhr invented this idea, (I think Tom Anderson was there before at the very least), but Suhr is my only experience of the functionality.
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In my old setup I used a compressor to kill gain and bring things down to a cleaner sound - I used a Joyo DynaComp and had pretty good results.
Now though I've flipped everything on it's head and I concentrate on getting a good clean tone from the amp and build on that with pedals for getting my OD tones. I like it much better and I'm getting some really good clean sounds with 'buckers, admittedly my pups aren't as hot as cold sweats though.
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Bit of trading feedback here.
Only thing I hate is that when I set the amp for the PRS and Les Paul, I then need to re-EQ for the Strat and Tele.
Makes me think that an Axe FX would help greatly...but that's extreme to say the least. Just trying to justify recent evil thoughts of throwing everything in the bin and starting again! haha.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
My music:- https://soundcloud.com/hubobulous