Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: MDV on August 10, 2009, 11:41:51 AM
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Well, GAS whores (yes, we all are)
I thought a cheap and free tone improvment thread would be interesting. Seems our first recourse round here is "new amp/guitar/pickups/speakers/cab/big stuff that costs a lot"
What about little stuff that make as much difference as big stuff?
I'll start. Throw in what you got too!
The thread rule: Nothing more than 50 quid.
- Pickup height. Say no more, I know where I'm posting
- Setup 'sweet spot': seems to me that every guitar has a few sweet spots; combinations of action, string guage, tuning and neck relief that really bring out the best of the guitars acoustic resonance, and can make a huge difference to the guitars sound.
- Strings; tension, tension balance between them, brand, etc etc etc.
- Nut. Nuts are cheap as chips, take some skill to get in right but are the other point of interface of the string with the body, and therefore vibration transfer. I figure the nut material and how well its installed is about/at least as important as your body wood (but I dont think as important as the neck).
- Cables. Cables take away tone. They pretty much cant not. They certainly cant add anything to the sound. Find one that takes away the least, or takes away bits that you want rid of and your tone improves.
- For home practice, where you put your amp/cab. Room acoustics are a big deal. Dont assume that anything that puts sound in the air just has its sound and thats it; it has its-sound-in-that-place-in-that-room, which is very different. Move it round to find the best place
- Live, on stage, same thing as above. Changes with each stage and venue. Experiment as best you can.
More! Go!
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+ 1 on the nut thing
also add new pots and orange drop or better caps to the mix - assuming you dont have to pay someone to do the re-wire its a cheap upgrade
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saddles
trem block
stop bar
:)
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AGGH! I'm meant to be working :lol:
I'll keep it short and sweet:
- For me, a big +1 on pickup heights. Makes a lot of difference with BKPs but, funnily enough, since I've learnt that, it turns out it does with all pickups :lol:
- Practice (1) Get to know your kit - don't expect it to make the sound you want straight off. You gotta listen, you gotta figure out what you're trying to achieve, and you gotta put some work in (for me, this includes stuff like MDV's room placing). Don't be afraid to twiddle with the knobs on your amp or modellor - there are good sounds hiding in there, no matter how much you think that you might be the proud owner of a "piece of sh1t" but that one day you'll be afford a decent rig... :lol:
- Practice (2) Get to know what you can do with your fingers, picks, slides, or whatever you use to bash away with. BKPs helped me enormously to put more effort into examining what I'm putting into the equation myself. BKPs have improved my tone, but probably I've improved my tone the most.
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but probably I've improved my tone the most.
i must admit when i saw phil play for the first time i secretly copied his vibrato, i sound alot better now
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but probably I've improved my tone the most.
i must admit when i saw phil play for the first time i secretly copied his vibrato, i sound alot better now
Obviously not me you're talking about! :lol: :lol:
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but probably I've improved my tone the most.
i must admit when i saw phil play for the first time i secretly copied his vibrato, i sound alot better now
Obviously not me you're talking about! :lol: :lol:
the other famous BKP phil - philking :)
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Oh, and to say something useful - aluminium tailpiece. Doesn't always improve the tone, but it's worth experimenting and you can always use it on another guitar.
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Mic distance and position (on recordings or live) make maybe the biggest difference to tone when you play through a PA or into a recording device.
For me it's usually an SM57 straight and pretty close to the baffle, somewhere like 2" off the middle/treble cap.
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Big chunky plectrums.....
3mm stubby ones to be exact :D
Good speakers, my Eminence Crex was £50 and way way better than the cr@ppy Celestion Seventy 80
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+1 on the speakers. Although more than 1 of them will blow the £50 rule.
My Sidewinders at £35 made a helluva difference. The two 10 inch ones cost £16 each!
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picks!!! all slightly different with different amounts of pick hitting the string noise
picking technique, having the right amount of angle and using just enough force to get the sweet spot where the string vibrates properly if your trying to play fast, else be a heavy picker ;)
playing with other guys it probably helps to be in tune and don't dial yourself out the mix like generic metal player kid with his super mid scoop
good choice of pick tom, I used to use them, guitar plays itself with those, only reason I changed was for something that lasted longer
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Maybe not so cheap, but a good tuner.
No matter how good your gear is, an out of tune guitar will always sound like shite.
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picks!!! all slightly different with different amounts of pick hitting the string noise
picking technique, having the right amount of angle and using just enough force to get the sweet spot where the string vibrates properly if your trying to play fast, else be a heavy picker ;)
playing with other guys it probably helps to be in tune and don't dial yourself out the mix like generic metal player kid with his super mid scoop
good choice of pick tom, I used to use them, guitar plays itself with those, only reason I changed was for something that lasted longer
You wear 3mm picks out, that's what shredding does for you! Be a slowhand like myseld JDC and you'll still be fishing the same stubby out of the tumble dryer years later :wink:
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Under £50 you say? Hmmm.
* Strings. I'm currently loving D'Addarrio 9.5s on my PRSs.
* A good strap and straplocks. Having the guitar in the right place for you, safely, helps you play better.
* Along with pickup heights, a slightly more subtle change can be had changing pole piece heights for individual strings
* New valves, if your old ones are shot. May cost more than £50, so make sure you have a good one in the first position (V1)
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Maybe not so cheap, but a good tuner.
No matter how good your gear is, an out of tune guitar will always sound like shitee.
+1. Being in tune is the most important thing!
I never found that pickup height affected my tone as much as people here seem to say it does :? Maybe a bit but its a VERY subtle change unless you move it a lot.
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Well, I echo much of what has been said before - and of course cited in MDV's original post .
So it's picks, strings and guitar action / set up first for me. I also like to remove plastic nuts and cut myself a new bone one ( cosmetically 'aged' in cold tea of course ! ) Then , when my desired tone can first be attained with the guitar unplugged ; the cable is king. 'Cleartone' cable for clear tone with transparency and maximum articulation - or Monster 'Jazz' cable to silken and smooth things out . In the case of the later, I realise that what I am doing is adding a degree of sonic attenuation, but the 'jazz' cable is still the cheapest and most portable eq / mild compression 'effects' unit I own. :)
The best tone I get is with B.K.P's own heavy picks, especially when they have absorbed a bit of oil and the tip worn in. Strings being Thomastik 12, or 13 top Jazz Swing series Flatwounds.
When the action is set low and string tension nice and even across the neck, it makes me play more thoughfully and with more dexterity. This relaxed yet sure footed 'feel' , ensures I play to the requirements of the chosen genre - which is smoooooooooth ... 8)
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My Sidewinders at £35 made a helluva difference. The two 10 inch ones cost £16 each!
That was a bargain !!
Sidewinders are great!
I will add - Earvana nut - improvement in tone and "in-tuneness"
+ 1 on aluminium tailpiece
Raising polepieces of just one coil in each humbucker - make them follow the arc of the strings
Unbalances the response of a humbucker in a good way.
+1 on good pots, jack, switches and DECENT CAPACITORS - orange drops or Vitamin Q or whatever
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turning the amp volume and gain up a bit and the guitar volume down does wonders for some of my gear.
Using heavier strings and wraping them the wrong way like Jimmy Page / Billy Gibbons etc. works well on the right bridge.
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Treble bleed.
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Take your effects settings and reduce the settings by a third. Not everyone but many players will enjoy a sweeter tone.
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Play with less gain :P
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Play with less gain :P
Couldnt agree more.
Given the company here, I thought I'd leave off things like basic setup, be in tune, tweak your gear, learn how it all interacts, know what distorts and when and how, set accordingly, dont use the same settings loud as quiet (much less gain then! Let the power stage and speakers do the work!), but yes, all these things are true!
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common sense :idea:
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i think that the most important thing is a good vibrato. and a good touch. you can shred fast as a rocket, but if you can't keep long (and even short) notes properly you'll ALWAYS sound like sheet. i think that a nice vibrato is one of the first things i learned to do. and people always thought that i played much better than i actually could...
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good choice of pick tom, I used to use them, guitar plays itself with those, only reason I changed was for something that lasted longer
You wear 3mm picks out, that's what shredding does for you! Be a slowhand like myseld JDC and you'll still be fishing the same stubby out of the tumble dryer years later :wink:
it's the tip that gets knackered, when it ain't pointy no more all the lovely attack and effortlessness of the pick goes cos I gotta dig in more :(
just put new strings on and got playing around with a 2mm tortex big stubby, forgot how much I love these things, slightly more attack on the 2mm since it's flatter but still solid as a rock and comes off the string easy :)
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I find my tone improves no end if I don't plug my guitar in and pretend to play along to CDs - that way I actually get the sound in my head 8)
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common sense :idea:
Great ! where do I buy it ? :mrgreen:
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common sense :idea:
Great ! where do I buy it ? :mrgreen:
:lol: nah, you're just getting silly now boys...
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some tubescreamers are less than £50 so I guess they can go on the list, vital piece of kit for metalheads who want a tight chuggy tone but don't have an uber tight amp
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but probably I've improved my tone the most.
i must admit when i saw phil play for the first time i secretly copied his vibrato, i sound alot better now
Obviously not me you're talking about! :lol: :lol:
the other famous BKP phil - philking :)
I think I copied it from Paul Kossoff :wink:
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A complete setup that includes:
Well cut nut slots;
Bridge setup (height, angle, intonation) and in case of a TOM: saddles cut so they match the fingerboard radius;
Truss rod adjustment;
pickup height and pole piece adjustment;
All to player's personal preferences.
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Bridge setup (height, angle, intonation) and in case of a TOM: saddles cut so they match the fingerboard radius;
Great point about checking that the bridge saddles 'track' the fretboard radius ; I had previously overlooked that one .
:oops:
I will see how it applies to my Jazzer's floating bridge, as the best might just have got better !
Cheers ! :)
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If you have a floating bridge I highly recommend a Tru-Arc bar bridge. You can get them in any radius you want in the materials copper, brass, stainless and aluminium.
When you check the fingerboard radius, check it at the first AND last fret. If the radius at the last fret is significantly larger, you have a compound radius fretboard. In that case you need to calculate the proper bridge radius. There's a formula for that.
A 9.5" radius compound radius would end up in a 14" or so bridge.
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Play with less gain :P
Won't agree with this. Learn to play with very High Gain and Low Gain.
Paddy
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I hear that wrapping the strings the other way around a stop tail piece (with a TOM) so it's like a wrap around bridge plays wonders with a Les Paul tone. Not tried it myself though.
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I'm not convinced. I think the increased angle of normal tuning that the strings take over the saddles increases resonance.
Havent done a 100% like for like comparison on that though, so not completely sure.
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If you have a floating bridge I highly recommend a Tru-Arc bar bridge. You can get them in any radius you want in the materials copper, brass, stainless and aluminium.
When you check the fingerboard radius, check it at the first AND last fret. If the radius at the last fret is significantly larger, you have a compound radius fretboard. In that case you need to calculate the proper bridge radius. There's a formula for that.
A 9.5" radius compound radius would end up in a 14" or so bridge.
Thank you for that further ( and very interesting / useful ) information . :)
I am currently using an all wood bridge, but will investigate further, as I find both wooden bridge tops and metal ones each have merit in different ways.
I will use the radius gauges that came with my Dan Erlewine book.
Cheers !
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I'm not convinced. I think the increased angle of normal tuning that the strings take over the saddles increases resonance.
Havent done a 100% like for like comparison on that though, so not completely sure.
If it's good enough for Gary Moore, the it must be worth a go :D Think that's who said it.
Anyone mentioned sticking a big bit of wood behind a strat trem :D
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Zakk wylde does it too. I couldnt care less - I string up tunos the normal way unless there are string breakage problems at the bridge, then try the lower pressure wrap around, and have A/Bd but with different string guages: I think the difference was bigger than the guages, but cant be totally sure.
No, no ones said that yet, and by all accounts its a good idea! (I'm doing wedging in 2 floyds later, wood either side. We'll see how it goes.
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If you have a floating trem with a removable arm (Fender, Floyd, etc) keep the arm attatched even if you don't use it as it will add mass and some extra sustain.
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If you do the wrap-around, you'll distibute the string vibtation a little more between the bridge and stop tail. It sounds a bit more jangly/kerrang-ish. The biggest difference is feel. You'll get less string tension making it easier to bend. You will need to bend further, though.
Try a set of .011's, wrap around and low action on a Les Paul.