Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Players => Topic started by: Dave Sloven on January 09, 2017, 04:34:48 AM
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Some footage of my band playing a show the other night. You can hear the characteristic hairy roar of the A-Bomb
Nailbomb set (but ignore the awful bit with the neck pickup, it doesn't show it off the best advantage as I was experiencing feedback issues due to a bumped boost pedal), alnico bridge magnet, 550K matched CTS volume pots, no tone pot, Peavey 6534+ through two V30-equipped 412 cabs. The reverb pedal is an EQD Ghost Echo. Other pedals I use more than once are an MXR Black Label Chorus and an MXR Carbon Copy.
Strings are D'Addario EXL117 set, 11-56
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxctW11cfjQ
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diggin it man. really pissed off tone!
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Cheers! That was a really sweaty gig ... January shows in Adelaide are not fun
I forgot to mention that I use an MXR 10-band EQ, but to be honest it is set relatively flat, nothing extreme
I also think picks have a big impact on sound, so I should have mentioned that I use Dunlop Max-Grip Jazz III Carbon Fiber picks.
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Awesome tone. Reminds me a lot of sepultura.
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Cheers, I am thinking I might use my A-Pig loaded SG Special next time, just to give it an outing. I use it a lot at band practice because it is easier on my shoulder. Now that I have shielded the SG it is better than it was in live environments.
I prefer the Warpig neck pickup for playing that lead part in the Celtic Frost cover. I have to be really careful not to get that screeching going live. The Warpig neck has more bass. Part of the problem though was that we didn't have a soundcheck and I only discovered that my boost pedal was cranked when we were playing, and I didn't get the chance to adjust it until we had that break (where you can see me squatting down to adjust it). It should be at 9 o'clock but it was at 3 o'clock.
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It's ok. I have played entire songs live with a c--ked way pedal on. And yeah, I never know if my 3 year old will have been playing with my boost pedal.
I have a ReVv Generator 120 on order and that thing doesn't need a boost.
What gauge of string are you using with the Explorer?
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D'Addario EXL117 11-56
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D'Addario EXL117 11-56
Ah, the light top medium bottoms. I have a couple of sets of those kicking around. You don't find the lows get overly tubby, sloppy, or boomy? Or do you compensate for that with amp EQ and boost?
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I don't really have a problem with it. I am not playing fast so the fact that the strings are a little slacker than optimum isn't a huge deal.
I am used to playing with lighter strings anyway. My SG Standard in E tuning has an Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky 9-46 set, and the tension seems to be roughly the same
On my SG Special I used the D'Addario set in the same tuning but swap the 3rd string for a NW019 (same gauge, but wound) as it works better for top-wrapped strings.
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I meant medium top heavy bottom. I quite like the higher string tension on my superstrats. I was thinking of going from 10 - 46 to 11 - 52 on my a bombed Les Paul to tune to e flat standard and drop c#. I had heard that the a - bomb does not like being drop tuned and can get boomy, loose, and squishy but your tone sounds tight in the recording.
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Well I only tuned down to C standard. I've had it down to B standard and it starts to sound a little boomy there. But most of it is just adjusting the pickup height a little if something sounds out when you tune down. You also have to check the truss rod etc.
I do have an MXR 10-band EQ but if you look at the settings they are not very drastic. Most people would say that I've wasted my money. I do fool around with the presence and resonance controls. You have to remember that besides the JSX the 6534+ is probably the tightest sounding amp Peavey have made. It has a tighter bottom end and stronger mids than the 6505+ due to the EL34 tubes.
Also I use only a small amount of pre-amp gain on the lead channel, typically between 4.5 and 5.0, generally 4.5 ... then I boost the front end with the MXR/CAE clean boost set to 9 o'clock. This avoids the mush that can sometimes be a problem with cranking the pre-amp gain on these Peaveys.
I think the EXL117 set is called medium top / extra-heavy bottom or something like that.
I turn my reverb pedal off when playing faster picked sections. It is an EQD Ghost Echo.
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Ah. So lower the 'bass' side of the pickup and raise the pole pieces to compensate for boomy rhythm? I will have to try that ;)
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Yes but it doesn't have to be lowered too far.
The only time I lowered the A-Bomb and raised its pole pieces a lot was when it was in my SG Standard, as it sounded obnoxious there with the raspy mids. It lost output by doing that though and I had problems balancing it with the Cold Sweat neck
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I switched from 10 - 46 to 11 - 52 for now. Eb Standard / Drop C# (Drop Db) tuning.
I'm surprised how much phatter and darker the pickup sounds. I'll report back once I have more time with it. Heavier strings certainly increase output for obvious reasons.
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This is pretty awesome. The tone is more beefy, even than my redline III with the Juggs. There is more sustain with the heavier strings and the added tension on the low strings is great for metal. A-Bomb is still noticeably less compressed and less low mid dominant than the Juggs but it seems to sound pattern in a l.p. than Juggs in a start style guitar. The results here are obviously not surprising.
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We played a set live to air on Three D (local community radio station) last Saturday. Same guitar and amp as last time. The tubes in my 6534+ are getting a bit tired and replacements are on their way but TBH in the facebook video from the radio station you can't really tell because it is quite compressed.
https://www.facebook.com/ThreeDRadio/videos/10155395414524207/
A friend also recorded it with my camera but the vocals didn't come through very loud as the speakers were pointed back at us as foldbacks.
These are the two videos he recorded:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8dGMtPTQ3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvwMr2_E6iY
The set began with a improvised intro followed by a new song called 'Simian Apocalypse', with lyrics based on the recent Planet of the Apes films and novels.
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You can download this performance from Bandcamp now.
https://slovencoven.bandcamp.com/releases
I did make a few mistakes and my amp is on the verge of needing tubes (and indeed I am taking it in for new tubes this week before we record a proper demo) but it is better quality than the videos and I hope gives a better idea of the sound of an A-bomb in C.
For most of it the main pedals colouring the sound are an EQD Ghost Echo reverb and an MXR 10-band EQ. At the beginning in the clean section I am using an MXR Black Label Chorus, a Boss RE-20, and the Ghost Echo but you can't hear much there, and then when I switch to the lead channel I have the chorus on through the first intro section but the RE-20 is off. On any palm-mute sections the reverb is off. In the lead sections of the first song I am using the bridge pickup with the following activated in the loop of an LS-2: Boss DD-7 (modulate), MXR Carbon Copy, Boss RV-5 (hall). On the second song (cover) I use the same settings but with the Nailbomb neck pickup.
In the outro I pretty much have all the effects on, including a Boss PS-6 in S-bend mode for two octaves down with tremolo.
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So we have finished our demo and posted one track as a teaser on YouTube before we release it on Bandcamp this Saturday.
You can hear it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xlyuDtjUc4
Most of it is bridge pickup on the lead channel of my Peavey 6534 Plus, except on the intro where I do use the neck pickup in parallel mode on the clean channel for some effects, but it is heavily effected with delays and an MXR Black Label Chorus. There is also a layer on the intro of me using the lead channel with the neck pickup and an Ebow. The lead section in the first bridge of the song is the bridge pickup with a Boss RV-5, Boss DD-7, and MXR Carbon Copy in addition to the usual EQD Ghost Echo that is on the whole track. The intro also has a Boss RE-20 on it in places. The very start of the song proper (between 'Breathing in Caesar's Mist' and 'Into the trees!') has the Black Label Chorus and EQD Ghost Echo on the lead channel.
A couple of tracks on the demo feature my SG with the A-Pig; one of them for half the song (with no reverb) and the other for the whole song (reverb on everything except one palm-muted part). I don't use the Warpig neck pickup on the demo.