Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: Acolmiztli on February 14, 2007, 12:57:52 PM
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Hey,
I have a Nailbomb pickup at my bridge. I paid someone at Wunjo Guitars in Denmark Street (London) to put it into my Ibanez.
Now the pickup functions fine. There is no buzz, no hum, nothing. But can I get any feedback? Can I $%&#!
No matter how loud my amp is or how loud my computer is (I record with my PodXTLive) I cannot get my guitar to squeal like a pig.
Now I don't know if its my PodXT patching, or if the dude at the shop put the pickup in wrong... but this is pissing me off. Any ideas??
My tone control doesn't work for any of my pickups either, which makes me think he did in fact put the pickup in wrong.
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Well, I have a nailbomb in 2 guitars, and I can get a very good controllable feedback pretty easy, and I don't have to turn my amp past 2 / 2,5 to get that...But I don't know if a wiring can change the way it feedbacks? I mean...if the sound is ok, then all the stuff between guitar and amp is fine...right?
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Are you trying to get feedback in a home recording setup or at band volumes. I do alot of home recording and its very hard to get a natural feedback when using digital effects processors. There needs to be a reaction between the guitar and a guitar speaker to really achieve this effect. Can you explain your setup a bit more?
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I've tried three ways:
Guitar > PodXTLive > Computer
and:
Guitar > PodXTLive > Hiwatt 40watt amplifier
and:
Guitar > Hiwatt 40watt Amplifier
Nothing I do seems to give me feedback. I wouldn't have thought the PodXTLive would harm any feedback potential.
My amp is on a table. Standing right next to the amp with the volume at 12 o'clock (loud for this amp) .. nothing ... nada...
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Ello mate!
That is odd, agreed. I'd have automatically said it's a feature of the processing setup that's making it more difficult to get harmonic feedback..but as you mention that it happens with your amp, it's obviously something else.
Sounds ("gut reaction" here) like it's a combination of a few elements here:
Firstly, is the amp a valvy or SS? (Feedback a little more easy with the former)
Secondly, sounds like the pickups have had the effect of accenting some frequencies whilst effectively dampening others...another way of looking at this, is that perhaps with your former pups the type/method of winding allowed some frequencies to dominate the sound. The BKPs may well have restored a balance that you might not have anticipated. Now, I know jack about pup mechanics, so I'll shut up before I go down a road I've not travelled!
The tone control thing is not a coincidence...my capacitors do not quite have the same effect as before my BKP upgrade.
Maybe I could be more helpful by suggesting that the present pups are at least freer of nasty microphonic-style feedback..? Tell you the truth, I too have to work a bit harder to get my "old" sound...the trade off being that my Mules now give me a different one. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a BKP fanboy but I do know a good product; mind you I must also throw into the arena that my guitar is presently in hospital to sort out a high-frequency hum that was not there before...maybe there's all sorts of aracana at work in the winding/matching of the bucker coils of which I'm unaware.
Don't worry, you're not going nuts by the way!
If I can finish on a more helpful note, have you tried just putting a wah between your axe and the amp, ensuring you ramp up the pre-gain on your amp..? c--king the wah at "wolf-frequency" points really does work well with BKPs to lift and feedback certain notes..actually more pleasingly than my stock pups...my closest example that I've yet put up in "Players" is my first Yammy one: this has something like wot I'm trying to say!
Best of!
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Next time I jam, I'm going to take the guitar into the studio, plug into a bigger amp and just see if I can get feedback from it.
btw, my amp is solid state.
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Another thought that just occurred to me.
My band mate, a guitarist with a les paul studio.. he has a Pod XT Live as well, and he doesn't struggle to get feedback.
I honestly do not believe the Pod is the problem.
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You're welcome. 8)
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Does the pickup need to be adjusted closer to the strings?
(btw, not actually sure that does anything at all.. :oops: )
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So look.. I just turned my amp up FULL VOLUME. Standing right in front of the amp speaker, feedback happens, but it ramps in very very very slowly - it should be instant at such a volume.
Could the pickup be damaged do you think?
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Got it done guys, it was some shite soldering by some dickhead in Denmark St. I got it sorted for £5.00 from a different place, so I only paid £20 in the end to get it sorted. It's now perfect!
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Can the soldering affect the feedback?
I thought, when the pickup sounds good it is good.....guess not.. :?:
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Can the soldering affect the feedback?
I thought, when the pickup sounds good it is good.....guess not.. :?:
Soldering done badly can affect many things, if there are tiny bubbles in it, then it can act as a capacitor and if it is just done badly (a dry joint), it can act as a resistor. More pickup problems come from bad soldering than anything. If you are going to do much of it, then a good soldering iron is a must. Tim and the guys also use a fan/filter to remove the fumes as they work. The fumes are not good for you (solder has a lot of lead in it).
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My Nailbomb feeds back well with my amp, which seems to be almost impossible with the Toneport > Hi-fi system setup, BTW. Facing the amp never really worked for me. In my experience feedback comes easier with the amp either on my left or right. You could try different angles and see if that helps.
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I've got it sorted. There is nothing else to try.
The PodXTLive is fine for feedback, getting some wonderful feedback from it, so people saying things about effects processing might want to go research some more before spouting that incorrect knowledge elsewhere.
I can even get good feedback with my studio monitors at high volumes.
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....!
..."spouting that incorrect knowledge..."?
..."people" saying things were only considering your query and offering their time and advice; you might want to learn a few basic courtesies and gratitude pal, instead of giving the impression that you're a brat. End of.
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..."spouting that incorrect knowledge..."?
..."people" saying things were only considering your query and offering their time and advice; you might want to learn a few basic courtesies and gratitude pal, instead of giving the impression that you're a brat. End of.
Hey... nothing to do with gratitude. Your advice was wrong. End of. I'm not going to be grateful for incorrect advice.
That doesn't mean I'm not grateful for your time and effort though, I am grateful for your time and effort. Which is why my post contained no foul language, no pissy bitching, no insults - just fact. I know that you were taking time to try to help me, that I am thankful for.
My response wasn't to be a dick, it was to help you correct your understanding.
You claimed that modellers inhibit feedback, which isn't true. I said to go research the subject before spreading that same fallacy. Then you call me a brat.
Pretty clear to me who is being the brat.
Now it is end of.
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hey hey hey, that's enough, guys :!:
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Hi all..don't know if you managed to sort the lack of feedback prob Acolmiztli ?, but I had a similar thing happen when I fitted a new set of Nailbombs to my Ibanez RGT42 a couple of weeks back.
I thought I was being clever and doing a great job of eliminating any possibility of mains or RF interference by lining the pickup and control cavities with that expensive thick copper tape that axes r us sell.
The Nailbombs sounded ok but had a peculiar "boxy" sound to them with very little sustain or harmonic content even after lots of amp tweaking.
A call to Tim sorted it out straight away..."take out all the sheilding and try it again".
Did as he said and its a totally different guitar......the total tonal dogs bollocks....way better than I even hoped the Nailbombs would make it sound.....and feedback...just whack it up and pinch away 8)
So check if the "guitar tech" put any sheilding in the pickup cavities....if so..take it out. :idea:
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Normally shielding should not inhibit picking up pinch harmonics too much, unless it is done wrong, or is somehow creating some kind of capacitance in the circuit.
Some players find a difference between a covered humbucker and an open coil one and have a preference as a result.
However the Nailbomb is a dark pickup and harmonics may not seem as prevalent as they might with a pickup like a Miracle Man.
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Hmmm....I have open coiled Nailbombs and whatever the science of it, removing the copper sheilding had a very pronounced effect on the overall tone, sustain and harmonic richness. Where as before the main component of a note was the percussive thump of the pick hitting the string, now there is a full, rich sounding note that sustains for ages even at low gain settings.
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Hmmm....I have open coiled Nailbombs and whatever the science of it, removing the copper sheilding had a very pronounced effect on the overall tone, sustain and harmonic richness. Where as before the main component of a note was the percussive thump of the pick hitting the string, now there is a full, rich sounding note that sustains for ages even at low gain settings.
Interesting ...... guess it can have a more serious effect in some cases!
I agree with whatever works as long as it doesn't have a bad side to it
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in situations where i want nice harmonic feedback i use a compressor pedal to encourage it.