VHII sound a little thin, opinions needed :)

[BareKnuckleJack]

Hi guys,

i have been using VHIIs in my PRS CU22 for the best part of 2 years, but throughout this time i have alway struggled to get a lot of body out of them.

My playing has changed a hell of a lot over this time hence why it has taken me so long to do anything about it. I used to play alot like EVH with all the fret wanking cr@p and slowly started playing like Slash, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour you know with longer more thought about notes that require body as well as bite.

Playing this style on the VHII is possible but lack the woody throaty sound that i feel another humbucker could provide.

Do you guys have any suggestions on what i should be looking at? bearing in mind i dont like high output pups and love my vintage tones :)

im think Black Dog in bridge and Stromy monday in the neck but cant help but think due to the actual build (thickness of the guitar) the Stormy Monday wont do the job.

The set up is:

PRS CU22 strung with 11s
Cornford RK100

Cheers, Rob

[Twinfan]

I had the same problem as you with my old Rosewood McCarty.  I switched to Holydivers and they were much more suited to me.

Sounds like you don't want to got that hot, so I would suggest a set of Black Dogs...

[Alex]

Black Dog!
I use them and get some nice GNR sounds ... out of an SG!

[sjwebb90]

I had a similiar problem with my CU22. Its sounded thin and too bright with the volume  & Tone Pots on 10. Rolling back the volume to 9 and the tone pot to 6 made things sound a lot better. I measured the pots and they were both reading high - 520K & 540K. CTS 500K pot never read the optimum and I have seen 500K pots read anywhere between 450K and 550K. Too lower a value and things will sound muddy, too high and things will sound bright and shrill.

To get the low reading pots closer to the mark, take the pot apart and carefully scr@pe some carbon from the outside of the track to increase the ohms
Check out article:
http://www.lespaulforum.com/pots/potents2.html
OR strap some suitable value resistors in parallel outside lugs to decrease the valve.

Both pots in my PRS now balanced and  measure around 503K each. Now with the Volume and Tone pots on 10 I have the optimum setting. I am using Rebel Yells.

I also rewired the internals with the Vintage cloth and vintage braided
http://www.allparts.uk.com/online-shop/allparts-guitar-amp-parts/electronics/wire-for-guitar-electronics-c-277_1_81_90.html

[kevinr]

A  calibrated set of Abraxas does sound great in a CU22, you will get that vintage sound with more power(no loss of tone)

[PhilKing]

I swapped in a set of Mules to replace my VHII's in my PRS Artist.  The Rebel Yells sound great in a standard. 

[BareKnuckleJack]

Cheers guys.

It's a toss up between the mules, black dogs or a mixture of the two.

 

[Jonny]

I don't want to sound like a daft tw@t, but you have tried altering your amp yeah?

Like, I know pickups do a lot to tone, and if it doesn't work out it could very well be your pickups but changing is a big thing to do compared to just generally more tweaking and such. What are your settings on the Cornford?

And possibly change the pots like mentioned above.

Just my thought on this. It's like upgrading your car, yes a turbo does improve it but at the end of the day, better performance comes with tweaking after getting the awesome shiz to put into it.

Or I could be all wrong.

[IntenseJim]

I had a similar experience with the VHII in my Les Paul. I tried the Black Dog and it pretty much hit the nail on the head to solve the problem you are describing....I think.

VHII was really nice and singing and articulate but I want more oomph with power chords. The Black Dog did it.

[BareKnuckleJack]

I don't want to sound like a daft tw@t, but you have tried altering your amp yeah?

Like, I know pickups do a lot to tone, and if it doesn't work out it could very well be your pickups but changing is a big thing to do compared to just generally more tweaking and such. What are your settings on the Cornford?

And possibly change the pots like mentioned above.

Just my thought on this. It's like upgrading your car, yes a turbo does improve it but at the end of the day, better performance comes with tweaking after getting the awesome shiz to put into it.

Or I could be all wrong.

hey dude, yeah I have tried all the options as I like to tune every part of my set up.

I thought the same thing as you, went right through the whole set up (pup hight, gain, tone, valves, pots, cables, you name it) and still not feeling it when higher up the neck (it just turns thin)

so I think a pickup swap is the only way...

Will put these VHIIs in a more hot rod type guitar I think, put some fatter classic pups in PRS :)