A question about my new MM

[Derail]

Hey all! I posted a thread about my dark sounding Gibby Explorer and my purchase of a bridge MM, which a few of you may have read. While I really like the new sound I have, I just cant hear the low end response that people seem to say MMs have. I play through a Peavey Ultra 60 w/a 4X12 V30 equipped cab at performance level volumes in our rehearsal studio, so I know that's not an issue. I've replaced pots and cap with high end stuff, which did amazing things for the top end. What I get is a nice sounding pup that seems to give great high and high mid response, OK low mids,but seems lacking at the low end, which seems contradictory to what everyone says about a MM. My Nailbombed Strat just blows this away in the bottom end department, as does my Duncan JB equipped Dean Cadillac, which shouldn't even be in the same league. I realize these are both Alnico, not ceramic, but the MM doesn't sound like it has tighter bottom end.....just way less. I'm a pretty decent solderer, so I don't feel my wiring is an issue. I even redid my soldering once, just to make sure, as I'm not the type to think that even an experienced solderer can't make an error. So that's my story. What do you all think? Am I looking for something that just shouldn't be there, or do I have an issue here?

[ericsabbath]

 :? :? :? :? :?

you're missing low end in a gibson explorer (that is naturaly bassy and dark) with a miracle man?
I had several bass heavy pickups like gibson 500t, emg 85, mighty mite motherbucker (that's a very bassy and hot pickup), duncan custom, emg 81, holy diver all the same guitar and none had the amount of bass of the miracle man (maybe the EMG 85, but it's more a midrange bump) also had the painkiller, miracle man and holy diver in another guitar, and the miracle man was the bassiest and punchiest one too (I thought that the holy diver would sound more bassy and chunky, but the miracle man smoked it in that department)
and it was the tightest one too, maybe after the painkiller (I'd say they both had the same level of tightness, but as the MM is bassier, the painkiller has a bit more low end edge and attack)
you can hear that in Antag's clips
his flying V with MM's always sound more bass heavy than the others

maybe what you're missing is the huge amount of mids of the nailbomb and JB
did you play with pickup height and screws?

or maybe you're not used with the 500k pots?

[Derail]

:? :? :? :? :?
maybe what you're missing is the huge amount of mids of the nailbomb and JB
did you play with pickup height and screws?

or maybe you're not used with the 500k pots?

No, I'm very familiar with how the value of pots affect the overall tone of the the instrument. I've played extensively with the pickup height, as I am also very familiar with how that can effect the whole tonal response. Not to sound boastful in the least, but I have 13 different guitars of various wood and pickup configurations, with my two Gibby V's being the closest to this one, and am pretty much dialed in to the sounds I should be getting out of everything except the MM. Mids are ok, while not predominant in my MM, but I expected that. The low end just isn't there. That's why I'm thinking I may have a bad wind. The one thing I haven't done is to put the stock bridge pickup back into the Explorer to see how it sounds after my pots/cap upgrade, but judging from the improvement in sound from the stock neck pickup which is still in place, I think it will probably point to my MM. It seems like that's what I'm going to have to do for comparison's sake. It's just kind of a PITA with the Explorer's tight control cavity. I do appreciate your suggestions. Now I know for a fact now that I should be expecting good low end from my MM. I think you've pushed my thought processes in the right direction. I'll update once I have the stock pickup back in. Of course, any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[dheim]

I had several bass heavy pickups like gibson 500t, emg 85, mighty mite motherbucker (that's a very bassy and hot pickup), duncan custom, emg 81, holy diver all the same guitar and none had the amount of bass of the miracle man (maybe the EMG 85, but it's more a midrange bump) also had the painkiller, miracle man and holy diver in another guitar, and the miracle man was the bassiest and punchiest one too (I thought that the holy diver would sound more bassy and chunky, but the
maybe what you're missing is the huge amount of mids of the nailbomb and JB

i had an EMG81 but i would never describe it as bass-heavy... either i am missing something or what i refer to as bass are just low mids...
of course i use standard tuning, maybe downtuned bass come out more easily...

[hunter]

Maybe it's too close to the strings and therefore highs/mids are overpowering.

Try lowering the pickup a bit and see if it improves. I usually use a pretty high gain tone and play some pulloffs on the left hand while changing pickup height. There's a gazillion of tones at different heights.

[Derail]

Maybe it's too close to the strings and therefore highs/mids are overpowering.

Try lowering the pickup a bit and see if it improves. I usually use a pretty high gain tone and play some pulloffs on the left hand while changing pickup height. There's a gazillion of tones at different heights.

That was my first thought too. I've spent a ton of time with playing with the height. While it does change the sound alot, I still can't seem to get the low end the MM is supposed to have regardless of how close to or far away from the strings the pickup is.

[Transcend]

Maybe it's too close to the strings and therefore highs/mids are overpowering.

Try lowering the pickup a bit and see if it improves. I usually use a pretty high gain tone and play some pulloffs on the left hand while changing pickup height. There's a gazillion of tones at different heights.

That was my first thought too. I've spent a ton of time with playing with the height. While it does change the sound alot, I still can't seem to get the low end the MM is supposed to have regardless of how close to or far away from the strings the pickup is.

This is just a thought from thinking back to my mistake when i got my MM.

Have you checked your EQ on your amp?

my ibanez pickups were really bassy so i had the bass set quite low then i installed the MM and thought hey where the hell is the bass and noticed i had virtually none onthe amp

[99_not_out]

Was it a 4-conductor pickup? If so have you accidentally wired it either permanently coil split (unlikely I know) or in parallel?
That's the sort of thing I would do anyway :-)

[Derail]

This is just a thought from thinking back to my mistake when i got my MM.

Have you checked your EQ on your amp?

Yes, I've checked that too, as I had to crank the bass EQ at practice Thursday when I was using the Explorer for the first time in a high volume situation.

[Derail]

Was it a 4-conductor pickup? If so have you accidentally wired it either permanently coil split (unlikely I know) or in parallel?
That's the sort of thing I would do anyway :-)

Ya, it's the 4-conductor version. I just rechecked and I have black to ground, red to hot and the white and green wires are soldered together with a heat shrink sleeve over them.

[ericsabbath]

i had an EMG81 but i would never describe it as bass-heavy... either i am missing something or what i refer to as bass are just low mids...
of course i use standard tuning, maybe downtuned bass come out more easily...

it has more bass than a lot of pickups people call bassy, like duncan distortion or even the jb
but it definitely lacks low mids, and actives don't have any depth to the tone, so it sounds superficial
but can't you feel the palm mutes punching from an emg 81? that's bass for me
I didn't mean fat, growly, dark, thick or anything like that
but it does have a strong bass response
it is less bassy than the other ones I mentioned, but it's still bass heavy (I sense a disturbance in the Force... probably Master Yoda coming just to say that it's actually mid heavy)


the point is: the miracle man had more bass response than all of them in the same guitars
3 of my closest guitar friends have the miracle man (and experimented others before) in mahogany guitars, and they all agree with that, except the one that has a ceramic pig now :lol:
maybe the c-pig might be the answer for you, then

[Roobubba]

Hmmm, I'd contact Tim about it if I were you, it sounds a bit dodgy. Haven't checked, but is that the correct way round to wire the BKP pickups? They are coloured differently to others, for sure! Worth double checking (somewhere on this forum there is a thread which details nicely how the colours map to e.g. the SD wiring diagrams).
If it's not that, then I can't think why else you're not getting the monstrous bass response (because those puppies really kick for me!), so it's probably worth contacting Tim, he may have a solution, or it may be a send-it-back to get it sorted job...

Roo

[Derail]

Well, I put my stock bridge pickup back in today, just to make sure the new pots and caps I just installed weren't the problem. What I got was an improved version (from the pots/cap) of what I had before I put in the MM. But the low end, albeit cra**y, was there. So I'm going to take Roo's advice and shoot Tim an email and see what we can come up with. Thanks, everyone, for all your input. I really appreciate it.

[Rock Pig]

Well, I put my stock bridge pickup back in today, just to make sure the new pots and caps I just installed weren't the problem. What I got was an improved version (from the pots/cap) of what I had before I put in the MM. But the low end, albeit cra**y, was there. So I'm going to take Roo's advice and shoot Tim an email and see what we can come up with. Thanks, everyone, for all your input. I really appreciate it.

I must say you had me worried for a second there

>.>

No really, that's probably what you want to do, seeing as it's obviously not the guitar or the model of pickup. But of course you know this already.