More Humbucker questions from Mr Price.....

[Ian Price]

Morning all,

Just installed a neck mule in my signature LP. Trying it out last night and it is very nice indeed. The cleans are really nice and fairly chimey. The thing I am not sure about, and it could be my soldering (although I don't think it is), is when distortion is being used (fulltone OCD). Basically it sounds flabby with barre/partial chords but not single notes when gain is set fairly high. Is this normal for a mule? It is quite a thick sounding PUP in my opinion but I would be interested in what others think. I should hopefully be getting a bridge pup to go with it soon and am not sure what to go for, either a mule of a riff raff. Would a bridge mule be tonally similar to a neck mule but with more bite i.e. less bass?

Go easy on me as I'm new to humbuckers!

Cheers,

Ian.

[Twinfan]

Sounds like you need to drop the bass side of the neck pickup Ian, using the mounting screws.  BKPs are sensitive to height.  Try gretting the bass E at the last fret and lowering the bass side of the neck pickup until the string is 2.5mm from the polepiece.  This is my starting point to cure bass issues.

And your guess re. the bridge Mule is about right  :)

[Ian Price]

Cheers DAve - will give it a go tonight. What sort of height should I be aiming for on the treble side?

[_tom_]

I think that any pickup is going to sound flabby in the neck position of an LP when playing chords. I have found the same even with tone knob removed. My MQ neck is like it too. I think its just too much thickness for chords.

The bridge one is like you're imagining, more bite/cut but its quite a balanced sound I think. Sounds very "vintage" if that means anything to you.

[Twinfan]

Cheers DAve - will give it a go tonight. What sort of height should I be aiming for on the treble side?

2mm for the treble side  ;)

For the bridge I use 2mm treble side, 1.5mm bass.

[Ian Price]

Sounds very "vintage" if that means anything to you.

Sort of. I'm looking for an Appetite.../Toys in the attic sort of sound. If it gets me near that I will be happy.

[_tom_]

I would say they can do that sound quite well :) Heres a short clip I made of my bridge one going into my Laney, Nightrain riff -

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=493678&songID=7165228

And another of You Could Be Mine (not as good tone imo) -

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=493678&songID=5417089

[Philly Q]

I think that any pickup is going to sound flabby in the neck position of an LP when playing chords. I have found the same even with tone knob removed. My MQ neck is like it too. I think its just too much thickness for chords.

+1

It's just the nature of neck pickups - they sound muddier because there's so much string movement in that area.  And it's more noticeable with humbuckers than single coils.

It's ironic that Gibson call the neck pickup the "rhythm" pickup, because it can't be used for any kind of rhythm playing in a rock context!

[Ian Price]

What I can see happening is that I get a bridge BKP and hardly ever use the neck again!

[Will]

It's ironic that Gibson call the neck pickup the "rhythm" pickup, because it can't be used for any kind of rhythm playing in a rock context!

I read a Tony Iommi interview somewhere, and back in the 70s he turned the treble up on his amp so that all rythme work was with neck pickup, and all lead was with the bridge!

[Philly Q]

It's ironic that Gibson call the neck pickup the "rhythm" pickup, because it can't be used for any kind of rhythm playing in a rock context!

I read a Tony Iommi interview somewhere, and back in the 70s he turned the treble up on his amp so that all rythme work was with neck pickup, and all lead was with the bridge!

Never heard that before!  I know he used to use a treble booster into his Laneys, so if he wanted a brighter sound why not switch to the bridge?   

Then again, there's no point trying to figure out his sound, he's completely unique - super-light strings, downtuning and plastic fingertips!

[Will]

Were they any specific settings you used?

Basically, I set the presence, middle and treble on 10 with no bass whatsoever. The guitar volume was usually set on full and the three-way toggle switch was set on the up position for chording and in the treble spot for soloing

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/tonyiommionearlyblacksabb/

this thread is gibing me mule GAS :?

[Denim n Leather]

One way I've found to tame any excessive low freqs is to have a series/parallel switch for the neck pup. Putting the neck pup into parallel tightens it up a lot, and you can go back to "normal" when you need to with the flip of a switch!

[Philly Q]

What I can see happening is that I get a bridge BKP and hardly ever use the neck again!

No, use the neck for leads!  Brilliant sound!

[indysmith]

It's ironic that Gibson call the neck pickup the "rhythm" pickup, because it can't be used for any kind of rhythm playing in a rock context!

Try telling that to my housemate Rob! Everything he plays is MASSIVE desert rock rhythm riffs...
He'll be back later with a new Fulltone Ultimate Octaver. Can't bloody wait!