My SG Bridge Pickup is WAYYYY To Bright....BKP Suggestions Please!

[ring]

First of all - I am new here - so hello!

I have a Gibson SG that I'm playing through a Blackheart Little Giant 5 watt and the bridge position is far too bright.

I play everything from Rolling Stones type rock to Stone Temple Pilots and Tool-ish tunes.

Can somebody recommend a replacement set of humbucker BKP?


Thanks in advance!

[FELINEGUITARS]

First of all - I am new here - so hello!

I have a Gibson SG that I'm playing through a Blackheart Little Giant 5 watt and the bridge position is far too bright.

I play everything from Rolling Stones type rock to Stone Temple Pilots and Tool-ish tunes.

Can somebody recommend a replacement set of humbucker BKP?


Thanks in advance!

Sure - I'll make uggestions for your Sg but highly advise you to swap the cheap nasty capacitors that Gibson fit on your tone controls for some nice oil and paper ones  first
You will notice an instant improvement - even if you play with the tone full up

Then look at the Emerald set - works a treat in an SG

[ring]

Hey bro!
Thanks for the suggestion. I know 0 about guitar maintenance. Can you post a link to a brand of capacitor I can get in the states? Also - how tough is it to change em??

[FELINEGUITARS]

Here ya go
http://www.allparts.com/022-Vitamin-Q-Cap-p/ep-4156-000.htm

Two solder joints is all it takes

[ring]

Here ya go
http://www.allparts.com/022-Vitamin-Q-Cap-p/ep-4156-000.htm

Two solder joints is all it takes

Thanks, Felineguitars.  I'm on it.

[AndyR]

Yep, those are the very capacitors that my Riff Raffs have in my SG :D

I wouldn't have been able to say that mine was overly bright before I installed them, but maybe someone else would have described it that way. I try these capacitors in guitars that don't seem to be breaking-up in the way I like... But my experience seems to suggest now that if it's a brighter sounding guitar, the Vitamin Qs can make an almost unbelievable improvement for me personally.

Also, if you haven't done it already, try adjusting the pickup heights. It affects all pickups, but seems really noticable with BKPs. You can make huge differences in the fine-tuning of "your" tone with small turns of the height adjuster screws either side of the pickup. A non-guitarist might not spot the difference, but you can make your guitar feel like a completely different guitar just by raising or lowering one or both sides of a pickup.

And welcome to the forum :D

[ericsabbath]

black dog

a class A 5w amp will still sound bright
you need a thicker sounding amp
a laney gh50l would get you there (still a very bright amp, but you can always roll off the presence and treble)

[ring]

Pickup adjustment definitely helped.

Thanks guys.


On the capacitors, am I replacing the little orange things between the tone and volume with the ones I the link above.

[Alex]

I think the problem might rather be the amp than the guitar or the pickup to be honest.

[ring]

I think the problem might rather be the amp than the guitar or the pickup to be honest.

I think so too.  I'm currently selling some gear to buy a Vox AC30.  Love the tone of some of the stuff on STP purple record (Silvergun Superman and Still Remains)

[ring]

Are the stock capacitors the little organge circles?

[FELINEGUITARS]

Are the stock capacitors the little organge circles?

Yes - those little orange discs - NASTY little caps!
They do the job that they are supposed to but they do your tone no favours in the process IMO

[ring]

OK guys!  I have the new capacitors (Vitamin-Qs) -

Do I need to do anything special (facing a specific direction) or am I just soldering them where the orange ones are?

Also - any specific type of solder?


Thank you!

[FELINEGUITARS]

OK guys!  I have the new capacitors (Vitamin-Qs) -

Do I need to do anything special (facing a specific direction) or am I just soldering them where the orange ones are?

Also - any specific type of solder?


Thank you!

that is a really good question and I dont as yet have a definitive answer
In theory there should be no difference - just replace the ones that are there with these
I tend in practise to put them in so I can read the writing as I view the control cavity, but if you are willing to experiment you can try them one way first and then the other way round and see if you can hear any difference (and let us know what you found)

Use a 15-25w soldering iron and normal rosin/flux core solder
These days we have to advise you to use lead free which is what you will find in shops if you are in the UK or Europe
However if you have suitable old stock of leaded stuff it will work just fine (and we wont tell anyone)

[gwEm]

These days we have to advise you to use lead free which is what you will find in shops if you are in the UK or Europe
However if you have suitable old stock of leaded stuff it will work just fine (and we wont tell anyone)

Has lead-free solder come on, or is the leaded stuff still easier to work with?

G