What is a "dark" sounding guitar?

[wfe06]

Hey guys,

What makes a guitar "dark" sounding? I'm pretty sure it has to do with the wood, but I'm really not sure. Below is a picture of my '05 Gibson Les Paul Classic, would you consider it dark-sounding?

Also, which contemporary humbuckers by BKP are compatible and incompatible with it?

Thanks!  :D

[dave_mc]

it depends... a lot of les pauls aren't that dark. not really possible to know without trying it.

[Philly Q]

Mahogany guitars with glued-in necks tend to bring out bass frequencies, hence "dark".

In most Les Pauls, the thick maple top adds some brightness which balances out the darker tone of the mahogany (which isn't to say that you won't find dark sounding Les Pauls, wood is an inconsistent material and all guitars sound different!)

You'd have to compare your LP with other, similar, guitars to decide if it's actually dark sounding.

As for pickups, most humbuckers work well in a Les Paul.  What kind of sound(s) are you after?

[HTH AMPS]

My 1990 LP Standard is what I feel errs slightly on the darker side tonally.

I used to have a LP Classic Plus which was a much brighter guitar both acoustically AND also with the same pickups transferred from my Standard.

Widely speaking, I wouldn't say Les Pauls are dark guitars, certainly not the majority I've played.  They do have plenty of chunk, but also plenty of cut too.

[d1dsj]

I have heard many LP's that are definitely not dark at all, and are in fact quite bright. My all Mahogany LP is what I would consider dark although the Ebony board adds a little snap. My maple capped one was what I would consider bright. I changed pick ups in both to get them how I wanted them.

[wfe06]

Mahogany guitars with glued-in necks tend to bring out bass frequencies, hence "dark".

In most Les Pauls, the thick maple top adds some brightness which balances out the darker tone of the mahogany (which isn't to say that you won't find dark sounding Les Pauls, wood is an inconsistent material and all guitars sound different!)

You'd have to compare your LP with other, similar, guitars to decide if it's actually dark sounding.

As for pickups, most humbuckers work well in a Les Paul.  What kind of sound(s) are you after?

That makes sense... well I guess it's safe to say that my LP Classic is not really a dark guitar. I also have a Schecter Hellraiser Solo-6 which is basically all mahogany and it sounds less brighter than the LP!

Most humbuckers do work in LP's, but when I was reading the "suitability" section for each pickup, I noticed some that apparently would not fit well in set-in, warm guitars... The Holy Diver is a good example of that; BKP says it's suited more for bolt-on brighter guitars, while many users on the other hand recommended it heavily for my LP judging from their own experience.

I'm looking for a hot "Mark Tremonti"-ish crunch and lead tone (but not oversaturated and ultra hot) mostly coming from the bridge pickup, and a nice classically voiced modern neck pickup for pristine orgasmic cleans. I seldom use the bridge pickup for cleans unless I'm combining it with the neck pickup every once in a blue moon. What would you recommend?

[Philly Q]

I'm looking for a hot "Mark Tremonti"-ish crunch and lead tone (but not oversaturated and ultra hot) mostly coming from the bridge pickup, and a nice classically voiced modern neck pickup for pristine orgasmic cleans. I seldom use the bridge pickup for cleans unless I'm combining it with the neck pickup every once in a blue moon. What would you recommend?

As a bit of a shot in the dark, I would guess perhaps a Painkiller bridge and Cold Sweat neck for a Tremonti style tone.  I know his PRS pickup was (at least initially) based on a ceramic Gibson pickup he liked.

But I'm not very clued-up on the higher-output pickups, I'm sure someone else will be able to give better advice now you've said what you're after.  :)

[itamar101]

Philly X was actually spot on with his recommendations in my opinion. I've never played it ht from what I've heard the Painkiller is very similar to his signature pickups. Actually... When I think of the painkiller I imagine his tone... Especially I the blackbird solo. The cold sweat neck should get his clean tones almost spot on too...

About the holy diver... It's just one of those pickups that work amazingly well in any guitar... Tim actually uses a Holy Diver bridge pickup with an emerald neck in one of his main les Pauls. It's one of his favourite humbucker sets.

But i wouldnt recommend it for the tones you're after. Tremonti has a rather scooped and very cutting and tight tone. The holy diver is rather prominent in the mids, has a sweet and not very cutting top end and is not as tight.

[Philly Q]

Philly X was actually spot on with his recommendations in my opinion.

Eh?  :?

[wfe06]

As a bit of a shot in the dark, I would guess perhaps a Painkiller bridge and Cold Sweat neck for a Tremonti style tone.  I know his PRS pickup was (at least initially) based on a ceramic Gibson pickup he liked.

But I'm not very clued-up on the higher-output pickups, I'm sure someone else will be able to give better advice now you've said what you're after.  :)

I really doubt that the Painkiller bridge can take on Tremonti tones, because the Tremonti signature bridge pickup is very trebly and has scooped mids, whereas the Painkiller has more mids and less treble.

I think the Cold Sweat bridge can do Tremonti better.

[James C]

The painkiller/cs combo was recommended to me by Tim for Tremonti tones and they do them extremely well

[itamar101]

Philly X was actually spot on with his recommendations in my opinion.

Eh?  :?

Haha! Sorry! I was actually just watching a Phil x video do I got confused!

[itamar101]

As a bit of a shot in the dark, I would guess perhaps a Painkiller bridge and Cold Sweat neck for a Tremonti style tone.  I know his PRS pickup was (at least initially) based on a ceramic Gibson pickup he liked.

But I'm not very clued-up on the higher-output pickups, I'm sure someone else will be able to give better advice now you've said what you're after.  :)

I really doubt that the Painkiller bridge can take on Tremonti tones, because the Tremonti signature bridge pickup is very trebly and has scooped mids, whereas the Painkiller has more mids and less treble.

I think the Cold Sweat bridge can do Tremonti better.

You shouldn't really even look at EQ charts TBH. They are pretty unnaccurate and don't describe tone at all. the painkiller bridge really is closest to tremontis tone.

[Philly Q]

I really doubt that the Painkiller bridge can take on Tremonti tones, because the Tremonti signature bridge pickup is very trebly and has scooped mids, whereas the Painkiller has more mids and less treble.

I think the Cold Sweat bridge can do Tremonti better.

As I said, my suggestion was basically just an (educated) guess, I've never tried the PK and I'm not really familiar with the higher output BKPs, I've just read about them a lot on this forum.  Vintage to Vintage Hot is more my territory, although I have owned the Rebel Yell, Crawler and Cold Sweat from the Contemporary range.  

I do have a Cold Sweat, doesn't sound very Tremonti-ish to me but (a) it's a different type of guitar and (b) it's me playing... badly.

I see you have another thread going in the Pickups section, discussing pickups for the same guitar, so maybe you should go with what the guys are saying there.

[WeAreNotGentlemen]

Also if you want a lot of versatility too the Blackhawk got me a really close Come to Life tone. I don't know how versatile the Painkiller is. I think the Painkiller would still make more sense though.