Tweaking Tone

[mrturtle_91]

Earlier on, I found that the bridge pickup on my tele was sounding a little shrill. I thought that I might have to change the bridge pup out. But first I decided I would try a few things. Firstly, I adjusted my EQ. I had my treble at 8, mids at 6, and bass at 5...after I changed them, treble at 6, mids at 5, and bass at 5, made a huge difference. It then sounded slightly muddy, so I propped up my amp so that it was aiming up slightly...another huge difference, sounded almost perfect, not too much brightness or muddiness. I then tweaked my tone knob slightly and that was it, it sounded pretty darn good. Keep in mind this is a crappy amp I'm using (Fender Frontman 15-G), but it sounded surprisingly good after all those adjustments. So my suggestion to all those people who keep switching pickups on their guitars, try tweaking a few things on your amp before switching pickups or magnets and it could make a world of difference to you.

[JB_From_Hell]

One of the local shop owners kind of knocked me off my high horse about pickup swapping. I was telling him about changing magnets or pole pieces, using 1meg pots, something like that, and he was kind of nodding, then holds up his index finger, walks over to an amp, turns the treble knob a little in one direction, and goes, "I just blew your whole world apart."

I laughed, and decided to be less nitpicky about stuff.

[guitfiddle]

Yeah, Leo gave us the three band tone stack cause it works.

[subanots]

slade? is that you?

[jerryjg]

wrong forum but after youve tweaked the amp and tone knobs, changed pots and pickup height, you can still make a big difference changing pickups.

[ModestCargo]

I find just propping the amp against a wall or whatever makes a big difference. Speaker aimed directly at the head.

Guess that's why I love the idea of angled cabs - speakers facing your ears AND everyone else's ears.

[Empty Pockets]

yeah. you couldn't make a 62 Tele sound like an SG with EMGs with all the tonestacks on the earth.

[mrturtle_91]

I find just propping the amp against a wall or whatever makes a big difference. Speaker aimed directly at the head.

Guess that's why I love the idea of angled cabs - speakers facing your ears AND everyone else's ears.

same here, it makes a huge difference when all the sound isn't absorbed by everything on the ground.

yeah. you couldn't make a 62 Tele sound like an SG with EMGs with all the tonestacks on the earth.

Of course not, that's why you get a 62 tele, and an SG with EMG's and you're good to go.

[StrangeSound]

So simple, so true.

But sometimes you don't want to move the knobs, it has to sound good like this...

When I play through my Engl Screamer I don't need many mids, they're about 10 o'clock..I can't make my stuff sound scooped, on the MI Audio pedal I have to kick some serious mids (about 2-3 o'clock) but it sounds very cool then.

[guitfiddle]

yeah. you couldn't make a 62 Tele sound like an SG with EMGs with all the tonestacks on the earth.

And pray tell, why on Earth would I want to do that?