Taming a bright guitar without using huge output?

[Ace Flibble]

The patient in this case is a Charvel San Dimas Style 2. Solid alder body, bolt-on maple neck and fretboard, non-recessed Floyd Rose, one single master volume control (I think it's a 500k) and a 3-way toggle switch. Current humbuckers are the stock Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck and JB trembucker in the bridge.

I want to warm the bridge up a little and stop it being quite so piercing. I don't want to go crazy with the output though like most really thick-sounding pickups are; the JB is already more powerful than I'd really like this guitar to be.
I'm not trying to get a really vintage tone either, just something that isn't quite so cutting as the current JB/Floyd combo currently is. You could say that I'm aiming for a very bland tone.

I was thinking of using an Alnico 2 Pro as that's nice and boringly average, but I've only ever used those in hardtail guitars with rosewood fretboards. I don't know how well it'll balance out the Floyd/maple combo, if at all. Would the Slash version be any better? The site EQ numbers suggest it's thicker than the regular one but the text says it's more open.

Ideas? I know that changing the volume control to a 250k would help round off the bridge more but the neck pickup already sounds great as it is so I don't really want to change the volume pot.

[Chris of Arabia]

I'm thinking that some sort of capacitor in parallel with the volume pot to just bleed off the highest frequencies might do it. I'd have no idea what value you'd need though. The only other thing would be to ensure it's only in the circuit when the bridge p/u alone is selected.

[CTN]

FWIW, this is an issue I'm encountering with my Strat.

I have a dimarzio super distortion in there right now, which is great for taming the brightness/spankiness of the strat itself. the SuperD has really thick lows and mids, and a subdued/smoother treble, so it works perfectly for thickening a bright guitar. Only problem is the high output. if you want someting more vintagey in sound/output, the SuperD is not gonna cut it.

But DMZ has a few other options:

Air Zone
Air Norton
Norton
Andy Timmons Sig (AT-1)
PAF 36th Aniv Bridge model

They're all in the low/med output range, and they all have an emphasis on the lows and mids and less so on the treble.

I'm probably going to try to get a PAF 36th, Air Norton or an AT-1.

I was really hoping to find an SD pickup that would be able to do the same job, but I feel like none of the current SD production lineup does the massive thick low end thing while keeping the highs subdued, while still remaining in vintage output/voicing territory.

[Ace Flibble]

That's what I've noticed. From what I can tell most SDs have quite a lot of treble and soft bass. DiMarzio seem to go for the opposite and pump up the bass hugely. I'm just rather reluctant to use DiMarzio because they're pretty expensive here and nowhere ever has them in stock, they're always a special order deal. SDs are everywhere and cheap but I'm beginning to fear they just may not do anything that does what I want.

[dr. ad]

custom custom trembucker?

[Ace Flibble]

I thought of that but the SD site confuses me. I would have thought a somewhat overwound A2 pickup would be very thick with not much treble (that's exactly what the current Fender Wide Range pickups are after all and they sound very warm) but the SD site lists it as having very weak bass and very high treble. It's a right pain to find any decent sound clips of it in action too.

[gibson175]

custom custom trembucker?

yeh custom custom! still will rock and squeal, but with warmth and sustain, less presence in the top and less focussed bass. Then just swap the magnet in the neck 59 to an a2 and youll have a shred machine with vibe.

[marcello252]

custom custom trembucker?

That's what I finally use in my bright ash strat, I tried JB, Hybrid, Paf, A2P, Custom and then the Custom Custom was the right one.
IMHO I have to say the A2 magnet suits very well in bridge position of a strat, it can tame down the shrill and pump the mids in a pleasant way, you can play almost everything with it, even hard rock

[dr. ad]

it's not shrill, no.
it'll definitely bring enough midrange to balance out a bright guitar though; your guitar's the ideal place for one

[Chad]

I've left the JB in both of my Pro-Mods. Some ideas:

1. Change pot out to 250K. I know you said you currently like the neck tone with the 500K pot, but I'd still give this a whirl. Cheap and easy to do if you can solder.
2. Add a tone pot. You probably don't want to drill, so this is most likely not feasible.
3. What I did to one of my Pro-Mods: added an RC network (resistor and cap) to simulate a 500K tone pot set on "10".
4. Magnet swap? I've not done any magnet swaps on a JB yet, but maybe other folks could chime in with some ideas.

[LatsMcGee]

Maybe try an A2 or an uoriented A5 in the JB,

[wolf5150]

Change the volume pot to a 250k . The jb is now my fave pickup since i changed my volume pot. Much cheaper than a new pickup or voiding the warranty by swapping magnets. Incidentally the new duncan smooth turning pot is superb. i also added the kinman treble bleed mod to my volume pot. Well worth doing.

[ItsaBass]

I'd convert the volume pot to a tone pot, or install a stacked volume/tone pot, and tune the sound of the pickup with cap and/or pot values. It's not hard to deal with a pickup that is too bright; all you have to do is settle on a pot/cap combination that allows you to tone it down in a useful way. It is much harder to deal with the opposite.

[Mpcoluv]

Try a PATB-3

[DTrane]

the dimarzio dp223 worked well for my bright alder strat. I am trying the neck phat cat with A2 magnets

[Mattallica]

Have you considered using an EQ pedal in front of the amp or something of the like? Seems to me this would be much simpler than getting into all that magnet swapping and such. I'll try some EQ before I swap a pickup.

[Gypsyblue]

I'd put a cover on the bridge pickup. Cheap and relatively easy.

[Mattallica]

I'd put a cover on the bridge pickup. Cheap and relatively easy.

Does this really affect the sound? I've often wondered this myself. +1 if it does!

[Gypsyblue]

Does this really affect the sound? I've often wondered this myself. +1 if it does!

I think it does. Back in the 60's Clapton and Beck both removed the nickel covers from their Les Pauls and claimed it gave their guitars more treble and more presence. So rockers started using their humbuckers without covers to get a more aggressive sound. Now it's the norm for humbuckers used in rock guitars to be made without covers.

However, jazz players, blues players and country players have always tended to use humbuckers with the covers on. It gives a slightly sweeter tone, IMO.

[Mattallica]

I think it does. Back in the 60's Clapton and Beck both removed the nickel covers from their Les Pauls and claimed it gave their guitars more treble and more presence. So rockers started using their humbuckers without covers to get a more aggressive sound. Now it's the norm for humbuckers used in rock guitars to be made without covers.

However, jazz players, blues players and country players have always tended to use humbuckers with the covers on. It gives a slightly sweeter tone, IMO.

Hmmm, very interesting! Might try this if I find the Atomic hbker in my bridge is too trebly.