Anyone else find a LP neck pickup hard to dial in?

marT · Post by **marT** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 3:54 am

Hi all,

I am loving my JTM45, it just gets better every day apart from that small fizz problem that I have posted but I am sure I'll get it sorted eventually.

One thing I have a hard time is getting the neck pickup on my les paul to sound sweet on it. plain strings seem to have good definition but as soon as you get to the wound strings, especially if you do fast runs/a few chords together its bass overload and quite muddy. I know its not the guitar, the neck sounds super smooth and sweet through my classic 30.

The bridge pickup and (now out of phase) middle position is great. I am loving playing rhythm on the bridge pickup which I never used to do, super crunchy and thick. I am trying to chase those beautiful singing neck tones ala peter green what I used to be able to do on my classic 30 but seems to be eluding me on the JTM45. When the amp is somewhat clean however, it DOES sound very nice. On 10 though, bass overload.

It perhaps could be the lack of reverb. I am sure its just something that will take getting used to, its a very different amp to what I have played with previously.

Anyone else have this problem or is it just me?

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 7:22 am

I fight this problem all the time. My JTM45 was one of my better amps on the neck pickup too, I'll have to build another soon........

I've ended up with a Smits Bucker Lite in the neck of my sunburst Les Paul, it's only about 6.7K DC resistance with an AlNiCo 2 magnet. It's gotten me a lot closer to having a usable neck pickup with a cranked Marshall with its lower output (and brighter sound as a result of lower output.) Even then the A2 magnet seems too warm sometimes, I've got another Bucker Lite here with an A5 magnet that I haven't gotten around to trying yet. I'm hoping the brighter punchier A5 might give the neck a touch more edge and cut.

Even then, I wouldn't turn the amp up to ten for decent neck pickup tone, that's gotta be pure sludge. I ran my JTM45 at about 7-1/2 to 8 at most. I know it's beaten into everyone's heads that you have to turn up to ten but I almost never hear the best tone of the amp fully dimed.

marT · Post by **marT** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 7:26 am

Thats true flames. I sometimes feel bad for not liking the tone when its on 10 since everyone says that's where its at

I am running Dr V pickups and they are pretty low output, with alnico 2 magnets. PAF replicas basically.

I don't feel so bad now I am not the only one, it is usable at a bit lower volumes. Its just sludge on 10 as you say.

Could different tubes help with this? I was thinking of trying 6L6's, would this have any effect?

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 7:50 am

I don't know; I didn't like the NOS 6L6WGB's I tried in mine well enough to even get to the neck pickup..........they seemed too fuzzy when overdriven.

darkbluemurder · Post by **darkbluemurder** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:42 am

That is why I stopped playing guitars with neck humbuckers - the wound strings often sound plain muddy to me. P90s are better in that regard but being single coils they hum.

Roe · Post by **Roe** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:45 am

here's something that should help: lower the pup quite a lot on the bass side and a little on the treble side. and rise the polescrews alot on the bass ide and a little on the treble side.

marT · Post by **marT** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:47 am

Maybe this is why you see peter greens guitar with the neck bass side WAY low.

toner · Post by **toner** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 8:50 am

Flames1950 wrote:...I know it's beaten into everyone's heads that you have to turn up to ten but I almost never hear the best tone of the amp fully dimed.

That's so true! Other than possibly EVH, Marshalls almost never sound "best" dimed.

marT, I have the same problem with my strat, believe it or not! I have Rio Grande pups that are warmer and thicker sounding than typical strat pickups but are still fairly low output. When I dial in a tone for the bridge, the neck pickup is too "woofy" and muddy. All of the pickup selections sound great but not with the same amp settings.

hipfan · Post by **hipfan** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 12:19 pm

Flames1950 wrote:I've ended up with a Smits Bucker Lite in the neck of my sunburst Les Paul, it's only about 6.7K DC resistance with an AlNiCo 2 magnet. It's gotten me a lot closer to having a usable neck pickup with a cranked Marshall with its lower output (and brighter sound as a result of lower output.) Even then the A2 magnet seems too warm sometimes, I've got another Bucker Lite here with an A5 magnet that I haven't gotten around to trying yet. I'm hoping the brighter punchier A5 might give the neck a touch more edge and cut.

I've found an AlNiCo III magnet to be the cure for the muddy or indistinct neck tone. I put one in a WCR Crossroads (which came with an A5 magnet stock), and it was like magic. The pickup was very nice stock, but a little too "much" for the guitar. Too much bass and too much output. With the A3 magnet installed, the pickup became tight and sweet, but not overpowering at all, all the way up and down the neck on both the wound and plain strings.

6string · Post by **6string** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 1:36 pm

marT wrote:Thats true flames. I sometimes feel bad for not liking the tone when its on 10 since everyone says that's where its at

I don't feel so bad now I am not the only one, it is usable at a bit lower volumes. Its just sludge on 10 as you say.

I don't understand why anyone would feel that they need to set everything on ten. That's bad theory that will likely result in bad tone. Use your ears!!
Do you listen to your stereo with everything on ten? I doubt it.

Amps have volume and tone controls for a reason. Use them. Dial it in. Get your sound... your own sound. Don't set it based on what someone else says. Who cares if your bass control is on 0, mid around 6, and treble on 3? Just set it where you like it. Tone is personal. Most of your tone comes from your hands anyway. Two guys playing the exact same guitar through the exact same rig with the exact same settings will have different tone.

Adjusting your pickups or using a lower output pup in the neck as stated in the above posts may help as well.

Don't be afraid to throw a couple of pedals in the mix. Set your amp for the rhythm sound you like, and use a boost or overdrive or distortion pedal to kick it up a notch.
There are some awesome pedals out there... check out the RC Booster by xotic effects. It is a fantastic sounding boost/overdrive. The RC is probably my favorite pedal and has been for a long time. Can't say enough good things about it.
Another great box is the Ibanez MT10 Mostortion. A mosfet pedal made in the '90s. Kind of hard to find... watch ebay. Kind of like a tube screamer with bass, mid, and treble controls. Very sweet, smooth, singing overdrive/distortion. I have three of 'em.
I also get a lot of use out of the Boss GE7 eq pedal.

But that's what I like. You may not. That's fine. In the end, my best advice would be trust your ears. YOUR ears.

neikeel · Post by **neikeel** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 2:02 pm

I had an '87 LP Custom which looked nice but always sounded one dimensional when controls dialled back and the neck 'bucker was always muddy.

I tried all sorts of pickups (SD jazz,59, burstbuckers, antiquities)without getting quite what I wanted. So I sold it last year on ebay for

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 5:43 pm

hipfan wrote:
Flames1950 wrote:I've ended up with a Smits Bucker Lite in the neck of my sunburst Les Paul, it's only about 6.7K DC resistance with an AlNiCo 2 magnet. It's gotten me a lot closer to having a usable neck pickup with a cranked Marshall with its lower output (and brighter sound as a result of lower output.) Even then the A2 magnet seems too warm sometimes, I've got another Bucker Lite here with an A5 magnet that I haven't gotten around to trying yet. I'm hoping the brighter punchier A5 might give the neck a touch more edge and cut.
I've found an AlNiCo III magnet to be the cure for the muddy or indistinct neck tone. I put one in a WCR Crossroads (which came with an A5 magnet stock), and it was like magic. The pickup was very nice stock, but a little too "much" for the guitar. Too much bass and too much output. With the A3 magnet installed, the pickup became tight and sweet, but not overpowering at all, all the way up and down the neck on both the wound and plain strings.

I've got a couple of HighOrder 7.6K's with A3 magnets, they were close but not quite there either.

nwobhm · Post by **nwobhm** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:13 pm

my 2 cents try .01 caps on the tone control for neck pup on a les paul. If I have one that seems to muddy or wooly works every time and you still have a useable range for a tone control. much cheaper than swapping pups all the time.

Leader · Post by **Leader** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 4:47 am

I keep my neck p'up low and my bridge p'up high. I keep my amp around 7. I only use the neck for cleans with the volume rolled back or for dirty lead. I kick in a BYOC TS808 or a BYOC rat for extra sustain. Sounds great to me.

marT · Post by **marT** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 5:14 am

Thats pretty much what I am doing at the moment too leader, seems to work great.