8-String sounds weak/quiet.

[HotRodasaurus]

I've been trying to figure this out for a while, but I can't find any existing discussions or guides that seem to match my specific issue.

My Agile Pendulum 8-string sounds quiet compared to my other guitars. It's the kind of quiet, or low gain, that makes you want to roll the volume knob back up instinctually. But the volume knob is already rolled to max! I have my pickups as close to the strings as I can get away with, and I've swapped out the stock pickups with slanted Bareknuckle Aftermaths 8's, and it got even quieter!

I've tried the same amp settings as my other guitars, and I've tried a heavily EQ tweaked setting as well.

Could it just be the nature of an 8-string guitar to sound quiet or have low sustain/gain? I haven't had many opportunities to compare my 8-string with others.

Could the issue lie with the wiring or pots? Keep in mind, this isn't an issue with just the bottom string. It affects all strings. I can't chug on the 6th or 7th strings like I can my other guitars. It's not severe. It's still playable, just not quite powerful enough to be satisfying.

 

[Empryrean]

I'm willing to bet you might have wired it in parallel or something. Either that or you're just not using enough gain?

 

[Go To Bed Jessica]

Do you have your hot and ground reversed at the output jack?

Have you wired the coils of the humbuckers in parallel?

Have you raised the pickups close enough to the strings?

Are your solder connections well done?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Definitely messed up wiring or a component of such.

 

[Thorsday7]

Agiles have a rubber pad shim between the pickups and the body. Eliminate that and replace with a wooden shim, and you'll notice way better tone.

Have a luthier look into the wiring if you are not competent at such a task.

 

[Scordare]

It does sound like an electronic issue.. You can also put pickups too close to the strings, to where they sound weak and out of phase.