Agile 18v mod?

[gutspill713]

hello i have a 27 inch 8 string agile with the 57 66 set in it. i find the tone to be extremely muddy. i have a 7 string Carvin with BKP juggs in it. im wondering if I should try a 18v mod before selling it as the tone is very muddy and round sounding to my ears. I have tried .80 strings .74 string .84 and .90. They guitar is tuned to drop E and im running through a Axe Fx 2. i have tried it through my port city cab my orange cab and a pair of monitors and cant for the life of me find a tone i like with it. Is it time to sell and try again with a different guitar or is there some tips you can help me with? thanks!

 

[Explorer]

My first question, based on friends' experiences, is how full range the amps and cabinets actually are.

Even here on SS.org, there have been folks who have complained when their sound reinforcement solutions didn't adequately cover the full range of their instruments, especially an ERG.

 

[gutspill713]

Im not sure what exactly ymyou mean. I have tailored the axe fx to the low frequencies many time by cutting the low end from 65 hz all the way upto 105. I can tell the pickup dosent have a strong enough magnetic field to get the sound im looking for as i have to move it to practicly touching the strings to get a remotely clear tone. I know i have seen others be successful with this set up although it dosent seem to be working for my style. Forgive me if some like it though im wondering if 18v will booste the signal and open it up a little more. Thanks.

 

[gutspill713]

Also i belive the cabinant goed as low as 70 hz aswell as my monitors go to 46 hz.

 

[orion]

Have you tried brighter strings like NYXL? I also had good experiences with Curt Mangan 8 string sets and a lot of people like Kalium/Circle K .
Does the 7 string Carvin with BKP juggs sound muddy?

Have you tried the 8th with thin bright picks? You can also try Agate picks like the 2.5-3.0mm from Stone Picks Co. - Good Collection of Fine Agate and Jade Guitar Picks . The "big stubby" shape sounds amazing to me. The shape of the tip and how smooth it is defines the tone on stone picks, you may want to try different shapes. I use very fine sand paper to make a new Agate pick sound brighter and punchier if needed. Note that I haven't bought anything from stonepicks.com for a while and took them a month to deliver a pick last time I ordered. They do make the best sounding stone picks I have tried though. I use a skateboard sandpaper (comes with a sticky/glue side) on the Agate pick to keep it from slipping my finger.

I found that a 27" scale start to sound good with a .064 on G#. Thicker 8th strings also sound too round to me which is why I'm switching to 28" or longer baritone 7.

 

[Corrosion]

So Ive got an rga8 with emg808s modded to 18v. There is a difference in the overall sound and tone quality, at least enough that i havent swapped the pickups.. yet. I dont feel that the tone is by any stretch perfect but at least its now usable. Dont pretend for a second that all of the mud will magically disappear... the strings can clear up a lot of that as well. The mod gave me less mud, slight bit less compression, and opened up the headroom quite a bit. In any rig, I automatically need a boost pedal to hit the front end (even on clean) to keep the sound bright and tight.... slightly disappointing.
however, Its super simple to try it out yourself; a quick trip to radio shack is all ot takes. 3x 9v saddles, battery and solder tools... or electrical tape if you dont wanna spend time making it too permanent for a test and under $20 is all you'll be out.
connect the saddles, red to black. Put one saddle on the existing saddle. Connect the other two to 9v s. All done.

 

[kromeasdf]

First of all, try another set of strings, it helped me with a bit muddy and soapy sound several times.
Then, you should really consider what Corrosion proposed -- try it out with minimal costs and look for yourself. Although I don't think 18v mod will solve all your problems, it still might be worth trying out.

 

[9Lives]

I use this set of pickups alot. They are very touchy but worth the work. I have a 7 string set in a schecter and 8 string in my dc800. I build electronics and tinker alot, so I designed a charge pump to fit in the cavity and double the 9v battery to 18v. To me this sounds better, but I've heard others complain. It provides more snap on cleans. More click, attack (not good w adjectives) distorted just drives amp harder. I prefer it.

One of the things That is a pain with this set is getting them set up. These are much different than the 808. They have to be perfect to really nail the tone I like. Here's how I do it. Place guitar on table where I can see, raise pickups up on both sides until the just barely touch the strings. Next I use a jazz 3 pick and use that to measure gap on all four screws. Next part crucial.

With these pickups, the low end it's VERY touchy, I hook mine up to my interface and daw so that I can see the frequencues move up and down as I adjust. On the bass side of bridge lower it until you see the low frequently drop, there will be a dramatic drop. Now raise it ever slightly to get just enough to get those lows back, not a hair more . Takes some playing w. On the neck pup I usually get it close to the fret board level. Then do the same thing w the bass response. This is the only way I can get them set like I want. W 18v the bass response much easier to see and hear.

I'm not sure about the axe fx, I'm still playing through those dirty old tube amps lol. Try this before selling.