Dimarzio problem in mahogany?(D-activator X)

[ShredEmall]

hey there. i recently opened a topic named "metal pickups in mahogany" so ppl could suggest me some pickups

i bought d activator x and paf pro as i said

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/pickups-electronics-general-tech/185697-metal-pickups-mahogany.html

thats the topic i told u.


i got the pickups installed earlier..and received the guitar today.


ToneFinder


EXCUSE THE SLOPPY PLAYING i made it fast and played this shitty riff to show you how muddy the sound is.

i get this bassy/muddy sound. also the gain is not enough, it sounds shitty thru the engl screamer 50(with or without the metal muff).

the emg 81 were REALLY better sounding.

in the settings i had gain full, bass 0, treble+mid 5.
if i increase the bass it will sound even worse.


about the paf pro, he kills. at least paf pro is good...its a pickup with "life" in him. i like him very much. don know what to do about the d activator X

 

[Valennic]

Cool thing about dimarzios is I believe you can exchange them for a pickup of equal or lesser value without any sort of charge through your dealer. So just try out a few more. I'd recommend the D-sonic with the bar facing the bridge, nice tight tone there.

 

[ShredEmall]

i am wondering if that difference is because of the active-passive pickups?
i mean, with emg's i hadnt a bassy/muddy tone and my gain has plenty.
is it just the d-activator x model or other pickups like x2n would be better sounding?

 

[ShredEmall]

http://www.tonefinder.com/files/86-01-120224_1751.mp3

here's clean setting(pull me under setting, podfarm)
nothing special just a comparison of d activator x bridge and paf pro neck.

 

[Dead Undead]

Tweak more!! Adjust the pickup height and such. Most DiMarzio pickups are sensitive to that kind of thing and it can really change your experience with them.
Tweak your amp more too. Back off the gain some, see if that helps a bit.

 

[Vinchester]

It's not the pickups that let you down, it's the Line 6 UX you're using. I use a PodX3 myself and I totally remember THAT muddy tone.
EMGs tend to work well with them, but many passives will sound like crap through them.
For now TURN DOWN THE GAIN and maybe try other amp/cab/mic placement that won't muddy your sound?

Nevertheless I'd recommend you to get a nice amp if possible. And DON'T buy a super hot X2N because that will probably even be more bassy because it has tons of output.

 

[cyril v]

gain = 11
bass = 0



Play some riffs and throw up some DI tracks if you can, I've always wondered what these pups would sound like in this set-up, but I don't think this is a good representation with settings like that.

Also, +1 to what 'Dead Undead' said.

 

[ShredEmall]

well thanks for all your answers guys!

dead undead, i changed the height, it helped me a little bit with the "muddy" part
i lowered a little bit the pickups and it sounds better i think. but i also think that i lost some gain! nothing much but ok!

vinchester, maybe its the ux2 yea...i dont really like that sound but ehm ok.
i loved my engl screamer but i lost so much gain with the dimarzios. i thought that he'd be fine because they're high output pups but...it lacks much gain and treble! paranoid and iron man are the most metal songs i can play with that sound :O

i actually was thinking about chaning to x2n...seems i was wrong. thanks


cyrilv, ill do more tests...ill try everything


guys do u think, the lack of gain, has to do with the installation? i mean..if he forgot any cable or something? also, ive got 25k pots, not 50k. gonna be any big difference for my gain?

i cant even use the engl screamer lead channel...the distortion i get is shitty :O

 

[Vinchester]

With your engl screamer, I recommend you boost it with an overdrive pedal in front of the amp. Turn level to max, gain 0 and tone to taste. That way it'll help with the gain saturation and give you more distortion

 

[ShredEmall]

i currently own an electro harmonix metal muff, it wasnt bad with the emg's, now it sounds pretty bad.

seems i've to sell it for a low price and get something better like ibanez ts-9 eh?

*vid coming*

 

[cyril v]

cyrilv, ill do more tests...ill try everything


guys do u think, the lack of gain, has to do with the installation? i mean..if he forgot any cable or something? also, ive got 25k pots, not 50k. gonna be any big difference for my gain?

25k/50k pots are not recommended at all with Dimarzio pick-ups if you're going for any kind of modern sound. Dimarzio recommends 500k pots for most of their pick-ups that I'm familiar with and the only reason I'd stray away from that is if the tone was too bright in which case 250k might be worth trying or 1meg pots to get a bit more brightness.

If you add 500k pots, you'll definitely regain a lot more clarity, but you might end up having to lower your neck pup to get it back to this sound that you're currently enjoying.

I actually had a tech (who was a dick) intentionally not use 500k pots that I supplied and used some old 25k pots he had lying around instead. It basically basically sucked the balls out of anything I tried to do, I couldn't enough feel from them to get into AC/DC territory distortion.

Even 250k to 500k is going to make quite a difference, so if 25k is where you're currently at, it should be something of a day/night difference.

i currently own an electro harmonix metal muff, it wasnt bad with the emg's, now it sounds pretty bad.

seems i've to sell it for a low price and get something better like ibanez ts-9 eh?

*vid coming*

Skip the vid, I'd change out the pots first.

 

[ShredEmall]

the pickups i previously used were emg 81 so maybe thats why they used 25k?ill go get some 500k pots this week and ill let you know!
so since it sucked with your 25k pots...and then it was fine with 500k the difference is really big

ill let you know soon!

 

[Vinchester]

wait... you didnt change the pots? 0_o

If so the tech should be jailed for that. Passive pups always need 500K pots (250K if it's Fender).

 

[lurgar]

If the tech really didn't change out the pots, I would be honestly surprised.

I'm expecting to be surprised judging from those clips. It sounded like the tone knob was rolled back too far.

 

[linqua]

make sure you wired them correctly. especially if you followed another manufacturers scematic. they have the same color wires, but they are different wires depending on the manufacturer. i followed a seymour duncan schematic to install a super distortion and paf pro in my friends guitar, we got pretty much the same result untill i switched the wires into the right place, and the mud went away and everything made sense.

 

[Konfyouzd]

Are you EQing the same? The pickups respond differently and need to be EQ'd to reflect that.

 

[ShredEmall]

thanks all!

vinchester, here we've not many guitar techs, and the ones we have arent so experienced :/

when he gave me the guitar he didnt make the "grounding"(is it called like that?) and i had a buzz thingy coming out. you know...bad wire/grounding.next morning he came back after i told him that and he fixed it. i asked him if theres be any difference if i change the pots and he told me yes but not a really big. and then he asked me if i want them to be changed. i said ill buy the pots and give them to him .
:S

lurgar, yea he didnt change them as i said :/ now i see how important is to change the pots! indeed it sounds like the tone knob is rolled back far!

linqua, ill try to find an other tech to ensure the installation so far...i really cant believe that dimarzio passive pickups have that shitty sound! ive heard so many clips/videos(i know it sounds silly) and the difference is far beyond huge!

konfyyouzd, no! i use different settings. more gain, more treble/mid, less bass, more presence!

i can hope for justice thanks guys!

 

[Michael T]

Buy a soldering iron, Google some wiring diagrams and do it yourself.
As the old saying goes " If you want something done right, do it yourself."
Soldering and setups are 2 main things every guitarist should know how to do.