Sound clips - Blackjack/JB vs Hellraiser/707 vs Universe/Blaze

[The Dark Wolf]

I think the 707 would probably sound much better in a different amp. That Nomad is dark, but it has a sort of uber-presence/clarity going on that doesn't sit well with the 707's super attack. On that I completely agree. ON further listening, I'm damn near convinced the amp is a large part of the culprit.

But run though something like a fully saturated Rectifier, a la Jeff Loomis, it shows its true colors. It's a high gain beast, and not really great for the lower gain stuff, typically.

 

[skattabrain]

i like the looseness of the 707 in the hellraiser. hmmm ... maybe it's not loose ... maybe it's the pick attack. but i like hearing the pick attack

 

[skattabrain]

btw ... nice post drew.

 

[Drew]

Thanks - give me three guitars, and well, I'm curious how they compare tonally.

 

[The Dark Wolf]

Thanks - give me three guitars, and well, I'm curious how they compare tonally.

I wish you were rich, D. I have a great idea for a weekly thread/column/forum here.

Drew's Reviews

Where you go and review nifty equipment - picks, strings, pickups, amps, guitars, recording equipment, software, plug-ins, you name it.

Cool name, eh? Being the super intellingent, insightful, wordy bloke you are, I think it would be the dog's balls, bro.

 

[kmanick]

I had a quick discussion with Drew about this recently thru a Pm and discovered this.
I have a hellraiser 7 (with the 707s)
and I also have an ESP M-207 that has a Real Duncan JB in the bridge.
The other night I was goofing around going back and forth between the two guitars and discovered this:
I was jamming to Van Halens first two albums using my 7's .
With the hellraiser it just didn't sound right, there was no "brown" tone at all, whether it's the pickups or the guitar , I don't know but it was "mid poor"
the ESP (with the JB) in it sounded much better at the lower gain more 80's type of sound than the Hellraiser did.
Now I run a 5150 combo and a B-52 At -100 combo (each one at a time) thru a hotplate into a Marshall 1960 AX cab (greenbacks). I use a BBE sonic stomp with the 5150 and an MXR 10 band EQ with the B-52.
the ESP sounds much better thru the 5150 (a much more "mid" strong amp) the B-52 is voiced much more like a dual Recto.
the hellraiser sounds awesome thru the B-52 it sounds like crap thru the 5150.
the ESP sounds pretty good thru both, but better thru the 5150.
I think the 707's are much better greared towards a higher gain "saturated" modern sound than trying to play something like "Lay it down" by Ratt with them.
I think using these pick ups with different amps will give you much different results.
http://music.mp3lizard.com/kmanick/

 

[Drew]

I wish you were rich, D. I have a great idea for a weekly thread/column/forum here.

Drew's Reviews

Where you go and review nifty equipment - picks, strings, pickups, amps, guitars, recording equipment, software, plug-ins, you name it.

Cool name, eh? Being the super intellingent, insightful, wordy bloke you are, I think it would be the dog's balls, bro.

Thanks Bob. I'd love to, if nothing else for comic value. "However, this $3000 large-diaphram condensor mic totally failed the "16-oz-of-beer-spill live test," while this $30 dynamic didn't. Pity, what a waste of good beer. Oh, yeah, and a nice mic."

I wonder if I could get sponsorship?

My experiences are dead-on with Kmanick's. If you're going to play rhythm with the 707, you need plenty of gain. There's just not enough midrange relative to all that treble to really drive an amp without a ton of preamp gain.

 

[The Dark Wolf]

Thanks Bob. I'd love to, if nothing else for comic value. "However, this $3000 large-diaphram condensor mic totally failed the "16-oz-of-beer-spill live test," while this $30 dynamic didn't. Pity, what a waste of good beer. Oh, yeah, and a nice mic."

I wonder if I could get sponsorship?

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=16450#2

My experiences are dead-on with Kmanick's. If you're going to play rhythm with the 707, you need plenty of gain. There's just not enough midrange relative to all that treble to really drive an amp without a ton of preamp gain.

Hence, 'cold and sterile', unless you've got alot of gain and all the other things that make guitars sound like mud. Then, EMGs = teh shine.

I personally think this little mod would go a loooong way to making EMGs more versatile.

Variable mid control, It goes up to 3k, so you could darken the tone, plus it's got boost and cut, so the mids could give you icy sparkle for cleans, or a meaty thump for rhythm, and lower gain stuff.

A tone pot on active pickups just seems sorta retarded, IMO.

 

[kmanick]

Now that looks interesting I may need to grab one of those.

 

[The Dark Wolf]

Now that looks interesting I may need to grab one of those.

EMG makes other circuits for guitar, too. But that one looks the most appealing. They also make a concentric active bass/treble control.

 

[maliciousteve]

I used to have that same kind of 'shink' with my UV with 707 too. I found that using a much heavier gauge of string for the Low B really helped.

 

[Drew]

I used to have that same kind of 'shink' with my UV with 707 too. I found that using a much heavier gauge of string for the Low B really helped.

...like the .68 I'm using on these clips?




Sorry, that was below the belt.

 

[maliciousteve]

Well, i didn't know what gauge you were using, so

 

[Drew]

Damn brits.

 

[metalfiend666]

First time I've listen to this as I don't have speakers at work. Damn you Drew, I want a Nomad now!

I prefered the tone of the JB overall, followed by the Blaze and finally the 707 cos of that "shink" on the pick attack. Got me thinking that I should try recording a blind test (if I can work out how to record of course) using my stock UV7PWH, S7420 with PAF7 bridge and my RG7421XL with Blazes. It'd be interesting to see what people think with the pickups back to back like that, and see the difference between the Blaze in a 25.5" scale with a floater and 27" scale fixed bridge. I'll give you a clue, it's brighter and has better clarity.

 

[jarrydn]

The Blaze reminded me of Korn

 

[hitman]

707 sound better to my ears,jb lacking bass.blaze has a good growl.

 

[Adam]

The Blaze reminded me of Korn

Thats probably what Korn used on the irst album or something, cuz they just had stock UV's(my cuz is a big fan of Korn, dont hate me)

By the way the 707's sounded the best to me too

 

[jarrydn]

Thats probably what Korn used on the irst album or something, cuz they just had stock UV's(my cuz is a big fan of Korn, dont hate me)

Aha! Makes sense

Also, I happen to be a bit of a KoRn fan. I went through a massive period of denial though

 

[Adam]

Aha! Makes sense

Also, I happen to be a bit of a KoRn fan. I went through a massive period of denial though

I used to listen to them in grade 6-8, shows my poor judgement skills back then. Just kidding