GuitarDoyle Posted August 17, 2005 Posted August 17, 2005 Hey guys,I had a gig the other night and ran my one LP and my Hamer Studio. Both guitars have Rio BBQ humbuckers in the bridge. My buddy in the audience who is a guitarists as well said I wasn't cutting through as well as when I ran using my Gibson Burstbuckers or the Duncan JB. This was the first gig I used the Rios all the way through.Any of you guys have issues cutting with Rios? We play a lot of hard rock and drop to lower tunings as well.Thanks all!
jwhitcomb3 Posted August 17, 2005 Posted August 17, 2005 If you're having problem with the mix, look to your sound man first, not your pickups. -Jonathan
GuitarDoyle Posted August 17, 2005 Author Posted August 17, 2005 Thanks Jonathan...We have played this place numerous times and do our own sound at this place and this is the first I had an issue. I thought it was odd.
MCChris Posted August 17, 2005 Posted August 17, 2005 The BBQ is a thicker, darker pickup than the JB, no question. Have you tweaked your amp's EQ at all to compensate?
silentman Posted August 17, 2005 Posted August 17, 2005 I don't have an issue switching to guitars that have rios. You can hear a difference. As suggested, your soundman should be making adjustments if necessary. Try half a $20.
hardheartedbill Posted August 17, 2005 Posted August 17, 2005 different pickups may need different amp settings. I'm very happy w/ the TX/BBQ set I have in a Mirage II
Guest teefus2 Posted August 17, 2005 Posted August 17, 2005 i ended up canning the bbq/tx combo i had in two hamer newport pros. they seemed overly compressed at stage volume and didn't cut very well (jsut like you mentioned). i went to fralin unbuckers (4.5/5.5 sets, iirc) in both my newport pros and never had a problem since.
GuitarDoyle Posted August 17, 2005 Author Posted August 17, 2005 Thanks guys.....I was finding I had to dial up huge amounts of highs to get em to cut. Anyway, I ordered a set of WCR Fillmores. Apparently similar to the BBQ/Texas but much more open and dynamic! We'll see! I'll report after a gig.
jwhitcomb3 Posted August 17, 2005 Posted August 17, 2005 When I got my latest guitar I went through my rig and re-tuned all my settings for it. Have you done this for your Rios? I don't think it's reasonable to swap out pickups and just expect everything to sound right without some tweaking.It's hard to do your own sound. We videotaped a gig we did this month where we did our own sound and I heard a bunch of things that I could have improved in the mix. But it's hard to tell from the stage. Just because you sounded good at this venue before doesn't mean that you can attribute this time to the pickups unless you are willing to assume that everything else was identical to the last time.-Jonathan
GuitarDoyle Posted August 17, 2005 Author Posted August 17, 2005 I guess it just seems weird tyhat whenever I use those pickups live I get similar complaints from the audience and sound guys. Many say it is muddy or just not cutting the mix. I have to admit that most of my guitars had bright or harsh pickups, for example the Burstbuckers from Gibson in a guitar so I had the highs set pretty low at times. Some of these setting were only slightly changed for the gig with Rios....D'oh! Smacks face!
Guest Mike Lee Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 I put a Rio BBQ/Texas set in my Studio Custom and also found them to be too dark compared to the JB/'59. But I still thought the JB was harsh and upper midrangey, so I finally settled on a C5.
GuitarDoyle Posted August 18, 2005 Author Posted August 18, 2005 I put a Rio BBQ/Texas set in my Studio Custom and also found them to be too dark compared to the JB/'59. But I still thought the JB was harsh and upper midrangey, so I finally settled on a C5. Hi Mike, the C-5 is nice but lacks a lot of the girth of the BBQ and similar pickups. I like the JB but found a pickup I like a bit more in the Gibson 498T. I tried this pickups since a friend had a set lying around and was surpised at how it sounded. With a 300k bridge volume pot, it sounded thick and smooth. This is in my Hamer Studio!
GuitarDoyle Posted September 7, 2005 Author Posted September 7, 2005 After tweaking I think I finally got the Rio BBQ and Texas just right. These have to be the best pickups going. Leads are so much thicker and soulful than the Duncans I have tried! Maybe I'll check out some Dimarzios though for the heck of it!
KorinaHound Posted September 7, 2005 Posted September 7, 2005 You amp's preamp section is gonna have a LOT to do with the final outcome there... Some amps are born for 'buckers and some just ain't. I won't mention specifics as to avoid the "my _____ amp works great with humbuckers" thread.You might try lowering the pu on the bass side a bit and see if you hear any improvement. KorinaHound
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