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Warming up a REALLY bright Cali

diablo175

Asked by diablo175,

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diablo175 Veteran HFCer

diablo175

Posted
Posted

I'm sure this issue has been beaten to death over the years but I have a solid maple Cali w/ the ebony board that is just too bright. Currently have some active SD Blackouts in it and am thinking of moving back to passives. I was never sold on the PATB's nor the OBL's but would like to get a fuller sounding EVH sound out of it. I do a lot of 80's era crapola in my playing, lots of whammy-ing, pinch/open harmonics, taps, legato, sweeps, skipping, blah blah blah. Need a p'up that has the definition for emphasizing but is warmer and thicker to offset the brightness of the maple and ebony. Suggestions?

Also, any thoughts on a single coil that has the fatness of an hb p'up? Love to throw the selector to rhythm or phased between for sweeps and fast alternate picked runs (okay, my runs are slower and sloppy as hell but you get the idea)

31 answers to this question

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atquinn Veteran HFCer

atquinn

Posted
Posted

I can't help you with the bridge hummy since I loved the PATB1 in my flame maple Cali, but for the neck pickup, I though the Dimarzio Chopper worked very well. Has a single coil flavor to it, but it's much fatter and able to keep up with the humbucker in the bridge. I've had a few Cali's and that was my go-to neck pickup.

-

Austin

diablo175 Veteran HFCer

diablo175

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Posted

How about a stacked knob and adding a tone?

No. :)

stacked= less appealing. All kidding aside, I found the stacked knob set up cumbersome and irritating and provided little if any benefit as I don't use THAT many tonal variations. It's pretty much full on bridge pup, phased or rhythm. If I can't get it thru those settings with volume adjustments, I don't do them.

hamerhead Veteran HFCer

hamerhead

Posted
Posted

Rio BBQ is fat .

I was just gonna say that. Good call, Bill.

I put one in a maple-capped ebony-boarded Sustain block Special that came with a JB. The BBQ is thick with a nice attack and none of the shrillness or harshness. It'll definitely give your guitar some sack.

zenmindbeginner Veteran HFCer

zenmindbeginner

Posted
Posted

You want either an unoriented Alnico 5 or a polished Alnico 2. The roughcast Alnicos tend to be a tiny bit softer and leaner in the bass.

When it comes to low end... the nickel/silver (German Silver) baseplates are really dry sounding with a tighter and more crisp sounding low end presence.

DiMarzio's brass baseplates add a more "liquid" sound with a much warmer low end presence.

You could go Custom Custom with Duncan, but that is more of a textured midrange with fat low mids but not a lot of bass presence.

The Tone Zone is great, but it's polished A5 magnet combined with the brass baseplate is usually too much bass and the highs aren't at all subdued.

The DiMarzio AT-1 is like a Tone Zone with a smoother upper midrange detail and much less icepick like highs. It's like somebody took two JB coils, placed them on a brass baseplate for more warmth and bass presence. I am pretty sure the magnet is UOA5 which smooths out the upper mid peaks and tightens up the JBs oft flabby low end.

You could get a Tone Zone and swap out the polished A5 for an UOA5, but the wind is a bit different than the JB or AT-1. The coils on a Tone Zone are dual resonance but I'm pretty sure the AT-1 has matched coils like the JB.

The EVH Frankenstein pickup might be interesting to try... it's got a boutique sort of price though.

The BBQ bucker is a good suggestion, but it has a reduced upper midrange detail, doesn't sing and can get on the nasal side (like the JB) in the wrong mahogany.

murkat Veteran HFCer

murkat

Posted
Posted

300k pot

low output JB (14k tops, high 12k, 13. ish ideal) with a A2 mag.

for single coil slot, source an old school Jackson J-200 R. Dual rail, rude, single coily, keeps up with Humbuckers. Nice tone.

velorush Veteran HFCer

velorush

Posted
Posted

I'm no expert, but I'm with Murkat - lower the pot value.

Another thing that would be interesting to try would be to wire a tone pot+cap and just put it in the control cavity. If you found a setting where the guitar sounded great to you, you could measure the value of the pot, then wire a resistor of that value in series with the cap to ground. That would give you a static tone circuit.

Andrew Veteran HFCer

Andrew

Posted
Posted

How about a stacked knob and adding a tone?

No. :)

stacked= less appealing. All kidding aside, I found the stacked knob set up cumbersome and irritating and provided little if any benefit as I don't use THAT many tonal variations. It's pretty much full on bridge pup, phased or rhythm. If I can't get it thru those settings with volume adjustments, I don't do them.

Push-pull pot with a suitable cap and resistor?

Bennyboy-UK Veteran HFCer

Bennyboy-UK

Posted
Posted

Also maybe go up a string gauge. Austins old Centaura custom is solid maple with PATBs all over it, and when it arrived it was fitted with a set of 10s versus my usual 9s, and the meatiness of the thing was very noticeable in a very good way!

diablo175 Veteran HFCer

diablo175

Posted
  • Author
Posted

You want either an unoriented Alnico 5 or a polished Alnico 2. The roughcast Alnicos tend to be a tiny bit softer and leaner in the bass.

When it comes to low end... the nickel/silver (German Silver) baseplates are really dry sounding with a tighter and more crisp sounding low end presence.

DiMarzio's brass baseplates add a more "liquid" sound with a much warmer low end presence.

You could go Custom Custom with Duncan, but that is more of a textured midrange with fat low mids but not a lot of bass presence.

The Tone Zone is great, but it's polished A5 magnet combined with the brass baseplate is usually too much bass and the highs aren't at all subdued.

The DiMarzio AT-1 is like a Tone Zone with a smoother upper midrange detail and much less icepick like highs. It's like somebody took two JB coils, placed them on a brass baseplate for more warmth and bass presence. I am pretty sure the magnet is UOA5 which smooths out the upper mid peaks and tightens up the JBs oft flabby low end.

You could get a Tone Zone and swap out the polished A5 for an UOA5, but the wind is a bit different than the JB or AT-1. The coils on a Tone Zone are dual resonance but I'm pretty sure the AT-1 has matched coils like the JB.

The EVH Frankenstein pickup might be interesting to try... it's got a boutique sort of price though.

The BBQ bucker is a good suggestion, but it has a reduced upper midrange detail, doesn't sing and can get on the nasal side (like the JB) in the wrong mahogany.

Tone Zone is a NO go. Am having the Tone Zone in my mahogany Cali LE pulled out because it was too shrill & thin. Nice highs but shite for lows/mids. In a solid maple body w/ ebony board, that'd be unbearable.

The Cali is, as stated, solid maple so, the BBQ might stand a chance of having nice mid/highs if it brings some fat warmth and beefy lows to the game.

Would LOVE to get an EVH Frankenpup sound outta that Cali but again, I'm concerned about the brightness of the maple/ebony. My own experience with the EVH is that it has VERY nice definition for Floyded solos as well as sounds nice and chewy for rhythms. Kinda lacks any noteworthy low beef as is characteristic of 80's shred tones. Note: that is in an alder body w/ neck thru maple & ebony.

diablo175 Veteran HFCer

diablo175

Posted
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Posted

Also maybe go up a string gauge. Austins old Centaura custom is solid maple with PATBs all over it, and when it arrived it was fitted with a set of 10s versus my usual 9s, and the meatiness of the thing was very noticeable in a very good way!

Turn the treble knob down a bit on the amp?

LOL. I wish I could. After 23 + years of playing slinky 9's (and a few other brands) I'm afraid moving up in string gauge is not gonna happen. I can barely play 9's half-assed. 10's would set me back considerably. ;)

Nah, current treble setting works fine for 5 other stage guitars, which include two other Blackout equipped axes and one is a mahogany Cali. Truth be told I've experimented extensively with different sound settings on my amp and ME 50, and I find the solid maple Cali is always the brightest. I prefer not to have to change the settings for one lousy p'up. My goal is to have all my guitars and amp rig work without any significant mods to settings etc. I think I can accomplish this with the right p'up.

But thanks for the input, Ben.

hardheartedbill Veteran HFCer

hardheartedbill

Posted
Posted

I could make my bbq sing but Im baddass like that

annnnd BILL BEATS ME TO IT....... :lol:

well please join me in badassedry!! The one humbucker I dug of llate

diablo175 Veteran HFCer

diablo175

Posted
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Posted

they state that the Screamin' Demon is well suited for rosewood necks...sadly, the Cali is ebony. However, I'd be willing to try one out in my quest for "the sound".

diablo175 Veteran HFCer

diablo175

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Posted

It was developed with/for George Lynch who was using ebony board and solid maple bodied ESP guitars exclusively at the time... And get the Trembucker version. This might help to:

http://www.seymourdu...humbuckers_and/

I remember the media hype around the SD at the time. I certainly remember George 's endorsing them. Loved his playing. Never realized he played solid maple/ebony axes though...

carfish7 Veteran HFCer

carfish7

Posted
Posted

2 things regarding the Demon - listen to his tone on a live recording and see if it is in the ballpark for what you might want to hear. I seem to recall that he had a pretty biting tone, but there is a lot to consider here besides just the pickup. I have used the SD in a couple axes and found that it was notched and a bit honky/biting in a Strat, but in a good way.

Also, what sort of tone does the Cali give off acoustically? I have to imagine that the Floyd is not helping warm things up here, so if you find the acoustic tone on the thin side it may require a more radical shift towards the darker-voiced pickups?

I know they are not identical, but my Vintage S has a solid maple body, bolt-on maple neck with a Pau Ferro fingerboard, and a 2-point trem (ABM). Kinda plinky unplugged, but a Custom Custom fattened it up significantly - even to the point of being slightly TOO dark sometimes.

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