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The treble side too bright/ piercing on my SG '61 reissue.


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Hey guys, I've been having trouble with my new Gibson '61 reissue SG's treble side of strings. They seem to be too bright loud and piercing in comparison to the bass side and I'm not sure why. when i play a full chord with all the strings, the G, B, and E strings seem to overpower the bass side by an incredible amount. wondering if anyone had an idea why or how to get more of a balanced tone. Thanks

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Your pickup height and individual pole pieces are adjustable for this reason.

 

Try lowering the treble side of your pickups. When you get a nice "general" balance, you can then adjust the pole pieces for individual strings that need a little micro tweak.

 

This can be a very fun and interesting learning experience, for nothing you do can permanently hurt your guitar. Play around with pickup and pole heights, and see if you can get the balance you're looking for. Something like this almost has to be done yourself, for a paid tech will not know exactly the sound you want.

 

One more tip.... A pickup, or pole piece, too close to the strings is actually WORSE than being too far away.

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Hi and welcome to the forum!

Have you tried lowering the pickup on the treble side?

I have had the same problem before, and simply turning the screw counterclockwise on the treble side fixed it.

 

Does this always happen? No matter what position the toggle is set in?

Another solution is to back off the tone knob.

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I have already tried adjusting the pickup height and pole pieces on the treble side to where the pick up was on a ridiculous angle. When i turn the tone knob down it helps the piercing highs but then my bottom end is still not what it should be in comparison to the treble... I'm a kinda stumped

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Im using D'Addario 9- 46 gauge strings. Im pretty sure it would have come with Gibson strings on them but they had the same problem. I have also tried adjusting amp settings ( bass treble middle resonance and presence) but my tone goes to poop when i start doing that

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The plain ones of different string sets offer limited differences only since all the spring steel wires capable of bearing string tensions are rather similar. In case you would want experiment with strings, wound ones with increased magnetic susceptibilty would be of help, but I don't have a market overview in this respect.

 

Since you already use a set with heavier bottom strings, I don't recommend causing more lack of balance. This could cause neck twist, a damage beyond repair.

 

Did you already try adjustments as recommended by L5Larry in post #2? I would try that first.

 

Don't know the MA50 in person, but I think that patient experimenting with the sound controls might lead to more pleasant results. Anyway, I would rather change the speaker than mod anything in the guitar.

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Maybe the problem is in the amp itself. (Marshal MA50 combo) maybe ill try takin my guitar the the music store and trying some different options. When the money allows lol.

I think you are on the right track.

 

It's hard for anyone to say what the problem is, or IF there is a problem. If there is, it could be a lot of things that we don't have a clue because frankly, it's next to impossible to know. Is there an issue with the wiring? stuff of that nature.

 

But, to find out if there IS an issue, the thing to do would be to compare your guitar with others, try different amps, etc. If say, your SG is drastically different than another, then one could say it's possibly the guitar.

 

Just taking a guess, my gut feeling is that it is a matter of taste and experience. The part about "my tone goes the sh!t" when you use the tone controls on the guitar, and most notably, the amp, that is what they are there for. If the tone is to bright, you turn down the treble. We all do that.

 

My experience with Marshalls compared to other amps is that they can have a piercing treble, especially if adjusted that way. It seems to be part of the "Marshall sound" they design into them.

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I know many of the effects of raising/lowering pickups - but what affect do the pole pieces have?

Thanks,

-Bob

Adjustable pole pieces will affect volume and tone as well, in particular on humbucking pickups featuring one slug and one screw coil. When they are on slug level, both coils have approximately same sensitivity to the string vibrations. Lowering screws will decrease the screw coil sensitivity, raising will increase it. In both cases, due to different coil sensitivities the tone will have increased highs due to a partly single coil effect. Humbuckers with two screw coils allow for virtually independent adjustment of level and tone response.

 

...

If the tone is to bright, you turn down the treble. We all do that.

...

Attenuating presence can be of help, too, in particular with overdriven Marshall amps.

 

By the way, I wanted to ask if the clean, crunch, and high-gain settings are affected as well, or if it's a problem occurring to different degrees with different channel options.

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Attenuating presence can be of help, too, in particular with overdriven Marshall amps.

 

By the way, I wanted to ask if the clean, crunch, and high-gain settings are affected as well, or if it's a problem occurring to different degrees with different channel options.

See, as far as I remember from the Marshalls I had, I would NEVER play with the presense and treble controls all the way up. THAT would just be too bright.

 

Of corse, actually using them in a band situation was rare (for me), because there is this: when you actually turn up a Marshall to the point of getting power-tube distortion, they are LOUD-too loud for most situations.

 

The other thing about the ones I used to own, is that when they are not used loud, at lower volumes the overall tone is quite brittle and dry- I could see where one would say "bright". While I have never had an MA50, I am making a guess that it is voiced like other Marshalls. They all seem to have a similar tonal voice, regardless of quality. Most I know of, anyway.

 

The other possibilty, of corse, is that it might be played at such a volume that it is sounding "piercing" as a consequence of the eardrums hurting.

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See, as far as I remember from the Marshalls I had, I would NEVER play with the presense and treble controls all the way up. THAT would just be too bright.

...

The other possibilty, of corse, is that it might be played at such a volume that it is sounding "piercing" as a consequence of the eardrums hurting.

We use to call the unpleasant treble edge due to raised presence control on Marshalls "egg slicer sound" here. [biggrin]

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While I have never had an MA50, I am making a guess that it is voiced like other Marshalls.

 

Remember the cardboard mid-range of the TS, before it became famous under the ostrich boot of that one guy from Texas? That cardboard-y sound, only even more middy mid mid mids, like, enough mids to kill you.

 

rct

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I think its pole adustment and the balance with the E and B strings. The poles should balance on the E+A then on the D+G then on the B+E. Then your side adustments will balance your overall bass and treble.

 

That said the bite of the high E with the 57s is a reality and could portray what your indicating on any amp. The 57s are very sensitive and I adjust them with very small 1/2 turns to the sweet spot on the poles.

 

All that said I prefer the 57+ in the bridge and can work with a BB-3. A small degree of variance may be a reality with pick-up to pick-up.

 

I agree above about the Marshall, I never used much presence or treble either, I don't use Marshlls anymore and haven't for years but I recall this also.

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Ok you guys have given me some things to experiment with. i think the patient experimenting with the pickups and amp settings is something i need to keep trying. While on a distortion setting on the amp the piercing highs seem to be normal. its just on the clean setting when they are over bearing. I really hope the problem isn't in the wiring because i wouldn't even know how to distinguish this issue.

thank you for everyones help. Im new to this site and it seems everyone is on the ball and willing to help , thank you all!

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Remember the cardboard mid-range of the TS, before it became famous under the ostrich boot of that one guy from Texas? That cardboard-y sound, only even more middy mid mid mids, like, enough mids to kill you.

 

rct

Good description. I got it.

 

I kinda would have expected a scooped mid sound, that's a popular "Marshall" replication as well, especially the SS ones.

 

I wonder how many poeple who use the distortion channel on their tube Marshalls realise they are playing a SS generated distortion? Has Marshall made a pre-amp tube distortion on their amps yet? Last I knew, up to the -900 series, they were a distortion chip.

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While on a distortion setting on the amp the piercing highs seem to be normal. its just on the clean setting when they are over bearing.

There it is. I think you found it.

 

I think, for a lot of us, and for a lot of amps, getting the eq right when switching channels is always a challenge and/or a comprimise.

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We use to call the unpleasant treble edge due to raised presence control on Marshalls "egg slicer sound" here. [biggrin]

In Spanish, "eggs" is another word for "nuts", which would be balls.

 

I can see where in German the popular term would be "ball slicer" judging from German metal bands. Is this what you mean?

 

If not, feel free to use that.

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