modern sound

[project]

I've got a 2005 LP Standard that I'm considering changing the pickups in. It's not that I don't like the classic paul sound, but I have another LP for those classic sounds. I'm really looking for a modern hard rock/metal tone that I can't seem to get with the Burstbuckers. I don't have a lot of knowledge when it comes to pickups. Since I've been a fan of Mark Tremonti for so long I thought I might try his signature PRS pickups. According to PRS the Tremonti pickups are the most aggressive pickups they make. Also, they offer the highest output. I thought it would be worth mentioning that Tremonti's signature guitar is made very similar to my LP. You know: mahogany body, maple top, rosewood fretboard, etc. I only mention this because I've been a fan of Marks tone throughout his career. Just thought maybe that would be the most logical choice. Does anyone have any pickup suggestions for a modern rock tone? Or perhaps you have experienced the Tremonti pickups in your LP?

[BlackHawk233]

I don't know if your talking about the burstbucker pros, but those can pull off modern metal great. Sounds very very Full and Crisp. My Seymour Duncan 59' pulls off a closer sound to Metallica amazingly. When my amps mid's are cut, its very "And Justice For All". Also Check into Duncan Distortions, Custom Customs (yes thats the name), and Invadors... If you wanna take the journey of Active pickups, Try EMG 81's, or Duncan Livewires. If you have Alnico II pickups, that could be the reason. The BB pro is an Alnico V so its got good modern sound. That should help you out a bit in deciding good pickups.

[chongo]

I've got a 2005 LP Standard that I'm considering changing the pickups in. It's not that I don't like the classic paul sound' date=' but I have another LP for those classic sounds. I'm really looking for a modern hard rock/metal tone that I can't seem to get with the Burstbuckers. I don't have a lot of knowledge when it comes to pickups. Since I've been a fan of Mark Tremonti for so long I thought I might try his signature PRS pickups. According to PRS the Tremonti pickups are the most aggressive pickups they make. Also, they offer the highest output. I thought it would be worth mentioning that Tremonti's signature guitar is made very similar to my LP. You know: mahogany body, maple top, rosewood fretboard, etc. I only mention this because I've been a fan of Marks tone throughout his career. Just thought maybe that would be the most logical choice. Does anyone have any pickup suggestions for a modern rock tone? Or perhaps you have experienced the Tremonti pickups in your LP?[/quote']

 

It ain't the pickups.

Honestly, it's some other piece of gear, or it's you.

And that's not meant as a put-down.

 

Ninety percent of what's passing for 'modern hard rock/metal tone" has to do with the amp and the EQ (and a stomp box or two), and almost nothing to do with the pickups.

 

Burstbuckers and BB Pros will easily get anything you need in those genres, and there are people out there doing it on a nightly basis. Thing is, there are a whole LOT of pickups being used on a nightly basis that are doing just fine getting that tone, and I don't think the Tremonti pickups are going to give you anything special.

 

The first thing you've gotta know about "signature" guitars, pickups, stomp boxes, etc., is that the artists pushing them may or may NOT be using them. Further, if you see a guitar painted up a certain way in the hands of an artist, it may not even be close to the "signature" guitar being sold at your local Geetar Center. Ditto pickups, ditto...everything. Further, there's every chance that the artist didn't use that "signature" set of pickups in that "signature" guitar when he recorded. Clapton currently has about 200+ guitars in his collection, and on his last album he used 50 of them. I've had people sit around and nod knowingly and comment about the great sound he gets from a Strat on a particular track, when I know for a fact that he was using his favorite old ES-335.

 

The second thing you've gotta know about a recorded sound is that...it's recorded. There's absolutely no guarantee that the artist was getting that sound when he recorded the record. And, in fact, he probably wasn't. By the time the recording engineer and producer have mixed the clean track back in, reamped everything, EQ'd everything so that it will show up in the mix, the chances are that it has little to do with the tone as it came from the amp (assuming there was an actual amp involved).

 

I'd hold off on tossing money at pickups for a while.

 

What other gear are you using?

[project]

The amp I'm using is a Carvin V3 with JJ 6L6. I'm using my PODX3 Live to control the amp via midi. The X3 Live is going into the series effects loop and I only use modulation, delay, and reverb. Nothing is going into the front of the amp. Also, I have a MXR 10-band EQ going into the parallel effects loop. By the way when I said I like Tremonti's tone, I do mean his live tone. Their just really aggressive pickups. Also, his bridge/treble pickup is uncovered. My LP does have Burstbucker Pros. Maybe I'm confused about the Burstbuckers. This is my first set of Burstbucker Pro pickups and I had the idea that they were supposed to sound classic but with an "edge".

[BlackHawk233]

BB pros are like an "everything" pickup, I have the Vintage Mahogany, and it pulls off a real nice clean and Hard sound, maybe due to it having no maple cap, I don't know. But try different tone/volume settings... For clean on bridge i use 4 volume with 7-10 tone, and distortion usually a 7-10 volume with a 7 tone. With my Vox's Built in or my Pedals as effects.

[solacematt]

It's your gear man, change your eq and distortion. The standard of what many bands and producers based the hard rock guitar sound and modded in the past ten years, oddly enough, is derived from Mark Tremonti's sound. No joke, I went to a work shop years ago that talked about how Creed literally re-wrote the tone and became 'the standard' for standard moderne rock guitar sound.

If you really want the best, cleanest, but still crunchiest rock guitar sound, take a good listen to Nickelback's 'All The Right Reasons' album. It's essentially Gibson and PRS through various Marshall and Mesa's. Now here's the real clencher though. One of the best sounding guitar albums of the past ten years doesn't feature an actual guitar amp at all; the whole album is amp farm. How's that for a kick in the face

[ALIEN8]

The amp I'm using is a Carvin V3 with JJ 6L6. I'm using my PODX3 Live to control the amp via midi. The X3 Live is going into the series effects loop and I only use modulation, delay, and reverb. Nothing is going into the front of the amp. Also, I have a MXR 10-band EQ going into the parallel effects loop.

 

Flip your X3 and your 10-band EQ... put the EQ in the series loop and make the response a smile ie boost the bass about 3db, cut the mids 12 db and boost the highs 3 db. Use your ear from that point for each slider. Be sure to tweak the sliders my sliding to max and then to min while playing, then to the position you want - this gives the ear a a chance to notice the difference easier. Play a session, and come back the next day - if you don't like it adjust what you don't like. It takes a good week to get an eq exactly where you want it, but it's really worth it.

 

As for the X3, use it in the parallel fx loop so you can blend your new tremonti tone with the fx you run... it adds a new dimension.

 

Nice work keeping everything in the fx loop. If you find you need more gain, don't be afraid to put a clean boost or decent distortion pedal out front (Tube Screamer, OCD, ParaEQ, MXR Micro Amp are all good choices).

 

POD Farm is an extremely strong and very good sounding tool - it comes damn close to the real thing, but you just can't beat real life environmental variables for recording.