Looking for some advice on sound shaping

AMurderofCrows

Hey all

So, I know/understand that this is mostly opinion based, and that's fine...perfect in fact, as that's EXACTLY what i'm looking for here.

I have a 98 Jag-Stang with no mods on it currently.

it sounds....okay.....when i put the single coil through some effects. I never use the HB.

I want that to stop, So i'm looking for ideas about pickups, amps, effects pedals, settings, mods, etc to get the sounds i'm looking for out of my guitar. Of course, as much as possible, i'd like to stick with the equipment i've got.

Influences:

Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Stabbing Westward, Mazzy Star, Nine Inch Nails, Cruxshadows, VNV Nation, Throwing Muses, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Belly, Lacuna Coil, The Doors, Ministry, KMFDM, Concrete Blonde, Garbage, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Duran Duran, The Helio Sequence, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgargen, Mudhoney, much more.

Sound:

I grew up on grunge, but have a taste for dark melancholy. Ability to go between softly ethereal, grunge, and gothic/industrial a must. Thing tragically beautiful.

Current Equipment:

1998 Fender Jagstang, Stock Pickups, 11's or higher for the strings

Peavy Amp

Aria ACH-1 Analog Chorus - Mostly replaced with Boss CH-1

Electro-Harmonix Small Clone Chorus

Boss CH-1 Super Chorus

DOD Grunge Distortion - Replaced with Boss DS-2

Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion

Boss DD-3 Digital Delay

Boss RC-20XL Loop Station

Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor

Ibanez FLL Flanger - Not Used much really

Zoom 505 Effects Processor - Not used much really

Possible Pickups - Bridge:

Seymour Duncan Distortion Trembucker SH-6 (sounds a bit muddy to me, but good low)

Seymour Duncan Custom Trembucker SH-5 (Seems balanced between the JB and the Distortion...not as "bright" on the high end as the JB, not as muddy as the Distortion)

Seymour Duncan JB Trembucker SH-4 (Clear, not muddy. Seems kinda 70s rock sounding from the sample i heard.)

Seymour Duncan Parallel Axis Trembucker

jacksonjackass

Hey! I have an SSL 3 on my 98 jagstang and it sounds great! And for the bucker - EMG 81. JBs and all hot passives buzz like bandsaws in that old thing because the shielding is crap

Cymastar

The Trembuckers are your best bet, in my humble opinion. Also, for a great chain, try:

Guitar -> Delay -> Distortion -> Chorus -> Flanger -> Noise Suppressor -> Loop Station -> Amp

jacksonjackass

Cymastar said: The Trembuckers are your best bet

Nope. As I said, seymour duncans are perceptive to interference hence Why I'm installing EMGs

Cymastar

No, you're installing EMGs because you are a fuktart and a pedo.

The only one allowed to have EMGs in a Jag-Stang is Mike.

Besides, EMGs aren't worth the money, and they're not on the list.

Finally, you know how to get rid of interference? Decent copper shielding and not raping little boys.

jacksonjackass

I do neither.

Where did all this pedo stuff come from?

But it is the hole between the control knob area and main pickup routes that can't be sheilded.

tragictravisty

@ cymaster, hes a pedo either way, installing emgs would just make him more openly pedo

@ murder, specifically what peavey amp? the amp is the most important part of your chain, make no mistake. When you're building a rig, you should start with guitar + amp. I would play both pickups extensively and mess with every knob on the amp AND the guitar, and find the strengths and weaknesses of both. for dark/melancholy music, the standard is a warm tone, but don't be locked into that. for the neck pickup assuming you want warmness, i'd install something between 7-10k. that would do well clean and dirty. for the bridge pickup, i have unorthodox tastes, so i won't direct you in that area. but check out different sites like dimarzio, seymour duncan, guitarfetish, etc. and read the description and specs for EVERY humbucker, something will jump out i'm sure.

AMurderofCrows

Cymastar said: No, you're installing EMGs because you are a fuktart and a pedo.
The only one allowed to have EMGs in a Jag-Stang is Mike.
Besides, EMGs aren't worth the money, and they're not on the list.
Finally, you know how to get rid of interference? Decent copper shielding and not raping little boys.

Wow. Totally uncalled for.

tragictravisty

no, it was called for, trust me. mcpedo said some things a while back in a thread that has since be deleted. if you saw the photos he posted you would understand...

edit: what wrong with me going out with 14 year old girls?

surprisingly, thats one of the less shocking things hes said, that hasn't been deleted/edited.

AMurderofCrows

tragictravisty said: @ cymaster, hes a pedo either way, installing emgs would just make him more openly pedo
@ murder, specifically what peavey amp? the amp is the most important part of your chain, make no mistake. When you're building a rig, you should start with guitar + amp. I would play both pickups extensively and mess with every knob on the amp AND the guitar, and find the strengths and weaknesses of both. for dark/melancholy music, the standard is a warm tone, but don't be locked into that. for the neck pickup assuming you want warmness, i'd install something between 7-10k. that would do well clean and dirty. for the bridge pickup, i have unorthodox tastes, so i won't direct you in that area. but check out different sites like dimarzio, seymour duncan, guitarfetish, etc. and read the description and specs for EVERY humbucker, something will jump out i'm sure.

Right now, the amp is a Peavey Studio Chorus 210. I haven't played around much with it since i got it, instead i played out of other amps.

I plan on making the pickup purchase this week. Already invested in the orange drop cap. Checked the Duncans. Reading the descriptions led me to the SD Distortion SH-6 (one description stated it was good for "gothic" music) but the sample i heard sounded WAY too muddy. It sounded like it pretty much sacrificed all the clarity and upper-mid/highs for deep, thick low end.

This really is more about the opinions of others...what they've heard, what they like, what comes close to what i'm looking for.

tragictravisty

don't trust soundclips made by the people selling the pickups. try youtube, that's where i look.

jacksonjackass

Yup, same for anything. Especially amps. Thay always have them cranked with amazing guitars and well edited which leaves you wondering why it doesn't sound like that in your bedroom 😕

tragictravisty

not to mention eq/compression/reverb

AMurderofCrows

Listened to one video. Liked the sound of the clean that the video had for the SD Distortion on clean tone. I admit i liked it's sound there. The difficult thing is that i can't hear the same setup used with a different pickup.

tragictravisty

oh definitely, in almost all videos theres no point of reference. but depends on what amp it was, if it was some oddball one i wouldnt trust it...

StevieK

I've answered these same questions soo many times now, but I will answer yours also, just not right now. 😁

tragictravisty

Cymastar said: The Trembuckers are your best bet, in my humble opinion. Also, for a great chain, try:
Guitar -> Delay -> Distortion -> Chorus -> Flanger -> Noise Suppressor -> Loop Station -> Amp

horrible idea to put a delay before a distortion, some interesting sounds but nothing really useable

StevieK

That's what I was thinking.

I usually do it this way: Filter effects (wahs)--fuzz pedals--envelope effects--compressor--clean boost (buffer 1 when bypassed)--light overdrive--heavy drive--gates/eqs--modulation--delay/reverb (buffer 2 when bypassed)

If there is a decent effects loop after the pre-amp I put delay here so that when I distort the pre-amp I don't get nasty oscillations, etc. But as of now I'm using fender blackface amps and there's not effects loop, and no distortion from the pre-amp to begin with.

I always use at least two effects with a solid buffered bypass when using more then six pedals. Even if all your pedals are true bypass you're going to still loose tone because each true bypass pedal you run your guitar through weakens the strength of the original signal coming from the guitar. Like a water hose, if your hose is way too long, you loose pressure. So I add a few buffered effects in the chain to push the signal through and keep it going strong. MI Audio makes a great buffered clean boost that I'm using right now, and my pigtronix echolution is also buffered bypass, this keeps my tone intact, even though my chain is getting pretty stretched out by the time it makes it through my pedal board to my amp.

But tragic and I both like the clean sounds of our guitars to be very strong, and prefer lighter drive settings (correct me if I'm wrong tragic) to oversaturated ones.

So maybe I'm not the one to talk to about great grunge tone!

tragictravisty

right about both, although i do like nasty fuzz/dirt. but higher overdrive is just no-mans land, not enough dirt for nasty, raunchy, feedbacky guitar sounds, and too much for cleaning up/playing dynamically. the only thing i would do differently about your rig stevie is put the compressor before the fuzz so it wouldn't affect pick attack w/fuzz, and the tone would stay dirty longer. then again you could get interesting attack characteristics your way, as well as an interesting change in character without volume drop w/lots of compression as the notes died out. then again, i'm not a fan of compressors.

btw stevie, what comp do you use? i don't have anything against compression as such, just that guitar compressors tend to alter pick attack. i know that lower attack settings will give the compressor a slower response time letting the initial sound remain unaltered, but i have yet to find a good guitar comp to do this adequately. deferring to you since i haven't spent much time on the subject.

only comp i can say i have a developed opinion on is the boss one. sucks major dick, kills attack and just sounds awful and artificial...

StevieK

I use the keeley 4 knob compressor. I just recently sold my two-knob version on ebay. I definitely don't use it with the fuzz, I use it by itself or with the clean boost for funk rhythm playing and sometimes for clean solos. I use it more as an effect and not for a utilitarian purpose. The squashed attack thing is cool for getting a sort of "no attack" sound in your clean solos. I will have to say it is probably the least used pedal on my board.