Dead sounding strat - thinking of a Perpetual Burn or AT-1

W

Wayniac3

Well-known member
I have a single hum superstrat with an older JB in it - it's kind of "muffled" sounding for lack of a better term. I'm looking to liven it up & improve the sound a bit. Doesn't really cut, but not woofy or anything... just sounds like there is a blanket over the speakers compared to other guitars. It's flat, dull, lifeless - surely not inspiring.

JB isn't my first choice for this guitar... trying to get away form my usual go-to's (Duncan distortion, custom, RTM, EVH 78, Holdsworth, Dimarzio Super D, Super 3 & stock EBMM pickups) just for a different tone.

Alder body, Floyd bridge, 1 piece maple neck. Will be running through a Cherry Bomb or an ENGL artist (also a kemper)... playing rock/hard rock/metal/instrumental.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance
 
I put a 920D Andy Timmons set in a Deluxe Lone Star Strat and it sounds great. Super easy install, as well. It is a mid-rich pickup, so keep that in mind.
 
Those aren't the normal reports for a JB; usually it's accused of having too much cut. Have you checked out the wiring? Like Scott said, could certainly be the pot value, and sometimes those drift or you get a bad one that might be labelled as 500k; I'd recommend using a multimeter to check that if you have one. I think most humbuckers would end up being a bit darker than a JB, maybe look at a Custom 5 or a Wilde/Bill Lawrence L-500 or something like that? EMG-81?
 
scottosan":3canzvdo said:
Does it have a 500k pot?
Click to expand...

bingo

The AT-1 will be a little more tame and softer than the JB in the highs. It is supposed to mimic the JB on a 250k pot which is how people tamed their JB's in those super strats with one Vol pot. Some guitars it works, others seem "dark". I would go with an aldrich anyway.
 
You can put a 500k pot for the bridge, and middle pickup volume. Put a 500k resistor to ground where the middle single coil connects to the 5way switch. This way you emulate a 250k pot when the middle single coil is selected.

If you just have a single volume, then you can put a 500k resistor on the neck too. However might make your in between pickup selection sound weird.
 
I was going to ask about the 500K pot as well, seems like yours might be 250K. I think the alder body may have something to do with it as well, I like a JB in a hard (northern) ash body with a 250K or even a “Gibson” spec 300K but not in an alder or mahogany body at all, it seems muffled to me also.

Also, I think that Chrome Floyd bridges sound best, Black can be dull to my ears (Gary Moore thought this as well).
 
Kapo_Polenton":lbut002o said:
scottosan":lbut002o said:
Does it have a 500k pot?
Click to expand...

bingo

The AT-1 will be a little more tame and softer than the JB in the highs. It is supposed to mimic the JB on a 250k pot which is how people tamed their JB's in those super strats with one Vol pot. Some guitars it works, others seem "dark". I would go with an aldrich anyway.
Click to expand...
I've got an AT-1 in a somewhat bright-ish Les Paul, with 500k Bourns push/pull volume pots. It rocks!
The Norton behaves similarly, with a slightly tighter low-end and a tad more high-mid crunch, but I wouldn't characterize the AT-1 as dark at all.
 
Speeddemon":25ksxb48 said:
I've got an AT-1 in a somewhat bright-ish Les Paul, with 500k Bourns push/pull volume pots. It rocks!
The Norton behaves similarly, with a slightly tighter low-end and a tad more high-mid crunch, but I wouldn't characterize the AT-1 as dark at all.
Click to expand...
I had an AT-1 in an alder/maple/floyd guitar and liked it but the attack seemed a little soft so I swapped it for an Air Zone and liked it better in that guitar. I recently got a maple-capped Basswood/maple/floyd and it has Breeds in it which I previously thought were too middy and not enough sparkle...but in that guitar they are awesome.

No absolutes...horses for courses...etc. :)
 
Maybe its the guitar, what does it sound like unplugged? Maybe a new block for the Floyd..Cause aint no pickup gonna fix a dead sounding guitar...
 
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