Just a little Wizard MCII and Mercyful Fate

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I here this level of gain and attack in so many MCII clips and scratch my head. I've owned three MCIIs and none of them achieved that level of saturation/attack without a boost. Must be all the clips I hear are where folks are using super hot pups or actives. I've played through each of the three MCIIs I own(d) through a DD, ceramic nailbomb, Painkiller, Rebel yell, Balaguer feral, JW Ironman, and Dimarzio Dominion, and get no where near the level of gain/saturation/attack I desire until I boost the amp. Then it's godlike. Straight in, I don't think I'd keep the amp honestly.

Guess I need to try some super hot or active pups :confused:
 
MetalHeadMike said:
I here this level of gain and attack in so many MCII clips and scratch my head. I've owned three MCIIs and none of them achieved that level of saturation/attack without a boost. Must be all the clips I hear are where folks are using super hot pups or actives. I've played through each of the three MCIIs I own(d) through a DD, ceramic nailbomb, Painkiller, Rebel yell, Balaguer feral, JW Ironman, and Dimarzio Dominion, and get no where near the level of gain/saturation/attack I desire until I boost the amp. Then it's godlike. Straight in, I don't think I'd keep the amp honestly.

Guess I need to try some super hot or active pups :confused:
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What speakers are you using? I use a jw Ironman and have lately been thinking of going more medium output, but when i changed to these H30 Annies, I have not needed a boost. speakers are a lot brighter than what i had before. Really nice and aggressive
 
MetalHeadMike said:
I here this level of gain and attack in so many MCII clips and scratch my head. I've owned three MCIIs and none of them achieved that level of saturation/attack without a boost. Must be all the clips I hear are where folks are using super hot pups or actives. I've played through each of the three MCIIs I own(d) through a DD, ceramic nailbomb, Painkiller, Rebel yell, Balaguer feral, JW Ironman, and Dimarzio Dominion, and get no where near the level of gain/saturation/attack I desire until I boost the amp. Then it's godlike. Straight in, I don't think I'd keep the amp honestly.

Guess I need to try some super hot or active pups :confused:
Click to expand...
Yeah the 81 is a big part of the tone. They suck for anything except clean or downright mean. The amp is dimed too gainwise
 
Tone Monster said:
Yeah the 81 is a big part of the tone. They suck for anything except clean or downright mean. The amp is dimed too gainwise
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AH...if the gain is dimed and the EMG tightens things up (Never played an active so don't know) I can see getting that tone. I play with gain at 6 and a mild boost to get into thrash and pull boost engaged with gain at noon and same mild boost for DM.
 
I was going to chime in, I think the EMG's are a huge part of that Garage Inc tone, just adds that saturation. I use my Gibson DC Standard with my MC II and it is 90% there, but that 10% missing is the EMG pick ups. By the way, I have KT77s in mine and I highly suggest trying them out! They give the low end a bit more broader extension frequencies and maybe slightly easier feel, at least to my hands vs E34L's that were in it. All JJ tubes of course.
 
MetalHeadMike said:
AH...if the gain is dimed and the EMG tightens things up (Never played an active so don't know)
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Mike, it's an acquired taste, I can tell you. From earlier talks, our musical interest are quite similar, and personally I really missed the character that I can get from an Alnico-magnet based passive pickup with EMG's. I had this neck-thru top-of-the-line Schecter for a while with an 81/85 set in it. Even tried the special-battery mod, where I was feeding them 24V, which helped some, but it was just too sterile for me.
And because I like clean playing too, I won't go too insane with high-output passives. JB, Distortion and Super Distortion is probably my max.

Sold the Schecter, got my ESP Horizon NTII for it (that I always wanted since as a teenager I owned this black H-S floyd equipped GrassRoots Horizon), and loved that guitar ever since. No actives; came with a JB / 59 set; changed it to a Custom 5/Screamin' Demon (neck) set for more balls and more shreddy lead-capabilities.
One thing I will say, where EMG's help tremendously, is keeping your low-end tight when down-tuning. They wouldn't flub out in C#. Mind you, I never play that low; more of a Toxik/Mercyful Fate/Dark Angel guy than Messhugah, Fear Factory and the like. ;-)
 
lessarti said:
I was going to chime in, I think the EMG's are a huge part of that Garage Inc tone, just adds that saturation. I use my Gibson DC Standard with my MC II and it is 90% there, but that 10% missing is the EMG pick ups. By the way, I have KT77s in mine and I highly suggest trying them out! They give the low end a bit more broader extension frequencies and maybe slightly easier feel, at least to my hands vs E34L's that were in it. All JJ tubes of course.
Click to expand...

Makes sense...all that amp needs is a slight push to add that saturation. I find with the boost it still retains that crazy open/organic tone/feel but just with just the right amount of compression/saturation to get it into heavier tones. The VFE Dragon that used to run I thought worked great with the MCII to get into more modern brutal tones.

I've tried the MCII with JJ KT77, St. Petersburg =C=, EHEL34, Tesla E34L, and I prefer it with the JJE34L. Subtle differences to me, but the JJ34L just seem to work. Also ran a full compliment of NOS 6n4 Beijing square foil getters, and a slew of other preamp tubes, in a few MCIIs and honestly don't notice much difference between any of them and the stock JJs.
 
Speeddemon said:
Mike, it's an acquired taste, I can tell you. From earlier talks, our musical interest are quite similar, and personally I really missed the character that I can get from an Alnico-magnet based passive pickup with EMG's. I had this neck-thru top-of-the-line Schecter for a while with an 81/85 set in it. Even tried the special-battery mod, where I was feeding them 24V, which helped some, but it was just too sterile for me.
And because I like clean playing too, I won't go too insane with high-output passives. JB, Distortion and Super Distortion is probably my max.

Sold the Schecter, got my ESP Horizon NTII for it (that I always wanted since as a teenager I owned this black H-S floyd equipped GrassRoots Horizon), and loved that guitar ever since. No actives; came with a JB / 59 set; changed it to a Custom 5/Screamin' Demon (neck) set for more balls and more shreddy lead-capabilities.
One thing I will say, where EMG's help tremendously, is keeping your low-end tight when down-tuning. They wouldn't flub out in C#. Mind you, I never play that low; more of a Toxik/Mercyful Fate/Dark Angel guy than Messhugah, Fear Factory and the like. ;-)
Click to expand...

I gather they can sound sterile and lack dynamics which is part of the reason I've never bothered. I would like to try an alnico Warpig and maybe a Blackhawk. I think the DD and C-pig are the hottest I've tried. I can get plenty tight with a boost, just a matter of tweaking tone with the pups for me. I don't use the neck either, so it's easier for pup swaps. Actually considering a new guitar build without a neck pup.
 
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