axe fx and lace sensor gold pickups with fender midboost

A

alebuba

Member
Hi, don't know if this is the right forum to ask this question:
i've modded my stratocaster with 3 lace sensor gold (hotgold on bridge) and fender kit Calpton boost..

when i play the guitar through the axe fx i've noticed that the pickups are very very hot and high output.. i need to lower the drive of the amp and effects in the axe to have a good clean tone.
I don't even use the boost.

I have other stratocasters and the difference is very evident in terms of output.

I wonder if is this normal , i don't know very well the lace sensors . I use mainly the vox ac30 sim in the axe fx II and i have to set the drive volume about 8 to have clean tones .
I play mostly U2 stuff.
Anyone has similar experience? Thanks a lot!
 
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those are pretty low output pups, so something isn't right. are they really close to the strings?
 
i tried to lower the pickups but nothing has changed.. only if i lower the drives in the axe i can play clean tones
 
i've used lace sensors quite a bit, not really that low in output. no more or less than any other vintage spec pup. are you sure the clapton circuit is wired correctly? And you're setting amp drive at 8 to get a clean tone? i would think the amp would be pretty distorted at 8.
 
Isn't the "hot" gold Lace pickup supposed to be hot-er? Are you really using drive set to 8? That will distort. Try 4.
 
I've noticed that every preset sounds too distorted with the lace sensor 's strato respect to the classic 70 mim strato that i have..
I usually use the drive at 10 in my preset with the mim classic 70 and have to reduce the drive at about 8 to sound similar withe the lace sensor's strato..

I wonder if is it normal, not very experienced user...
 
Turn down your input gain in the I/o section, I play through EMG DG-20 pickup set and they are pretty hot, I was clipping on every preset when I first got the system and turning it down a bit helped.
 
Thank you! I will try
Anyway if someone has similar experience with lace sensor and axe fx i'd like to know their impression . I want to be sure that the pickups and kitboost were installed properly and that it is normal that the guitar has high output.
 
I have the Clapton midboost kit in a Strat type guitar (Levinson Blade) - but it has the Fender Vintage Noiseless (SCN) pups. With the boost off these pickups are pretty much the equal in input meter level to my other guitars' bridge pups - which include EMG (in a Luke) and a Seymour Duncan Custom Custom (a hottish PAF style).

The Gold Lace Sensors I thought would be more 50's vintage style output?

Sure that the boost kit is wired ok? Did you install the circuit board in the control cavity - and if so did you put some insulation both below and above the PCB? If the bottom of one of the pots touches the components on the PCB you could be inadvertently boosting output. I put the TBX dual pot in the farthest away tone pot position to keep it's ass well away from the PCB

The Clapton kit boost I find practically unusable dialled past about 2 or 3 on the boost knob - any more than that and it really overloads the input ..... the full 25db of boost is pretty crazy output.
 
alebuba said:
I've noticed that every preset sounds too distorted with the lace sensor 's strato respect to the classic 70 mim strato that i have..
I usually use the drive at 10 in my preset with the mim classic 70 and have to reduce the drive at about 8 to sound similar withe the lace sensor's strato..

I wonder if is it normal, not very experienced user...
Click to expand...
If you're setting the drive at 10 with the pups in your Mexican strat and still have a clean sound check the input trim, is it set at noon? Sounds more like really weak output from that guitar rather than too hot lace sensors. You'll have to troubleshoot this by eliminating variables one by one
 
I did't install the kitboost ; the liuther did the job. i think he did the job well, he's very good. Anyway i will control if all seems ok, just to be sure.

For clean tone with the Classic 70 strato i mean a soft dirty tone, nearly clean. I play mostly U2 stuff, so i'm reffering to typical edge sound . With the Classic 70 i can obtain this sound with the vox drive at 9,5 10 .

With the clapton strato the same preset is too hot , distorted sound.

Maybe it' s normal but it' useful to know all your opinions since i'm not an expert user. Thank you to all :)
 
I once had a Clapton Signature Strat with the active electronics and it was easily my hottest output guitar. The electronics are not only the midboost but a general output boost which you can't shut off or level, I wish there'd be a trim pot on the circuit-board, but there ain't...
 
My AC30 sound is pretty dirty with the drive at 10, as I would expect it to be. I can't imagine how you would get a clean sound with the drive at 10. As others have alluded, it sounds to me like your guitar with the lace sensors and Clapton boost is working as it should and there is a problem with your other guitar which has a very low output.
 
My #1 guitar is a modified Clapton Strat. The active pre-amp is always active. These Strats (and the system that you have installed) have an extremely hot output. They have greater output than many humbucker equipped guitars.

You have options to explore if you intend to gig with this guitar and a few others:

• Custom presets that are tweaked per guitar
• Turn down the input on the Axe-FX so that the Clapton guitar is 'normal' and just tickles the red LEDs. Your other guitars will sound fine but you have to adjust to the gain difference (pretty much in all cases)
• Have your luthier install a bypass switch for the active pre-amp. The earliest Clapton Strats has this but, as EC always left it on, they dropped this feature before the guitar was produced for even one year.
• Use an appropriately set-up limiter/compressor before the Axe-FX's input. Even a box with a preset volume drop would work. Turn this on when using the Clapton.

I'm sure that there are more options. I'm running out of steam.
 
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