Compensating for lower output pickups when switching guitars

Davus PG

Inspired
I know there's no global setting for this so have used a filter block with a flat db boost and the bypass assigned to a control switch that's set to last on every scene.

It works great, I just have to be aware whether it's activated or not when I load up the preset, but that's easy enough as I have assigned it to one of the switches on my FC.

I was just interested to hear what other methods people are using to achieve a similar boost?
 
I created a Snippet on my X32 mixer to bump my input signal via MIDI trigger. No changes to the Axe. Works well until I create a few guitar specific presets.
 
I dial in my presets to a class of guitars (ie humbucker presets, sc pickups...). Setting up a boost at input for lower output guitars (ie sc) is easy (and i do it with +5db @ input block level on a switch for coil split guitars) but to me, it is a bandaid that does not work very well since if I tuned the preset for humbucker it never seems to sound good with my strat even with the compensation at input - my single coil guitars only seem to sound good when I dial in their own preset. Makes sense actually since if I tweak a preset for hours on my SG, why would I expect it to sound good on a totally different guitar design with just a 5db boost at input.
 
Now when you already have that filter block to boost/pad the volume you can also boost/pad the lows with it.

Why the lows? All my guitars need to supply enough highs anyway, and if they don't I start to mod them until they do and if there is no way to get enough highs I sell them on. But another difference between single coils and humbuckers lies in the lows and the filters can change that to some extent.
 
I was just interested to hear what other methods people are using to achieve a similar boost?

Input trim? But realistically I set my I/O -> Input Gain to my hottest guitar (active pickups) then just create specific presets for my other guitars. A preset created for single coils will not sound good with active pickups and vice versa, in my experience.
 
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Input trim? But realistically I set my I/O -> Input Gain to my hottest guitar (active pickups) then just create specific presets for my other guitars. A preset created for single coils will not sound good with active pickups and vice versa, in my experience.
I think you mean I/O Instrument In:

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The Input Gain has a different purpose, which is specifically for the topic of this thread.
 
I wanted a solution that can be engaged/bypassed on the fly from the FC as and when I change to my single coil guitars at a gig, unless I'm mistaken that's not possible with the input gain?
 
I wanted a solution that can be engaged/bypassed on the fly from the FC as and when I change to my single coil guitars at a gig, unless I'm mistaken that's not possible with the input gain?
I think you are correct. I don't believe there's a modifier or any other control for that.
 
I would absolutely love not just a global input gain, but a global input filter/eq. For my guitars, I pretty much don't want anything down below 80-90hz, and I have a couple really boomy guitars that I always have to put a hi-pass filter on.
 
On a real amp, you would adjust gain, or volume, or treble, or bass, etc. This is why I think different presets for different guitars makes the most sense.
 
Absolutely, which is why the solution I have adopted simply adds a null filter with just enough dB to maintain consistent volume
But, even with consistent volume or added eq at input, would you not choose different amp settings depending on which guitar you used to dial in the preset? For SC vs HB guitars I'll never choose close to the same amp settings so no matter what I do at input, one patch would rarely sounds good on both guitars. A filter at input is handy to set up for some rough patch compatibilty accross guitars but when I try to dial in one patch for 2 very different guitars, I don't end up with a good sounding patch for either guitar.
 
Have you considered raising the pickup height on the guitar with lower output pickups?

Yes, and have slightly lowered humbuckers, but I did that to get the tone that sounds best to my ears rather than solely to address any disparity in output. The difference isn't huge, but enough that a very slight db boost in a couple of guitars helps them to sit better in a band mix

But, even with consistent volume or added eq at input, would you not choose different amp settings depending on which guitar you used to dial in the preset? For SC vs HB guitars I'll never choose close to the same amp settings so no matter what I do at input, one patch would rarely sounds good on both guitars. A filter at input is handy to set up for some rough patch compatibilty accross guitars but when I try to dial in one patch for 2 very different guitars, I don't end up with a good sounding patch for either guitar.

I have a dozen guitars and gig them all (not at once!) so don't want to have multiple versions of each preset. We play indie & classic rock so there's almost always varying amounts of dirt on my tones and as I'm one of 2 guitars in the band striving for absolute tonal perfection is a little pointless. My main amp models are a Friedman BE and the Jumped 100w Plexi. All my guitars have humbuckers in the bridge except my Suhr Classic T which has a pretty hot single coil in the bridge and sounds great (and crucially a little different) through all my patches without any need for tweaking, it just needs a little boost in the mix. I did try having separate patches for different guitars in the past but found myself trying to make them all sound the same.

I only ever take 2 guitars to a gig, but I've seen Eagles concerts where Joe Walsh plays a huge number of guitars, I can't imagine he has separate amps and/or settings for each guitar? I'd always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that he just plugs in and plays
 
Yes, and have slightly lowered humbuckers, but I did that to get the tone that sounds best to my ears rather than solely to address any disparity in output. The difference isn't huge, but enough that a very slight db boost in a couple of guitars helps them to sit better in a band mix



I have a dozen guitars and gig them all (not at once!) so don't want to have multiple versions of each preset. We play indie & classic rock so there's almost always varying amounts of dirt on my tones and as I'm one of 2 guitars in the band striving for absolute tonal perfection is a little pointless. My main amp models are a Friedman BE and the Jumped 100w Plexi. All my guitars have humbuckers in the bridge except my Suhr Classic T which has a pretty hot single coil in the bridge and sounds great (and crucially a little different) through all my patches without any need for tweaking, it just needs a little boost in the mix. I did try having separate patches for different guitars in the past but found myself trying to make them all sound the same.

I only ever take 2 guitars to a gig, but I've seen Eagles concerts where Joe Walsh plays a huge number of guitars, I can't imagine he has separate amps and/or settings for each guitar? I'd always assumed (perhaps wrongly) that he just plugs in and plays
If it were me in your shoes, I would copy the preset and then adjust the levels to the hotter guitar to taste and keep them next to each other in your patch list, so you can alternate between them when you need to switch guitars.
 
I did try having separate patches for different guitars in the past but found myself trying to make them all sound the same.
For very different guitars (SC vs HB) they would be very difficult to sound the same indeed - personally I would want them to sound very different to bring forward the significant difference between HB and SC for example (if it's a Les Paul and SG then yes, why bother).

Don't know about Joe Walsh, but afaik, lots of artists use amp switchers for drastically different sounds which also include different guitars (ie, strat into fender..., LP into marshall), or, choose multi-channel amps that can accommodate
both flavours on separate channels (would not be surprised Joe uses one
of these methods since he and Don Felder tended to play together using "opposing guitar tones". But to be clear, I'm only refering to very different categories of guitar (ie strat, tele, LP) - for my SG and Carvin HB guitars, I just boost the Carvin at inpit by a couple
of DB as you do and all is good.
 
Although it's not on your FC the TC Electronic Spark is an excellent option. I use per song presets and also don't want to create dozens of alternate presets for my backup guitar. This was my choice until I figured out how to do it via mixer and midi pad.
 
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