neck pick up issues with axe fx / is it just me?!?!

[smcrosby]

Humor us. Take a screwdriver and put a little distance between the neck PUs and strings, until things even out between the pickups.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Zelja]

Have you tried lowering the neck pickup?

It took someone far too long to come to this...

On traditional amps this is often a problem as well, depending on the pickups used in the guitar. These days neck pickups are usually weaker than bridge pickups to compensate somewhat for this (makes neck have less volume & brighter than if same specs used for both pickups, as in the old days). Depending on the pickups there are pole piece adjustments than can be made to make them more in balance as well.

As mentioned earlier, some players set the amp up to suit the neck pickup & the roll off highs on the bridge via the guitar's tone knob.

Or better still just get a Les Paul Jr or similar...joking, just joking!

 

[unFILTERed]

Thx for the advices guys, i will try the multiband comp...actually i was using it for a while months ago
for this purpose....but its definately not the pick up setting or guitar issue..i didnt have this problem
with my amps....as i said just with the triaxis-2:90 set up a little bit.

 

[unix-guy]

Yes, it is just you.

I respectfully disagree. I have been fighting with this since I started using the Axe Fx. I play almost entirely on the neck pickup (IBZ USA stacked Humbuckers made by DiMarzio) for both clean and lead sounds, and have found that the Axe Fx definitely seems to accentuate the tonal differences between bridge and neck positions.

I have not experienced this with the same guitars with real amps.

I'm coping with it but it has been a bit frustrating at times

 

[rcd]

There's enough parameters to make the neck PU sound exactly like you want - just keep making adjustments and try new different ir's.

 

[unFILTERed]

as i clearly stated in my post, its not just with FRFR also with traditional cab the same result for me...and yes i know there is enough parameters, i couldnt find the right ones and values yet....i love these kind of meaningless, nonsense responses!!

There's enough parameters to make the neck PU sound exactly like you want - just keep making adjustments and try new different ir's.

 

[Dutch]

Settle down guys. This is the interwebz. Everyone takes everything to seriously and way to personally.


On topic:
I usually have no problem with switching pickups. But...

I just had a chance to use another (smaller) monitor than I usually use and it was way less boomy and way less different on the neck PU. There's a lot of stuff in the chain that can throw things off balance. Are you sure your guitar amps didn't use to have this problem because of some other reason? Like placement (monitors on the floor accentuate bass), room acoustics, different guitars, pups, strings, and again: setup?
FWIW, Both my #1 and #2 guitars seems to accentuate the 125 Hz region a bit and my usual monitor is having a ball with that. Can get really whompy, especially with the neck pup. Maybe it's just my monitor... Sometimes I dial it out a bit in a PEQ to get more even response, sometimes I just lower the bass.

And... I remember one time going to try out guitars, comparing to my own and thinking "why is my guitar so much darker than the rest?"... When I got home I found out the tone was rolled down 4/5th of the way. I usually didn't ever touch the thing. Disconnected it right away and ever since it's been a disguised series/parallel push/pull switch for the neck pup.

I actually prefer my neck pickup in parallel because the notes jump out more.

 

[unFILTERed]

i dont know man, i wish i still had those amps...than i could A=B. I am sure i am doing smth wrong or there are some parameters which will help me...but low end was since the start the harder part of axe for me...i mostly need to work and adjust for the lowend...for FRFR it got some better since Ownhammer IRs and Ultrares. And i use the IRs mostly when i record and for most of the stuff i produce i can anyway do a pretty high value low cut. but main concern is with the NL12s. I am not using the scenes and doing more like a traditional fx floor board. means i have my 3-4 main sounds and mfc buttons and expresssions pedals for fx on and off and parameter values. and when i play i love to switch between my pickups...especialy on the framus since it has lots of options and offers lots of different sounds. but as mentioned, with axe i still have some hardtime using these options.

Settle down guys. This is the interwebz. Everyone takes everything to seriously and way to personally.


On topic:
I usually have no problem with switching pickups. But...

I just had a chance to use another (smaller) monitor than I usually use and it was way less boomy and way less different on the neck PU. There's a lot of stuff in the chain that can throw things off balance. Are you sure your guitar amps didn't use to have this problem because of some other reason? Like placement (monitors on the floor accentuate bass), room acoustics, different guitars, pups, strings, and again: setup?
FWIW, Both my #1 and #2 guitars seems to accentuate the 125 Hz region a bit and my usual monitor is having a ball with that. Can get really whompy, especially with the neck pup. Maybe it's just my monitor... Sometimes I dial it out a bit in a PEQ to get more even response, sometimes I just lower the bass.

And... I remember one time going to try out guitars, comparing to my own and thinking "why is my guitar so much darker than the rest?"... When I got home I found out the tone was rolled down 4/5th of the way. I usually didn't ever touch the thing. Disconnected it right away and ever since it's been a disguised series/parallel push/pull switch for the neck pup.

I actually prefer my neck pickup in parallel because the notes jump out more.

 

[yek]

Semih, I don't think it's got anything to do with the Axe-Fx.
I use it with FR (CLR) as well as power amp +cab, and I've got no problems with the neck pickups at all, compared to a regular amp.

Having said that, I'm not a fan of neck humbuckers at all. A great sound on the bridge or middle, can turn into a muddy mess, with an overload of bass, when switching to the neck. It's just the nature of the thing.

 

[chris]

I'm on my neck pickup (JP EBMM) 90% of the gig. Sounds great.

 

[Zelja]

Semih, nice website you have & very cool clips - digging the music/playing. Seems you got a good thing going with all your projects.

Re your Guild Starfire - is that the one from the 60s model with the smaller humbucker (1 PU adjustment screw per side) or a 70s/80s with the larger humbuckers (two adjustment screws on the the top)? Either way, the pickups in each position will be pretty much the same specs, so due to the greater string travel you are going to get quite big differences in volume & bass response between the two. I really raised my bridge PU & dropped my neck to get some balance & it helps get it closer. Get the volumes closer & then the other differences can be tamed with the tone controls (brighter amp setting to suit neck PU & the roll off bridge tone to suit).

 

[Didejek]

Solution to this problem is exactly what others have mentioned already - lowering neck pickup. The further you move pickup away from strings the less bassy it sounds. I would recommend setting a very clean amp tone on axe (low master, low gain, no compression etc) and first adjust height of bridge humbucker for tone that you're after and then balance neck pickup. You can also use signal meter in tuner mode though ears are probably best tools to do this. It depends on output of the pickup but usually we set neck humbuckers lower than bridge because amplitude of vibrating string is bigger (so string is louder) at the position of neck pickup than bridge. There are many possible reasons why your neck pus are too bassy for you and why you hear it on axe and not on amps - it can depend on signal chain (cables, anything between axe/amp and guitar), construction of amps (highpass filters), environment (room acoustics). I'm using Axe for over a year as a main monitoring tool when I manufacture guitars. This means that I've probably played over 100 guitars and I do not experience these problems with properly adjusted instruments.

 

[unFILTERed]

I will try the pickup advices...thx guys.

 

[Phil emptiness.be]

I think it's this again: I'm not sure the axe accentuates that difference, but you HEAR it more through the axe because what you hear is like being in a studio with your amp miked, that's when you can notice more difference than being in a room with real cab, where the reverb of the room takes over and hides that difference partly.

 

[mtmartin71]

I think it's this again: I'm not sure the axe accentuates that difference, but you HEAR it more through the axe because what you hear is like being in a studio with your amp miked, that's when you can notice more difference than being in a room with real cab, where the reverb of the room takes over and hides that difference partly.

I think you're on to something with this line of thinking.

 

[lqdsnddist]

Every amp and guitar I've owned has sounded different between the bridge and neck pup.

That is the very reason we have different positions, if they sounded the same, whats the point ?

Neck pickup sounds muddy/bassy et al., at settings that sound good with the bridge ? Yep... supposed to do that

Or you could say that the bridge pickup sounds thin on clean patches that sound great with the neck, again....yet, supposed to do that.


If the Axe showed no change between pickups, it would be a pretty poor modeler

 

[swass]

Don't overlook your IR. Pending the IR (as some are more bottom heavy than others). Try bringing your low-cut up to where you heavy mud disappears. (loosely/typically anywhere's from 80-125Hz.,, give or take) Regardless your bridge PU tone may suffer from your disposition. Post a clip. It'll probably help to hear in order to potentially troubleshoot the issue.

 

[unix-guy]

I think it's this again: I'm not sure the axe accentuates that difference, but you HEAR it more through the axe because what you hear is like being in a studio with your amp miked, that's when you can notice more difference than being in a room with real cab, where the reverb of the room takes over and hides that difference partly.

You may be right on with this...

 

[unFILTERed]

Did i write anything like i am expecting that different pickups should sound same??!!
And guys...i dont play just FRFR....all these are clearly stated in my post.

Anyways good advices from people who READ and write....will try those advice soon.

Every amp and guitar I've owned has sounded different between the bridge and neck pup.

That is the very reason we have different positions, if they sounded the same, whats the point ?

Neck pickup sounds muddy/bassy et al., at settings that sound good with the bridge ? Yep... supposed to do that

Or you could say that the bridge pickup sounds thin on clean patches that sound great with the neck, again....yet, supposed to do that.


If the Axe showed no change between pickups, it would be a pretty poor modeler

 

[unix-guy]

Every amp and guitar I've owned has sounded different between the bridge and neck pup.

That is the very reason we have different positions, if they sounded the same, whats the point ?

Neck pickup sounds muddy/bassy et al., at settings that sound good with the bridge ? Yep... supposed to do that

Or you could say that the bridge pickup sounds thin on clean patches that sound great with the neck, again....yet, supposed to do that.


If the Axe showed no change between pickups, it would be a pretty poor modeler

Nobody said they want or expect both pickups to sound the same... What was said is that it doesn't sound the same is when using the neck pickup with a real amp.