What's going on? Duncan and Ultra

Deltones

Deltones

Experienced
Hey gents,

Went to the music store to buy myself some strings and exited the store with strings... and a new guitar. Setup was nice and sounded pretty darn good for the price. It's a Jackson DK2T, with SD TB4 in the bridge and SH2 in the neck. Anyway, short version is please listen to the short clip below. It consists of 3 short burst of a low E, played on the Ultra with Jay's Marshall preset, my preset and Rif's preset.

Where the hell is all that crap coming from after the initial attack? The root note is basically drowned out by god knows what. It's a little less dramatic on Jay's preset but still pretty strong. Take note that nothing was clipping anywhere on the Ultra, or my DAW. Anybody experienced this with their Ultra and a TB4? Any theories?

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8142392
 
strumbringer said:
Sounds like your pickups may be too high - you could try lowering them.
Click to expand...

Thought about that and I tested that before posting the clip. They were at the pretty much recommended 1/8 in from pole piece to bottom of the E string, but I tried to lower the pickup all the way down as a test. Same result, with obviously a little less output.
 
Strange.

Are you plugged in the front or the back? Could you be clipping the inputs? Try dialing down the input level from the front panel knobs, if you haven't already.
 
If the inputs are clipping you should be able to hear it on a clean patch, too. Just bypass everything so that you hear the non-processed guitar signal.
Definitely sounds like digital clipping to me so I don't think it's a guitar problem. I could be wrong though.
 
I am plugged in the front, and like previously stated, I am not clipping anywhere in the chain. I don't even have to pick very hard on the low E to get that weirdness, I get it at pretty much every picking strength.

Other details, if they can be important. It's a new set of strings, D'Addario, 10-52, tuned in standard. In the clip, Jay's amp is a Plexi Vintage, my amp is a Hiwatt 1, and Rif's amp is a Marshall 800. Preamp gain on my amp is lower than Jay and Rif.
 
There's a resonance in the guitar somewhere. Probably in the tremolo. Some people like that as it gives the sound more character. I believe it's being amplified by your picking technique, you probably have your pick at an angle to the strings (sounds like a heavy pick too but not sure) and the scraping of the pick is exciting the resonance.
 
FractalAudio said:
There's a resonance in the guitar somewhere. Probably in the tremolo. Some people like that as it gives the sound more character. I believe it's being amplified by your picking technique, you probably have your pick at an angle to the strings (sounds like a heavy pick too but not sure) and the scraping of the pick is exciting the resonance.
Click to expand...

Cliff, the guitar is a string-through, no tremolo. If you're telling me there is nothing wrong with the sound, I mean signal wise, I guess I will have to find a workaround. It's the only guitar I have that does that. It's a nice playing instrument, but damn is that Low E string resonance annoying.
 
Try placing cloth/foam to dampen the strings behind the bridge, or just mute with your fingers to test the sound.
 
Sup?

It sounds like a saddle or nut issue to me. I've heard this before. Is the string slightly pinging off the first fret perhaps? The reason I said check(tight, align, intonation, etc) the saddle is (I know no trem) I had a floyd once that the hi B string would get a funky overtone and I had to swap out the saddle to get it to go away,also on the nut thing, I have had to shim up a nut or two to keep the low strings from pinging off that first fret. cna you raise the action on that string just a little? have you tried to recreate this on another amp of some sort?

MOSHON
DAVE
 
Could be a string defect. Inner/Outer core separation due to improper wind, insufficient wind or double kink.
 
Deltones said:
Cliff, the guitar is a string-through, no tremolo. If you're telling me there is nothing wrong with the sound, I mean signal wise, I guess I will have to find a workaround. It's the only guitar I have that does that. It's a nice playing instrument, but damn is that Low E string resonance annoying.
Click to expand...

I figured it had a tremolo since the TB4 is a "Trembucker", designed for tremolo-equipped guitars.

Anyways... it's clearly the guitar itself and sounds like something is resonating. It could be an action issue, the string vibrating against the first fret perhaps, but usually that gives a sizzling sound.

Change the string, check the action, listen closely with the guitar unplugged and see if you can isolate it.

Maybe now you know why it was traded it in.
 
moshwitz said:
Sup?

It sounds like a saddle or nut issue to me. I've heard this before. Is the string slightly pinging off the first fret perhaps? The reason I said check(tight, align, intonation, etc) the saddle is (I know no trem) I had a floyd once that the hi B string would get a funky overtone and I had to swap out the saddle to get it to go away,also on the nut thing, I have had to shim up a nut or two to keep the low strings from pinging off that first fret. cna you raise the action on that string just a little? have you tried to recreate this on another amp of some sort?

MOSHON
DAVE
Click to expand...

Well, like a lot of people, let's just say that the physical amp choices I have diminished considerably after I purchased the Ultra :mrgreen:

I have a BF Showman at our practice space, but I don't have access to it for now.

The action is already pretty high. I know most player like a very low action, but that's not my case. Acoustically, when I play that low E, there is nothing weird going on, either open or at the first fret.

I may have found something that exaggerate the problem while revising my patch in search of a clue. Let's just say that a Hiwatt amp boosted with a treble booster drive block doesn't agree a lot with this guitar. The patch works fine with another guitar I have equiped with an SD SH-5 in the bridge. But this new Jackson, with the SD TB-4 in the bridge is a lot less forgiving, at least on the low E string. The problem still appears in other presets, like the clip shows, but it's a little bit less apparent.

I went over the guitar once, guess I'll do it again, just in case. And Bakerman, I'll try your trick also.
 
FWIW,

To me, that tone has the classic sound of 'treble overload' distortion (it's almost as ugly as digital overload distortion) - it's like the signal going into the Amp block is just too bright. I would try some Pre-EQ to roll off some of the highs, while boosting a very wide swath around 500z for more body & warmth.

~Rad~
 
I have an ESP Horizon FR with JB and 59 Duncans. I absolutelt hated the JB. It's a "harsh" humbucker and when I tried to dial in any sounds I couldn't get this harshness go away. It was like digital distortion... Changed it with custom custom Duncan. Now everything is sweet and screaming...
I don't know if that's the case with you, but I've found that I hate the JB...
 
Radley said:
FWIW,

To me, that tone has the classic sound of 'treble overload' distortion (it's almost as ugly as digital overload distortion) - it's like the signal going into the Amp block is just too bright. I would try some Pre-EQ to roll off some of the highs, while boosting a very wide swath around 500z for more body & warmth.

~Rad~
Click to expand...

That's an avenue of research. I find that a little bit strange though. I have a Godin Velocity, maple body, with a SD SH-5 in it. According to Duncan's tone chart, it scores 7-6-9 (B-M-T). The JB-4 scores 5-6-8, and the Jackson is an Alder body. The Godin should be much brighter, but I don't have this problem.
 
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