Tue Apr 21, 2015 3:54 pm
No matter how I set the ptb controls I can't get a full bodied, jazz response out of my USA Legacy neck pup. My strat is creamy warm and punchy with a full bodied tone. My legacy is thin and medium bodied at most.
Can I switch the neck pup out to a MFD(s500)? What would that do? Or a double rail HB? SeyDuncan? Or just leave it, stay frustrated and eventually justify thinning from herd?
Wed Apr 22, 2015 2:55 am
Obvious question ..... Have you tried rolling off the treble control and leaving the bass pot on full ?
I don't have a problem getting a fat clean jazzy tone from my stock USA Legacy that way.
Wed Apr 22, 2015 8:30 am
+1 to Southpaw. If for some reason the tone control muddies up the tone a bit too much. You could try swapping the cap for a smaller value. There should be a 22nF in there. If that's too much you could try a 15nF or 10nF.
I put a set of 50's style Alnico 3's in my S500*, running it with a 15nF tone cap, and I have no issues getting fat jazzy sounds from it, with the tone rolled back. I will admit though, that the Alnico3's tend to be a bit rounder and midrangy than Alnico 5, which seems to have more highs and lows.
I also changed the 2.2nF cap for the bass cut to a 2.7nF, it cuts slightly less bass, and doesn't cut into the low mids quite as much, IMO. Might help achieving a more jazzy tone, as I find low mids to be fairly important to that fat jazzy sound. (which also you might want to look at your amp's EQ, jazz needs midrange, IMO)
Since with these cap values, the filters dont cut into the midrange signal quite as much, it's quite easy to dial in a mid range 'hump' with the PTB. I mean, stock it should more or less be fine, but I found these changes to be an improvement, for me, and my setup, at least.
Doesn't hurt to mess with cheap .40 cent capacitors before you go try a relatively expensive pickup swap.
*I should also note, since the S-500 uses a .001uF cap, which seems to fatten the tone, I decided to remove that, which made my PTB closer to the Legacy's PTB controls.
That is also something you could try. Try Copying the S-500's wiring. Add that .001uF cap, maybe to a toggle, so it can be reversed, since it will fatten all the pickups, all the time, when it's active. The switch will give you the best of both worlds. The old S-500's without this cap were supposedly quite bright, possibly thin and harsh. I believe the S-500 and the MFD's in the 500 get a bit of their fatness from that capacitor in the circuit.