treble

[charleyrich]

I have a G&L Asat Classic III which I really love.

It does have one annoying issue. It is so bright in the upper registers (above E on the 12th fret) that it can produce some serious ice-pick sounds. Of course, I can turn the treble down, but then the sound in the lower registers suffers. I normally have the tone knob set to about 3/4.

Anyone else experience this? Any suggestions (other than don't play in that register)?

Regards,

Charley

[supereiv]

Hey, I don't play an asat classic III, but I have an asat classic custom (the one w/the big MDF as a neck pu) and lately I changed my blues jr for a Boogie F30 that can be very harsh on some settings. Rolling the treble serves me to fattened the sound a little, when I want a different attack, but rolling too much that control is meh... Instead, dialing a sound with more gain on the amp and rolling back the volume pot of the guitar between half and 3/4 leads me to really pleasant results in taming the treble. But there's a compromise on the gain. That said, I don't use lots of gain and play really often on the clean channel. I find that method much more effective. IMHO again

[yowhatsshakin]

Hi Charley,

There are several suggestions I can give you:
1- Us tone controls either on guitar and/or amplifier. This will require a reevaluation of your complete tone stack which may include adjusting the volume settings too as per the suggestion of supereiv.
2- Lower the pickup slightly on the treble side so it's further away from the strings. However this will affect more that one string but ...
3- ... here's the beauty of MFD pups! You can also adjust the hight of the pole pieces. Lowering the pole piece on your high-E relative to the other strings will also adjust the balance. It might be that to get the right balance you'll need to slightly lower the complete pickup and raise the pole pieces of all but the high-E.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

[charleyrich]

I appreciate the advice. Unfortunately this model does not have MFD's so I will have to try the pickup height suggestion.

Thanks,

Charley

Hi Charley,

There are several suggestions I can give you:
1- Us tone controls either on guitar and/or amplifier. This will require a reevaluation of your complete tone stack which may include adjusting the volume settings too as per the suggestion of supereiv.
2- Lower the pickup slightly on the treble side so it's further away from the strings. However this will affect more that one string but ...
3- ... here's the beauty of MFD pups! You can also adjust the hight of the pole pieces. Lowering the pole piece on your high-E relative to the other strings will also adjust the balance. It might be that to get the right balance you'll need to slightly lower the complete pickup and raise the pole pieces of all but the high-E.

Hope this helps,

- Jos

[Ahryn]

Unless you (or someone else) changed out the PuPs your ASAT III should have MFDs, smaller MFDs than the neck PuP on a Classic custom but it should share the same bridge PuP.

If the PuPs are in fact not MFDs then Yowhatsshakins option 2 is your best bet.

[louis cyfer]

it should have mfd's. in my experience you have to get mfd's far away from the strings anyway to get them sound good. get very harsh sounding when too close. i mean i go level with the pickguard.

[Boogie Bill]

A different brand or alloy of string might help. Pure nickle strings are definitely mellower than a nickle-coated steel string. You can even use Stainless Steel strings, which are normally very bright. The trick with SS is to drastically lower your amp's treble and presence control--giving you a huge, thick fat tone. This is what I do with my Comanches, which are notorious for ice-pick highs.

Change your cord! Sometimes, the hi-fi super-duper low capacitance cables can make your guitar sound too bright. Go find a cheap cable or 60's coily-cord and see if it helps.

Sometimes, a simple pot change can tame the high end. If you have 500K pots, changing to a 300K or 250K pot with the correct cap can make a world of difference.

Another quick fix might be a different preamp tube. Some are a bit darker-sounding--like the JJ 12AX7. That might be a better match for your guitar and your style.

A different speaker might help, too. Consider moving from an amp with 10" speakers to one with 12" speakers.

Finally, a graphic EQ can be really handy. The Boss 6-band, or the MXR 10-band EQs might be the thing you need to tame the high-end response of your guitar. And if you are using several guitars of different types, you can simply hit the Graphic EQ for the right tonality when you switch to your ASAT.

Good luck!

Bill

[louis cyfer]

Sometimes, a simple pot change can tame the high end. If you have 500K pots, changing to a 300K or 250K pot with the correct cap can make a world of difference.

Another quick fix might be a different preamp tube. Some are a bit darker-sounding--like the JJ 12AX7. That might be a better match for your guitar and your style.

A different speaker might help, too. Consider moving from an amp with 1-" speakers to one with 12" speakers.

Finally, a graphic EQ can be really handy. The Boss 6-band, or the MXR 10-band EQs might be the thing you need to tame the high-end response of your guitar. And if you are using several guitars of different types, you can simply hit the Graphic EQ for the right tonality when you switch to your ASAT.

Good luck!

Bill

great advice. all very useful. usually the pup height adjustment takes care of a lot, but if not enough, than try these steps. also speaker type, like a cannabis rex can help as well.

[charleyrich]

Thanks for all the great advice. I will try the pickup height first. One basic question: turn the pup height screw clockwise to lower it? I am also assuming that since the problem occurs on all five pickup settings, that means I should lower all three of them.

--Charley

Sometimes, a simple pot change can tame the high end. If you have 500K pots, changing to a 300K or 250K pot with the correct cap can make a world of difference.

Another quick fix might be a different preamp tube. Some are a bit darker-sounding--like the JJ 12AX7. That might be a better match for your guitar and your style.

A different speaker might help, too. Consider moving from an amp with 1-" speakers to one with 12" speakers.

Finally, a graphic EQ can be really handy. The Boss 6-band, or the MXR 10-band EQs might be the thing you need to tame the high-end response of your guitar. And if you are using several guitars of different types, you can simply hit the Graphic EQ for the right tonality when you switch to your ASAT.

Good luck!

Bill

great advice. all very useful. usually the pup height adjustment takes care of a lot, but if not enough, than try these steps. also speaker type, like a cannabis rex can help as well.

[louis cyfer]

Thanks for all the great advice. I will try the pickup height first. One basic question: turn the pup height screw clockwise to lower it? I am also assuming that since the problem occurs on all five pickup settings, that means I should lower all three of them.

--Charley

Sometimes, a simple pot change can tame the high end. If you have 500K pots, changing to a 300K or 250K pot with the correct cap can make a world of difference.

Another quick fix might be a different preamp tube. Some are a bit darker-sounding--like the JJ 12AX7. That might be a better match for your guitar and your style.

A different speaker might help, too. Consider moving from an amp with 1-" speakers to one with 12" speakers.

Finally, a graphic EQ can be really handy. The Boss 6-band, or the MXR 10-band EQs might be the thing you need to tame the high-end response of your guitar. And if you are using several guitars of different types, you can simply hit the Graphic EQ for the right tonality when you switch to your ASAT.

Good luck!




Bill

great advice. all very useful. usually the pup height adjustment takes care of a lot, but if not enough, than try these steps. also speaker type, like a cannabis rex can help as well.

if the pups are mounted to the body, you go clockwise. if mounted to the pg, counterclockwise. lower the bridge pup until you are happy with the sound, than adjust the other 2 for balance in output level.