tweaking guitar sound

[nalooti]

Hi,

There is something with the sound of my guitar that I don't like:
I'm using mostly Line 6 POD Farm for different FX and I can get some decent sounds out of it.
The problem is that when I tune the sound to be good on my 3rd to 6th strings, then the sound of the 1st and 2nd strings are too metallic, too crystalline. And when I tune the sound to be good on my 1st to 4th strings, then the sound of my 5th and 6th strings are too bass, too boomy.

This worsens when I use some mild distortion/overdrive. When I get a good distorted sound on my 3th to 6th strings, then the 1st and 2nd strings sound becomes too metallic, so ear-penetrating that instinctively I want to lower the volume.

Can any EQ settings or any other FX tweaking help me in this ?

[osiris]

Originally Posted by nalooti

Hi,

There is something with the sound of my guitar that I don't like:
I'm using mostly Line 6 POD Farm for different FX and I can get some decent sounds out of it.
The problem is that when I tune the sound to be good on my 3rd to 6th strings, then the sound of the 1st and 2nd strings are too metallic, too crystalline. And when I tune the sound to be good on my 1st to 4th strings, then the sound of my 5th and 6th strings are too bass, too boomy.

This worsens when I use some mild distortion/overdrive. When I get a good distorted sound on my 3th to 6th strings, then the 1st and 2nd strings sound becomes too metallic, so ear-penetrating that instinctively I want to lower the volume.

Can any EQ settings or any other FX tweaking help me in this ?

Generally the trick to get a good guitar tone is to cut away bad parts with EQ - never try to boost good parts. The systematic mixing guide is excellent at explaining this (http://www.systematicproductions.com/mixing-guide.htm, most available here: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/a...n-guitars.html) but it might be a bit to metal oriented for your taste...

[nalooti]

Originally Posted by osiris

Generally the trick to get a good guitar tone is to cut away bad parts with EQ - never try to boost good parts. The systematic mixing guide is excellent at explaining this (http://www.systematicproductions.com/mixing-guide.htm, most available here: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/a...n-guitars.html) but it might be a bit to metal oriented for your taste...

Thanks for the trick. Actually that's what I did in another of my song i.e. cut too-high frequencies. I did notice a very small change but I don't want to cut it more because I'm afraid to lose some dynamic and to cut some sounds/frequencies I don't want to cut.

Your link points to a book which is not free. Do you have other "free" white papers ? or even better an EQ settings to start with ?

BTW I visited your blog. Interesting!
I just wanted to tell you playing fast is good to learn but don't forget at the same time you must still be able to play slower and adapt to different tempos. That is, I used to play along a song which was pretty fast. Then I transcribed it on Reaper, built drums and bass lines, etc. But unfortunately at the beginning, I set the tempo not as fast as the original song and I began playing on that tempo to find that I play sometimes out of tempo, that is, faster than the tempo and I had great difficulties to adapt to the slower tempo.
I could have changed the tempo but since I already recorded most parts I didn't want to alter those takes. So just an advice, practice to play fast is OK provided that you're still able to play slow "in-tempo".

[osiris]

Originally Posted by nalooti

Thanks for the trick. Actually that's what I did in another of my song i.e. cut too-high frequencies. I did notice a very small change but I don't want to cut it more because I'm afraid to lose some dynamic and to cut some sounds/frequencies I don't want to cut.

Your link points to a book which is not free. Do you have other "free" white papers ? or even better an EQ settings to start with ?

BTW I visited your blog. Interesting!
I just wanted to tell you playing fast is good to learn but don't forget at the same time you must still be able to play slower and adapt to different tempos. That is, I used to play along a song which was pretty fast. Then I transcribed it on Reaper, built drums and bass lines, etc. But unfortunately at the beginning, I set the tempo not as fast as the original song and I began playing on that tempo to find that I play sometimes out of tempo, that is, faster than the tempo and I had great difficulties to adapt to the slower tempo.
I could have changed the tempo but since I already recorded most parts I didn't want to alter those takes. So just an advice, practice to play fast is OK provided that you're still able to play slow "in-tempo".

The second link is to a sort of free excerpt from the book.

And yeah, playing accurately (and with emotion) is more important than playing fast :-)

[somebodyelseuk]

Make sure the pickup heights are set correctly. From your description, it sounds like they are too close to the strings.
Fret strings at last fret and adjust pickups to be at least two millimetres away from the strings.

[nalooti]

Originally Posted by somebodyelseuk

Make sure the pickup heights are set correctly. From your description, it sounds like they are too close to the strings.
Fret strings at last fret and adjust pickups to be at least two millimetres away from the strings.

Thank you for your advice; I'll try it... if I can

Well, my guitar is an old (not recently reissued) Gibson L6-S and I recognize apart from changing strings on it, I rarely touched anything else; maybe few times just for curiosity. I own this guitar since more than 35 years and am happy with it.

So as far as I remember (I'm not in front of my guitar when writing) I can just adjust the height of the bridge over which the strings pass. I don't think I can change the height of the two pickups directly. There are some screws on them, maybe should I try with them ?

I also read somewhere, the distance between the pickups and the strings should not necessarily be the same for hi and low strings.

Anyway, there are lots of photos on Internet (google image) of L6-S. I would appreciate if you can guide me through one of this to tell me what should I try.

thanks

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by nalooti

Thank you for your advice; I'll try it... if I can

Well, my guitar is an old (not recently reissued) Gibson L6-S and I recognize apart from changing strings on it, I rarely touched anything else; maybe few times just for curiosity. I own this guitar since more than 35 years and am happy with it.

So as far as I remember (I'm not in front of my guitar when writing) I can just adjust the height of the bridge over which the strings pass. I don't think I can change the height of the two pickups directly. There are some screws on them, maybe should I try with them ?

I also read somewhere, the distance between the pickups and the strings should not necessarily be the same for hi and low strings.

Anyway, there are lots of photos on Internet (google image) of L6-S. I would appreciate if you can guide me through one of this to tell me what should I try.

thanks

You DO NOT want to adjust bridge because of the pickup height, lol.

Take your screw driver and turn those 2 screws around the pickup - (just not the ones at the corners), use your ear and play with it until you like it.

[Stickman]

http://mysite.verizon.net/jazz.guitar/guitarsetup.htm

Here is a place I found a long time ago to help you "get in the ballpark".
It has some good info about setting various guitars