Suggestions on adding brightness

THOA

THOA

New member
Hi guys,

Just needed some help in discovering some options to help with my tone.

My guitar is an SA 120. My first and only guitar (for now, heh) and after sometime of understand in the intricate qualities of tone and how details can affect it, I am starting to get really particular with my tone, especially since I am very into recording.

I'm pretty happy with the high gain metal tone and clean tone I can achieve with my current set up, but as more and more factors come into play, I realise that I need to look into finding a tone for mid gain crunch for blues/pop rock. And I have yet to find something that can really nail it. I keep missing that bright ring and luster. :?

Anyway, what I would like to ask is some suggestions for ways to add more brightness to my guitar. I'm using stock everything except for pickups (currently SD Jazz and JB) and strings (Dunlop nickle plated steel gauge 11). I'm tuning to standard D.

Also, this is not as important cos I prefer to rely on amp drive but perhaps some recommended OD pedal that can give that crunch ala Blues Driver or perhaps even a mild distortion would be good as well. I've heard the DS-1, RAT, stacked TS-copies and it's not giving me what I want. Am considering Liquid Sunshine or Mudhoney but if there are far cheaper alternatives, it would be much appreciated.

Hope I am making sense. :p
 
Dude...brightness lost can never be replaced.
Saying that ....get a proper set-up for your guitar ...most tech know how ...i hope :~
 
I would have to say both teo-something and shredcow's suggestions have their merits.

Orange Drop Caps(shorthand for capacitors).
These provide a little nipple called 'treble bleed'.

"A way to avoid this is by using what's called a treble bleed circuit. It's called this because it prevents the treble frequencies from bleeding off. It allows some of the treble frequencies (the ones we want to keep) to walk around the volume pot to the output, rather than go through it and get lost to ground."

-http://www.blueskillet.com/Treble%20Bleed%20Circuit%20Mods.htm

that *might just* be what you're looking for.

Pickup Height.
You do not seem to be using very high output pickups. It would thus be prudent to set them slightly higher than you normally would so as to aid the pickups in 'picking-up' every sound and nuance from your string. The current distance might mean that the higher frequencies are being lost during the transmission through the air due to the somewhat weaker magnetic fields of your pickups, as compared to say, a DiMarzio X2N.

On a side note,
Have you tried to EQ to get your desired tone? More often than not, most tonal malcontentment may be remedied through the judicious use of a few EQ knobs. Do consider taking a look.

Be Well.
 
"It allows some of the treble frequencies (the ones we want to keep) to walk around the volume pot to the output, rather than go through it and get lost to ground."
Click to expand...

Sig worthy ....:)
Treble bleed if you are looking to retain more treble when you roll off your guitar volume...i love it so do all my customers.

Orange drop caps adding brightness ....i tot caps to ground bleed off treble.
How is this possible?....new alien technology perhaps!!??
Maybe i missed something in science class or just snake oil to rip kids off...
 
gsonique said:
Treble bleed if you are looking to retain more treble when you roll off your guitar volume...i love it so do all my customers.
Click to expand...

That's the key point - goose has said it!

Treble bleed only comes in when you're ROLLING DOWN the volume.

Vol on 10, tone on 10 - add treble bleed, remove treble bleed, use titanium capacitors... will something happen to the treble?
 
THOA said:
Anyway, what I would like to ask is some suggestions for ways to add more brightness to my guitar. I'm using stock everything except for pickups (currently SD Jazz and JB) and strings (Dunlop nickle plated steel gauge 11). I'm tuning to standard D.
Click to expand...

You CAN play with pickups and wirings and caps and bridhes and blocks and nuts and frets and strings etc etc... It CAN help slightly. But at the end of the day, it's mostly got to do with the wood on the guitar.

If your guitar is dark, it's dark.
 
gsonique said:
Orange drop caps adding brightness ....i tot caps to ground bleed off treble.
How is this possible?....new alien technology perhaps!!??
Maybe i missed something in science class or just snake oil to rip kids off...
Click to expand...

Not Orange drop cap specific, but I realised that when I added a 473 cap to my JP6 without a resistor, the tone did get inherently spankier and a little brighter. Or did it just preserve the treble and kill the bass? Hahahahaha...:???:
 
This may not be a cure for the lack of sparkle but you can try....

1) Using a high impedance input booster like a Super Chilli Picoso or a Zvex Super hard on or other Mosfet/Jfet transistor booster in the beginning of the chain. You may not even boost it, just set it to unity. Its something like adding BALLS to the tone.

2) Using a high impedance buffer, not sure of any manufacturers that does this. I personally prefer to use an ultra simple circuit using a Jfet buffer and a huge ass input resistor of 4.7M-10M for the extra zinnggggggg. Go to AMZ website and look around for it. Its so simple and small you can build it smaller than a postage stamp and dump it into the guitar cavity.... but you'll need batteries though.

Its been a while since I've been dodgy... but you can buy my pedale and it'll give you teh creer and transparenteru oberudrivu. No stock for now but soon... very soon. YUUUUFOOOOOOO!
 
Whitestrat: I realised that. But considering that I am doing recording most of the time, and never gonna play live, the slight changes can be really helpful.

Maybe because I'm trying my best to push my guitar to be as versatile as it possibly can before resorting to getting another one. Ultimately that's my motive.

Of course every bit of info posted here have been worth the read! :mrgreen:

Engel: I was considering the treble bleed orange cap mod for a while. And I knew about the whole volume roll off treble sustain whatchmacallit rather than a treble additive, so no worries, I am pretty sure about what I will get with that mod, heh. Thank you for the elaboration. Pretty much asserts what I thought :)

Shredcow: Thank you, sir, for your inputs on MSN. The slight adjustment gave significant improvements. :)

Edder: Bro, because I'm not technically and electronic savvy to come up with my own electronics so I think I will accept your dodginess and look forward to grab hold of your creer and transparenteru oberudrivu. Version deux, yes? :mrgreen:

PS: Opps I missed out one point brought up by Engel.

I would like to use post recording EQ-ing as a last resort, cos that has more to do with the signal and waveform rather than the guitar itself. As Goose put it, you can't add if it's not there, which is especially so with the recorded signal. So I figured that adding hardware enhancements to my guitar would be a better choice.

Of course I could be all wrong :-X
 
Last edited:
THOA said:
Maybe because I'm trying my best to push my guitar to be as versatile as it possibly can before resorting to getting another one. Ultimately that's my motive.
Click to expand...

Well, this is why I've realised, having many many different guitars with different setups matter when recording. One guitar CANNOT do it all. There's no way a humbucker can sound like a single coil and vice versa. Sometimes, ONLY a single coil will fit the tones, and you need changes for sure.

But that's nothing much to do with making the guitar brighter. Brightness CAN be played around with EQ. Original tones cannot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

E
29M Vox Looking for Guitarist/Keyboardist/Drummer to Jam / Start a Band
Replies
0
Views
236
ernestmakesnoise
E
I
Female Drummer looking to play for Gigs
Replies
2
Views
418
Littlebird18
L
V
Drummer Looking for Amateur Jazz Musicians!
Replies
4
Views
499
woodencube
woodencube
congneng
Guitarist/Singer 25 looking for a band to jam with and find opportunities to perform for gigs
Replies
0
Views
306
congneng
congneng
V
Female vocaliste looking for a band
Replies
11
Views
788
gstshark
G

Latest posts

Share this page

Back
Top