Hey guys, I'm playing since a few years now. But unfortunately I'm not one of the lucky guys who can afford a JS1000 for the perfect "balls to walls" tone. I use a cheap strat which i picked up for 5k or something. The stock pups obviously suck! Now my question is: Is it worth getting good pups for this axe? It it worth investing 7k-10k on pups on axe of 5k? Also, how much do "other factors" affect the guitar tone ( I mean bridge,body,fretboard) ? Please help ..I'm confused.. Thanks In Advance, Sam
No. The biggest factor in tone is your amp. Then the effects you use. You will notice some difference between pickups if you install better ones, but on a 5k axe it isn't worth it unless its playability is excellent, which I doubt. Wood affects the tone, which you will notice when you can't nail Slash's tones because he played a mahogany guitar. Your strings affect the tone depending on their age and the amount of rust and gunk on them. Basically a lot of things influence your tone, but the amp is the most important. So don't bother upgrading pups on your guitar. You could possibl look for a better amp, or guitar.
^^ Thanks man!! Yea...I use a Marshall amp. And i use Ernie Ball strings which i replace every 3 months or something. The bigger problem is that, the pups "hum" , "buzz" with OD (If the gain is set above 50%) I recently walked into a shop to ask about pickups ,and he said there are Korean Humbuckers for 1200 bucks. With the stock pup , i CAN'T gig. Can i gig with those cheap Korean pups? I dont care even it doesnt have the balls to walls tone...as long as it doesnt hum and is silent..!
If the humming and buzzing is the problem check the wiring, or get it checked. It could be a grounding problem. Dunno how much better the Korean Buckers will be.
Some korean humbuckers are pretty decent.... I use a pair on one of my guitars and they do the job pretty well. I suggest u just save up for a better guitar + FX. In ur case, the humming is prolly due to the combination of cheap single coils + MG overdrive Try playing through the same amp with another guitar (preferably one with humbuckers) and see if its noisy.
here is a big question to ask yourself, cost vrs tone? dont be silly you want to gig you want to record so the question is: what sound is in my head that i want to come out of the speakers and how do i get it? sure you want to sound like guns n roses or ac/dc you need a truck load of guitars amps fx and techies, but if you want your own sound, a sound people associate with you and your own music then start from the ground up think of nirvana or *** pistols they used crappy gear coz it was the sound they wanted and so that it cost less to smash it all up i use les paul into xt live into head fones or line out the ultimate though for any sound at the flick of a switch: line 6 variax 700 into line 6 x3 live to line out that would be sonic mayhem hope i was of some help to you
I get what you guys are sayin. I'll get the wiring checked or maybe replace the wiring and the knobs. @Double Click: How much did your buckers cost?
Also, which would be the cheapest Processor , worth buying? I guess the 505II and all arent worth buying....
Forget processors if you are into tone etc. Get some analog pedals whihc will give a more authentic "tubey" tone
If you gig a lot you may want to buy a good amp modeller. Most venues use a Marshall MG100DX/MG250DX. And analogue pedals are good but everything has it's place. If you use a lot of effects they may not be affordable in the short term. Otherwise the first pedals you want to buy would be drive and eq in my opinion. In digital FX processors, the G2.1u is possibly one of the cheapest worth considering. Although it's LCD display makes it a little hard to work with. That being said your amp/modeller will still affect your sound the most.
Cheapest workable processor for rock is the AX1500G. In the long term, analog pedals are a better investment... A good dist + delay will set u back by about 10K. Much less than the decent procs available here. And u can buy more pedals as and when u need them. The pups I have cost around 600 a piece I think. On a side note, if anyone wants any stompboxes made, let me know... I can prolly build u a clone at a decent price
Ahh.. Knew u'd ask for one.. the metal Muff is do-able, but the cost difference isn't gonna be much. EHX is selling these at a great price IMO. If ur serious bout it, I'll to search for the components and let u know..
If you say that the prices are similar then I'd go in for the original. But there are some others I have in mind, and I will get back to you when budget permits.
@ Wildchild - They are humbuckers... I guess I was lucky @thundertone - The prices will scale with the components used. I can build u a copy with parts u'd only find on a boutique pedal for around 1.5K (thats a very very rough estimate, might increase or decrease) but I'll have to use ordinary push button switches that'll prolly hold up for about a year before they have to be replaced... The good thing is they only cost around 30 bucks apiece. If i use proper footswitches, the difference isn't really much..
Usually, yes The metal muff is a PITA (tooo many components!!!!) to build, but from what I hear its one helluva stompbox.
