Posts by SqWark

    Once again, there's a marked difference between what you do know and what you don't, but you are free to assume as incorrectly as your heart's content. I'm not interested in flaming, postulating superiority (where there is none) and echoing the unnecessary invective in your post. Let's get back on topic and leave the pointless personal mudslinging aside.

    So if I'm wrong that means you don't consider yourself a Bastion of Knowledge?


    Finally, something we can both agree upon.

    I safely assume when you write, you want people to take you at your word. Admittedly, I think there's plenty of room for skepticism in the tonewood (for electric guitar) debate, so the "absolute fact" remark caught my attention. At this point I'll refrain for risk of hijacking the thread for an unrelated conversation. I'd be game for discussing it in a different thread and with people capable of having a measured conversation about it (not saying you're not, so don't take that as a slight).

    I don't take that as a slight. Why would I? I don't know you.


    I'm gonna pass on the debate offer. Even though you do appear to have a modicum of knowledge it is greatly overshadowed by
    your pompous and overt sense of your own importance.
    I do know that in your own mind you are some bastion of knowledge. Unfortunately, to me (and many others here) you just come across
    as such a douchebag that I really don't care what you do or don't know.


    All about time management for me at this point and I don't wanna waste any more of mine interacting with you (don't take that as a slight).

    Thanks for the suggestions, @SqWark. Just realised the guitar is out of production, so if I sell it, it's unlikely I'll get another one. A big fan of Jeff Hanneman, so I'll probably experiment with pups

    And with actives it's so easy to switch them out it would be a shame to have it rewired for passives if there's any actives out there that you haven't tried and are curious about.

    I'm not debating dude, but there is a fundamental difference between your personal experience and belief in something and knowing "for an absolute fact". That's all I pointed out. It's that kind of mindset which leads people to get overly prideful and aggressive over things they believe, no matter how inconsequential or banal (such as the tonewood debate). Chill.

    Thank-you for pointing out the obvious. Admittedly I was being grammatically lazy when I wrote, "for an absolute fact" but it's clear that I was using it more as a figure of speech to mean, "I want to emphasize that I strongly believe this to be true" rather than as a scientific declaration of fact.

    Unless one can prove something within objective scientific parameters, not just with their ears and preconceptions, I'd be wary with such hyperbole.


    Good! Then you go right ahead and be as wary as you like.


    Obviously I was stating 'My opinion based upon my personal experience'. Would have thought that was clear.


    Only thing I am wary of is people such as yourself with their pointless, time wasting comments attempting to 'educate me' on something that I wrote
    quickly and didn't spend hours pondering the implications and nuances of each and every word as I, like 99.9% of the people reading this understood exactly what i meant.





    As I said,


    "Have no interest in getting into a debate about it at this point. Believe as you wish "

    I appreciate that you took the time to write. I agree with all of what you wrote and I believe in tone wood effect on the tone. The only dislike from my end to the Active was they're not as responsive to how hard or soft you're picking the strings. I have tried so many pickups that it became a hobby in itself. My nut shell summary of all the time I spent swapping pickups is that to certain degree after so much trial and error, Pickups are in the end of the day are not a do or die and that I'm able to get satisfying results with almost all of them.
    Another thing that was interesting is that expensive pickups as well as cheap pickups can sound just as good even if the sound is slightly different
    That really was very evident when I got into P-90 pickups, I couldn't find any P90 that sounded bad, the $10 pickup from ebay sounded as good or better than the $150 boutique (maybe the quality of screws hardware etc wasn't as good, but sound wise, it was the same ballpark)

    Yeah! Didn't intend to write as much haha! First paragraph went down so quickly that by the time I thought to ask myself, "Why are you wasting your time with this?" I had already almost finished it. No worries.


    I do hear ya on the pickup trials. For me it is more just being curious about how a particular pickup sounds more than a, "I hate my tone." kinda thing.
    I have passives I love as well as actives and I think it's more about matching the right pickups with the right guitars etc etc...

    I'm currently considering going back and putting the actives back in to use it for drop tuning, the clarity in the active would seem to make sense in this application.

    Definitely not trying to come across as some pickup know-it-all but I can tell you that from my experience EMG 81's do not sound good in an Alder bodied guitar.


    I own several ESP MII's, awesome guitars! Alder body, maple neck & fretboard, so not too dissimilar to your LTD.
    In my somewhat obsessive tone quest I have tried out a lot of pickups, experimenting, different pickups in different guitars etc etc...
    I didn't have any preconceptions as to what was "supposed" to sound good and I was pretty much on the fence in regards to the "tonewood" debates.


    Some of the things I found to be consistently true were:


    In "bright" guitars (Ash, Alder, Maple) the ceramic active pickups (EMG 81, 81X, Fishman Fluence Modern Ceramic) were just a little too much high end (treble). Not an issue for rhythm playing and, in fact, if you do nothing on the high strings (soloing etc) one of these may still be your best choice.


    I am assuming that you, like me, play a style of music that is heavier and involves distorted guitars. If I am incorrect and you're playing country music then please read no further as nothing I'm saying still applies :D


    Good Alnico active pickups are (EMG 85, Fishman Fluence Modern Alnico, EMG 57, Duncan Jeff Loomis signature set). There's a few others I haven't personally tried but you get the idea. I'm only gonna give my opinions on my experiences, not just regurgitate something I read on sevenstring.org :D


    Of all of the above the ones I liked the most (in a guitar similar to yours) was the Fishman Fluence Modern (Alnico Version).
    Very articulate and not at all muddy on low strings while retaining great warmth on the highs.


    In my Mahogany guitars it didn't sound as good by the way though my EMG 81's sounds killer in Mahogany.


    ^^^Just some thoughts for you to consider.


    Addendum: Anyone who believes in that "Tonewood doesn't matter especially with active pickups" arguement, that's fine.
    From my personal experiments of testing out many different pickups in the same guitar I know for an absolute fact that it is a huge factor in tone.
    Have no interest in getting into a debate about it at this point. Believe as you wish :)

    TC Electronic Triple C might do the trick, if it comes to multiband compression.

    Thank-you! :thumbup:


    That is one of the ones I have my eye on.... Literally :)


    http://www.ebay.com/itm/311785…geName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


    It does look like it would do the job, I am hesitating a little as it is an older model and I just don't know how significant that is in regards to reliability.


    I'm waiting to see if I can get any more feedback from folks though perhaps I should just bite the bullet and buy it.


    One thing I learned when I bought my Rackmount Tuner last year was that the very next week (after I bought it), a Kemper update came out with the exact same feature!! :D


    Obviously couldn't just be a coincidence :thumbup:

    I am, of course, a fan of the Kemper eventually getting a Multiband Compressor added but that isn't a reality right now.


    I have the Waves C4 plugin that I use through my DAW software and that is perfect for my needs. I am having difficulty finding a hardware version of something similar.
    I'm looking for a unit with ability to compress a specific and definable range (low mids etc...) and nothing else.
    Fort the life of me I can't seem to find anything that a) is compatible with the Kemper or b) isn't over $5000.


    Does anyone here have personal experience with any unit that matches my description, Compressor or Multi Effects Unit/Processor?


    Oh, and no offense intended, but I'm not interested in any lectures on how, "Distorted guitars don't need compression..." or any of the other "helpful" comments that some people seem compelled to add whenever this topic is brought up.


    Closest I have found seems to be the Rane DC24 and the Behring DEQ2496 but I have concerns about both, Rane DC24-quality & reliability, Behring DEQ2496-compatibility.
    Have any of you guys used either of these units?


    If a viable hardware solution doesn't exist (as I am starting to believe may be the case) then so be it. I do feel that there has to be something more practical
    than bringing my laptop to gigs/rehearsals and running my signal through that just to get what I'm looking for.

    You have too many profiles? PLEASE
    To Quote yngwie malmsteen


    The producer said to me "less is more"
    I say "more is more" :thumbup:


    Ash

    Haha! Oh I agree with you... and Yngwie. I am definitely not complaining.


    Exhibit A (below) may give you some idea of exactly what I mean when I say, "Too Many"


    Note 'All Rigs' content (top left)


    I just need all of my favorite profiler makers to stop bringing out any new packs for a while as obviously restraint is not one of my strengths :)

    Edit: Come back later to add review. Sent post as private message instead. Apologies for thread hijack. Was unintended.

    I'm not sure if everyone realizes what an insane deal this pack is. This
    is on the level of that one year on Black Friday when you got that 60"
    HDTV for $100. I cannot emphasize enough the value of this pack. It is
    as close to "giving away the farm" as you're gonna get.
    Let me also say this-
    If there was a list of "Guys who have so many profiles they definitely
    don't need any more" I would be on that list no question about it.
    That being said, some deals are just too darn good to turn down.



    Do not, for one moment, think that price is any indication of quality as
    this profile pack easily matches other similar packs that sell for
    $30-$50.



    Who am I and what's my angle in posting this glowing review?



    I'm just a guy who loves to play guitar and appreciates great tones.



    I have no affiliation to Cililabs whatsoever. I am just showing my
    appreciation (to them) by taking the time to share my thoughts regarding
    their products.

    They have come along way with changes and the design, its good t hear the actives sound good with both these packs as most of us are using them with this genre. the 2016 model has Seymour Duncan black outs , glad to hear the EMG's are working well. I think the quality builds are heap because they can make the guitars in South Korea :).


    Ash

    The Duncan Loomis pickups are a pretty hot pickup. I love the tone but I've found that I have to avoid the higher gain profiles as the combination is just too much. Was gonna just buy a set of EMG 57/66's to see how they sounded (they were the stock pickups in the 2012-2015 Schecter JL-7's and are, in my opinion, an awesome set of pickups) but I found a new 2015 Schecter JL-7 Loomis model for a great price (discounted price plus 20% discount code. Practically giving it away) so I just bought that instead.


    Moreso now than ever I know that you have to match the right profiles to the guitar. I am working through the new UPBII (Ultimate Profile Bundle :) ) to find the best matches.
    From the previous UPB and with my guitar collection, the majority of which is admittedly high to very high output pickups, some of the profiles had just a little too much gain...easily fixable of course, but the ones that sounded like perfection right out of the gate (e.g. 6505 1, 5150 Signature 7, 6505 7, Mig 100H1 to name a few) are to this day among my most definitive kemper profiles for those particular amps. Looking forward to finding the gems in the new bundle.

    Thanks guys , will try the Gibson and loomis 7 string with the Beta Lead and Beta Bass profiles for the Stoner/doom sounds.
    Looks like Mendels FILTHY playing was on passive pick ups...sounds great here ALSO on actives (black outs)


    '


    Ash


    Awesome! I have one too. Actually I have two. I loved mine so much I ended up ordering another (Hardtail version with EMG 57/66 set)
    Amazing guitars that just left me wondering, "How do they make this quality (of guitar) this inexpensively?"
    *Apologies for thread hijack. Will definitely be playing UPB2 profiles on my Loomis guitars