Too Much Clean Mode Distortion

[PTModIT]

Hello, My son just bought a pair of active humbucker pickups.The output is around 58k ohms..Pots are 2 volume, 1 tone ,3 way switch. Pots are 25k.The problem seems to be when he switches between heavy distortion to a clean mode. There seems to be much distortion in the clean mode.It's not clean enough.He has a Marshall MG100 HDFX head with 412A &B cabinets.Are the pickups just too heavy to play clean or did I miss something in the wiring. I just thought of something, I didn't change the Tone capacitor that I used for the passive pickups. Would it be a different value. Thanks.

[Samba Pa Ti]

58k or 5.8k pickups ? 58k is huge (i dont know much about active pickups though) :O

maybe the pickups are meant to be distorted ? ive got a set of dimarzio's and at high volumes they are always distorted, i have to use another type of pickup to get a clean sound.

Edited May 15, 2007 by Samba Pa Ti

[Thoughtless 7]

If it is 58k i'd say you have little to no chance of ever getting a clean sound out of that. What happens when you turn the guitar volume down? Also what make pickups are they?

[CrazyManAndy]

If I am not mistaken, active pickups should have a very clear and clean sound when not being distorted. What brand of pickups are you using?

Just to do a little elimination, you might want to try a different amp and see what happens.

CMA

(I just noticed what you said about the capacitor. I don't know if that is the problem, but it wouldn't hurt to fix it. Active pickups use a .1uF capacitor.)

Edited May 15, 2007 by CrazyManAndy

[IbanezFreak666]

i had this problem when i got a new guitar with EMGs, when i wanted to play clean i just roll the volume off slightly, or turn the gain down on my amp.

another solution would be to use signal booster/reducer foot pedal, that could reduce the input into the amp, in the summer i am going to make a simple one out of wood.

with high output pickups your going to overdrive an amp if you have it just under the "overdrive barrier" for low output pickups which alot of people do because you get the best tone there (well i do anyway) so just roll the gain off slightly

sorry thats kinda long winded im not feeling too great and im not thinking clearly :/

[PTModIT]

Hello, Well I tried a bunch of stuff and I just couldn't get a clean sound without the distortion. I told him I guess the pickups are just alittle to hot . You can either keep the active pickups and don't worry about the clean mode or put the passives back in , Which I did . Problem solved , for now. I'am building a doubleneck Explorer which I'll put the active pickups in the bottom and put passive on top.Thanks.

[Logical Frank]

If I am not mistaken, active pickups should have a very clear and clean sound when not being distorted. What brand of pickups are you using?

True but they are also very hot. Sounds to me like they are just pushing the amp a little harder than his old pickups so there's a little more distortion so I agree w/ everyone who's said he needs to roll his volume back a bit for cleans.

[SwedishLuthier]

I'am building a doubleneck Explorer which I'll put the active pickups in the bottom and put passive on top.Thanks.

Don't know if I understand you correctly but mixing active and passive is asking for more trouble. You will need a buffer or similar to get it to work.

[JoeAArthur]

Pickup output isn't measured in ohms.

DC resistance of the coil can be measured, but it is unrelated to pickup output. If someone is selling active pickups and is pretending that they can be compared based on DC resistance estimates... well, that ain't someone I would be buying anything from.

[IbanezFreak666]

just roll off the volume or use a volume pedal.

unless theres something wrong with the preamp in the pickup and thats overdriving :/

[Mattia]

My money's on an amp that can't take the heat. If it's got a low-gain input, use that, and frankly, some amps simply cannot deal with EMGs. My solid-state Fender will go loud, clean and HiFi with the guitar plugged into the lo-gain input, but tend to get just a little ugly with the high-gain input used. The Rivera tube amp has no such issues, although that's largely down to the pickup comp (ie, extra preamp gain) that runs in front of both channels

[IbanezFreak666]

if you want awsome cleans, try using a bass amp just for the cleans, iv tryed it with my EMGs and it has an amazingly warm rich clean sound.

but dont use it for distorted because generally it sounds rubbish.