Robert_the_damned

first year phyiscs degree here! This is correct. A pickup in the exact 24th fret possition will pickup virtually no even but lots of odd harmonics (ie no 2nd but lots of 1st and 3rd). HOWEVER, guitar pickups sample the string over a very long length (I'd estimate a humbucker is 'listening' to at least two and a half inches in length of the string, obviously getting weaker signal further you go from the pickup), and so you wont get a case of a pickup not getting any of a particular harmonic unless its got virtually no thickness (a single coil isn't even close to this 'point' pickup) Oscilloscopes are good but wouldn't be that helpful in this case as its very hard to judge wave forms like guitar signals (they're very complex). A spectrum analyser is what you want but they're about the cost of two new gibsons plus a bit. most sensible comment yet. That's essentially a virtual spectrum analyser with a gutiar pluged in. As I'm sure you can all see there isn't a huge differance between the two pickup possitions but there is a big differance between a bridge and neck pickup. (This program is good but not acurate, for instance the freqency responce 1 inch from the nut should be exactly the same as 1 inch from the bridge but it isn't on that program) Robert

QTC is basicly a very fancy variable resistorand so wouldn't work on its own as a pickup; you'd have to build it into some sort of circuit to actually produce an output voltage. I don't know if it would even have a suitable frequency responce as I seem to remember it being very rubbery (not a good discription but I'm sure you know what I mean). By all means try it out but it'll be more complicated than sticking it under your bridge and soldering two wires to it

you wuss Greg you want at least 11-56's Personally I think thinker strings do add to the sound...which does make sense in a physics way as you have more magnetic material vibriting infront of the pickup and it is that which is what is causing the sound in the first place. though it might be that you've just got a bit of a dead string.

I'd use what you've already suggested but have a coil tap so you can use one coil of your XL along with the one coil of the P90.

it looks like that locking nut is being used behind a normal LP style plastic nut (should be able to pick one of those up at your local guitar store!).

it might just be that they're a differant composition, has he changed brand/gauge? If the saddle has became loose it could be dampening the string but I doubt something like that would suddenly develop. An easy fix would be to adjust the pole pieces on his pickups (these honnestly do make a big differance)....either raise the D strings or back off the others.

how about doing the top white and just doing an oil or clear coated back and neck? I think that would look pretty slick

i noticed the exact same thing a few years ago...it's true for ALL gain pedals. i have found the most guys in metal are trying to achieve close to the same tone,but how to get there vairies wildly for example...i have always played through marshall amps...which the metal zone,zoom driver,line6 stuff works well with...but i recently tried to run my metal zone through an old amp(peavey i think) of a friends,and it did not work well at all...but he could get a tone very similar to my rig by running a multi effects tone works unit through his... I'm guessing you don't have your metalzone distortion cranked all the way up and have your amp gain set quite high? I'm kinda doing the oposite (hi-gain on the pedal and only a small amout of gain on the amp).

+1 to that, the first few songs I learnt were Black Sabbath songs, Black Sabbath Iron Man then The Wizzard as I remember. Teach him something he wants to learn though, its the best way to keep him interested Once you've taught him some scales you might want to do some jam sessions with him (get him to play a simple rythm and solo over it to show him some new techniques then swap and get him to do some improvisation) my guitar teacher did that with me and it really does help you get the hang of the scales and techniques quickly.

I think most people who hate hate hate the metalzone haven't used it for long enough to work out the EQ on it. The EQ is VERY tetchy and despite being a 3 band with moveable mid frequency I found that there were only a couple of settings on it that actually sounded good, IMHO you're far better off using seperate graphic EQ's to get to the sound you want and just use the metalzone purely for the distortion. Its also very dependent on what amp you're driving with it and what the settings on the amp are like. If you're running it into a slightly crunchy channel then you can get a bit more tone back by turning up the gain on the amp and turning down the metalzone. Personally I prefer the Line 6 uber metal, its cheeper, has 3 differant models, has a built in noise gate (which btw is actually very good on all but the insane setting) and best of all the EQ is a lot less fussy AND has a better range than the metalzone. The Boss HM-2 is also a good pedal IMHO...I don't use it for what I'm normally playing (Black metal) but its really good for super downtuned stuff (Doom or Drone Doom). someone needs to read to the end of the thread before commenting eh guys?

They should the band shouldn't ever appear in them at any point though 'fraid its the vocalist that puts me off them (the drumming is seriously tight though) only toped by kirk hammett trying to sound AND look mean at the same time. the first lead on War is my Shepherd really shows good trem control if nothing else

I'll agree with everyone else its perfectly possible. What that person *may* have been trying to say is that if you use a headstock adjustable truss rod and a bolt through style floyd rose locking nut you end up with a potential weak spot at the head end of the neck (as there isn't a lot of wood there to start with). However, it can be done and lots of guitars do have a setup like this and work fine unless you drop them but most guitars don't like being dropped on their headstocks. Rob

well that'll be your problem...you're running one hight gain distortion after another, of course you're going to get lots of feedback even if you've got the volumes down low. Try turning up the gain on one of the models and switching the other for a lower gain setting (running a rectifier model into a metalzone model will probably sound awful IMHO).

I've done a little expermenting based on this idea. I played plugged into a noise gate (as it has an LED on it that lights when the signal gets below a certain threshold) but I wasn't plugged into an amp. I found that without touching my guitar to an object I infact had MORE sustain than when I did touch it to something (ie took longer for the LED to come on). My guess would be that although you do get increased acoustic volume from your gutiar that's because you're wasting more of the strings energy in producing sound rather than vibrating. they wouldn't take it on because there's no way something could explode dramaticly.

Another option for replacing your metalzone would be a Line 6 ubermetal. I've got one and its got stupid amounts of gain (more than the metal zone by far) and the tone controls are very responsive (I'd recomend using a pre-eq to boost your very lows, mids and very highs and scoop out your mid-bass and mid-highs so you retain a bit of clarity). I can do you some recordings of the sound I'm getting out of it if you'd like. Now if only I could get on and read those tube amp books I've got then I could just design you a JCM800 with more gain (or lower distortion ceilings) which is what you really want eh?

I think you're confusing yourself more than you need to Greg. A push/pull pot is simply a pot with a switch that runs through it. The workings of the pot and the switch are not connected in any electonical way: i.e. it doesn't matter what you're using the pot for the switch will always act in the same way. As for both the diagrams being differant to eachother and also being differant to your guitar you've got to remember there are more ways to skin a cat There are all sorts of ways to coil tap a humbucking pickup. In the SD diagram they connect the series link to ground: essentially grounding both ends of one of the coils so its not producing any output, in the PRS they're shorting the beginging and end of one of the coils on the bridge pickup (does the samething : stops it producing a signal) and doing the grounding route on the neck one. As for your Cort ot sounds like they're shorting a coil to itself on both pickups but it wouldn't make sense if there are no other leads connected going to some sort of output. As they always say: A picture speeks a thousand words. Do a quick doodle in paint (doesn't have to be fancy just of the switch itself and where the leads attach and then just label where they go. anyway why're you getting so tied up in how its wired now! Just strip out all the old wiring and follow the SD diagram if you're using SD pickups. nice and simple

wow that's a neat job my wirring routing normally looks like it was designed by a rat and co-designed by a pidgeon! you've got me wanting to build a tube amp now!

Its not vital but it does really help with tuning stability when you use a trem that replaces the stop tail piece.

no the last I'd heard he'd gone to the enemy (Leicester)

yeah I couldn't remember which poles connected in the centre possition so I did a bit of a fudge, still works exactly the same though as unklmickey said.

With what I was proposing yes the looper would record the clean sound but that would be fed into one channel of the intellifex which would of course produce a non-dry signal.

is that what you had in mind? You might be better off with a buffer infront of it, maybe an A/B/Y box which would be usefull turning on and off the loop sound too. You should be able to combine the pre-amp and loop boxes outputs with a Y cable though (although you'll have to fiddle with your volume levels on both units to make sure they'll sound ballanced with eachother).

thar you go the on-on-on switch connects: both top to centre/one top one bottom to centre/both bottom to centre

that's taking reviewing to a whole new level

yeah I've had some beers like that oh the horror's of incorrectly made home brewed ale