509 and heavier sounds

[orionz06]

How do the five single coils handle heavier music? The 513 seemed fine but the videos out there for the 509 seem to favor a lighter range of sounds.

 

[Dancing Frog]

Like a Telecaster with a humbucker. It doesn't have the signal that the 513's modern humbucking had, but it also doesn't have the mud or nose either.

 

[orionz06]

Pretend I'm a terrible person and don't really know what a Tele with a humbucker is like. I'm not looking to tune down three steps but some standard tuning or half step down power chords with some authority are what I'd want. The rest of the sounds the guitar brings are perfect, it's just that last little bit that I hope can be had if I lean on the amp a little.

 

[Dancing Frog]

It will be cutting and have some authority, just don't expect it to power through with super thick sounds. A 513 on modern humbucking has slightly less signal than a Mark Tremonti. The 509 has about 60% of that in humbucking mode, so it's not going to hit the front the amp as hard. Its signal is more at the vintage Les Paul level, and a vintage Les Paul can still handle the heavier music fairly well. I'd say the 509 is between the Tele and the Jim Root Version. It also has a little more warmth, slightly less growl, and slightly less brightness. Ignore the pompous guy at the beginning, it was the best I could find without trying to do something myself.

Jeff Buckley's Eternal Life is also a good example of the heavy music that can be done with a Tele. It gives one this really gritty texture.

 

[orionz06]

Went and finally had a chance to play it. I won't be asked to join a doom band but it'll surely go from David Gilmour to Adrian Smith rather easily. The clarity is nuts. My LP with Bareknuckles in it was rather awesome before hearing this thing. Not that I felt my amp was eq'd poorly but the 509 made the knobs far more responsive and with just a few tweaks I got the sounds outta the thing that I've heard Andy Timmons and John Petrucci demo. Not that the LP was the worst thing but it was harder to dial in.

 

[AragonWingfoot]

Yes the 509 does favor lighter sounds on most positions. The neck humbucker, sadly, is too airy and kinda harmonic to be used with a lot of gain. (The neck humbucker kills any jazz tone or clean tone in existence though) the bridge single coil is kinda twangy clean but gets nice and gnarly with some gain. The best gain tone though is the bridge humbucker. It absolutely rocks. It takes gain very well while maintaing lots of harmonics and beauty. It still has the punch and power of a killing humbucker.

 

[orionz06]

For sure. One thing this guitar has helped me learn to love was lower output pickups. If I lean on the amp for more gain the guitar just has soooo much more to it than higher output pickups do. I've got a Cu24 with the \m/'s and while they're great they're not nearly as dynamic.

 

[Dancing Frog]

Went and finally had a chance to play it. I won't be asked to join a doom band but it'll surely go from David Gilmour to Adrian Smith rather easily. The clarity is nuts. My LP with Bareknuckles in it was rather awesome before hearing this thing. Not that I felt my amp was eq'd poorly but the 509 made the knobs far more responsive and with just a few tweaks I got the sounds outta the thing that I've heard Andy Timmons and John Petrucci demo. Not that the LP was the worst thing but it was harder to dial in.

The clarity and articulation was the first thing that floored me when I picked the Guitar of Month May version. I had gotten the opportunity to build the perfect 513 private stock, and this thing tore it up. Unlike the 513, you really didn't need to change the EQ substantially to get it to perform optimally, because it didn't have the 513's nosiness.

I think that you'd find that the Wood Library version with the maple capped swamp ash body and the maple neck and fretboard might be a better match to the heavier stuff, its mid-range is more scooped, but still warm.

 

[AragonWingfoot]

The clarity and articulation was the first thing that floored me when I picked the Guitar of Month May version. I had gotten the opportunity to build the perfect 513 private stock, and this thing tore it up. Unlike the 513, you really didn't need to change the EQ substantially to get it to perform optimally, because it didn't have the 513's nosiness.

I think that you'd find that the Wood Library version with the maple capped swamp ash body and the maple neck and fretboard might be a better match to the heavier stuff, its mid-range is more scooped, but still warm.

I would absolutely agree with the clarity and articulation. I am just a peasant with a core production model but I feel it also has the clarity and articulation hard to find in other guitars, and trust me it makes every single profile in my Kemper sound great. And like you said with EQing with the 509, there’s I’ve never really had to EQ an amp very specifically, even a crappy practice amp.

 

[Dancing Frog]

I would absolutely agree with the clarity and articulation. I am just a peasant with a core production model but I feel it also has the clarity and articulation hard to find in other guitars, and trust me it makes every single profile in my Kemper sound great. And like you said with EQing with the 509, there’s I’ve never really had to EQ an amp very specifically, even a crappy practice amp.

I was pleasantly surprised that the magic of the GOTM version hadn't been lost with the core production model when I got mine. It was something that I was concerned about, that without the kingwood fret board and maple neck the character of the guitar would be affected. The production version only turned out to be less bright but with more harmonic bloom. I absolutely believe you about the Kemper as it makes every amp model and cab IR on my Axe FX III shine.