DGT pickups microphonic?

[Mact]

Hi everybody,
a quick question to those owning a DGT and other PRS guitars:
I have a really nice 2016 DGT. I noticed that this guitar starts to squeal (microphonic) much earlier than e.g. my McCarty with 57/08 pickups, my Santana III or my Les Paul with Burstbuckers. I am not talking about musical feedback but about a high pitched squeal at higher gain levels and admittedly higher volume. Is this also your experience?
Are the DGT pickups potted? The pickups sound really good at lower gain levels, just wondering whether this tendency towards microphony is by design, i.e. whether it is a bug or a feature....
Anyway, would be great to hear about your experiences with the DGT! Thanks in advance!

 

[veinbuster]

I haven’t noticed this on mine, but maybe I don’t turn the knobs high enough.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Tucson Thump]

Hi everybody,
a quick question to those owning a DGT and other PRS guitars:
I have a really nice 2016 DGT. I noticed that this guitar starts to squeal (microphonic) much earlier than e.g. my McCarty with 57/08 pickups, my Santana III or my Les Paul with Burstbuckers. I am not talking about musical feedback but about a high pitched squeal at higher gain levels and admittedly higher volume. Is this also your experience?
Are the DGT pickups potted? The pickups sound really good at lower gain levels, just wondering whether this tendency towards microphony is by design, i.e. whether it is a bug or a feature....
Anyway, would be great to hear about your experiences with the DGT! Thanks in advance!

I've not had that experience, nor have I seen David Grissom play only quietly.

This is a resourceful group and I'm sure suggestions will start pouring in soon.

 

[Casi1]

Hi everybody,
a quick question to those owning a DGT and other PRS guitars:
I have a really nice 2016 DGT. I noticed that this guitar starts to squeal (microphonic) much earlier than e.g. my McCarty with 57/08 pickups, my Santana III or my Les Paul with Burstbuckers. I am not talking about musical feedback but about a high pitched squeal at higher gain levels and admittedly higher volume. Is this also your experience?
Are the DGT pickups potted? The pickups sound really good at lower gain levels, just wondering whether this tendency towards microphony is by design, i.e. whether it is a bug or a feature....
Anyway, would be great to hear about your experiences with the DGT! Thanks in advance!

I dont have a DGT but when I installed a set of DGT pickups in my Brazzy Korina McCarty, the tech called me in to listen to them before he finalized the job because they were to be potted (I requested new pickup covers) and he wanted to make sure I dug the sound.

 

[László]

All pickups are microphonic to a greater or lesser degree. Grissom and PRS worked for a long time to create a vintage sounding pickup.

Old PAFs were well-known for their microphonic and feedback issues, yet they’re highly prized anyway, because they have a sound.

As with all things tone-related, there are always tradeoffs. Modern pickups with ceramic magnets and various other “fixes” for microphonics sound different from vintage pickups. Pick your poison.

 

[Boogie]

I prefer unpotted pickups, generally. It lends a certain feel of “out of control” that I love. Riding the razor’s edge between endless sustain and uncontrolled feedback is kinda my thing, anymore. That also often limits how much you can move around on stage because once you find the sweet zone, you dare not move. You also learn to lean out of the treble controls more than normal to squelch the squeal.

Honestly, I don’t know if my DGT pickups are potted or not. They’ve never felt unpotted, but they could be. Unless you play at high volumes, you probably wouldn’t know the difference. IMO, high gain applications are the wrong place for unpotted pickups. Flirting with disaster.

 

[Kaborex]

Hi everybody,
a quick question to those owning a DGT and other PRS guitars:
I have a really nice 2016 DGT. I noticed that this guitar starts to squeal (microphonic) much earlier than e.g. my McCarty with 57/08 pickups, my Santana III or my Les Paul with Burstbuckers. I am not talking about musical feedback but about a high pitched squeal at higher gain levels and admittedly higher volume. Is this also your experience?
Are the DGT pickups potted? The pickups sound really good at lower gain levels, just wondering whether this tendency towards microphony is by design, i.e. whether it is a bug or a feature....
Anyway, would be great to hear about your experiences with the DGT! Thanks in advance!

Aha ... I am not the only one sufferring from feedback issues. I have been wondering about this for a long time. I read somewhere that they are very lightly potted. I have seen youtube videos of Grissom playing very close to the amp at very loud volumes. However, unlike most of us he uses his tone control at 0. So hence not as much feedback as you or I would get.

I absolutely love the DGT, but it is taking a bit of getting used to. Never had this with any other guitar. Then again, Grissom designed it to his spec and his sound.

But definitely this guitar feeds back a lot.

 

[shallbe]

If you can stop the feedback by putting you finger on the pickup, a little foam in the pickup cavity under the pickup will solve the issue. My DGT Artist does not feedback unless I want it to, at high gain and band volume levels. But I always put mic box foam under my pickups anyway, to reduce sympathetic pickup vibrations when near the amp.

 

[Kaborex]

If you can stop the feedback by putting you finger on the pickup, a little foam in the pickup cavity under the pickup will solve the issue. My DGT Artist does not feedback unless I want it to, at high gain and band volume levels. But I always put mic box foam under my pickups anyway, to reduce sympathetic pickup vibrations when near the amp.

Ok will try that and let you know.

 

[John Beef]

I never had issues with the DGT treble I ran for several years in my Custom 22.