Getting “The Tone” - ‘99 McCarty HBII

[Strat1117]

LOVE IT, OMG. Your distinctions of sound couldn't be better! May I add Jimmy Herring vs. Cannibal Corpse to the list?

Smooth (slow, asymmetrical) vs. harsh (fast, symmetrical, square-wave) distortion. Nothing wrong with what you said, brother. Sorry if I come across as a troll, I hate that sh1t. Building a few amps has helped me better understand what the hell even happens between our hands and the speaker. Your question about whether to swap pickups or add a boost pedal is simply a selection point of change, both options being pre-input to your amplifier. A boost pedal or hotter pickup can essentially accomplish the same thing depending on what pedal you select and how it's set up, but you already know that. I like swapping pickups, it just seems like an a55 pain in a HB guitar, but I support any advancement in such skill and knowledge.

Go forth!

...and get a 594 if you don't have one. Best guitar on the planet.

Thanks @ViperDoc - right on the dot - and I love Jimmy Herring. I’ve seen him with the Allman Brothers and with John McLaughlin. Truly amazing player who deserves WAY more attention than he gets.

In audio terms, I’d say that I’m looking to increase even-order harmonics and reduce odd-order harmonics, but I’m pretty sure that’s what you said in different words.

Anyway, I would have a tech do the pickup swap (I’ve got a good one nearby) on the HB - I’m fine going inside a tube amp with a soldering iron, but I’m not going anywhere near a 25 year old PRS 10 top with no access panels.

And, as mentioned before, the addition of a simple OTA-type (current) compressor to my small effects chain has done a world of good in rounding off some of those burrs, so I may just leave the guitar unmolested.

✌

 

[Strat1117]

A set of the Alnico II Seth Lovers will her right up too , have them in my Jazz archtop

#1 on my list. No feedback issues from those unpotted pickups in a hollow guitar? That’s also why I had thought about the 490R/498T - Alnico 2 in the neck, Alnico 5 in the bridge, and it’s mostly the Archtop bridge pickup on my guitar that has me scratching my head. I get along fine with the neck pup.
✌

 

[ViperDoc]

#1 on my list. No feedback issues from those unpotted pickups in a hollow guitar? That’s also why I had thought about the 490R/498T - Alnico 2 in the neck, Alnico 5 in the bridge, and it’s mostly the Archtop bridge pickup on my guitar that has me scratching my head. I get along fine with the neck pup.
✌

Just another 2 cents, in the pickup category of creamiest tones ever, may I suggest:

Bareknuckle Mule--absolutely fantastic pickups, and yes, they're potted.
Onamac Windery "Custom 59"--probably the most cream I've ever heard, EVER. Potted. (but you can order them unpotted)

I can only guess the Seth Lovers would give up more feedback in an HB guitar unless they were dipped, and then, well... they're not Seth Lovers anymore.

 

[ViperDoc]

Thanks @ViperDoc - right on the dot - and I love Jimmy Herring. I’ve seen him with the Allman Brothers and with John McLaughlin. Truly amazing player who deserves WAY more attention than he gets.

In audio terms, I’d say that I’m looking to increase even-order harmonics and reduce odd-order harmonics, but I’m pretty sure that’s what you said in different words.

✌

Agreed, Jimmy (and Johnny!) is a legend.

Harmonics are byproducts of *amplification*. The best way to hear the difference between the presence or relative absence of even-order harmonics is to play through both a single-ended (Fender Champ) and then a more common push-pull type amplifier like your Rectoverb 25.

If you dig into your guitar string unplugged, you hear dynamics. When you run sound (even a sine wave) through an amplifier, harmonic distortion occurs depending on the gain of the preamp circuit (clipping or alteration of the sine wave), and also harmonics of the signal (additional copies of the signal stacked on top of the input that we didn't have before), are generated. [EDIT: The gain--not the harmonics] is trimmed off at various preamp stages to tailor the desired sound, then possibly re-amplified through further gain stages, then trimmed again (through an EQ or fixed voltage divider), and so on. Then it's sent to an output stage, most of which in two-valve or four-valve output sections are designed in a "push-pull" arrangement in which one tube/pair works while the other rests each half-cycle of operation for efficiency. It's more complicated than I can explain, but because of the inherent relative phase inversion of the two signals that are interpolated together, there is phase cancellation of a portion of the amplified sound. A factor called "negative feedback" also further cancels this sound by feeding a portion of the output signal back into the phase inverter. The result is lowered gain for a cleaner sound and reduction of these even order harmonics.

Whether that sounds better or not, I can't say. I bought a single-ended Swart amp a couple years back, and the sound is incredibly hairy, and doesn't clean up like a push-pull circuit does. It is harmonically rich, and it sounds great. But whether it sounds better is a matter of taste. I find it funny that we often hear that even-order harmonics are more pleasing to the ear, but I recommend testing it yourself. I find a heavy case for both. High gain SE tones are ba77s to the wall like nothing I've ever heard, OMG. It might even make David Lee Roth blush, if that's possible.

Thanks for putting up with me.

 

[Strat1117]

Agreed, Jimmy (and Johnny!) is a legend.

Harmonics are byproducts of *amplification*. The best way to hear the difference between the presence or relative absence of even-order harmonics is to play through both a single-ended (Fender Champ) and then a more common push-pull type amplifier like your Rectoverb 25.

If you dig into your guitar string unplugged, you hear dynamics. When you run sound (even a sine wave) through an amplifier, harmonic distortion occurs depending on the gain of the preamp circuit (clipping or alteration of the sine wave), and also harmonics of the signal (additional copies of the signal stacked on top of the input that we didn't have before), are generated. [EDIT: The gain--not the harmonics] is trimmed off at various preamp stages to tailor the desired sound, then possibly re-amplified through further gain stages, then trimmed again (through an EQ or fixed voltage divider), and so on. Then it's sent to an output stage, most of which in two-valve or four-valve output sections are designed in a "push-pull" arrangement in which one tube/pair works while the other rests each half-cycle of operation for efficiency. It's more complicated than I can explain, but because of the inherent relative phase inversion of the two signals that are interpolated together, there is phase cancellation of a portion of the amplified sound. A factor called "negative feedback" also further cancels this sound by feeding a portion of the output signal back into the phase inverter. The result is lowered gain for a cleaner sound and reduction of these even order harmonics.

Whether that sounds better or not, I can't say. I bought a single-ended Swart amp a couple years back, and the sound is incredibly hairy, and doesn't clean up like a push-pull circuit does. It is harmonically rich, and it sounds great. But whether it sounds better is a matter of taste. I find it funny that we often hear that even-order harmonics are more pleasing to the ear, but I recommend testing it yourself. I find a heavy case for both. High gain SE tones are ba77s to the wall like nothing I've ever heard, OMG. It might even make David Lee Roth blush, if that's possible.

Thanks for putting up with me.

Putting up with what? I’m an audio guy. I can talk push pull vs se vs pentode vs direct heated triodes, negative feedback vs no negative feedback and tube rectifiers vs solid state, etc., etc., all day long. Each has its proponents/devotees who, of course, think the others are deaf. But audio amp goals (recreating recorded tones without distortion) are different than guitar amp goals (creating tones by controlling distortion). For most of my playing, I’ve used vintage/vintage type amps - either a ‘73 Marshall JMP (basket weave) with 6550’s or an ‘01 Fender ‘57 Twin Amp with tube rectifiers and 6L6’s. Stick a tube screamer in front of either one and it takes care of the rest. But they are too big and heavy for my current purposes (and advanced age), so I picked up this little 10w/25w recto, which is much more ‘modern’, has 8 switchable modes (2 channels, clean and drive, each with a gain switch and a choice between the two power settings) and uses el84’s, so part of this may just be finding the sweet spot for the new combo (again - easy with the Gibsons but challenging, for me, with the HBII - hence the thought of changing to slightly more powerful PAF style pickups). To narrow it further, I pretty much have the clean channel dialed in, especially in ‘pushed’ mode with the compressor, the but the gain channel, particularly with the bridge pickup, seems go from skim milk to large curd cottage cheese without stopping at the ‘full fat, saturated cream’ I crave along the way. Then again, there’s no rule that says I need to use all the channels, or even the bridge pickup, so maybe I’m overthinking the whole thing. But give me switches and knobs - I’m gonna flip ‘em and twist ‘em until I either get what I want or get sick up and fed and do something drastic like sell it or modify it or, if I still like it, continue to tweak, tweak, tweak until it gives in. That’s where I find myself right now with the PRS/Mesa rig. I love them both, I just need to figure out how to get them to mate in the just exactly perfect way that I want them to mate.

I’m not recording and, at 64, I’m mot performing live in public any more, so this is all just me exploring one of my little rabbit holes both out of intellectual curiosity and for the pure pleasure of it, so keep it coming!

✌

 

[MarcWink]

Maybe an EQ pedal either in front of the amp or in the FX loop would help too. It may get you the fatter tone that you're after without adding the gain or noise that a drive or boost would. If you do elect to go the route of a drive pedal, DEFINITELY add a noise gate as well.

In the event that you go for pickups, there's the always popular Duncan '59 or Pearly Gates, the PRS 57/08, or you could go with something like the Bare Knuckle Mules for a hotter PAF type tone. I'd steer clear of anything as hot as say a Duncan JB, 59/09, or Bare Knuckle Abraxas as hollow body guitars can get super noisy with a little bit of gain...heck, my S2 Semi-Hollow with Abraxas pickups can be tough to tame on the noise front when on a smaller stage where I'm close to the amp.

 

[ViperDoc]

Putting up with what? I’m an audio guy. I can talk push pull vs se vs pentode vs direct heated triodes, negative feedback vs no negative feedback and tube rectifiers vs solid state, etc., etc., all day long. Each has its proponents/devotees who, of course, think the others are deaf. But audio amp goals (recreating recorded tones without distortion) are different than guitar amp goals (creating tones by controlling distortion). For most of my playing, I’ve used vintage/vintage type amps - either a ‘73 Marshall JMP (basket weave) with 6550’s or an ‘01 Fender ‘57 Twin Amp with tube rectifiers and 6L6’s. Stick a tube screamer in front of either one and it takes care of the rest. But they are too big and heavy for my current purposes (and advanced age), so I picked up this little 10w/25w recto, which is much more ‘modern’, has 8 switchable modes (2 channels, clean and drive, each with a gain switch and a choice between the two power settings) and uses el84’s, so part of this may just be finding the sweet spot for the new combo (again - easy with the Gibsons but challenging, for me, with the HBII - hence the thought of changing to slightly more powerful PAF style pickups). To narrow it further, I pretty much have the clean channel dialed in, especially in ‘pushed’ mode with the compressor, the but the gain channel, particularly with the bridge pickup, seems go from skim milk to large curd cottage cheese without stopping at the ‘full fat, saturated cream’ I crave along the way. Then again, there’s no rule that says I need to use all the channels, or even the bridge pickup, so maybe I’m overthinking the whole thing. But give me switches and knobs - I’m gonna flip ‘em and twist ‘em until I either get what I want or get sick up and fed and do something drastic like sell it or modify it or, if I still like it, continue to tweak, tweak, tweak until it gives in. That’s where I find myself right now with the PRS/Mesa rig. I love them both, I just need to figure out how to get them to mate in the just exactly perfect way that I want them to mate.

I’m not recording and, at 64, I’m mot performing live in public any more, so this is all just me exploring one of my little rabbit holes both out of intellectual curiosity and for the pure pleasure of it, so keep it coming!

✌

Awesome, man. The more grab and go, the better. I agree. What speaker comes with it, a Black Widow?

If you haven't tried one, the Wazacraft Blues Driver is one hell of an overdrive pedal.

 

[Strat1117]

Awesome, man. The more grab and go, the better. I agree. What speaker comes with it, a Black Widow?

If you haven't tried one, the Wazacraft Blues Driver is one hell of an overdrive pedal.

Mine has a Mesa-built Fillmore in it. Haven’t fiddled with the speaker yet, but the celestion creamback has also been recommended as a possible replacement (that’s what they now put in the Mark V, in a 10” version). Not certain what they put in new rectos, but probably also one Celestion or another.

 

[ViperDoc]

Mine has a Mesa-built Fillmore in it. Haven’t fiddled with the speaker yet, but the celestion creamback has also been recommended as a possible replacement (that’s what they now put in the Mark V, in a 10” version). Not certain what they put in new rectos, but probably also one Celestion or another.

Interesting. The Creamback 65 is a fantastic speaker. The 75 not so much to my ears, it's much more harsh sounding. One of my faves is the Fane F70, it's very creamy. When mixed with the Fane A60 in a 212, it's my favorite 212 combo. Another workhorse is the WGS ET65, it's a perfect blackface clean/od option and is cheap.