Help please - PRS Fiore single coil sounds clean but humbucker sounds like it's clipping

[MusiquedeReve]

I just set this stereo rig up for recording:

PRS Fiore-->Boss DD-500-->Chase Tone Secret Preamp-->Port City Pearl 50W head-->Suhr RL-->audio interface-->Logic Pro
↪JHS Clover-->PRS MT15-->Suhr RL-->audio interface-->Logic Pro

dB levels were approximately even for both channels at -9dB to -6dB

I was getting some nice crisp clean sounds on the Fiore single coils and then switched to the humbucker and it sounded like everything was clipping/distorted

The dB for both channel were still in the -9dB to -6dB range

If anyone has any ideas as to what might cause this I would very much appreciate them

Thank you and be well

 

[RickP]

The humbucker is likely to be a lot hotter than the singles. If your level is tickling the upper end of your setup with the singles, distortion (the bad kind) is bound to happen when you go to the humbucker. Don’t worry so much on meter levels alone, but set your levels to sound undistorted (again, the bad kind) using the loudest sound you’ll be using. Then switching to the singles should be clear as a bell.

 

[Drew]

Balance has always been the issue with HSS setups. I don't know the values of those pickups, but to my ears, the output of the H in the Fiore sounds vintage hot and the singles sound vintage, which is where your issue probably lies.