TCIs Pickups + Tube Amp = Poo?... Solid State = Bliss?

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Guitarplyr113

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Hello! This is my first post. I have looked around, and haven't found any mention of this phenomena, so I thought I'd see if anyone else has found this to be the case. About a week ago I bought a 35th Anniversary SE Custom 24. I have played it a good bit on 2 of my tube amps, and my Peavey Vyper 2. I am going to try and explain this best I can... on the tube amps I have tried it on, these TCIs pickups sound stale and lifeless. I have adjusted pickup height, played with the tone/volume knobs, and nothing brings them to life. I can't really get any desirable tone out of them. They just sound like super cheap pickups that would come in a $200 guitar.

Then I plug it into my cheapo Peavey Vyper 2 and it sounds like an entirely different guitar. The pickups are way more articulate, and sweet. I mean, they are probably the nicest sounding pickups I have ever heard out of a solid state amp. In my nearly 20 years of guitar playing, I have never come across a guitar that sounded notably better on a cheap solid state vs a tube. Granted, the tube amps I have played it on are an Egnater Tweaker 15 and a Bugera g20, so not top of the line. Regardless, I am astounded at the difference of these pickups on the solid state vs tube. Has anyone else felt this way about the TCIs pickups? On a side note, has anyone had issues with a loud hum. I have checked the ground wire from the volume pot to the back of the bridge, and it is soldered well.
 
Strike 3...

Nothing like that here. I have a 2021 core model with TCI pickups and it sounds gorgeous, clean or distorted, through a variety of my tube amps.

I try my best to be welcoming to newcomers, so don’t take this wrong, but it’s you. Work on your settings, it isn’t at all hard to get great tones from these pickups. I’d say you might have a damaged pickup, but it wouldn’t sound right through any amp if that was the case. The hum shouldn’t be there, so you may need to diagnose the wiring further.

Welcome to the forums!
 
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My 35th SE Cu24 sounds killer on any tube amp I've tried, including DR, hi gain Bugera, HRDlx, MB, and even my solid state Katana. The TCI pups are quite different than other pups, might take some non traditional setting on your amps to get the tone you want. When I hear "stale and lifeless", I first think of strings, could be that the strings are not in the best condition, try a new set. The last three guitars that I bought used, sounded poor until I put on fresh strings.
 
goat-n-gitter said:
I can't speak for your setup, or what tones you may like, but they sound pretty good to me:

Click to expand...
This video made me decide which PRS was going to be my first. This guitar sounds and plays amazing. I've played this though a few tube amps (Marshalls and Mesas), 2 solid state amps and have recorded tracks using Amplitube for my amp sims. For me the TCI pickups are so amazing I could never imagine swapping them. They'll do anything from blues to high gain metal with clarity and character. I'm using the factory spec height if that's any help to OP.
 
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My next question........have you reset the amps compared to the tones from your other guitars? Every PRS I ever played has its own unique amp settings. By the way, when I get a new guitar, the first thing I do is change the strings. The “new” strings on the guitar have already sailed halfway around the saltwater world. We know about saltwater and corrosion......
 
just my 2 cents

In my humble opinion, I had the Egnater and is kind of a love/hate amp. Sounds sweet with single coils, hated it with humbuckers. Never was really convinced with it and IMHO is not precisely the best platform to judge a tone. It sounds pretty nasal and is hard to get definition from it. I was actually happy when i traded it. I would be an awesome amp if could have moded it to remove that blanket out of the tone (and no, i didn't solved the problem with different tubes).

About the Bugera,can't tell. Never tried one of those, only the big ones.
 
dogrocketp said:
My next question........have you reset the amps compared to the tones from your other guitars? Every PRS I ever played has its own unique amp settings. By the way, when I get a new guitar, the first thing I do is change the strings. The “new” strings on the guitar have already sailed halfway around the saltwater world. We know about saltwater and corrosion......
Click to expand...
Meant to say this earlier; it’s very accurate, even with core guitars. Forget what you think you know... twist the EQ knobs without worrying about the settings. Just put them where they sound good, and don’t be surprised if that is 0 or 10 on some controls.
 
(Edit: Where did I get Randall?)

Well the Vypyr is not just a solid state amp, but it's a digital device that emulates a lot of different amps that may be very very different from your tube amps.

So right off the bat two things to consider are:

Do you have other guitars that sound better through your Bugera and Egnator? If so, what are they, and how are they different?

What amp models in the Vypyr sound good to you with the PRS, and how different are they from the Bugera and Egnator?
 
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In my experience there are amps that seem to work better with some kind of guitars and worst with others. My Two Rock CRS V3 is amazing with Fenders and a lot more difficult to dial in with Gibson or Humbuckers in general. You have to experiment with eq, tone control and volume to find the right way.
Also, i think you can't expect that a setting for guitar A will be perfect for guitar B. There are too many variables: pickups and pickup outputs, woods, neck scale, strings and so on. You have to try until you find the sound that you're looking for.
Another thing to consider is the room you play in. I've a very nice room in my house where even the nicest amps sound like crap and then a little, ugly room where everything sound like heaven.
My Silver Sky really shines with Fender style amps, not so much with my Blackstar Artisan 15 (Marshall style amps)...it still sounds good, but others sound better...
...but this give us reasons to have 12 different guitars, 8 amps, 200 pedals ...:D
 
Guitarplyr113 said:
Hello! This is my first post. I have looked around, and haven't found any mention of this phenomena, so I thought I'd see if anyone else has found this to be the case. About a week ago I bought a 35th Anniversary SE Custom 24. I have played it a good bit on 2 of my tube amps, and my Peavey Vyper 2. I am going to try and explain this best I can... on the tube amps I have tried it on, these TCIs pickups sound stale and lifeless. I have adjusted pickup height, played with the tone/volume knobs, and nothing brings them to life. I can't really get any desirable tone out of them. They just sound like super cheap pickups that would come in a $200 guitar.

Then I plug it into my cheapo Peavey Vyper 2 and it sounds like an entirely different guitar. The pickups are way more articulate, and sweet. I mean, they are probably the nicest sounding pickups I have ever heard out of a solid state amp. In my nearly 20 years of guitar playing, I have never come across a guitar that sounded notably better on a cheap solid state vs a tube. Granted, the tube amps I have played it on are an Egnater Tweaker 15 and a Bugera g20, so not top of the line. Regardless, I am astounded at the difference of these pickups on the solid state vs tube. Has anyone else felt this way about the TCIs pickups? On a side note, has anyone had issues with a loud hum. I have checked the ground wire from the volume pot to the back of the bridge, and it is soldered well.
Click to expand...

Fascinating. Never noticed anything like that with my 35th SE. I play thru a Boss Katana and an H&K Tubemeister. Sounds fine in either one. To kinda echo what others have said, amp/guitar combos can vary wildly sometimes, along with the player being a major factor in the final sound. I've played guitars that sound great through my rig, and total doo-doo on others, then someone else comes along and plugs into the doo-doo rig and it sounds fantastic. Also, keep in mind the sound you hear direct out fo the cab is totally different animal to the ambient sound with some wetness on it. Often times a sprinkle of verb can give a guitar tone just the kick it might need.

BTW, your amps are fine! Nothing wrong at all with a Bugera and an....Eg...na...ter. I kinda have a very bad history with Egnater. Let's just say...I wanna kick em all in the shins.
 
shimmilou said:
Yep, I was screwed by eghater not honoring their warranty the second time the transformer blew. :mad:
Click to expand...

Ditto. The tranny blew on my Rebel I bought back in 2012. I emailed Egnater customer service for a year off and on...nada. Went to a shop to get it repaired, they sent it to an Egnater repair center in Cali. They sat on it for another year. Somehow I got the ear of Bruce Egnater, and that got a ball rolling so I got the thing back. Paid for the repair out of pocket, then it died a month later. I'll never touch their crap again. May they burn in dragonfire and ash.
 
I talked to Bruce at NAMM about the same thing. There’s a Tweaker 40 in my basement with a dead xformer that I’ve decided to fix myself. With all of the nightmare stories, I’ll just buy replacements from Mercury and not look back. It’s a shame because those are great little amps when they work.
 
Mercury introduced so many new replacement transformers, specifically for the Eggies, and they must have sold a huge amount due to the faulty stock ones. I had the 40, it did sound damned good....right up until it blows and dims the lights in the house. :(
 
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