Axis is too powerful....

[gerry d]

hey guys, thanks for all the input... I have decided to live with the guitar as it was intended... it will do the rock stuff better than almost anything else I have and I will use it for that very purpose... my Luke is much more versatile but again a different tone.. much smoother... it's all good and I love them both... they ain't goin anywhere soon believe me....

 

[Norrin Radd]

hey guys, thanks for all the input... I have decided to live with the guitar as it was intended... it will do the rock stuff better than almost anything else I have and I will use it for that very purpose... my Luke is much more versatile but again a different tone.. much smoother... it's all good and I love them both... they ain't goin anywhere soon believe me....

Whew!

I don't know what's going on, but common sense is running rampant through pickup threads this afternoon!

 

[JeffreyB]

GOOD...now how about some pics?

 

[sim]

if turning the volume down dulls your highs......you can install a little volume kit to maintain clarity when the volume is lowered for rhythm tone. that way you still have the same tone you already have when the volume is all the way up. they look like this. very simple & reverseable mod. inexpensive....& very well may cure what ales ya.
Volume Kit @ Acme Guitar Works

Hey Tommyindelaware

Do you actually use this little mod (or anyone else for that matter) and is it any good? I hate the way I loose the highs with the vol wound right back. Thanks

 

[hbucker]

I own several guitars. As is the custom with many folks, I spend a fair amount of time tweaking pedals, amp settings, guitar volume, etc. Many times I feel like I've got my inventory of guitars nailed as far as what their strengths and weaknesses are: Guitar 1 is Rock, G2 is clean and country twang, G3 is Classic Rock and Clean. G4 is... you get the picture.

Then sure enough, I take a guitar out of the case that I haven't played for a while. I hit a few chords and think, "That's not what this guitar sounded like the last time I played it...?" I thought this guitar felt different than this...?"

I have to reacquaint myself with my guitars every so often.

Where am I going with this? I'm wondering if you have a set tone in your head. "I want THIS tone and if I don't get it, it's wrong." Not a bad thing necessarily but that mindset can lead you to overlook some very nice tones that don't necessarily fit into your preconceived box.

Could be that the Axis pickups aren't for you. I can live with that. But I would recommend putting the guitar away for a week or two. Just play your other guitar. Then come back to your Axis. I'm telling you right now that it's possible to EQ your amp or other pedals to get a bright tone from those pickups. Whether it's the right tone for you is your call. But don't do anything rash until you know for a fact that they won't work.

And if you replace them, I'm interested in buying them from you.

 

[colinboy]

alrite gerry my friend,
so your having problems with sound on the new guitar?the fact that they are humbuckers makes it diffucult to tame the sound on these beautiful guitars.im having abit of aheadwreck my self with my sound.as you know i have the BFRJP6 for the last few wks and the guitar is amazing.im playing into a boss me50 multi fx unit and and amarshall dsl 401.i suppose im trying to find my sound.im trying at the mo to get agood heavy rock/metal sound for some metallica stuff im learning.i too like you play alot of different types of music so my sound has to be versatile.

 

[tommyindelaware]

i use to use it on all guitars that had 2 hummers only. but my main guitar has 2 singles & 2 hummers.....so i get my different tones mostly by changing to the pickup i need. that works best for me.
i also find that the volume hi rolloff will vary alot from amp to amp . hi z circuts vary alot from amp to amp.

Hey Tommyindelaware

Do you actually use this little mod (or anyone else for that matter) and is it any good? I hate the way I loose the highs with the vol wound right back. Thanks

 

[GHWelles]

Ok guys.. I've had my Axis for just over a week now and I love the guitar, but I am finding the pickups just a bit too powerful... what would you sugest I do..?? I would like a lower output pickup and a bit clearer sounding... I do a lot of choppy funky rythym stuff...

It can never be too powerful. That is like saying your car can have too much horsepower. . .

 

[gerry d]

I'm not an all out rocker guys...( too old for that....).. my playing requires a lot of tones... I suppose that having used the Luke for so long and being used to it's versatility that I was looking for something that the Axis won't do... I love the guitar for Rock tones and I'll only use it for that.... It really is a very easy guitar to play and I'm having a great time with it.. I won't be selling it.. I know that much..

 

[Colin]

I won't be selling it.. I know that much..

good for you, have you posted pics of these guitars yet?

 

[gerry d]

good for you, have you posted pics of these guitars yet?

I have posted pics of my Luke before and the Axis I bought from heavymetaljames who is a forum member...

 

[beej]

Gerry, I have one other crazy option for you if you're game.

If you're looking for a way to reduce the heat of the buckers, Bill Lawrence makes something called a "Q Filter" that's a small inductor about the size of a 9V battery. When wired up to a pot (you could use a dual concentric pot, two pots in one shaft) it acts as a variable inductor which you can use to reduce the inductance of your pickups. (I can give you more info if you'd like.)

Essentially you can use it to take some heat off of your pickups and make them sound more like single coils, which still preserving the humbucking qualities (so still noise-free). The resulting sound will be more highs & lows, less concentration in the mids.

I've used them in various guitars (I had one in my old Axis SS)- they work well (better than some coil splits as you won't get any hum) to give you a more single-coil ish sound and it only costs $20 plus shipping.

If you want to put one in an axis, I'd recommend the dual-concentric pot as well so you can "dial off the heat" when you need it. Normally I'd say use the tone pot but you've only got the vol pot to play with.

 

[gerry d]

Gerry, I have one other crazy option for you if you're game.

If you're looking for a way to reduce the heat of the buckers, Bill Lawrence makes something called a "Q Filter" that's a small inductor about the size of a 9V battery. When wired up to a pot (you could use a dual concentric pot, two pots in one shaft) it acts as a variable inductor which you can use to reduce the inductance of your pickups. (I can give you more info if you'd like.)

Essentially you can use it to take some heat off of your pickups and make them sound more like single coils, which still preserving the humbucking qualities (so still noise-free). The resulting sound will be more highs & lows, less concentration in the mids.

I've used them in various guitars (I had one in my old Axis SS)- they work well (better than some coil splits as you won't get any hum) to give you a more single-coil ish sound and it only costs $20 plus shipping.

If you want to put one in an axis, I'd recommend the dual-concentric pot as well so you can "dial off the heat" when you need it. Normally I'd say use the tone pot but you've only got the vol pot to play with.

thanks dude... but I think I'll just live with it as it is.... I was playing it again today at rehersal and I'm coming round to it... it's a great sound... just not one I've ever used before... I allways had single coils on my guitars... and my playing covers quite a lot of styles and tones.... the Axis is quite a big departure for me and perhaps I was a bit hasty in putting this post on here.. in any case I'm getting used to what this guitar can do well.. and believe me it's quite a lot... good times..

 

[beej]

Aight ... then all's well that ends well. Enjoy the Axis

 

[sim]

i use to use it on all guitars that had 2 hummers only. but my main guitar has 2 singles & 2 hummers.....so i get my different tones mostly by changing to the pickup i need. that works best for me.
i also find that the volume hi rolloff will vary alot from amp to amp . hi z circuts vary alot from amp to amp.

Cool. Thanks for the feedback Tommy. I might give this one a try on the old backup before I mess with my Ass

 

[Bud]

How about approaching the problem from the other end and getting a little boss graphic pedal for when you play clean and reducing some of the frequencies and level to thin out the sound. I find a compressor with a tone and level control helps with a clean sound as well.

 

[Pablo]

Virtual PAFs would be an excellent choice (possibly with a Virtual Hot PAF for the bridge - that's what I'd do, anyway).

 

[headcrash]

I have to pick up this older thread while surfing in the forum.
Although Big Poppa stated, the Axis humbuckers are among the lowest output humbuckers, I have another opinion: They are really hot (compared to a PAF pro, they seem around as hot as Duncan JB). Also their DC resistance of around 17k is more or less a sign of "heat".
But: The distance between strings and polepieces is pretty large. So maybe they seem to be not that hot to some people.
I have an Axis Sport Hardtail and exchanged the bridge pup. I put in an Air Norton F-Spaced. This one sounds almost the same with distortion, with a very little less bite and a very little less mids, but it is not near as hot as the original pups. With Clean or crunch sounds it matches my taste much better. It is a more vintage type of tone. Cleansounds with bridge pup solo even sound really good, which go a bit honky with the original pup.
I have also ordered a Dimarzio PAF for the neck position. With this I hope the guitar is more balanced (since the neck pup is now to powerful for the Air Norton). I also hope that the clean sounds and in-between-position sounds get even clearer and more sparkly, since the original neck pup seems to be a bit dull for clean and crunch.
I even plan to put some washers under the mounting lugs of the Air Norton to decrease the distance between strings and polepieces. Maybe I get the sweetspot between good Clean sound and bite in distortion mode.

All in all, time will have to show, which combination does the job for me. But I just wanted to share my impression with you since it was stunning, how close in sound the Air Norton is to the original pup, at least for distortion sounds, and how much more vintage feel it has for crunch and clean sounds.

 

[hbucker]

I think sometimes there is a misunderstanding (at least on my part) about what a "hot" humbucker really is.

When I hear that a humbucker is "hot" I understand that to mean it has a higher volume output than the average pickup, regardless of tone.

Yet I can understand how someone would interpret a "hot" sound to be more tonally hot: distorted, sounding hotter but not necessarily being louder.

In this regard I don't consider the Axis/EVH pickups to be tonally hot at all. They have a very clean, vintage type of tone. But the output volume does seem to be on the "hot" side although not hotter than some other modern pickups I've owned.

Maybe someone who knows more than I do (all of you?? can answer this question for me.

 

[Big Poppa]

air norton is the closest to the axis pickup since they cannot sell the axis pickup