AXIS Pickups

[Tim O'Sullivan]

I thought the thread started out with someone trying to find axis sounding pickups for another guitar...then I think it switched gears into some people looking to replace the pickups in their axis. To me, that's 2 completely different directions....

Either way, you should certainly take into consideration what guitar you're putting them in as well as amps, pedals, etc.

When I was touring full time, I had a friend who is a luthier who let me try pretty much every type of pickup they sold in the music store he did repairs for. (duncans, dimarzios, lollar, emgs,fralin, joe barden, etc.) You can drive yourself crazy. In my opinion, one of the closest sounding pickup to the axis was the duncan custom custom (but this was in a strat style guitar....the pickup was mounted to a pickguard which will yield a different sound than a pickup mounted directly to a basswood body)

I once played a Patrick Eggle guitar loaded with a Custom Custom in the bridge and it was very close the the Axis bridge type sound. Mind you, this guitar was like a mini PRS (set neck).

 

[Axemanbrill]

I recently just got an Axis. I have actually been talking to Ernie Ball and DiMarzio all week. Love the guitar..hate the pickups. I was playing it last weekend (first weekend I had the guitar) and was realizing how NOISY the guitar is when I'm not playing. I checked for grounds, called Ernie Ball, called DiMarzio - and they say the pickups are "great". I even brought it to a local music repair shop to have the luthier check it out - he agrees...very noisy. When actually playing, the guitar sounds great. Bad pickups...or just the nature of the pickup? I picked up my Framus Diablo Custom to compare for noise levels when not playing - dead quiet through my 4th channel on my Mesa Road King - heavey gain. So why is the Axis so damn noisy? Any of you other guys have issues with that?

 

[bbake1]

Holy thread resurrection Batman !!! Never an issue. Bad ground? Bad potting on pu?

 

[Sweat]

I recently just got an Axis. I have actually been talking to Ernie Ball and DiMarzio all week. Love the guitar..hate the pickups. I was playing it last weekend (first weekend I had the guitar) and was realizing how NOISY the guitar is when I'm not playing. I checked for grounds, called Ernie Ball, called DiMarzio - and they say the pickups are "great". I even brought it to a local music repair shop to have the luthier check it out - he agrees...very noisy. When actually playing, the guitar sounds great. Bad pickups...or just the nature of the pickup? I picked up my Framus Diablo Custom to compare for noise levels when not playing - dead quiet through my 4th channel on my Mesa Road King - heavey gain. So why is the Axis so damn noisy? Any of you other guys have issues with that?

Nope

 

[Axemanbrill]

Checked it all out. Even got wiring schematics from Ernie Ball. I've wired all my other guitars...no problems. I brought the guitar to my local luthier just for another opinion. He couldn't say anything bad about the guitar - from the finish, the fit, the action, the play-ability, the wiring/electronics, just and absolutely beautiful guitar all around. We checked all the ground points. Played the guitar through his rig at the shop - still noisy. But all my other guitars have less hum. Even my STOCK Strat has less hum! Now DiMarzio and Ernie Ball are saying you can't compare apples to oranges like that. But it's like look - BOTH Axis guitars buzz. None of my other guitars do - including a sock Strat! I am questioning if it is the nature of the pickup, vs. two guitars with bad pickups?

 

[beej]

Most humbuckers pick up a little noise. The wiring in the cavity can, as well (though MM shields all of that). So on a high gain amp you're going to get a bit of noise. If you sit really close to the amp (tranny), you'll get more.

If you're saying your guitar is magnitudes noisier (eg than your strat with single coils) then something is definitely wrong.

What's wrong? Hard to say. If you bought the guitar second hand, could be anything- bad p'ups, bad wiring, wired incorrectly. Could even be the wrong p'ups. If this is the case, you're going to slowly have to go over everything and see what the deal is.

If you bought it new, not so much. In that case I'd take it back to your dealer and discuss with them.

 

[beej]

Ok, I see this a double post to another thread ... let's kill this old one.