Question Cutlass HSS Bridge Pickup Clean Tone

[zimeng44]

Hi Guys, I'm curious how you all get clean tones from the bridge humbucker pickup.

When I record my cutlass through UA Dream pedal to a audio interface, I find the sound from the bridge is distorted even with very low input gain on both the ua pedal and my audio interface. I can see the recorded waveform is squashed even though the level is relatively small. It seems like the guitar output was squashed even before hitting the pedal and the interface.

Like this:

 

[racerx]

What happens you plug straight into an amp with nothing in the middle? Same experience?

 

[zimeng44]

What happens you plug straight into an amp with nothing in the middle? Same experience?

Unfortunately I don’t own an amp. I can try find one to test it. Thanks

 

[beej]

Can you record a sound clip? I'd suggest cycling through the pickups so you can hear what the other ones sound like too.

 

[DrKev]

Two immediate things come to mind…

(Sorry, I thought I posted this an hour ago but got distracted by a 7yo and who wanted to play chess, so “immediate” is now a little loose. )

First make sure you have a fresh battery. The battery voltage can get very low before year any degradation in sound, but crackly distortion in the background of your signal is a sure sign of a low battery.

Second plug directly into your audio interface, set to high impedance input if available. No, it won’t sound good but if there’s any distortion on the output from the guitar, you’ll hear it there.

If you have a fresh new battery and still have distortion straight into the interface, contact customer service.

 

[zimeng44]

Two immediate things come to mind…

(Sorry, I thought I posted this an hour ago but got distracted by a 7yo and who wanted to play chess, so “immediate” is now a little loose. )

First make sure you have a fresh battery. The battery voltage can get very low before year any degradation in sound, but crackly distortion in the background of your signal is a sure sign of a low battery.

Second plug directly into your audio interface, set to high impedance input if available. No, it won’t sound good but if there’s any distortion on the output from the guitar, you’ll hear it there.

If you have a fresh new battery and still have distortion straight into the interface, contact customer service.

Thank god!! Battery change helped!! I never know a dying battery could make the guitar sound like this. Thank you so much!!!

 

[DrKev]

Thank god!! Battery change helped!! I never know a dying battery could make the guitar sound like this. Thank you so much!!!

Excellent!

A good rule of thumb is to change your battery every six months, but remember to unplug the cable from the guitar when you’re not using it. I write the date on all of my batteries when I put them in, takes away the guess work down the line.

Just checked - the one in my cutlass currently is marked September 2022. It still sounds fine and that has been plugged in pretty much nonstop for most of the last three weeks. I never think to unplug it. I better put a new one on the shopping list.

 

[beej]

I almost never change them ... but I do keep a spare in my gig bag.