New Luke

[ngs]

First thing I am in my mid 50's and this is my first time I have even blogged or use this type of forum so bear with me. As a retirement gift I bought myself the Luke guitar this past April. It black but made with the all rosewood neck with the BFR label on the fret board. It's a nice feeling guitar but after playing it awhile, it does not have that fat tone I am used to hearing from my heavy ash strat with maple neck and Lace sensor pick ups. I am playing it through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III. Even though I am an old guy, I am pretty diverse in my musical taste. I have certainly seen a lot of demos on You Tube and from these blogs I know a lot of you really love EBMM guitars. Any suggestions on amps, or better way to use the EMG's?

 

[Gio_Force_One]

Let me first say welcome to the forum you will find great people here and all the help you will need. Ok I have a Luke and I play either through a yamaha dg 100 or crate palomino and i have found i can get a nice fat tone especially with the bridge pickup. alot of times it seems to me with emgs its how you eq the amp. I bought a fender with lace sensers once and returned it within 7 days cause i thought those pickups sounded weak to me. Try EQing the amp different, maybe adding some overdrive. also make sure the battery isnt dying that could make a difference.

 

[robelinda2]

I think thats just EMG's for you. Its no bad thing its just what they do, I have a guitar with Lace Sensors and I much prefer them over the Luke pickups, but I much prefer the Luke guitar in general, killer axe. I guess you've spend enough time on the Luke to know the tones and what they can do for you, there's definitely a certain vibe about the EMG's, but its hard to compare them to other pickups due to their unique tones.

 

[kimonostereo]

If you have two inputs on that amp, try plugging it into the second input and see if it makes a difference. Sometimes it does, if not, you'll just need to play with the EQ settings. Also check the battery and make sure it's still good.

 

[BrickGlass]

Honestly I just think that is the nature of different pickups. We get used to a certain sound or feel and then we try something different, and it either is a cool new tone or it isn't. I love the pups in my Luke, but I use that guitar for certain songs I write where I want that type of tone that the EMG's give. I personally am completely blown away, and have been for years now, with how good the single coil SLV's in the Luke sound. Unique sounding pups. I also like the 85 humbucker in the bridge, but it isn't my favorite pickup on the planet. Once again just unique.

 

[Slingy]

The Lukes single coils are thin sounding to me and very hi-fi but I like that thin sound for some clean rhythm or arpeggiated clean. The neck pickup sounds great with some gain and alot of mids it gets fatter, dont be afraid to crank the mid knob for soloing.

The bridge is pickup can get alot of sounds too, but I like it for shred lead and chunky rhythm.

As you know Lukes sound is kind of a shred/fusion/jazz sound if you've heard his work you know the sounds you can get. Even so it may or may not be your thing. Its more of a spanky clean type guitar than a fat and dirty one apart from the bridge HB.

 

[denny99]

I'll second all of the EQ tips. EMG pickups aren't Lace Sensors or DiMarzio, they need proper adjustment. They generally sound brighter to me so I often found myself turning the treble knob down, especially when I'm not using my amp.
Last wednesday I played through a Brunetti head, and I had the treble set on 2.

For solos I recently bought myself a MXR six bands EQ pedal, that literally make my neck SLV scream. Who needs a humbucker in neck position anymore?

 

[kbaim]

My whole style changed when i switched to Lukes. If they don't quite fit your style now, experiment like others have suggested. But you may ultimately just prefer a different sound for your main guitar. I just couldn't put it down when i switched. Good luck.

 

[GoKart Mozart]

For solos I recently bought myself a MXR six bands EQ pedal, that literally make my neck SLV scream. Who needs a humbucker in neck position anymore?

Interesting...sometimes I miss not having a fat neck position sound. How to you generally set the MXR EQ, Denny?

 

[Slingy]

Just to add some sound to this discussion, I did this today using only my Luke guitar tuned standard.

Lunar Pull — RiffWorld

 

[Stu-Pendus]

Have a look at EMG's web site and look at a tone control called an SPC.What it does is to replace the normal passive tone control with a tone control that variably adds those fat tones to EMG pups.Its active so the diference is massive to both tone and output.Highly reccomended.But before buying one,make sure that there is enough room to fit one in the guitar rear cavity as some of their tone controls have a PCB which adds height to the pots and might not clear the plastic cover plate.

I have one on a guitar and the difference is awesome.

 

[robelinda2]

Yeah the SPC does good work, didnt think of that. Check it out!!!

 

[browndog]

Welcome old man. I’m a few years away from 50 myself and still love my rock & metal.

 

[denny99]

Interesting...sometimes I miss not having a fat neck position sound. How to you generally set the MXR EQ, Denny?

I set the pedal to boost the mids. Basically an inverted mid-scooped EQ
Note that I place the EQ pedal after the distortion in the pedal chain, to get both volume and EQ boost.

 

[applemacintosh]

I tend to up the bass and mids and back off the treble on all the amps I use, my Luke sounds full and fat to me and comparing with passive twin humbucker loaded axes, it's not far off in the meatiness stakes [steaks?], yet seems to be clearer for the widdly bits than the Duncans.