Super Axix sound questions

[stelladat]

Hi everyone. After playing over 100 guitars over the course of two weeks: Gretch, Pauls, Strats, Teles etc., the neck that won me over was the Music Mann. I bought one used at the Guitar Center. It a Super Sport. What a great playing guitar. I brought it home and immediatley plugged it into the instrament input on my Drawmer 1960 pre/compresser. I have to tell you I was a little dissapointed in the sound, despite
my love for the feel of this guitar. It has the Zebra Humbuckers in it. My other guitar is a 1976 American Strat with a rosewood fretboard. Its a classic but the neck on the Music Mann feels nicer to me. Maybe it's cause I'm used to playing a strat for so many years that I'm not used to these pickups? Maybe it's the weight of the guitar that affects it's tonality? Should I try the pickup switch to the MM90's? Any comments? THanks and sorry to be such a downer.

 

[bluebullet]

did you try all the positions on the 5 way switch i think on the super sports the humbukers split on some of the switch positions that may give you more of a strat sound.

 

[songman]

why didn't you try the Axis at the store???

 

[stelladat]

I plugged it in at the store with an amp I was not familiar with. I also spent more time on finding a great playing guitar than the actually SOUND of the instrament. I just assumed when I plugged it in to my 2000 dollar tube direct box, it would sound good because it played so well. Maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it.

 

[beej]

stelladat,

When you say you're dissapointed with the sound, what do you mean exactly? Do you not like the pure hubucker sounds? Is it to bright, too dark? Or does it just not have the "quack" or single coil tones you're used to from a strat?

A HH configured guitar isn't going to sound like a strat no matter what you do. But the in-between sounds of the Super Sport give some good fenderesque tones. And the humbucker sounds are excellent.

There are a couple of things you can do do get more single coil tones out of it if you're up to re-wiring it, but it's a bit daunting to do that to a brand new guitar. (You could add a coil split to the humbuckers, or wire them in parallel, or add in Bill Lawrence's "1/2 out of phase wiring" which will help you get the quack back from the in-between positions.)

The neck is killer on this guitar, but all of the EBMM's have great necks. If you're still itching for a strat sound you might find that a silhouette, silhouette special, luke or albert lee are more to your tastes.

 

[Jimi D]

If you're coming from the Strat camp and have been playing single coils exclusively for years, then humbuckers are going to sound very different, and they will never, ever sound like a Strat - but, of course, they aren't meant to. IME, you just aren't going to get the detail, breadth and delicacy of single coils out of humbuckers - but you will never get the smooth, compressed darkness of humbuckers out of singles, either... You need completely different EQ settings for Humbucker equipped guitars as opposed to single-coil equipped axes, too. They're really very different instruments tonally - but sometimes we forget that...

 

[stelladat]

Hi Beej and Jimi D. Thanks for your quick response. I played the guitar this morning through my Fender Bronco amp. Nice!!!!!!!! So either my 1960 needs new tubes, or the Axis doesn't sound great direct. It sound awesome through my amp. I apologize. I guess I just had my doubts that this guitar could be as good as it is. I would like to try the others that sound more like a Strat. Are thry much more expensive? I paid about $900 used for the super sport. Thanks again

Stelladat

 

[beej]

Great- glad it sounded better! Yeah, the clean sounds are more tele-ish than strat-ish.

> Are thry much more expensive

Depends. On ebay, Lukes tend to go for ~$1k. Silhouettes/specials are in the $600-$900 range depending.

I'd see if you can find one locally to play first- hopefully there's something not too far from you to try out. Worst case, you might find a member of this board who's close and would let you try one out.

 

[hbucker]

IMO a lot of guitar players have their favorite guitar or tone and compare everything to that. If it doesn't sound and feel just like that holy grail tone, it isn't very good.

Some guitars don't do some things very well. Yet they'll do other things tremendously. Letting each have their own voice and sweet spot is what makes having more than one guitar fun.

Sounds like you've got the situation in hand. Glad to hear it.

 

[c_mac]

MM90s > Dimarzio Humbuckers

 

[GWDavis28]

Stelladat, if you are a Strat lover, but love the feel of the Axis neck take a look at the Albert Lee. Or for that matter, check out a Silhouette Special. Both of these guitars are awesome and as Jon put it, they are what the Strat wishes ot could be.

If you can get past the Albert Lee's shape, it is a truly amazing instrument. I've got one with the MM90 pickups and I think it is the awesome.

Later, Glenn |B)