Tone Question- AL HH verses Axis SS

[altouchet]

I sold my Axis Super Sport and I'm thinking of buying an Albert Lee HH. My Super Sport was a hard tail, maple neck version. I always felt it was dark sounding, and lacked clarity and punch on clean sounds. My question is about the tonal differences between these 2 guitars. I really like the way the AL HH sounds in you tube videos. Is it brighter than an Axis SS? Does the solid rosewood neck add brightness or does it make it darker? Also, does a hardtail sound different than a trem model? I play mostly classic rock and blues. 50% of my playing is clean, and 50% is crunch sounds. I also have a Valentine that I love for Tom Petty, Springsteen, John Cougar, etc.

 

[GWDavis28]

I don’t have an AL HH with the rosewood, but from what I’ve heard it does make it darker. Also from what I’ve read the Trem cavity added some brightness. Might I suggest if you get the AL HH you look for one of the GC specials with the coil tap. I’ve got one of the Black Sugar BFR s maple neck ebony feet board not dark at all imo.

Glenn |B)


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[Magic Jason]

My rosewood ALHH is darker than my starry night AL HH with "mapple/ebony" neck andI might prefer the "rosewood tone".

 

[Pott]

I've had both Axis SS and 3 different AL HH (one hardtail, one trem, and my current one is hardtail, maple neck since it's a PDN 2016).

The Axis is definitely a brighter-sounding guitar. The neck is very different too: overall I find the AL HH's neck profile to be more comfortable for me. In fact, the AL HH is THE stock guitar for me in terms of pretty much everything, that being of course entirely subjective.

I honestly couldn't tell you about the trem/vs. no trem... the PDN one may be slightly brighter sounding than my stolen hardtail was, but it's subtle if anything. Additionally, saying the Rosewood AL are 'darker' than the Axis or the PDN AL is all relative; the AL is certainly NOT a dark-sounding guitar! The tone pot on this has its uses, and it's a balanced tone overall.
Actually, that's the very reason why my favorite pickup for the Rosewood necked AL HH is the Bareknuckle Rebel Yell: the stock DiMarzio sounds veeeery good, but the RY adds a little sizzle to the highs which is great overall: roll-back the tone pot a little for your rhythm tone, back to full for your leads.
On a bright guitar, added treble gets tiring. On a balanced-sounding guitar, it adds a lot of options, if that's your tone.

 

[tbonesullivan]

It was my understanding that the pickups/electronics on the two guitars would be pretty much the same stock. Maybe a change of pickups would be a better option to get a change of sound?

 

[beej]

They sound different, yes, but it's not worlds apart. I'd think a tweak of the treble/presence knobs on your amp and you'd be there.

That said ... they're hot, middy pickups. If you want more treble, I'd look at something with lower inductance.

You could also unsolder the tone pot, that would brighten things up a bit.

 

[mrmckinney]

My Axis SS is the Semi-Hollow model and both my AL HH and ASS HH have trems. I use 9s on the ASS and 10s on the AL. The Axis trem is floating (per Luke specs) while the AL is dive-only.
All that said, I feel like the AL is slightly more aggressive, not brighter necessarily but punchier. I will have them in my hands in a couple hours and will update with thoughts.


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[altouchet]

My Axis SS is the Semi-Hollow model and both my AL HH and ASS HH have trems. I use 9s on the ASS and 10s on the AL. The Axis trem is floating (per Luke specs) while the AL is dive-only.
All that said, I feel like the AL is slightly more aggressive, not brighter necessarily but punchier. I will have them in my hands in a couple hours and will update with thoughts.


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Please do update with your thoughts!
Thank you!

 

[mrmckinney]

Soooo, the AL definitely has less top end character and more low-mids. I could see how it might be construed as “darker” although that was not what I thought of when I saw this question. I will lay down some chords on each tonight and post so you can hear.


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[mrmckinney]

Albert Lee HH vs Axis SemiHollow HH clean by Michael McKinney 14 | Free Listening on SoundCloud

really quick 30 second clip but maybe gives you an idea... first guitar heard is the AL in neck position followed by the Axis. Then the AL in bridge position followed by the Axis. I only recorded clean since that was your question.
The amp was a Morgan SW22r courtesy of Helix.

 

[altouchet]

Albert Lee HH vs Axis SemiHollow HH clean by Michael McKinney 14 | Free Listening on SoundCloud

really quick 30 second clip but maybe gives you an idea... first guitar heard is the AL in neck position followed by the Axis. Then the AL in bridge position followed by the Axis. I only recorded clean since that was your question.
The amp was a Morgan SW22r courtesy of Helix.

Thanks very much. They are close, but I do hear the differences you mentioned, and I agree with your description of it.

 

[xjbebop]

fyi...

http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-ball-music-man-guitars/67038-own-personal-ultimate-al.html