Please help with RG570 tone

Jeff_B · #1 07-18-2008, 03:19 PM

So I picked up a 570 about a year ago and I'm really wanting to bring it out to gigs. I've got the Edge all sorted out, but the tone is dreck. I'm figgering it's the basswood body. There's no "life" in it. I replaced the bridge pickup with an SD JB, but it's still not there.

So I'm looking for suggestions on what to do with it, and where better than Jemsite for all my needs Ibanez?

I'll use the guitar in "regular" cover gigs; you know, the standard stuff from Matchbox 20 to RATM. I generally prefer the warmth of my PRS McCarty, with that fat and nasty mahogany tone, and if I could get the 570 close to that I'd really dig it. (Probably can only get "close" with a bolt-on, maple neck guitar anyway.)

Asking around and perusing this forum leads me to three conclusions:

1. Replace the body with a mahogany one (ala RG520)
2. Replace the pickups; but which ones?
3. Forget it and keep using the PRS

Like most of you guys, I really like the 570 neck. And why the hell CAN'T I play Rob Thomas on a shred machine?

I have no experience with DiMarzio pickups at all, but maybe a BREED in the bridge will help me out. Of course, I still need a neck and middle solution.

Suggestions?

Thanks!!

sleepyone · #2 07-19-2008, 01:06 AM

I actually bought a RG520 just a few months ago...mahogany body...OMG, what a difference in tone. I'd go for option 1

mrjakob69 · #3 07-19-2008, 01:10 AM

before you spend a bunch of money try this little upgrade i did to my rg350ex to a great tonal improvement add a Sprague 0.022uf 400v ORANGE DROP 225P Polyester Film type capacitor on your tone pot instead of the stock one and then add High Precision Silver Mica Bleed Capacitor on your volume pot, this very little improvement for about 7 or 8 bucks can make a hugeeee difference on your guitar, i have done it on all mine now that i have discovered it works and am very happy with all the results.

**jono** · #4 07-19-2008, 04:55 AM

If you want to change the body, you might as well just go and hunt down an RG520 and trade your 570 in against it, it'd probably work out easier that way.

My suggestion would be to go the other way and try to get a different sound altogether out of the 570 from the PRS. Go for brighter pickups and a more sparkling, colder sound. Then use the guitar for a change of mood in the set.

A friend of mine who was in a reasonably sucessful band (who you'll have heard on TV probably) said at "club" level folks only hear big differences in guitar tone and none of the subtlety, in fact it boiled down to guitar players only needing basically 2 sounds,

i) loud and clean
ii) loud and distorted

so my recommendation would be to have "dark and nasty" from the PRS and "bright and chimey" from the Ibanez. PAF Pro in the bridge and Humbucker from Hell in the neck or something similar.

speedy mcfeely · #5 07-19-2008, 12:34 PM

first, get rid of the middle pup.

second get a gibson '75 classic for the neck.

third get a gibson '57 classic plus for the bridge.

get a tele 3way type switch. wire the guitar like a tele. get a "no-load" tone pot. the most important part is to use 250k pots, not 500k. this alone will give you a darker sound. the no load lets you effectively take the tone pot out of the circuit.

this is the set up I have on my 570. It is very LP like, but plays way better. Note that the rg570 will never sound exactly like a les paul.

Jeff_B · #6 07-19-2008, 12:57 PM

Excellent! All great advice. I never thought of changing the electronics...Thanks, guys!

Still don't know what I'll do...probably all of it!

CosmicDebris · #7 07-19-2008, 01:00 PM

For me Pickup hight makes a huge difference. I find the lower the pickup the more mellow the tone. Also read the ibanezrules setup guide as setup can affect tone also.

faekildare · #8 07-20-2008, 12:21 PM

I have the Orange drop and treble bleed mod on my RG 470 fm. Coupled with evolutions, it really does bring out the tone in the guitar really well. It sounds kinda refined. So i agree with mrjakob69 on the capacitor mods.

bdk · #9 07-20-2008, 01:54 PM

Well, first, comparing the RG570 with a PRS will always leave you dissatisfied. Not that the RG isn't a great guitar, but the two guitars are just so different. Both in purpose and in construction. You got the 570, make the most of it!!!! There is NO pickup better for the neck position in a basswood body than the Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell. It's not super high output, it sounds like a single coil pickup, with more ballz. It has tremendous clarity and sensitivity. And brightness.

For the bridge, get an evolution or a Seymour duncan Distortion SH6. You will be blown away. the middl epickup is a waste of space.

Dee · #10 07-21-2008, 03:01 PM

Humbucker From Hell = the best Dimarzio neck pickup. Also quite under-appreciated, I feel.

Jeff_B · #11 07-21-2008, 05:57 PM

As it happens, I picked up an RG520QS body from THAT place and should have it in a few days. I'll use the SD JB that's in the bridge now, but I'm reasonably certain I won't like it; I disliked it in my McCarty too (but I ADORE it in my Les Paul).

And I will probably still need a neck pickup. I don't like the V7 I have now. I'd like something with some clarity. I'll play it thru either a Marshall DSL 100 or a Mesa Rect-o-Verb combo.

It's funny because, even though I've been playing for more than 30 years, and own, or have owned lots of guitars, I've never been happen with a humbucker in the neck postion. Either too honky, or too muddy.

Thanks for all your suggestions guys!!

screamndemon69 · #12 07-21-2008, 06:14 PM

I wired an SH-10 Full Shred Duncan in the bridge of my RG550rxx and LOVE it!! I put a Dimarzio PAF Pro in the neck, LOVE it!

Dee and a few other jemsiters put alot of stock in the sound of the Hum from Hell pup for the neck but I personally haven't had the chance to try one.

I left the stock single in the middle and it balances just fine with the new pups for me.

The guitars I own that I like the tone of the most all have a PAF Pro in the neck and I plan to pick up a couple more SH-10's for other basswood RG's I own. For mahogany I'm a JB guy with the PAF Pro in the neck and now that I have fallen for the tone of the SH-10, this is my new goto pup for basswood (plan to try it in alder soon).

just my 2cents

Jeff_B · #13 07-21-2008, 08:07 PM

Have you ever tried the Humbucker-From-Hell in the neck of a mahogany bodied RG?

screamndemon69 · #14 07-22-2008, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff_B

Have you ever tried the Humbucker-From-Hell in the neck of a mahogany bodied RG?

I haven't tried one at all , yet. Just going on Dee's recommendation, I will have to try one sometime. The PAF Pro's always worked well for me in ANY body wood.

~Bones

Jeff_B · #15 07-31-2008, 08:06 PM

I thought I'd follow this up because this site has been such a wonderful resource to me and, I suspect, many others as well.

I went and got a mahogany body from an RG520QSTK and bolted it all up; left the SD JB bridge pickup in.

Man, the tone fattened up really well; added bottom the basswood body could only dream about. Not as fat as a stoptail McCarty, but I never expected to duplicate that tone...just to improve the tone I had and the new body did a fabulous job in that department.

I may want to replace the JB at some point the future -- with a pup that has more bottom -- but for the time being, I'll live with this. I gigged with it last night and I'm convinced I did the right thing.

It's too bad you have to spend Prestige or J-Custom money to get a mahogany-bodied Ibanez with an Edge. But for me, and especially for gigging, 570's with replaced mahogany bodies are cheap, plentiful, easily repaired and are great instruments for the task.

Thanks guys! I appreciate all your input!!

- Jeff