What Pups for Maple??? (Lado Earth)

[Big Red]

Hi Folks,

I bought this Lado a few months ago:
http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60567

Now that the honeymoon period with this machine is pretty much over, the charm of the Seymour Duncan JBs are starting to wear a little thin. It's too ice-picky for what I need to do (e.g. Maiden). The guitar is made of Curly Maple, which according to various sources, is even brighter than an alder Jem. So pairing it with the JB's = treble pups upon treble wood.

Here are the problems I'm having:

a). Not enough sustain. I have to max out the sustain on my Line6 compressor, which alters my tone too much to my liking.

b). Too ice-picky. My distortion source (most of the time) consists of running a Line6 Pod XT into a Roland VGA solid-state amp (I live in a small apartment). I have to crank up the bass on BOTH the Pod and the Amp in order to get some more bottom end.

c). Not hot enough. I have a Super Distortion loaded RG, and the JB is nowhere near as hot. Perhaps the lack of bass in the JB, and the Lado itself, doesn't help.


When Adrian Smith from Maiden used his Lados from 1984 to 1988, he had them loaded with a Super Distortion in the bridge, and a PAF in the neck. In my efforts to be somewhat original (yes... I know I bought "Adrian's guitar"), I am hesitant to use that paring.

I am thinking of a Super 3 in the bridge and a Super 2 in the neck. The neck pup can remain bright for obvious reasons.

Here is the EQ voicings (B/M/T) of the various pups:

Super 1: 8.0/7.5/5.5 (the original SD)
Super 3: 5.0/8.0/5.0
Dun. JB: 5.0/6.0/8.0
Super 2: 4.0/6.0/8.0 (neck pup thrown in just for comparison)

A question to the players who use maple-bodied guitars; what pups do you use?

Like I said before, I was leaning towards the Super 3, but I have read conflicting reports on Harmony Central.. I concentrated on reviews where an alder guitar (e.g. Fender) was used since it is the closest to maple in terms of eq-voicing (from what I understand). Also, I was wondering that since the Super 3 has a pronounced mid-range, would it compensate enough for the lack of low end (same amount as the JB... assuming consistent eq measuring procedures across both companys)?

I probably answered my own question in this thread, but I'm looking for other feedback. Thoughts? Opinions?

P.S. No Tone-Zones or Evos (lol) please.


Thanks

[RSVampire]

I would try a set of Breeds

[David McCarroll]

Can't really see what Alder and Maple have in common to be honest with you. Sustain is not a product of pickups, they simply take the vibrations of the instrument and amplify them - obviously there is a certain degree of feedback involved which will keep the strings ringing, but you should be getting tons and tons of natural sustain out of that thing to begin with!

Maple has a tendency to produce a crisp, toppy sound - if you really find that hard to get around, maybe even the dreaded Dimarzio X2N might be an appropriate bridge pickup as it is not at all toppy in sound, but has huge output and tons of mids/low end response.

[dipstick]

Try a 250k 300k vol pot that should tame a JB in a maple bodied guitar.

[neptoess]

Get Bill Lawrence L-500R/L-500XL. They're made for tweaking so if you want less treble, just turn your treble knob down and it'll still sound good. They are also very responsive to your tone knob without sounding nasally. They sustain for weeks too.

[CityofBlindingLights]

If you want a throatier distortion, try the Breeds.

[Big Red]

Breeds.... that's an interesting choice. However, I'm concerned that they will sound too "American", if that makes any sense. How do they handle 80's British metal?


Thanks

[_FR0D0]

Super II + Super III combo is just great

[Big Red]

Well, I did more research over on the Seymour Duncan forum (Dimarzio needs one...badly), and the general concensus is that the Super 3 in bright guitars will even things out, because of huge mids and lower treble, without the muddy bass. I will be picking up (or ordering) a Super 3 and Super 2 (for the neck) before the end of this weekend. I'll report back on the results after I install them.

Thanks for your feedback everyone.


Cheers

[Schiaffer]

Yes, regardless of what Joe tells you over at Lado (awesome guy) he told me he gets bulk orders on pickups and will definitely try to steer you towards the ones he has in stock already. And for a wide range of styles the JB is always going to be the one that many musicians use as their bridge pickup. You are correct, however, that the JB is WAY too icepick or shrill to have as your bridge pickup on a neckthru tiger maple bodied guitar. I have two of these guitars myself and I would use the Seymour Duncan PATB 2 (parallel axis Distortion) in the bridge on one and the TB-6 (Distortion) on the other. Both are just great. I like to split them between the neck for most of what I play and I use the JB in the neck... Yes, it makes a decent neck pickup, believe it or not. But I would only ever use a JB as a bridge pickup for heavy metal if it were in a mahogany bodied guitar. Mahagony has less sustain and is slightly muddier sounding, so the high frequency from the JB is welcomed.

[Dee]

I see you're going for the Super's, but I was gonna suggest a Tone Zone. Good luck anyway.

[Big Red]

LOL!!!!! I created this thread 2 and a half months ago. I appreciate your concern about the welfare of my Lado.....you guys rule.

I bought a Super II and a Super 3 in July with the intention of putting them in this guitar. But, upon taking out the JB's that came with it, I found that the metal-bases of these pick-ups were grinded-down/shaved-down by someone at Lado so that they would fit in the pickup cavities. So, I tried to fit in the new Supers and sure enough, they didn't fit. Since I was unwilling to further route the body, and the fact that I don't have a metal-grinder, the JB's went back in. The Super II and 3 are now in my Jackson Dinky.

The good news is that a bought a Peavey Valve King recently, and the Lado with the Duncans sound much better (than with a solid-state/digital set-up). But, if I find a grinder on the cheap (any recommendations?), you can bet that a Super Distortion will be going in.


Cheers as always

[Schiaffer]

Strange that you had that problem with the pickup cavities on that guitar... I didn't have that on mine. They aren't mass produced, so it could have been some anomaly on your particular guitar. My Lado that I bought for half price has a similar problem whereby the Floyd Rose doesn't drop down all the way, it bumps against the cavity. I have to have that routed, as well. I suggest just taking it in to a guitar tech and having it done (Joe should actually fix it if you're close by). That's why he's blowing out some of these guitars for cheap. They do have minor problems. Still, to my mind, the play and look of these guitars is worth the money (especially when we got them for $1500.00).

[Big Red]

Originally Posted by Schiaffer

Strange that you had that problem with the pickup cavities on that guitar... I didn't have that on mine. They aren't mass produced, so it could have been some anomaly on your particular guitar. My Lado that I bought for half price has a similar problem whereby the Floyd Rose doesn't drop down all the way, it bumps against the cavity. I have to have that routed, as well. I suggest just taking it in to a guitar tech and having it done (Joe should actually fix it if you're close by). That's why he's blowing out some of these guitars for cheap. They do have minor problems. Still, to my mind, the play and look of these guitars is worth the money (especially when we got them for $1500.00).

That sounds about right...I'm thinking of taking it to my local shop (Steve's Music in Toronto).

Anyways, how about some pix of yours.


Cheers

[Schiaffer]

Hello Big Red,

I will post some pics of my Lado when I have some done. I don't have a digital camera (believe it or not lol!), but I'm planning on taking some pics soon.