My love/hate relationship with my X-500

[VinceM]

I have a Boss GE7 as well as a single band parameteric made by a small pedal company, but am not happy with the quality of either. I'll have to check out the Tech21 paradriver - I know they have a great reputation for putting out high quality pedals. I would have never considered this one.

Also, what is the general feelings about the Guild pickups? It seems I need to run them wide open on the tone and volume or the high end disappears to mud. So I get BOTH boom AND mud! Or is this just because the heavy low end dominates so much over the high end?

 

[Default]

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=27667&p=300544&hilit=treble+bleed#p300544

mod itself

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/potm.htm

 

[rhcole]

Ravon,

I have an X-170. The Para Driver works great with it. I can dial in a near-acoustic sound, trad jazz box, or even a snarling blues sound.

I use the Para Driver in front of any amp I run into as my Swiss Army Knife for the tone.

 

[2bornot2bop]

The x170 has a post.. At least the later ones did... Photos just for fun.

And what FUN photo's those are! Give me a heads up if you ever decide to move the red one! Gorgeous guitar!

 

[Ravon]

Ravon,

I have an X-170. The Para Driver works great with it. I can dial in a near-acoustic sound, trad jazz box, or even a snarling blues sound.

I use the Para Driver in front of any amp I run into as my Swiss Army Knife for the tone.

Thanks rhcole, I'll probably get one now (Santa). Whats another couple hundred :wink: !

 

[guildmann]

i've also had a problem getting a good balance on my X-500 when playing gigs. i also don't understand why they put humbuckers on a big body archtop either. They sound way too muddy... i had mentioned this on a previous post and Hans had recommended putting a coil tap on the master volume so you could use it as a single coil. i haven't done this yet because i've just been using my X-50 on gigs and it sounds great. i'll repost if i get around to putting a coil tap and let you know how it sounds

Rob N

 

[VinceM]

Hi Rob! Thanks for chiming in here. I saw your other post and was wondering what Hans sent you! I have also questioned humbuckers on a big hollowbody. A coil tap seems like a cool idea. Does he suggest doing this with the existing pickups or replacement pickups?

Here's another idea from none other than Joe Naylor from Reverend guitars - he suggested wiring in a cap to the pickup's hot lead, which will create a high pass filter. Start with 5000pF, which will cut the least bass. Smaller caps will cut more bass. I'm thinking of having my tech do this. It's a cheap, easy, and reversible mod.

Right now I'm getting by with drastic bass cutting on my Henriksen Jazzamp (the 100 and 300 Hz controls)

 

[kakerlak]

You jazz cats will hate me for this, but I've never had a "too much bass" problem playing through old SF/BF Fender amps with the bass set at about 2.

My X-700 through my Super Reverb is anything but muddy. I almost always have the tone at 10 on the guitar, amp's set at about 2-bass, 4-middle, 10-treble. To me ears, the neck pickup is still warm and pretty, but articulate, middle position gives a nice honking tone and bridge is snappy and bright. Fender amps sound just plain bad with the bass turned up, so you inevitably turn it down pretty far, which prevents much of the swelly, out of control stuff from going on.

So maybe ditch the jazz amp? :mrgreen:

Then again, I'm not trying to make bloopy George Benson noises, either. :lol:

(BTW, this post is more of a razz than anything)

 

[guildman63]

You jazz cats will hate me for this, but I've never had a "too much bass" problem playing through old SF/BF Fender amps with the bass set at about 2.

So maybe ditch the jazz amp? :mrgreen:

Hey kaker, you ain't down with the jazz amps? 8) In the end it's all about the tone, isn't it? Now, if you want the best of both worlds you will simply get a Fender Jazz King amp. :mrgreen: I have one and boy does it ever sound good! I have never had a problem with too much mud using that amp for two reasons. First, the various tone controls allow you to easily shape the tone to your liking. Second, it also has what's called an EQ Tilt. This can be used as a simple tone control or to compensate for poor room acoustics. And as far as cleans go, the Twin has nothing on this SS amp! At 50 pounds it is a bit heavy for a SS amp, but it's still much lighter than a Twin, and is plenty loud for most small and medium sized settings. It also takes pedals very well!

As for the Henriksen, that is a great sounding amp with my X-170 and all the dials set flat. With my X-500 and SF-IV I need to roll off the lows quite a bit to get it sounding good, but it does get there. It even makes my foto flame strat with noiseless pickups sound incredibly sweet.

And if I want "bloopy George Benson noises", each can cover those very well also :mrgreen:

By the way kaker, being from Oklahoma you should be down with the jazz scene as perhaps the greatest guitarist ever hails from your state...Barney Kessel. Now there is a jazz cat that got it done!

 

[guildmann]

hi Vince..... Hans suggested it might be easier to put the coil tap on the master volume. you could also rewire to make it single coil but that gets complicated... i like Hans idea of doing it through the master volume... it's easy to change back if you'd ever want.

Also guys... i'm playing in a Trio with a Bass player and sax player.. too much Bass will clash with the Bass player... When i play my X-500 alone or play lead it sounds great. it's only muddy when i'm playing rhythm with the Trio.

Rob

 

[AlohaJoe]

By the way kaker, being from Oklahoma you should be down with the jazz scene as perhaps the greatest guitarist ever hails from your state...Barney Kessel. Now there is a jazz cat that got it done!

Amen to that. 8) Lots of nice blues flavors in there. Or as somebody else said "He knew how to mix his uptown with a little downtown".

I'm running a Fender amp too and the bass is never above about 3. Even with my old Polytone it gets rolled off, but it's going to vary depending on the room and (like Rob said) other instruments, if any.

 

[guildman63]

By the way kaker, being from Oklahoma you should be down with the jazz scene as perhaps the greatest guitarist ever hails from your state...Barney Kessel. Now there is a jazz cat that got it done!

Amen to that. 8) Lots of nice blues flavors in there. Or as somebody else said "He knew how to mix his uptown with a little downtown".

I'm running a Fender amp too and the bass is never above about 3. Even with my old Polytone it gets rolled off, but it's going to vary depending on the room and (like Rob said) other instruments, if any.

And he threw a little "cross-town" in there for good measure!

 

[guildmann]

i'm getting a much better sound playing rhythm in my Trio... I;ve got it set on the neck pick-up with the tone all the way up. i went into my PA EQ and set everything flat. i've played it with this setting for 4 gigs now... sounds nice... i still love my X-50 sound (with the mickey mouse PU) though !!!

Rob

 

[VinceM]

i'm getting a much better sound playing rhythm in my Trio... I;ve got it set on the neck pick-up with the tone all the way up. i went into my PA EQ and set everything flat. i've played it with this setting for 4 gigs now... sounds nice... i still love my X-50 sound (with the mickey mouse PU) though !!!

Rob

Thanks for the update Rob! And thanks everyone else for all the great discussion in this thread.

At this point I have found a pretty sweet tone with my X500 by simple eq adjustments on the Jazzamp, as well as judicious use of my Boss GE-7. Specifically, if I cut just a bit on the 400Hz slider and a bit less on the 200 Hz, I get a pretty satisfying tone.

Here's an example of me playing In A Sentimental Mood (excuse the hacks here and there!):
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11369146

Of course recording is different than playing live. I still fight with boom when turning up with the big band. And it depends on the room too.

Rob - I'm still intriqued by the coil tap idea - did you try this? Does this make the pickup single coil? I guess I'm not sure of the terminology. But I'd really like the ability try out alternative pickup configurations. Especially if it doesn't involve replacing the pickup.

Vince

 

[Jeffm]

i'm getting a much better sound playing rhythm in my Trio... I;ve got it set on the neck pick-up with the tone all the way up. i went into my PA EQ and set everything flat. i've played it with this setting for 4 gigs now... sounds nice... i still love my X-50 sound (with the mickey mouse PU) though !!!

Rob

Thanks for the update Rob! And thanks everyone else for all the great discussion in this thread.

At this point I have found a pretty sweet tone with my X500 by simple eq adjustments on the Jazzamp, as well as judicious use of my Boss GE-7. Specifically, if I cut just a bit on the 400Hz slider and a bit less on the 200 Hz, I get a pretty satisfying tone.

Here's an example of me playing In A Sentimental Mood (excuse the hacks here and there!):
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11369146

Of course recording is different than playing live. I still fight with boom when turning up with the big band. And it depends on the room too.

Rob - I'm still intriqued by the coil tap idea - did you try this? Does this make the pickup single coil? I guess I'm not sure of the terminology. But I'd really like the ability try out alternative pickup configurations. Especially if it doesn't involve replacing the pickup.

Vince

You could set up coil tap on both pickups, and use push-pull pots
Then you can tap one pickup at the time and mix the single coil sound with the hbs

So for example coil tap the bridge and leave the neck in humbucker mode

 

[VinceM]

Thanks Jeff - so I can do this with the stock Guild pickups? My tech said to do this you need "4-conductor" pickups (or something to that effect). AFAIK Most new pickups have this option, but not all the older pickups do.

 

[guildmann]

Vince and Jeff,

you could split both pick-ups with a push/pull coil tap but since i mostly use the neck pick-up, Hans suggested installing the coil tap on the master volume to the neck pick-up... i was told it could be put back to original easy.. i think i'm gonna leave it alone for now... i'm liking the sound lately... let me know if you decide to do any mods.... nice playing and good sound Vince!!!

Rob

 

[GAD]

You cannot coil tap stock 80s HB1 Guild Humbuckers. You can reverse the phase of the treble pickup, but neither of them are 4-wire pickups.