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Topic: How to set amp for Alumitone pickups |
b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 26 Apr 2013 7:40 pm |
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I usually don't have any trouble dialing in a guitar on any of my amps, but these Alumitone pickups have me stumped. First, they are so hot that they tend to overdrive the front end of amp. Even after dialing that first knob back, the harmony notes want to crunch together.
I can't seem to dial in a tone that sounds right. I had something halfway decent coming out of my Webb, and when I switched to my other guitar (with a Truetone pickup) it was very dull and muddy.
Can any other Alumitone users offer some advice. I'm really puzzled by this.
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Tim Marcus
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 26 Apr 2013 8:31 pm
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I'm pulling mine from the Williams I just bought - even out of my Milkman amps it sounds "meh"
Tonealigner's going in as soon as Bob winds it
It's a nice looking pickup, but the sound is not flattering
Mine is missing a piece of magnet and I thought that was the issue - but sadly I don't think it is
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 26 Apr 2013 8:39 pm Re: How to set amp for Alumitone pickups
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| b0b wrote: |
... Alumitone pickups .. are so hot that they tend to overdrive the front end of amp. Even after dialing that first knob back, the harmony notes want to crunch together.
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Crunch together? What is that? Is that a good thing?
Do you go straight from pickup to amp, and get distortion there regardless of the 1st gain setting? If so you could
1. Use a different amp. For me, Alumitone is fine going straight into Revelation, Eleven Rack, or the trusty old Boss GX-700.
2. Use a spare volume pedal as a passive attenuator. Set it and forget it. I use this method when going from pickup into some distortion units. however, it does futz with the tone sometimes.
3. Mount a volume control pot on the guitar. It could be out of the way under the guitar since this would also be set-it-and-forget-it.
| b0b wrote: |
when I switched to my other guitar (with a Truetone pickup) it was very dull and muddy.
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So tweak the EQ on the amp when you change to that guitar. |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 26 Apr 2013 8:43 pm
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| BTW the Alumitone sounded great for me right from the start. I didn't have to do anything special. It's in my GFI. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 26 Apr 2013 10:13 pm
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I can't get the EQ sounding right. I've tried it with 3 different amps and I get some subtle distortion with all of them, especially on chords. That's what I meant by harmonies "crunching together". It's not like anything I've encountered before. It's not a smooth sound.
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Niels Andrews
From:
Salinas, California, USA
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Posted 26 Apr 2013 10:24 pm
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Perhaps a bad pickup?
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 26 Apr 2013 10:40 pm
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It's a D-10 and both pickups sound the same.
I just now tried it with my '67 Fender Princeton and a Holy Grail reverb. The Holy Grail after the volume pedal seems to help a lot, even with the reverb effect turned down. It tames the signal somehow. I set the amp to Volume=3, Bass=10 and Treble=4. Sounds good.
This gives me hope.
Why are these pickups so hot? I don't understand that. 
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Hook Moore
From:
South Charleston,West Virginia
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 3:10 am
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I tried a set on a legrande III, I never noticed the alumitones being any hotter than Bill Lawrence humbuckers that I've used a lot through the years. Both of these pickups need some distance between the pickup and strings to keep from overdriving. First thing I would try would be to lower the pickup in the cavity if you have the room, doesn't take much to help.
Hook
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 4:09 am
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I have my Alumitone lowered to a hair over 3 quarters on my Fessenden 12 string. I wasn't happy with it until I got it that low but I do like it a lot now.
I yanked it right out of a Sho-Bud. Didn't like it one bit but I don't recall now if the cavity kept me from getting it low enough or if it was just a bad pairing. |
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Ken Metcalf
From:
San Antonio Texas USA
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 8:09 am
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I have mine almost a 1/4 inch from the strings.
I ended up screwing them directly to the body.
They sound good.
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 8:28 am
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FWIW, I have it installed on E9 neck (only) on a BCT era Carter D-10. It is attached directly to the body. I'm using a RV-5/DD-6 combo into a NV-112.
Amp settings (practice room):
Pre Gain = 2
Low = 9
Mid = -3
Shift = 800
High = 0
Presence = +3
Master Gain = 2
I found the Alumitone to be more "aggressive" then the stock pickup and more responsive above the 14th fret. Other players have told me it sounds "Emmons single coilish". It can scream for sure.
So many variables and preferences. In my case it had the desired effect.
h |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 10:33 am
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Lowering them is a good idea. They were already pretty far from the strings, but now I've screwed them down further and that helps. I may take Ken's suggestion and screw them directly to the body.
Good tips - thanks guys!
I think I'm getting a handle on the EQ now too. Howard's N112 settings are an eye opener. Just takes some experimenting.
These are excellent sounding pickups. They're just a lot hotter than what I'm used to.
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Stephen Cowell
From:
Round Rock, Texas, USA
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 4:28 pm
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Reading the website, they're low-impedance... which means you might be better off loading them down, using a Freeloader or other variable load device on them.
http://www.sarnomusicsolutions.com/products/fl.html
The mismatched impedance will give some crazy high boost... the response curve will look better when it's running into a low-imp input. The HB shows to be about 3K... that's 80% less than a normal PSG pickup.
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Lee Baucum
From:
McAllen, Texas (Extreme South) The Final Frontier
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 6:26 pm
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I agree with Stephen. I had an Alumitone on my Mullen for a couple of years. It performed best with a Sarno FreeLoader after it.
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Sarno FreeLoader, Goodrich Passive Volume Pedals, Vintage ACE Pack-A-Seat |
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Len Amaral
From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 6:40 pm
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| I have an alumitone on my MSA D12 Super Slide G13 Neck and a George L on the C6 neck. The contrast between the two necks is impressive. I just received an alumatone from Jim palanscar for my Carter U12. John Fabian had a working version of this pickup and that why I went with that model. I will install it this week and see what happens. |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 7:08 pm
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Hooked up the Freeloader and all is good. Pickup sounds great now, and EQ is much easier to dial in. Thanks everyone!!
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Jim Priebe
From:
Queensland, Australia - R.I.P.
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Posted 27 Apr 2013 8:34 pm
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B0b
Pickups! How mis-understood they sometimes are.
We have humbuckers (and some single coils) wound to 18+k ohms and Alumitones (which are low impedance) at about 3.5 k (all nominal resistance at 1000khz) so no wonder we get these huge variances in characteristics let alone users opinions!
For Tim (an amp builder), to get his opinion of the Alumitones I really wonder what the front end of his amp is set up to handle. I do notice that some boutique valve amps have precious little eq adjustment in practical terms (not sure about his) and herein COULD lie the problem (for him).
If you keep an Alumitone not too close to the strings, set the mids on the amp cut well back (as most amps are designed around conventional pups), mount the unit solid to the body and use a front end buffer (if required - a Sarno BB works brilliantly) they work fine BUT they are a different animal to all the others whether single or double coil.
I love mine - no noise, eq's amazingly, no microphonics, tone is great and I even think they look funky!
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Tim Marcus
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 28 Apr 2013 7:41 am
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Mine doesn't have distortion or impedance related problems, and was set up when the guitar was built so I believe the height is right. It's got nothing to do with the front end of the amp - I can assure you of that 
I simpy don't like how it sounds. It's not what I am used to, but I am kind of particular. All of my other steels have tonealigners in them and I really like that sound and the ability to balance out the higher strings to the bottom strings. Can't do that with the alumitone. Mine sounds great up until about the E string and then it thins right out.
I was going to shim it and get it up at an angle but I might as well just pull it out and put in what I already know I like
I'll have one for sale soon!
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Len Amaral
From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
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Posted 28 Apr 2013 9:47 am
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I am so glad I came across this thread as i will get the Alumatone as low as possible and I have a Freeloader. These few tips will save me a lot of time dialing in a good tone.
Thanks,
Lenny |
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 28 Apr 2013 10:00 am
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| Len Amaral wrote: |
I am so glad I came across this thread as i will get the Alumatone as low as possible and I have a Freeloader. These few tips will save me a lot of time dialing in a good tone.
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Len,
Just a cautionary note. On my Carter "as low as possible" was way too low. The output was much weaker then the the George L on the C6 neck and the tone was very dull. I had to raise the pickup to balance the two necks. I'll add that my pickup did not come with a mounting plate and is installed directly to the body.
So..."your mileage may vary"
h |
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Len Amaral
From:
Rehoboth,MA 02769
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Posted 28 Apr 2013 11:34 am
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Hey Howard:
Thanks for the tip. however my Carter is a U-12 so I won't have to balance this with another neck. Luckily, there are two springs in the pickup cavity so adusing should be easy. I hope  |
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Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
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Posted 28 Apr 2013 11:38 am
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My recollection is that on my D-10 the springs work with the mounting plate and the Alumitone could not use the plate, hence the direct connect to the body.
h |
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b0b
From:
Cloverdale, CA, USA
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Posted 28 Apr 2013 6:28 pm
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Today I removed the mounting springs at screwed it down directly to the body of my Carter D-10. Also A/B'd it with and without the Freeloader to dial in the tone with my stage amp (a Mesa/Boogie Maverick) at a reasonable volume. Here's what I learned:
What I had been describing as distortion was in fact the sound of picks scraping and bar scrape - sound that I don't hear with other pickups. I figure there's a high frequency peak in the response curve when running direct to a pot pedal. The Freeloader gets rid of that, essentially taming the beast.
My knobs are Gain 2.5, Treble 6, mid 3, bass 10.
With my Desert Rose (Truetone ~13k) I'd be more like Gain 4.5, Treble 5, mid 3, bass 8. Not a big difference, but the higher gain produces a richer tone. Most pickups sound downright anemic on this amp with gain below 3.
There's definitely a lot of presence in the Alumitone. It's sort of unforgiving in its clarity. I expect it will make me a better player because of that.
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Jim Priebe
From:
Queensland, Australia - R.I.P.
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Posted 29 Apr 2013 12:05 am
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Thought I'd better add a few things as I feel they are relevant.
Most conventional pickups are designed around having a very certain focused set of frequency response. If you want a smooth tone you use a "xxxx" and if you want a sharp clear tone you pick a "yyyy" pup.
The Alumitone is a little different. On an oscilloscope it shows a very 'flat' response ie. similar response levels right through the frequency range. This is why I say it responds so well to say a multiband Equalizer. You just set it to what you like or prefer - no need to buy "xxxx" for the jazz stuff and a "yyyy" for the honky tonk.
As I said they are a little different. Yes they can get thin say on the E and G# strings simply because 'they can' (their response doesn't die off at that range like a heavy wound humbucker).
Tim, I meant no ill of your amps - I know they are great but generally speaking the built in eq on an amp is not as comprehensive as a dedicated equaliser.
Don't fret though (little pun there) - tried one on one of my stratocasters and took it off fast and went for a Lawrence. Just didn't work in at all - so Tim, I know exactly what you mean by the yuk tone. Maybe a full three set might - I probably will never know.
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www.steelguitardownunder.com |
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Hook Moore
From:
South Charleston,West Virginia
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Posted 29 Apr 2013 2:54 am
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| b0b wrote: |
There's definitely a lot of presence in the Alumitone. It's sort of unforgiving in its clarity. I expect it will make me a better player because of that. |
It really will !
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