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Topic: Bill Lawrence Q-Filter? |
Tommy Detamore
From:
Floresville, Texas
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 8:50 am |
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| Does anybody have any experience with this unit? The description on the website says it is an "LCR network" designed to reduce the impedance of pickups. I am wondering if there is something, other than just an eq device, that will allow you to get a more vintage sound out of a modern single coil pickup. By this I mean more of a scooped midrange, less boom on the lows, more clarity, less nasal high mids, and that silky high end thing that the old pickups in the 13k to 16k range have. |
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Donny Hinson
From:
Glen Burnie, Md. U.S.A.
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 9:22 am
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| Your best bet would be to get a couple new single-coil pickups made! Short of doing that, an active equalizer (with 6-8 bands) will let you come pretty close. What kind of amp and guitar are you using now? |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 10:15 am
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| more of a scooped midrange, less boom on the lows, more clarity, less nasal high mids, and that silky high end thing that the old pickups in the 13k to 16k range have. |
With the exception of "less boom on the lows", you have described what Bill Lawrence designed the I-Q 1200 for. Bill doesn't like to hear too much response atound 3 KHz.. 5 KHz. He says people call this treble, but it is really high midrange. He likes to hear the higher stuff.
I-Q 1200 works very well, but it is much more effective with certain pickups. I like it best with the 712 (710 to you) pickups.
To get rid of the boomy bass, you can use your equalizer. Also I had a guy put a pot in the I-Q 1200 to replace a fixed resistor. This allows me to change the I-Q 1200's built in crossover and helps a lot with the extra boomy bass freqs.
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Jon Light
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 11:33 am
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I recall Bill telling me that he calls it a 'time machine' because it reverts modern humbuckers back to the sound of the vintage pickups. I always run thru it just to have the option to roll off a little shrillness--I think of it as a deluxe tone control but it obviously is more complex than just a standard roll-off pot. I've never understood why Bill doesn't promote this more--or at all, actually--it's not on his website.
Tommy--I believe I have a file of his literature on the IQ 1200 if you want me to email it to you.
Oh, and if you unfortunately happen to remember some stupid ways I described this a couple of years ago, Earnest, and rather obstinately dug in my heels, I renounce that foolishness with not a little embarrassment. Write it off to youthful exuberance. |
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Tommy Detamore
From:
Floresville, Texas
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 1:17 pm
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Thanks for the responses. Donny, you are quite right, and I have talked to Jerry Wallace about doing just that. The problem is that there are situations where I need the more modern sound, both live and in the studio. Ideally I suppose I would have a dedicated guitar just for the retro thing and put the lighter pickups in it. (Or just get a '65 wrap and be done with it  ) Earnest, I was vaguely familiar with the I-Q 1200 and did a search and read your past posts on it. I guess I came away with the idea that it worked best with Bill's pickups. So I guess I wouldn't know unless I tried it with my single coils. Maybe this unit is the missing link that has kept me from totally being sold on humbuckers......? And John, thanks for the offer, but the old link in Earnest's post still works http://www.geocities.com/dbalde.geo/IQ1200.htm Maybe he stopped listing them because they were misunderstood? Are they still available?
At the risk of boring all of you to tears, let me give you a little background as to why I am intrigued with all of this at the moment. I have had the good fortune of late to be able to record an assortment of classic Emmons PP's being driven by very capable hands: Randy Reinhard-'65 wrap, Dicky Overby-'66 bolt-on, Herb Steiner-'65 wrap, and Jim Loessburg-'65 wraparound. (Herb, correct me if I have the years wrong). All of these monsters, plus Rick Price with his '66 bolt-on (recorded at another studio), and with myself bringing up the rear (if I make the cut!), will be included on a soon-to-be released album. In almost each case I was able to record a direct signal from each guitar (post-volume pedal). All of these guitars have pickups wound to between 13.5k and 15.5k. I have the capability to take these direct signals and study and "re-amp" them. So far what I have been doing is running them thru a Roland GP 100, using the "Clean Twin" setting. I may try some real amps at some point too, although the GP is pretty dang mighty. Each guitar requires slightly different settings of course, but they all have similar characteristics (outlined above), so the settings are all in the ballpark with each other. Incidentally, the various settings for each guitar was what the player and I arrived at before each one of them recorded, and these settings were what they were hearing while they were cutting. And that also accounts for some additonal differences between the patches. Not wanting my Zumsteel with it's 18k pickups to stick out like a sore thumb from this elite group, I set about to see how close I could get to the mid-60's Emmons sound. I figured EQ was really the only tool I had available that would essentially take that direct signal and shape it before it ever hit the preamp. The GP 100 has a movable EQ module in it, so I put that ahead of the preamp (amp modeling) section. I am still messing with it, but have gotten it pretty close, as you Donny have suggested. OK, flame suit is on. I won't deny that there are other factors in what makes these old guitars sound the way they do. I am mainly talking EQ curves here. So that's why I was thinking a device like the I-Q 1200 or this Q-filter would be fun for me to play with.
Ok, y'all can wake up now. Sorry...!
http://www.geocities.com/dbalde.geo/IQ1200.htm |
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Steve Feldman
From:
Central MA USA
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 2:43 pm
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Tommy -
I can loan you an IQ-1200 for a while. Drop me an e-mail if you're interested. |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 4:50 pm
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| Tommy, if you are looking to re-amp a signal that you have already recorded, then it is already too late to use the I-Q 1200. The I-Q 1200 works because it puts its inductance in parallel with the coil on your pickup. In other words, it changes the impedance (inductive reactance) of your pickup. |
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Tommy Detamore
From:
Floresville, Texas
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 5:01 pm
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| Thanks EB, but no I was wanting to try it as a replacement for the EQ process that I'm using on the back end of the direct signal coming out of my DAW going into the preamp section of the GP...In other words, I had anticipated "printing" the IQ. Uh, does that make any sense at all? Thanks to Steve Feldman for his most generous offer! |
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Earnest Bovine
From:
Los Angeles CA USA
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 5:06 pm
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No. the I-Q 1200 won't work unless it is right on your guitar, before the volume pedal or any buffer amp etc.
It can't work unless its coil is in the same circuit as the pickup. |
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Tommy Detamore
From:
Floresville, Texas
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Posted 9 Apr 2003 5:41 pm
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| Yes, I understand that. I guess I should have said a "virtual" replacement for the EQ, not a physical one. In other words, using the I-Q to do from the get-go what the eq is currently doing after the fact. Sorry if I haven't been clear....Guess I have a 20k brain (muddy) Thanks for your input, EB! |
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