Shannon Farmer
From:
Oklahoma, USA
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Posted 25 Nov 2024 12:01 pm |
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Can't figure this one out. I had a BL705 Chrome in my ZUM and it was great. Pulled it out to see what it would do for my Mullen and it's horrible. Exact same Telonics volume pedal, same effects, same amp, but super hot and overdriving everything. Zum w/this pickup = Gold, Mullen with same pickup = Gross. Never had an issue with the Mullen with the BL710 so I feel like I did something wrong in wiring or something, but how do you mess us 2 wires? The 710 seemed a little shrill for my taste in the Mullen (hence trying the 705). Anyone else ever had this issue?
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God Bless! |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 26 Nov 2024 7:16 am
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I've had 705s (both vintage chrome-surround and modern black-surround) in both Zum and Mullen steels, as well as others. They are a hot pickup, and they also are pretty tall. So my issue has always been getting the pickup far enough away from the strings to moderate the output to a reasonable level. My general rule-of-thumb is around 3 quarters thickness, as opposed to the usual 2 quarters. Different steels have had different clearances. In one case, I had to take the mounting plate off the pickup and affix it with RTV silicone gasket sealer. I had a Legrande SKH that simply wouldn't take the 705 at all - no matter what I did, the pickup was too close to the strings. So I put in an XR-16, which wasn't quite as tall. But I still had to remove the mounting plate and use RTV.
My vintage 705s have had four wires, and they need to be wired correctly. But I assume you wired this exactly as you had it in your Zum, so that probably wouldn't explain your issue. I assume you're wiring this direct to the output jack? I.e., no volume/tone control?
Right now, I have modern 705s in the E9 neck of two Mullen G2s. To my tastes, they sound very good in those guitars. I guess these aren't exactly like the vintage ones, but I find them pretty similar.
BTW - forum member Scott Swartz (Steeltronics) has developed a blade pickup similar to the 705 but with a 3/4" height. I haven't gotten one of these yet, but I no doubt eventually will. That should remove any 'too close to the strings' issue. See this thread about the product announcement of these - https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=397916 |
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