DetroitBlues Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 So I have a little Love/Hate relationship going on with my H-140. I love the way it looks and feels. And I love the way it wants to rock. But I hate how it doesn't want to mellow out the blues. Even at low volumes on the KBP810 amp, it pushes into rock like breakup. I found myself putting it down after awhile and going back to my strat because it sounds so much better playing blues through the amp. Tomorrow, I'm working with KBP810 to install a whole new wiring harness to include caps and pots. He believes the ones installed are fried and causing a lot of trouble with too much bass and overdrive. I purposefully chose Jazz style pickups for the guitar so I can get some mellow blues tones out of it. Right now its just not happening. If this doesn't work, I may put the H-140 in a case for a long while or look to trade for a H-535. I'm so bummed.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbp810 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 We can get you through this DB, we have the technology! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 There are many ways to change a guitars tone to what you want. Give it a chance and perhaps you can get to your desired tone. The pots/ wiring may open it up tone wise, it may make a dramatic change to that 140. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 There are many ways to change a guitars tone to what you want. Give it a chance and perhaps you can get to your desired tone. The pots/ wiring may open it up tone wise, it may make a dramatic change to that 140. I certainly hope so. I had to have a beautiful guitar resting on a stand while I play another.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mars_hall Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 If you are going Blues, you will want to coil tap or better yet.... Phat Cat. Putting in 300K pots for volume will take you in the wrong direction, that is a loss of clarity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brentrocks Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 What's the reading on your hum buckers? Maybe a lower output, PAF clone like 8.0, 8.1k? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 If you are going Blues, you will want to coil tap or better yet.... Phat Cat. Putting in 300K pots for volume will take you in the wrong direction, that is a loss of clarity. Maybe, but Clapton sounded pretty good when he was with the Bluesbreakers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbonesullivan Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 sounds like you need some phat cats, or maybe P-rails. Humbucker blues sounds a lot different than single coil blues in many ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 sounds like you need some phat cats, or maybe P-rails. Humbucker blues sounds a lot different than single coil blues in many ways. That's why I love my strat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genericmusic Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 There's nothing wrong with your guitar. It's an extension of your personality. Perhaps you both are rockers at heart(?) or quite possibly you need to buy that H535 and make her so jealous she'll whine for moan for you. Maybe you need to give her the blues. Go a head, buy that H535. You know you want to. I double dog dare you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 There's nothing wrong with your guitar. It's an extension of your personality. Perhaps you both are rockers at heart(?) or quite possibly you need to buy that H535 and make her so jealous she'll whine for moan for you. Maybe you need to give her the blues. Go a head, buy that H535. You know you want to. I double dog dare you. If only money grew on trees! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big bob Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 What's the reading on your hum buckers? Maybe a lower output, PAF clone like 8.0, 8.1k? Brent here I must disagree, my 140 has a 18K taped bridge, 12 k p-90, and a 9 k hum, and she most certainly can sing the blues.. Detroit if I was you I would wait until psp and then play as many 140's as I could in hopes of finding a nice pup. It could also be the amp.. no offence Brian, but some guitars and amps just don't sound good together.. not because one or the other is bad, just not a good match.. The schallers on my 140 really did not like my amps. I tend to like schallers.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Pickups... JB SH4 in Bridge and Jazz SH2 at the neck. the JB is a fairly high output pickup.. but I'd expect the Jazz to do what you want.. and it can be coil tapped also. I've got one of the Jazz pu's that I like. SD Jazz...Provides an articulate and clear tone. Great for fast runs. The brighter tone has slightly less output and is a good match with most bridge pickups. When distorted, the tone is full and bright. Smooth sustain. Compared to the SH-1 '59 Model, the Jazz has slightly less output and a more detailed treble response. Comes with four-conductor hookup cable. hopefully , it's a pots/cap issue and easily resolved. I can't imagine that a 140 with a Jazz can't give you the sound that you've described. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Brent here I must disagree, my 140 has a 18K taped bridge, 12 k p-90, and a 9 k hum, and she most certainly can sing the blues.. Yeah, I find that most pickups can be pretty versatile with some dialing in... I can get some nice tones with an old Super Distortion/ PAF combo in my 140. I think that it just needs some fine tuning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted July 22, 2011 Author Share Posted July 22, 2011 That's all I think too. I hardly ever use the bridge pickup for blues, maybe if the tune is rocking I would. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I take it you've tried dropping the pickups down in the rings, working at lower volume settings pickup-side, etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TalismanRich Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I had my 140 wired "50's" with the original Schallers. It was on the dark side, a polar opposite from a strat or tele, and even a ways from my other Heritages. I now have APH2s and changed the wiring. That brought back some of the "sparkle" that was missing. I haven't checked the values on the pots, but it may be that the original values are different from the current ones. Brian can check them. As for the blues, there are TONS of blues songs with a fat overdrive sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthpawGuy Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 I have that same pickup combo, a JB and Jazz, in an '80s Kramer, it would be the last guitar I'd choose for some soulful blues. It does high gain rock no problem at all, even the clean tones are half decent, but the low gain blues thing is not it's forte. P-Rails as mentioned are versatile, or a Seth Lover in the neck with the existing JB would allow for some nice bluesy tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbp810 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Brent here I must disagree, my 140 has a 18K taped bridge, 12 k p-90, and a 9 k hum, and she most certainly can sing the blues.. Detroit if I was you I would wait until psp and then play as many 140's as I could in hopes of finding a nice pup. It could also be the amp.. no offence Brian, but some guitars and amps just don't sound good together.. not because one or the other is bad, just not a good match.. The schallers on my 140 really did not like my amps. I tend to like schallers.. None taken, I know this to be true all to well This amp did sound good with my 150 during QA testing, but of course that doesn't mean it's going to sound good with all other humbucker setups... Though as early as the breakup is hitting the amp (as the way it was described to me), it really seems like something isn't right; should find out for sure this afternoon as the patient gets prepped for exploratory surgery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrymclark Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Given the year, I'd look at the electronics sans the pickups. When I looked in my H140, the harness, pots, switch and jack were of questionable quality. I can certainly see how a higher quality pickup-back system would greatly improve the signal flow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schundog Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Best of luck, DB. I know you know It, but it's never going to sound like a strat.... And that's OK! But when the ear is used to hearing one pickup type or the other almost exclusively, the other type can just sound wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxdx99 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Good luck on your tonequest - be interested to hear how it turns out. My guess is same as TRich's, lower the pickup height and plug into the 'right' side lower input of the amp. My Allen's similar to that amp and do need to alter the amp settings a little bit between single and hum pus, but the they both can be soulful/blusey... actually especially thru a DR like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koula901 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 If you are going Blues, you will want to coil tap or better yet.... Phat Cat. Putting in 300K pots for volume will take you in the wrong direction, that is a loss of clarity. Are Phat Cats single coils? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koula901 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 There's nothing wrong with your guitar. It's an extension of your personality. Perhaps you both are rockers at heart(?) or quite possibly you need to buy that H535 and make her so jealous she'll whine for moan for you. Maybe you need to give her the blues. Go a head, buy that H535. You know you want to. I double dog dare you. : ) I think that's a great idea! Nothing like a 535 for the blues! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxdx99 Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Are Phat Cats single coils? Yes, Duncan's 'humbucker' sized 'P90s'. Delicious pus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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