Too much bass tone from hot rails type pickups in a Hamer Flying V

[derifity]

Got this Hamer V from a friend which has had custom pickups put in it, had a few questions for anyone who might know:

1. Does anyone know what pickups have been installed, they don't look familiar to me.

2. The tone of this guitar is way too bassy and muddy, I'm running it straight into an Orange Dual Terror (occasionally using a compressor pedal but mostly just for noise sections) playing 80s hardcore/crossover thrash/southern hardcore/sludge punk/blah blah blah (just go with punk, that'll do!)
I was wondering if there was something I could do with rewiring, maybe swapping for a lower value cap or something along those lines. My only other immediate option is to swap it out completely for a stock ibanez artcore hollowbody pickup, but I'm guessing that wouldn't be high enough gain for what I'm after.

Cheers for any help you can offer!

[big_teee]

Can't tell what Ohm Pots it has.
The Red and white tied together looks like S. Duncan wiring.
If you have 250k pots, it could be dark, you would want 500k pots in it with buckers.
Also Can you tell us what ohms the pickups read.
Read them on an ohm meter.
They look like these.
GFS Power Rails- Crushing power, Killer Tone- Black
If they have brass baseplates, I would suspect the GFS, don't know what color code they use.
T
** edit
This shows to be GFS
https://www.google.com/search?q=what...ml%3B616%3B797

[derifity]

Can't tell what Ohm Pots it has.
The Red and white tied together looks like S. Duncan wiring.
If you have 250k pots, it could be dark, you would want 500k pots in it with buckers.
Also Can you tell us what ohms the pickups read.
Read them on an ohm meter.
They look like these.
GFS Power Rails- Crushing power, Killer Tone- Black
If they have brass baseplates, I would suspect the GFS, don't know what color code they use.
T
** edit
This shows to be GFS
https://www.google.com/search?q=what...ml%3B616%3B797

Yeah dude spot on with the pickups, cheers but they are already 500 Kohm pots and it's still so muddy any other ideas?
Thanks heaps for your help

[big_teee]

Sounds like New pickups are in order.
Some with Nickel silver base plates, not Brass.
I make Custom Pickups, if I can help shoot me a PM.
Good Luck,
T

[Paleo Pete]

Sorry I haven't been around for over a week, (flu) and didn't think about this first time I read it.

How close to the strings are the pickups? I had a very similar problem with my Peavey Patriot, finally found I had to back the pickups away from the strings around twice as far as any other guitar I have. Also had to lower the bass end and raise the treble end to get a good balance, now they sound great. The neck pickup is actually slightly below the pickguard surface on the bass end, barely above it on the treble end. The bridge pickup is not much higher, all my other guitars are twice that pickup height and the same volume level as the Peavey. In some cases slightly lower volume...really strong pickups. I've checked it out and everything is factory stock and correct values, just really strong pickups...When I first started playing it just bumping the strings with my hand would sound off through the amp, I still have to play with a light touch...

[David Schwab]

That looks like a DiMarzio X2N. The pickup is very over wound, which is why you are getting so much low end. If it has 4-conductor wiring, try wiring it up in parallel.

But the best thing to do is get a brighter sounding pickup.

[Guitarist]

What David said otherwise those PUPS would be sweet for darkly clean jazz solos.

[Mick Bailey]

A way of reducing the overall bass is to add a low-value cap in series with the output. You could simply lift the hot connection to the output jack and try inserting (say) a 2.2nf cap for a start. Makes a huge difference in clarity and pick attack. You may need to adjust the value to get the sweet spot.

[Rick Turner]

The problem with the pickups is that they have no highs in the first place, so rolling off the low end is just going to give you a midrange squawk. You'll have no highs AND no lows.

I agree with the suggestion to ditch the pickups and put something else in. There are tons of choices in that hum-bucker mounting configuration. Figure the sound you want, and then get pickups that will do it.

[big_teee]

The Pickups are cheap GFS Imports.
See Post 2 & 3.
If I had them, I would rebuild them just to see what they would sound like, built different.
T