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Hi,
I have an Ibanez Montage MSC550TRD and find the stock AP9 active magnetic pickup rather sterile-sounding and too bright, and find it dropping the signal with note bends. I've tried tweaking the pickup height, onboard EQ, phase and internal trimpots, but to no avail. Whenever I dial up the low end to try salvaging the magnetic sound, the transducer gets muddy and "thumpy". With the transducer usable (low end dialed back), the magnetic pickup is annoyingly bright and tinny.
The electrics include a five way switch (transducer/transducer-magnetic mix/clean magnetic/clean-distorted magnetic mix/distorted magnetic) and a preamp with 3-band EQ, chorus, reverb and two phase notchers. The power supply is 6V (4 AA batteries). I've attached the only document that Ibanez will give me.
I really like the way the guitar plays, and the acoustic sound, so I'm hoping that I can swap in a "warmer", "fatter" magnetic pickup so that I can make it usable for bluesy pop (no need to cut through the mix). I really only need a good clean transducer sound, and a good clean coil sound, but it seems easier to leave the five-way switching intact. I've been told that if I want to avoid gutting it, I should just stick with another active pickup. Someone suggested Seymour Duncan Blackouts.
I apologize for my utter lack of knowledge about electronics and about my own instrument, but I would really appreciate if someone could give me some advice/direction. Thanks for your time, and take care!
Austin
I have an Ibanez Montage MSC550TRD and find the stock AP9 active magnetic pickup rather sterile-sounding and too bright, and find it dropping the signal with note bends. I've tried tweaking the pickup height, onboard EQ, phase and internal trimpots, but to no avail. Whenever I dial up the low end to try salvaging the magnetic sound, the transducer gets muddy and "thumpy". With the transducer usable (low end dialed back), the magnetic pickup is annoyingly bright and tinny.
The electrics include a five way switch (transducer/transducer-magnetic mix/clean magnetic/clean-distorted magnetic mix/distorted magnetic) and a preamp with 3-band EQ, chorus, reverb and two phase notchers. The power supply is 6V (4 AA batteries). I've attached the only document that Ibanez will give me.
I really like the way the guitar plays, and the acoustic sound, so I'm hoping that I can swap in a "warmer", "fatter" magnetic pickup so that I can make it usable for bluesy pop (no need to cut through the mix). I really only need a good clean transducer sound, and a good clean coil sound, but it seems easier to leave the five-way switching intact. I've been told that if I want to avoid gutting it, I should just stick with another active pickup. Someone suggested Seymour Duncan Blackouts.
I apologize for my utter lack of knowledge about electronics and about my own instrument, but I would really appreciate if someone could give me some advice/direction. Thanks for your time, and take care!
Austin
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