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Post subject: H1 Strat pups and a Hot Rod Deville
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 4:41 pm
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I have a Highway one Strat that I recently changed the pickups in. I didn't care for the hot rodded stock pickups..the neck pup always sound muddy and dull through my HR Deville amp. I purchased a set of custom shop 69s and had a friend of mine who is a tech put them in for me. After he installed them, I plugged into his 65 Super Reverb, and I was blown away by the sound of the pups. They sounded so clear and bright and chimey...like a strat should sound. The low strings on the neck pup were pure butter and crystal clear. I was, needless to say, very excited about this...it was like having a new guitar. However, when I got home and plugged into my HR deville...still muddy and dark sounding. So, I've concluded that it is my amp. Anyone have any thoughts on why this is? Is there a mod you can do to this amp? Would changing the speakers or tubes help this? Its a good amp, and I've been using if for about 2 years now...but as my ear improves and as I progress in my playing, I'm finding that the tone isn't anything like I want it to be. I've tried adjusting the EQ and everything...I've found some settings that sound pretty good, but it's just not the crystal clear highs and lows that I hear from my buddies super reverb...I know that the pickups are capable of it and I also realize that the super reverb is a far better amp...but it seems that I should at least get a comparable sound out of it. Any help would be cool.

thanks,

MJ


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Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:42 pm
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Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:48 am
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You might try setting the amp up to deliver the cleanest tone possible and relying on some carefully-chosen pedals to deliver dirt-on-demand. The drive/more drive channel in those amps always sounded fizzy and artificial to me regardless of how the tone, drive, presence, and master volume controls were configured. The OEM speakers are not the greatest either (though they actually sound pretty meaty in a closed-back bass-reflex cab). If your HRDlx is a 4 x 10 I'd recommend the Eminence Ragin' Cajuns -- if it's a 2 x 12 then a pair of Celestion Green Backs or V30s.

Of course you could just trade it in on a Super Reverb......

:mrgreen:

Best of luck, HTH

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 10:08 am
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Location: deep down in Florida...
I agree with Arjay, I have a 410 DeVille and I can't stand the drive/more channel... instead I use a tube screamer, turn down the bass and turn up the treble, it can actually sound sweet. But then I got the DRRI and the DeVille is for sale :)


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Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:32 pm
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Okay...I feel really stupid now...turns out it was something ridiculously simple....when I first got this amp, I quickly noticed that it was so loud that it made my liver quake when I cranked it up. So, I had to keep it at very low levels of volume just so I could practice in the house without driving everyone bonkers. So, I bought this little volume box off of ebay...it was made specifically for the HRD. It's basically just a little metal box with a volume pot and two jacks...you hook it up through the effects loop and it allows you to crank the amps volume to really get the tubes cookin' and then control the volume from the box...therefore, effectively making the amp tolerable for other members of the houshold.

However, unbeknownst to me, it was sapping the tone right out of the amp...it occurred to me that it might be the culprit...so I unplugged it, cranked the amp, and turned the volume down on my guitar (genius huh?). And there was the sweet sweet chimey bell like tones that I knew these custom shop pups could deliver. So, problem solved I guess. I've had this little tone sucker on there for the past 2 years, cuz I thought it was improving the amps functionality. WRONG!

I do agree with you guys about the drive/more drive channels on the amp. I don't care for them at all...I generally like to keep it on the clean channel and try to get some natural overdrive out of it, and I've got a tube screamer and few other drive pedals that I tinker with from time to time. I would still love to have the super reverb with it's tube rectifier rather the solid state rec that the HRD has...but that's gonna have to wait I guess. Anyone wanna trade??(haha)

Anyway, like I said, I felt like a dolt when I discovered this...although I quickly got over it as I was relishing these nice sweet strat tones that I've been jonesin for.

Thanks for the help.

MJ


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