Hi there,

I'm lucky enough to own a 2017 Journeyman Relic Clapton Strat (sunburst) which is a great guitar, very light and resonant with a great neck.

I love the whole mid-boost thing too as it means one less pedal and a whole load of fun as I set about destroying the input stage on various amps and listener's ears. But there's one thing that I find a bit tedious and that's the volume of the guitar even without the boost circuit turned up. It must be twice as loud as my next loudest Strat and it makes switching guitars mid-gig more of a pain than it ought to be.

I was wondering if there's a trim-pot somewhere that adjusts the base-level output of the guitar as I presume the circuit is active all the time when plugged in? Or are the noiseless pups just very loud no matter what guitar they're installed in?

Many thanks,

Paul

2004 EC upgrade Stratocaster wiring Diagram

https://p4.zdassets.com/hc/theme_assets ... 1_SISD.pdf

Did you try to screw down noiseless pickups ?

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English is not my mother tongue , I do my best

It being an active guitar it’s gonna be louder than a passive one. Your guitar is acting normal, there is no volume adjustment other than the volume knob on the pickguard.

I'm guessing that your amp settings have to be changed when you move from an active to a passive guitar. The original Clapton circuit had a mini-toggle bypass switch which shuts off the mid-boost and leaves you with the equivalent of a Strat Plus. I know because I own one, as well as an '89 Pewter, and an '89 Plus. The difference between your guitar and mine are the Lace Sensors which have more 'throat' than your 'Noiseless'. I have the same problem with my Les Paul going into my amp set for the Clapton. The Paul blows it away. Suggest you EQ the amp for your passive guitar. Either that or put a volume pedal between your guitars and your amp so you can control the gain level needed for each guitar going in.

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"Another day in paradise!"

There are no trimming pots to adjust the gain AFAIK. And I don't think the pickups sound too loud even with the Elite circuit bypassed.

One effective solution is to add a pair of resistors in the MDX pot for gain reduction.

The pickups are passive.

Only the preamp powering them is active.

[quote="chromeface] One effective solution is to add a pair of resistors in the MDX pot for gain reduction.[/quote]

Yah! We've kicked this one around in the past. It's the down-modification of the circuit to 12db that they did for the Powerhouse Stratocaster, now discontinued. I don't know if that's what he's really after.

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"Another day in paradise!"

They also did the same trick for the 2nd generation Samboras with the small stars, dual-coil ceramic stacked humbuckers and traditional hardware.

Bearing in mind the original MDX circuit from the mid-1980s was also offered with the 12dB boost.

Over the years other major guitar makers developed their own mid-boost circuits with the gain ratio varying between 6 and 10dB.

So where does all this leave us with our mate 'Snapperharmer' and his quest?

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"Another day in paradise!"

his guitar work normaly.
Mine has the same output level than a standard strat with the volume knob between 6 and 7

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Luc
Squier Affinity Strat - Fender American Deluxe Strat' - Eric Clapton Strat "Blackie" - Duesenberg Paloma - Fender Super Champ X2 - '64 Champ clone - Pignose - Quilter Micropro Mach2

My take on his post is that Snapperharmer wants to reduce the output level when the volume pot is at 10. That is to say, when the pot is at ten, it sounds like it would set at 7.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Technically it's doable but implies some major alterations to the PCB.

Reducing the gain with a pair of resistors is a good approach, however the trim pots for volume adjustments is a technique more applicable to basses.

The closest thing to a trim pot volume adjustment is the mid boost "preset" switch commonly found on Tyler guitars. It activates and de-activates only the gain volume while leaving the circuit constant. The amount of boost is determined by where you preset the mid boost knob. Instead of reaching down and turning the mid boost down until you reach the desired sound the gain is punched in and out with the tap of a button.

Now THERE's Chromeface when we need him, going on 9 years this January.

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"Another day in paradise!"