''Boomy'' guitar

[DeepEnd]

Sunday morning I was playing my Schecter during rehearsal before worship and I noted that it sounded ''boomy.'' My initial thought was to tweak the EQ but maybe I'm not thinking it through? The guitar has ''Duncan Design'' humbuckers and is strung with d'Addario ''light top heavy bottom'' 10-52's. It seems reasonable that the bass strings would be a bit louder (produce a stronger electrical signal) than a standard set due to their heavier gauge but a standard set of 10's is 10-46. How much volume difference between a 46 and a 52? If you've had this problem, how did you address it? EQ? Pickup height adjustment? Other?

[mrbrown49]

I usually associate boomy-ness with room acoustics, or speaker cabinet acoustics. You could try EQing it out, but you may need to move your amp.

 

[hellion_213]

String gauge mostly affects things like lower tunings, high-gain chugging, etc. Try adjusting the pickup height, may help a little, but it could be the DD buckers are a little dark.do you experience 'boom' at home as well? You should be able to EQ it out. Just curious, are you running any pedals?

[Grant Harding]

This is like deja vu for me. I used that gauge of strings for about 3 years when I was trying to fatten up my sound on my Strat, but went back to regular 10's because it didn't sit as well in the mix with our band. Really tightened up our sound.

[Freeman Keller]

Why did you select those string in the first place? If you look at their tension chart, that set is roughly 16 pounds on the top three and 24 on the bottom. I can see that for a tuning like open C or something but I think they would be really unpleasant to play.

 

Which actually brings up another question that I haven't considered. With acoustic strings going up in gauge (and thus tension) generally is thought to drive the top harder, resulting in a louder sound. Not necessarily changing the partials or overtones, just more volume. However does the same thing hold on an electric? ie - does the increased tension somehow drive the magnetic field surrounding the pole pieces "more" and thus is it louder?

 

[hellion_213]

My experience is no. Thicker strings tend to darken, thin - brighten, but even that varies by brand. If theres a difference, it's exceptionally subtle. I bounce back and forth from 10-52s and 10-46s depending on what the local store has, and really can't tell a huge difference, except in low chugs and stability in dropped tunings. Maybe some extra Boom on the bottom end. I don't play 'clean' though, so I'm not certain what the translation would be, though in my mind, high-gain should do nothing but exaggerate any pronounced effect.

[DeepEnd]

The amp is on a stand several inches off the floor like this one:

Unfortunately, I leave my amp at church and practice at home with a different amp that sits directly on the floor so it's apples vs. oranges. The only EQ tweaking I've done recently was to boost the treble.

 

Why did you select those string in the first place? If you look at their tension chart, that set is roughly 16 pounds on the top three and 24 on the bottom. I can see that for a tuning like open C or something but I think they would be really unpleasant to play.

 

Which actually brings up another question that I haven't considered. With acoustic strings going up in gauge (and thus tension) generally is thought to drive the top harder, resulting in a louder sound. Not necessarily changing the partials or overtones, just more volume. However does the same thing hold on an electric? ie - does the increased tension somehow drive the magnetic field surrounding the pole pieces "more" and thus is it louder?

I tend to be somewhat ham fisted when strumming and I was getting low E buzz with a standard set of 10's. I already have the action fairly high (>3/32'' for the low E at the 17th fret) so I figured heavier strings would be the next step. The relief is okay by Fender Strat standards (~0.01'') and the frets are in good shape. Since I only needed to eliminate buzz on the low E and maybe the A, it made sense (to me) to go heavier on the strings I wanted to affect. As for playing feel, they feel fine to me. Regarding relative volume, there are people who suggest heavier strings are indeed ''louder'' so it may be true.

[mrbrown49]

It would be worth taking the amp home to see if its the room, or your rig.

[AJ6stringsting]

Get a Sonic Maximizer.

[Grant Harding]

Actually, I think you should stick with those strings if they suit and just use EQ to apply a high pass filter, effectively cutting off frequencies below a certain threshold. That will make a big difference in the mix.

[hellion_213]

Exactly why I asked about pedals 😎 I first heard one the bass player in an old band had and let me try one practice. Conformed me instantly! Now I'm a true believer who never runs a rig without one.

[DeepEnd]

. . . it could be the DD buckers are a little dark.do you experience 'boom' at home as well? You should be able to EQ it out. Just curious' date=' are you running any pedals?[/quote']

Sorry, I should have responded to this. No, I'm not running any pedals. I'm primarily an acoustic guy but occasionally a song calls for an electric guitar. I use a little of the amp's built-in reverb but that's all. I'll try backing off on the bass and recheck pickup height.

[hellion_213]

Have you turned down/off the amp's reverb? That could very well be the problem. Reverb is more of a recording effect, maybe personal taste in a monitor, but in a church setting, the room itself should add sufficient reverb, while any extra from the amp could be causing your 'boom'

[DeepEnd]

Hmm. Hadn't thought about that, especially since I hear it standing next to the amp. I normally associate ''boomy'' with pronounced upper bass/lower mids so I was thinking of it as an EQ issue. Our worship area is indeed fairly ''live'' so I may not need reverb. I'll try turning off the reverb and cutting the bass. Thanks.

[Emory]

I usually associate boomy-ness with room acoustics, or speaker cabinet acoustics. You could try EQing it out, but you may need to move your amp.

 

Ya just gotta load up the pews with those sound absorbing bodies!

[WRGKMC]

In a large room like that I'd associate boominess with an in phase resonance between the cab an room. Reducing the bass frequencies should lessen it but don't rule out the intonation and pickup or string height of the guitar.

 

If for example, if the top strings are low they may have more fret slap before coming to full volume and the bottom string having more pull may have more relief/height and therefore resonate more then the high side.

 

If the guitars playability is good and the low side relief isn't growing (which commonly happens when string gauges are changed) you may want to back the low side of the pickups down more then the high side.

 

Try setting the treble side to 3mm from the strings with the high E string held down at the highest fret and set the low side to 4mm doing the same. Its unlikely your need to go much more then that unless the pickups have mud tones.

 

If the boominess still occurs try tweaking the amps bass down or treble mids up. Best you can do is get a balance but heavy bottom strings will put out more volume on the low end so backing off the pickups on that side is probably the best you're going to do.

[onelife]

When I setup a PA system in a new to me room, I experiment with speaker (and microphone) placement before I start adjusting EQ. The way the sound 'fits' the room is dramatically affected by where the speakers are and the direction of their projection.

 

I would suggest that, if you have the opportunty, you experiment a bit with where and how you place your amplifier (including whether or not you use your stand).

 

Personally, I prefer to optimise acoustically before I start carving out frequencies electronically.

[DeepEnd]

I hear the boominess standing next to the amp, which is angled up and pointing at me, and it seems to be direct sound from the amp or possibly near field reflections. So I don't necessarily think it's room acoustics, more likely signal chain related (pickups or EQ). FWIW, I run the tone control wide open so that's not it either. What the congregation hears is primarily from the PA, I just have the amp to hear myself and sometimes I can't even do that (whole 'nother thread, which you've already seen) but I figure if I hear it the congregation does too. I'll try EQ and if that doesn't do it I'll try adjusting the pickups.

[WRGKMC]

If its an open backed cab, try stuffing a pillow in the back and see if it changes the cab resonance. Boom usually comes from a cab/speaker mis match but it can change and sound right in different rooms. In a small room that boom may be exactly what the room needs. In a big open hall, it may not.

 

If you get a chance to try another guitar, see if it changes. If you have the boom at the same frequencies, then you know its the amp.

 

If you own an IPhone, you can download a free dB meter/frequency analyzer. You can run the application and identify exactly what frequency you're having an issue with. From there you may need to scoop it with an EQ to flatten out the sound.

[Ancient Mariner]

I've used a light top/heavy bottom set in those gauges in the past, and they sounded unbalanced with a bigger, loose sounding bottom end that didn't sit well. If I HAD to use them then I'd lower the bass side of the pickups and possibly extend pole pieces if they were adjustable to brighten the tone. Adjusting bass/mid/treble settings on the amp would be a good idea too.

[DeepEnd]

If its an open backed cab, try stuffing a pillow in the back and see if it changes the cab resonance. Boom usually comes from a cab/speaker mis match but it can change and sound right in different rooms. In a small room that boom may be exactly what the room needs. In a big open hall, it may not.

 

If you get a chance to try another guitar, see if it changes. If you have the boom at the same frequencies, then you know its the amp.

 

If you own an IPhone, you can download a free dB meter/frequency analyzer. You can run the application and identify exactly what frequency you're having an issue with. From there you may need to scoop it with an EQ to flatten out the sound.

It's a closed back cab so no pillow in the back. That may also be part of the problem. My old Fender is an open backed cab and I ran it with the mids scooped. Clearly that won't work here because it would only make the boom worse. A friend has a HSS Ibanez I can run through my amp, which should tell me something about whether it's strings, pickups, etc. My first step will be to adjust the EQ and second will be to replace the strings, maybe with an 11-50 set that should be better balanced. I don't have an iPhone but I might try to find something for Android.

[hellion_213]

Did killing amp reverb help?

[DeepEnd]

Did killing amp reverb help?

Haven't had a chance to test it out yet. I played my acoustic today and I'll be using it next Sunday too. It will be a couple of weeks minimum before I know.

[Mikeo]

What's the amp and cab, you are using?

 

 

[WRGKMC]

The string change would be my first choice. I'd avoid pure nickel because they then to have darker tones. Stick with nickel plated strings.

 

I used to use 11/50's on my Epi Dot but the guitar started having issues with body warp so I went to using 9/46 and its stopped. I like the heavier strings for playing live but heavier strings cut into my speed and agility. Its more like lifting weights then doing an aerobic workout, plus the hours I put in playing given my age I have to be careful not to inflame the joints. I do play allot of bass too which is tough enough on the fingers.