GhostHorse Explorer muddy

[jaxx04]

I have a GhostHorse explorer and have owned it for around a year now, but find the pickups really muddy and through distortion it sounds more like a fuzz. Almost as if my amp was behind a wall. I also have an ESP MH200 which was fine out the box, nice high gain distorted tone. And that is the sound i'm trying to achieve with the GhostHorse. Any tips on how to do so without changing pickups?

 

[Noodling Guitars]

EQ! This is just a very rough generalization, but try this:

"Muddy" usually means way too much boost on the 200-500hz range. Play around with scooping those frequencies first.
"Honky"/"Punch Mids" usually refers to the 600-1200 or so range.
"Bright"/"Icepicky" is 2-3k.

You'd be surprised at how much an EQ can do to your sound - try playing around with placement too: before you even hit the amp (i.e. guitar ==> EQ ==> amp) or in the effects loop (guitar ==> preamp - fx loop eq -- back to poweramp) for different sounds and effects.

 

[Des]

I have a GhostHorse explorer and have owned it for around a year now, but find the pickups really muddy and through distortion it sounds more like a fuzz. Almost as if my amp was behind a wall. I also have an ESP MH200 which was fine out the box, nice high gain distorted tone. And that is the sound i'm trying to achieve with the GhostHorse. Any tips on how to do so without changing pickups?

Check the pickup height. They rarely high enough from the factory.

 

[BGood]

Check the pickup height. They rarely high enough from the factory

This sounds like a textbook pickup height problem.

A screwdriver is the easiest, fastest, cheapest and by far the most efficient way to a good tone. You might replace your pickups a dozen times, if you put them back at the same height as the last ones, the problem will likely persist.

I'd go the opposite of what Des suggest. A neck pickup muddiness resides in its proximity to strings.

 

[Des]

This sounds like a textbook pickup height problem.

A screwdriver is the easiest, fastest, cheapest and by far the most efficient way to a good tone. You might replace your pickups a dozen times, if you put them back at the same height as the last ones, the problem will likely persist.

I'd go the opposite of what Des suggest. A neck pickup muddiness resides in its proximity to strings.

You dont need to guess. Recommended height is 1/16" from high E which is way closer than most factory guitars. If its more than that raise it up. If its less than that Id be amazed.

 

[jaxx04]

Pickup height doesn’t seem to be doing anything, no matter how high or low I put them they still sound muffled and muddy

 

[Noodling Guitars]

Pickup height doesn’t seem to be doing anything, no matter how high or low I put them they still sound muffled and muddy

What rig do you run? Do you have access to an EQ pedal - or even at the very least an overdrive of some sort? If you don't want to change pickups, you're going to need external help to shape your tone.

 

[Des]

Pickup height doesn’t seem to be doing anything, no matter how high or low I put them they still sound muffled and muddy

How does it sound when you split the coils?

 

[jaxx04]

I usually run straight into my orange crush pro 120, don't have an eq sadly but do have an ibanez tube screamer clone. When splitting the coils not too much really changes.

 

[Noodling Guitars]

I usually run straight into my orange crush pro 120, don't have an eq sadly but do have an ibanez tube screamer clone. When splitting the coils not too much really changes.

With that setup, you can try the following:

(1) obviously EQing your amp differently than how you EQ it for your MH200 will help. For example, roll back bass a bit, bump up treble and play around with the middle until you get something that you like; and/or

(2) Since you do have a tube screamer clone, you can use that to tighten up the mids. As a starting point, try going anywhere from 2 o'clock to max on volume, gain set at 0 (or just a hair if you want). The key is the tone control - start at 12 o'clock and move towards 2 o'clock and see how that helps. Essentially, you're using the pedal for just shaping the tone and a slight clean boost. That should tighten up the bottom considerably. You don't need to do this with (1) above - but you could (together you would get even more dramatic results).

 

[syco]

Try changing how your "caps " are wired . Don't know how yours is wired , but it makes a difference on my lp's .

 

[Raiyn]

It's a Ghosthorse. One of the few half-ass collectable. modern Epi's. Please don't rewire it.