Ho-lee crap. I was about to return my HD500 in 2 days. I actually pulled out the box and receipt. Then I stumbled across your guide surfing around last night.

Before I sunk into it, I couldn't dial up crap on my HD. I had spent hours and hours fiddling with it. I finally gave up last evening and tried to console myself with the thought of returning it, saving $500, and continuing to use my lowly XT which, although a little ghetto by today's standards, is not so bad for metal.

Well...things changed dramatically tonight. That guide is gold.

I wonder how many people - reasonably clever people - have given up and returned their HD, frustrated that they couldn't seem to share in the excitement everyone else appears to be enjoying. That was me last night. That Guide should be mandatory reading.

Well done my friend. Well done.

Damn I'm stoked. Could be an all nighter...

EDIT: Yup. All nighter in the works. #3 Steam Whistle cracked and going down smooooooth. DJENT...DJENT...DJENDJENT... I hope the popo don't come a-callin...

Speaking of which, that God forsaken screech happened again last night. WTF? No more USB until all that gets sorted out.

wow this looks very helpful & detailed... many thanks meambobbo.

BR & God bless

Thanks!! nice guide

"In general, single-coils are noisier and fatter (thicker bass and lower mids) than humbuckers."  I assume you mean the opposite of fatter.

meambobbo wrote:

 

I worded that poorly.  When I think of fat tone I think of SRV's clean tone for Pride and Joy.  It definitely isn't all bass and no mids.  The mids sound more warm than nasal.  So what I should have wrote is the midrange peak is lower.  Does that sound more accurate?

I think that warmth/fatness is more a function of his heavy strings, tone control, and amp settings.  You can change the resonant peak not only variably with a tone control, but you can put caps and resistors in the signal path in the guitar besides the tone control.

If you want warmth, you generally don't start with a single coil.  I don't know that I'd describe that P&J tone as warm, anyway.  It was warmer than some, but still had that single coil bite underneath.  A single coil provides a pretty narrow, focused view of the strings which give them that glassier, brighter sound.  A humbucker's dual coils are seeing the strings at two different places and combining the opposing signals, giving a warmer, thicker tone.

As a beginner I have to say this is one of the very descriptions on how this works and why it works that makes sense, and not just for HD. Looks like this will be one of my treasured references to read over and over. Can't overstate what many said: Excellent contribution to the user community. Thanks ... and please keep maintaining it as you get feedback and find a topic worth expanding.