JTV 89f sounds muddy / lacks sharp attack

[jplocster]

Model: JTV-89f

Firmware: 2.21

Pedal: POD HD500X and Helix

 

I typically play rock and metal. When palm muting, I am trying to achieve a nice crisp sharp attack with heavy distortion. Even with the high gain pack, I cannot seem to achieve this sound. The notes all sound muddy.

 

I have tried positioning the pickups in minor increments up and down in workbench HD and while the tone definitely changes from brighter to darker tones, the mud is present regardless of placement.

 

Am I missing some settings? Is this style of sound simply not the intended aim of the JTV (it seems most of the models are for vintage guitars)? Just looking for some help / information on getting modern metal tones out of the guitar.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[cruisinon2]

First line of defense for Variax weirdness...and make no mistake, these guitars can have odd issues...is to re-flash the firmware. For reasons unknown, sometimes it makes a difference. So try that first.

 

Then there's the fact that piezos behave much differently than mag pickups. While a more common complaint is a thin/tinny sound initially, anything is possible, and you might have to mess around with your patches quite a bit, assuming that you dialed them in with "normal" guitars. I have a whole slew of patches specifically for the JTV.

[jplocster]

Thanks, I'll give that a try. And for comparison, I was using the same patches that I use for my gigging guitar (Jackson V with Het set http://www.emgpickups.com/jh-het-set.html).

[clay-man]

The modeling has a little less presence than magnetics if you listen to them dry, but if you plug it into an amp you can't really notice.

[MiroslavKloud]

When comparing piezo vs magnetic (with palm muting), the piezo sounds really like mud. It's not a glitch, it's the feature.

[jplocster]

I was able to get the sharp attack but I did have to drastically edit my patches. I was not expecting to make such large changes! Thx for all the advice.