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Well this is a strange sound...


aepoc
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Are my ears being strange, or is there a ringing at the end of each little riff in this clip? It's only present in the Les Paul (first half) not the PRS (second half).  PRS starts at 25 seconds.  Pier Murru on the Facebook group for Helix thinks it's resonant peak of the first pup is way stronger than the second pup... which is making sense.  The pickup is a DiMarzio PAF Pro (bridge).  Guitar is an Epi Les Paul Standard.  Curious what other ears think of it.

 

https://soundcloud.com/aepoc/lp-prs-test-4

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Don't know what could be causing the sound. Pier Murru could be on to something about the pickup being the source. It sounds like a metal component on the guitar, something other than the strings, vibrating and resonating that the pickup picks up. I actually really like little nuances in tones like that. They are fun! Lol.

 

If you want to try and get rid of it, setting Helix's PAD to on might have an effect. For my jem with evolution pickups, I recently discovered that things sound much better with PAD on. Wish I had tried this sooner. As an alternative to PAD, you could also try lowering the pickup height slightly, since it's higher output. I try and have mine about 2mm from the bottom of the string to the pickup when the string is pressed at the 24th fret, for the neck, and around 3mm for the bridge.

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I think I know what that is. At high guitar volumes, especially overdriven guitar volumes there's a sympathetic vibration of the strings before your hand damps them. 

The strings are vibrating at high volume and interacting with the pickup[ which could be slightly microphonic]. Your hand damps the strings between riffs but the volume is still there, hence the split second of 'ring' before the volume is damped.

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I'm not able to listen, since I am at work, but on a Les Paul the place to check for sympathetic vibrations would be above the nut (between the nut and the tuners). This is the reason why you sometimes see people with hair ties or other things around the headstock. I put a piece of foam under the strings on one of my guitars. Strats often have this problem because of the springs for the trem, in which case some people (like myself) will dampen those with a sock or something similar (only recommended if you are not going to use the trem, though).

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I'm suggesting the string vibration thing as well - you probably have a "headstock harp" as I once heard a guitar tech call it. If so you just need to damp the strings. I own a Gibson SG that does this and found that a rubber band at the base of the headstock just above the nut is an effective solution.

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Don't know what could be causing the sound. Pier Murru could be on to something about the pickup being the source. It sounds like a metal component on the guitar, something other than the strings, vibrating and resonating that the pickup picks up. I actually really like little nuances in tones like that. They are fun! Lol.

 

If you want to try and get rid of it, setting Helix's PAD to on might have an effect. For my jem with evolution pickups, I recently discovered that things sound much better with PAD on. Wish I had tried this sooner. As an alternative to PAD, you could also try lowering the pickup height slightly, since it's higher output. I try and have mine about 2mm from the bottom of the string to the pickup when the string is pressed at the 24th fret, for the neck, and around 3mm for the bridge.

Thanks Duncann, I appreciate the time.  Pad is already on (always), so it was in that clip as well, and you're right, everything sounds better.  I'll give the pickup height thing a try, couldn't hurt.

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Tried you're preset. Nice tone. Makes good use of the processing power of Helix.

 

I also don't hear the ringing on either of my guitars, one of which has a PAF Pro in the neck.

 

Did you figure out what's causing the ringing?

 

Thanks, glad you like it.  Hmm interesting, maybe my PAF Pro is too close to the strings as you mentioned.  Some have suggested I try a hair tie around the strings (above the nut, below the tuners) to eliminate the ringing.  I'm going to give that a shot the next time I use it.  

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all - I'm a Fractal FX II user for ~ 3 years, and really appreciate the spirit of the community here. Here goes my first post:

Regretfully I'm having the same problem originally listed above with my Helix, which I haven't experienced otherwise. The issue is with my stock PRS C24 in all pickup positions as well as my White Falcon, also w stock filtertrons. It sounds like digital artfacts. I've spent several hours trying to fix this so all suggestions are appreciated.

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