The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Mostly I find prominent in the lower strings around and past the middle of the neck. It's kind of tubby, throaty, muffled, almost like Kermit the frog tone.

    It doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. (Though it does kind of drive me crazy)
    Neck adjustments? Bridge placement/setup? String gauge? Amp? Pickups? Combination of things?

    Maybe it is a telltale sign of something common that is out of alignment.

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  3. #2

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    [Hey, I love Kermit the Frog!]



    What amp are you using, and with what EQ settings?

  4. #3

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    Heavy gauge flat rounds are pretty thunky on the lowest strings.

    Light gauge roundwounds are the other extreme in the bright sounding spectrum.

    Don't know about those other things you listed, could be.

  5. #4

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  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by marcwhy
    [Hey, I love Kermit the Frog!]



    What amp are you using, and with what EQ settings?
    No dis to Kermit, more just sounds like his voice.

    I'm using a Yamaha G50-II 112.
    I've tried many different combinations of settings. Right now it's at: Trb-4, Mid-8, Bass-2.

  7. #6

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    Without knowing exactly what your setup is, generally those tones are somewhere between 250 and 400hz. You can always use a Boss Graphic Equalizer and cut some of those frequencies.

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kirk1701
    Without knowing exactly what your setup is, generally those tones are somewhere between 250 and 400hz. You can always use a Boss Graphic Equalizer and cut some of those frequencies.
    Thanks. The amp does have a parametric EQ that I've mostly avoided using but probably should take advantage of whatever I have at hand.

  9. #8

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    Room acoustics may also be playing a role here. My practice room is narrow and long. I get all sorts of weird low-mid resonances depending on all the relative angles between my ears, the amp, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, my chair, etc. Noticing lately with my louder archtops that low E string open through fret 3 sound relatively thin, frets 4-6 sound good, 7-12 are super boomy. If I stand up or move my chair around, those relationships all shift to where open E is boomy, etc.

    That is a great amp, by the way. Definitely use the parametric EQ.

  10. #9

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    Check neck relief, action, etc.

  11. #10

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    Sincerely appreciate the replies. I'm going to pick up my 80s Orange Cube 60 from my friend's. It's mostly been at her house for rehearsals since I got it and I've only used it several times on gigs; not much time to get acquainted with it. The Yamaha sounds incredible esp. with semi-hollow. I think the Cube may help balance out the archtop. Or at least hoping it will...

  12. #11

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    Have you tried lowering your pickup(s)?

  13. #12

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    Don't know if this helps: I had a similar problem playing through my Peavey Backstage 30 at home. My solution was turning all three of the tone controls down to around 1 -3 and the sound got much more transparent and where I wanted it to be. Plus I switched to pure nickel roundwounds (that was just out of curiosity mainly).
    Also the idea of a Boss GE7 works fine. I tried it and dialed out just a tad of the lower frequency bands and it made a big difference.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by arielcee
    Thanks. The amp does have a parametric EQ that I've mostly avoided using but probably should take advantage of whatever I have at hand.
    I was just going to suggest a parametric EQ pedal. Very effective at eliminating the frequencies that cause those problems. Seeing as your amp has one....I would certainly take advantage. I have a Tech 21 QStrip. Excellent pedal.

  15. #14

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    I think I’ve learned the most about tailoring the EQ of my gear by playing several guitars through each of my amps and playing each of my guitars through several amps. I’d spend time tweeking EQ to try to get the best tone from each combination.

    You might try your guitar with some other amps, even if you need to bring your guitar to some music stores to plug in. If your guitar has the same issue with multiple amps, that might point to your pickups, strings or setup as the culprit.

  16. #15

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    Wait a minute, do you mean when you're playing on the lower strings above the fifth fret? The timbre of the strings changes quite a bit as one plays higher up the neck and this is much more noticeable with wound strings than with plain strings. As you are fretting closer to the bridge, the effectively shorter string is stiffer and responds differently.

    The effect is also more noticeable with heavier strings- as jazz musicians tend to believe are essential to "good" tone- than lighter strings; indeed, this is why a lot of rock musicians prefer the tone of very light strings (.008 sets) because that effect is much less noticeable when they are playing high up on the neck, particularly above the 12th fret.

    There is an interview on YouTube where Johnny Smith talks about this; in his opinion, you could draw a line between the open low E string and the top fret on the high E string, and the notes towards the treble side of that line will sound better than the notes on the bass side of that line.

    If this is what you're talking about, it is just physics. Flatwounds will exhibit this more prominently than roundwounds, and heavier gauge strings more so than lighter gauge. Wound strings with a thinner core, such as TI, might show this effect less but I have not personally checked that out and don't have any guitars with TIs on now. If so, that might explain part of the preference people have for the sound of those strings. I notice the effect much less with my current sets of 11-50 roundwounds (SITs).

  17. #16

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    Ok, I'm looking at the parametric eq on the Yamaha G50II 112.

    I would take a nice narrow Q, boost the level to about 4 o'clock, then sweep the frequency knob between 200 and 500 hz. Once you find a particularly muddy area, turn the level down to about -3.

  18. #17

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    Just to be clear, is the sound you describe:

    - hearing from placing yourself in front of the amp?
    - hearing from placing yourself off to the side of the amp?
    - hearing playback from a recording using a mic?
    - hearing playback from a recording using line out?
    - hearing from the amp on the floor?
    - hearing from the amp on a stand?

  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by pauln
    Just to be clear, is the sound you describe:

    - hearing from placing yourself in front of the amp?
    - hearing from placing yourself off to the side of the amp?
    - hearing playback from a recording using a mic?
    - hearing playback from a recording using line out?
    - hearing from the amp on the floor?
    - hearing from the amp on a stand?
    I've played in front of and off to the side. I've made/heard recordings and it is a little different from in-room but the overall tonality is still the same.

    I thought it was something that only occurred with 17" big body archtops, fender circuit amps, heavy gauge flatwound strings.

    I'm using a 16" × 2.75" with 11 flats, Gibson 57 classics and still pretty heavy in what I've described in the OP.
    I've gone through different picks as well.

    I have yet to try the parametric EQ on the Yamaha though (going to once I get home!)

    I also just picked up my 80s Orange Roland Cube 60 from a friends house, which I think may be a better fit.

    Thanks sincerely for all suggestions.
    I might make a video of the amps in comparison.