(I have an Ibanez Electric RG 220 w/floyd rose and a Line 6 Spider I )
The sound the pick makes when I pluck a string is way too loud and prominent. Fret noise and squeaking is really sensitive. I try to mute the strings with my left and right hand but it doesn't help with this problem. This guitar has recently been set-up professionally with new strings and intonation. The amp's noise gate is up as well. The 'super distortion' pick-up sounds slightly better than the other factory pick-up. I don't hear this crazy sensitivity when I listen to anyone else play. What can I do to bring the sensitivity down?
I'll take a shot at this for starters....
- Take a look at your picking hand. How much plectrum is showing? You get less noise (generally) if you only have a tiny little bit of the pick emerging from your hand. Stiffer picks seem to reduce noise as well. (Try some big, fat picks. They're cheap. My flatpicks start around 1.14 mm, somewhat fatter than a Fender Heavy, & get thicker really fast, & I get no pick noise.)
- Fretting hand: Fret squeaks are a basic occupational hazard for string players. It's an organic instrument, and it produces organic noises. Changing fingure pressure as you change positions will cut noise somewhat. Some players like the spray-on string cleaners/noise reducers. (I use some Lemon Pledge every six months or so.) I also try to think more about note choices & overall tone than about noise, on the assumption that good playing will cancel out squeaks.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
What settings are you playing with? Any effects in there apart from the noise gate? Do you get this at all ranges of the guitar's tone control?
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but considering the guitar, I'd hazard a guess that your music is much more at the heavy end of the scale. You'll be using a lot of gain - which increases the sensitivity of everything on the guitar.
Try turning down the volume of the guitar and increasing the volume of the output stage of the amp, to compensate.
It will cost you a little of the distortion, but also a lot of the sensitivity.
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I think as far as fret squeaks go, yeah they can be annoying and unwanted, but they can be miniumized by trying to rid them from your playing. Simply, Pratice lifting off the string before moving to another fret, go slowly.
Pat
What settings are you playing with? Any effects in there apart from the noise gate? Do you get this at all ranges of the guitar's tone control?
I've tried playing with the bass/treble/mid knobs at various settings, which helps only a little. The amp has 6 channels - clean, twang, blues, crunch, recto and insane. Basically, if I want to play with any kind of volume and/or distortion, the unwanted noise (picking, squeaking) dominates over tone with ear piercing verocity.
I've tried playing with the bass/treble/mid knobs at various settings
That sounds like the amp's tone controls, what I was asking about (and similarly Greybeard, but about the volume) was the tone pot on the guitar itself. If it's all the way up it will let through lots of squeak to the amp (similarly if the volume is all the way up then the noise gate is going to have to be really high). Was wondering about compression, but I'm not sure the Spider I has a compression effect. Mind you, as others have said, being able to mute and play with little string noise is a challenge of high gain playing.
Aside: just looked through the ultimate guitar reviews of the RG220 to find out what it does have in terms of tone and volume control. Spotted this useful piece of information:
"Even on the cheap amp, I was able to sustain a note for 5 minutes."
Which should save anyone else from having to try it out. :)
Thanks
All good suggestions from the other members...
I would like to add - if you are a newbie player, you will get these extra noises as you are just starting out/learning the guitar. In time as your technique improves you will notice that the squeaks/string/fret noise/etc. will start to go away. Maybe cutting a bit of the highs might quiet things down a bit.
You're probably using waaay too much gain on your amp settings,and maybe a compressor (which on hi-gain settings will make your softest picking sound as LOUD as the heavyest picking).
Try creating your own presets on the amp (it's a modeling amp from what I understand,right ?) and start from the basics,no compressors,no effects. A good rule for the gain,for starters,is : play a power chord,turn the gain slowly from MAX towards the MIN,when you find a point where the sounds become "clean" (Well,crunchy) then you push it UP again a line. Always worked for me.
Remember,for rythm guitar LESS GAIN = MORE DEFINITION
MORE GAIN =MORE MUD ( your guitar will get lost in the mix and lack PUNCH)
I seriously doubt 's a guitar's problem.
Hope this helps !
