bruunm
03-05-2018, 06:07 AM
Hi Team,
I bought a Chapman ML3Bea and I absolutely love the feel of the neck, playability etc etc. It feels very solid (and so it should be at 4.2kg hahahaha). But the one thing that I miss is it has a tone that lack clarity and that upper end 3D sparkle (if that makes sense).
So far I went around to change pickups, pots and redid the entire wiring (Turns out the wiring was at fault) so I ended up with the original pickups again. Which in all fairness sounds great.
One thing I still notice is that the tone is a bit "woolly" and lack definition in low notes (and top end sparkle is still not there 100% in clean tones. Gained sounds are amazing.
Last night I read that brass blocks on trems can warm up the tone and steel blocks can increase sustain and be "brighter". And yes I understand the utter subjective nature of all my terms to describe sounds etc. I have a Blade Levinson Strat with same Wilky trem and a (cast I presume) steel block. So I swapped the two blocks and indeed my Chapman became somewhat brighter. Which made me think about options and embark down the rabbit hole of mods and upgrades :)
I saw this trem and wonder if this will give the tone more clarity etc compared to the standard wilkinson 2 post that sit of guitar currently.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GOTOH-EV510TS-BS-Premium-non-locking-2-Point-Tremolo-Bridge-Cosmo-Black/111234542263?hash=item19e6186ab7:g:uAQAAOSwpP9Y6~n Q
I do not mind forking out the extra cash as I said I love the guitar as a whole and if I could get those last 10-15% missing in tone then I would be a happy man (until I of course by the Martin Miller AZ later this year hahahaah).
Any feedback appreciated.
Cheers
Markus
I bought a Chapman ML3Bea and I absolutely love the feel of the neck, playability etc etc. It feels very solid (and so it should be at 4.2kg hahahaha). But the one thing that I miss is it has a tone that lack clarity and that upper end 3D sparkle (if that makes sense).
So far I went around to change pickups, pots and redid the entire wiring (Turns out the wiring was at fault) so I ended up with the original pickups again. Which in all fairness sounds great.
One thing I still notice is that the tone is a bit "woolly" and lack definition in low notes (and top end sparkle is still not there 100% in clean tones. Gained sounds are amazing.
Last night I read that brass blocks on trems can warm up the tone and steel blocks can increase sustain and be "brighter". And yes I understand the utter subjective nature of all my terms to describe sounds etc. I have a Blade Levinson Strat with same Wilky trem and a (cast I presume) steel block. So I swapped the two blocks and indeed my Chapman became somewhat brighter. Which made me think about options and embark down the rabbit hole of mods and upgrades :)
I saw this trem and wonder if this will give the tone more clarity etc compared to the standard wilkinson 2 post that sit of guitar currently.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GOTOH-EV510TS-BS-Premium-non-locking-2-Point-Tremolo-Bridge-Cosmo-Black/111234542263?hash=item19e6186ab7:g:uAQAAOSwpP9Y6~n Q
I do not mind forking out the extra cash as I said I love the guitar as a whole and if I could get those last 10-15% missing in tone then I would be a happy man (until I of course by the Martin Miller AZ later this year hahahaah).
Any feedback appreciated.
Cheers
Markus