Pickup "Incompatibility"?

[Metalhasrisen]

Looking for some insight into an issue I'm having:

I play through a Friedman Smallbox and often use a Suhr Koko Boost in front. It sounds killer with my Les Paul, which has Suhr Aldrich pickups in it. However, if I switch to my EVH striped series with the stock pickup, it is unusable. Flubby, farty, almost sounds like a loose connection but it goes away if I switch off the Koko.

So what's up with that? I'd appreciate any input, Thanks!

 

[lowmantotempole]

I’ve had similar issues with amps not liking certain pickups. It depends on the puckups’ output. My Fortin amps don’t get along with any pickup under 10k without a boost.

 

[JimmyBlind]

Sounds like the Koko might be accentuating some of the faults with the pickup if the sound improves when you turn the koko off. Does the EVH have bridge & neck pickups? Same deal with both?

 

[iplayloudly]

I had something similar happen to me with a Strat a while back. It originally had the typical 3 single coils. I swapped the bridge pickup for a Duncan Hot Rails (mini humbucker). On its own, the humbucker sounded great. The middle pickup on its own also sounded great. But in position 2 where both pickups were on, it sounded completely dull and lifeless, almost like they were out of phase. I'm 100% sure I had them wired correctly, and even had a trusted guitar tech double check me on that.

 

[Metalhasrisen]

Thanks for the input thus far. The EVH just has the single humbucker. Maybe I should just sway it out with something else. Any suggestions? Maybe the Bare knuckles VHII?

 

[Salos]

Looking for some insight into an issue I'm having:

I play through a Friedman Smallbox and often use a Suhr Koko Boost in front. It sounds killer with my Les Paul, which has Suhr Aldrich pickups in it. However, if I switch to my EVH striped series with the stock pickup, it is unusable. Flubby, farty, almost sounds like a loose connection but it goes away if I switch off the Koko.

So what's up with that? I'd appreciate any input, Thanks!

Does the EVH sound OK with the Koko through other amps?

 

[SavageRiffer]

I've never seen anything that extreme happening. I know those pickups well, but doesn't sound like it at all. Keep in mind that pickups have different outputs and may drive your amp differently. I don't know how you're using your boost, but the key is in how you're dialing in the pedal and amp. Whether you're maxing out the Smallbox gain and adding a little boost on top, or have the Smallbox like 1/2 gain and the boost on 1/2 gain, there's something that's pushing your amp wrong. Some pickups have more low end than others, for example, so if those pickups are pushing more low end than your other pickups, then you'll have to adjust.

Keep in mind that your amp EQ is like a tone network. They're not usually independent of each other. When you increase/decrease one, it usually affects another EQ. On many amps, the treble control is the strongest and affects how much mids and bass. Sometimes you can't get enough mids or bass if your treble is set too low. It depends on the amp.

Anyway, there's either something wrong with your pickup wiring, or something going on with the EQ. Is that the made in Mexico version with the single pickup? If it has cheap electronics and 250k pots, then that might not sound good. Switch to a 500k pot and use a .022 cap.