The ESP Guitar Company

Dunno man, I haven't played mine back to back like you did.

I don't have the time at the moment, but I will try and get them out and play them like you have and let you know.

I don't remember my Vintage sound trebly man, it definitely sounded fat from memory.

Perhaps not a fat as the KH-20 or Ouija, but I am sure it sounded fat and heavy.

Definitely an awesome guitar and one of my favourites.

Try changing the battery in the KH-2.  I find the guitars to get much grittier/ganier sounding when the 9V battery gets near the end.

I was thinking that Pus, but I am sure Steely would have been all over that already.

Pushead wrote:

Try changing the battery in the KH-2.  I find the guitars to get much grittier/ganier sounding when the 9V battery gets near the end.

Yes, I already did that.

The Vintage sounds well, not bad at all...just trebly compared to the KH-20 or the KH-2 Ouija, which are supposed to be same woods/pickups

The beauty of guitars is that they all sound different  

Now you have some for all situations.

Need more treble grab the KH-2.

Need more fatass tone grab the Ouija 

Its funny because my custom shop guitar sounds more trebly and mean and my KH-2 has a Fat sound.

Haha! 

Hey guys!!!

Still a little obsesed about this.

Hear this track, first, you can hear the KH-2 Vintage, bridge pickup. Then, same riff, KH-2 Ouija, also bridge pickup:

https://soundcloud.com/steeledge/sandman-vintage-ouija

I feel the KH-2 Vintage more high-gain / trebly, too much considering it is the same pickup (EMG 81) and same woods, specs, etc.

What do you think?

It is not a battery effect, changed for a brand new on both guitars.

Excuse sloppy playing, was just testing...

Check the quick-connect at the bridge pickup, and then check (and resolder) the connections at the pots and jack.  If that doesn't seem to fix it, try swapping the bridge pickup with the bridge pickup out of the KH-20.  If none of that changes it, that's just how that specific guitar sounds.

Pushead wrote:

Check the quick-connect at the bridge pickup, and then check (and resolder) the connections at the pots and jack.  If that doesn't seem to fix it, try swapping the bridge pickup with the bridge pickup out of the KH-20.  If none of that changes it, that's just how that specific guitar sounds.

Connections are OK, checked 'em all, even the capacitor at the tone pot.

Guitar doesn't sound bad at all, it just sounds "different", more hot (gain) and more trebly.What is guys your oppinion based on the track I posted?

What obsseses me is that I don't really know why, being, virtually, same guitar with same electronics.

After hearing this video you can definitely hear the difference mate.

Good or a bad thing, I don't know. It still sounds great, but the Ouija sounds better IMO,

I think it's like anything though, you can have two exact things but sometimes they never look, sound, feel exactly 100% the same.

Hopefully one day I will have the time to play mine back to back to give you another comparison of my Vintage and Ouija guitars.

I am interested to hear both of mine now to see if they also sound that much different.

ESP 348 wrote:

After hearing this video you can definitely hear the difference mate.

Good or a bad thing, I don't know. It still sounds great, but the Ouija sounds better IMO,

I think it's like anything though, you can have two exact things but sometimes they never look, sound, feel exactly 100% the same.

Hopefully one day I will have the time to play mine back to back to give you another comparison of my Vintage and Ouija guitars.

I am interested to hear both of mine now to see if they also sound that much different.

For the recording, I used an Axe Fx II Tonematch preset that is already quite trebly, and really shows the difference between both guitars.

You can solve it tweaking the EQ when playing with the Vintage.I mean, the Vintage sounds harsh in that preset, I don't like it...but you can tweak the eq/amp and the Vintage sounds great, but definitely the Vintage has a different tonal caracter to the Ouija.

Would be very interested also in you conparing both guitars.

No worries mate, I will see what I can do for you.

How different do the neck pickups sound?

Very good question mate!! Looking forward to hearing his reply.

Pushead wrote:

How different do the neck pickups sound?

OK, here we go.

I have recorded several tracks comparing the guitars, both neck and bridge pickup.

First of all, the first track I uploaded is an "Enter Sandman" tonematch preset, done by Guitarjon, who has made preset for Metallica himself, but I find this preset too much trebly, so I´ve recorded another tracks with the Kemper, using the amps I usually record with, and these are the results:

1 - KH-2 Vintage Neck  pickup , then, Ouija Neck pickup (Marshall profile):

https://soundcloud.com/steeledge/vintage-ouija-marshall-neck-pu

2 - KH-2 Vintage Bridge  pickup , then, Ouija Bridge pickup (Marshall profile):

https://soundcloud.com/steeledge/vintage-ouija-marshall

3 - KH-2 Vintage Bridge  pickup , then, Ouija Bridge pickup (Soldano profile):

https://soundcloud.com/steeledge/vintage-ouija-soldano

4 - KH-2 Vintage Bridge  pickup , then, Ouija Bridge pickup (Clean Fender profile):

https://soundcloud.com/steeledge/vintage-ouija-clean-bridge-pu

5 - KH-2 Vintage Neck pickup then, Ouija Neck pickup (Clean Fender profile):

https://soundcloud.com/steeledge/vintage-ouija-clean-neck-pu

Also, I have not recorded it, but I plugged both guitars into my Friedman BE-100, and they definitely sound different, but not so different as in the first track.The KH-2 Vintage sounds more hot/gainy, compressed and more trebly, the Ouija sounds fatter, more opened/dinamic if you want.

I´d like to hear your oppinions.

Yeah, it seems as though that's just how the guitar sounds.  Whatever it is about the combination of parts (wood, glues, paints, electronics, etc.) on your Vintage causes it to sound significantly different than the rest of your similarly featured guitars.

If it makes you feel any better, Kirk seems to think certain of his guitars sound better than the rest (the Mummy we see most and one of the White Zombies) so he likes using those best.