The Steel Guitar Forum

so after playing my new Mullen RP for a few months now I am not sure it is the guitar for me. It almost sounds too precise and smooth. I have a George L 10-1 pickup on it. My little stage one guitar seems to have more of an acoustic twangy steel-like tone to it. Almost like the difference between a fender and a gibson (stage one being fender, mullen being gibson). Before I trade it for something else does anyone have any suggestions for how to get more of what i am looking for tone-wise ? Dont get me wrong the Mullen is a fine instrument but it I feel like its almost too perfect sounding for me ! Maybe I just need to get used to it ? Thoughts ? thanks

Karen, I kinda know what you mean about the Mullen. They are so responsive, play so smooth, almost play themselves. They have a very powerful, rich mellow tone. I don't think there is anything you can do to change the sound of these guitars in any significant way in my opinion.

Replacement pickups only serve to enhance a specific frequency range and don't do much to change the signature sound of a particular guitar.

My suggestion would be to live with it a little while longer, experiment with your electronics and amp eq's. If you still feel like it's not working for you, I'd sell it and buy a guitar that has a brighter timbre if that is your preference....but I can almost promise you, you will miss it when it's gone.

thanks Jerry. I think you may be right. it is beautiful tone wise, i think maybe i need to sit with it a bit longer and see if i can work with it. i recorded my band practice last night which is how i was able to hear the tone and it was much louder than my stage one. The amp i used was also distorting a bit probably because the pickup is so much hotter.

Karen...From my experience, Mullen guitars really like single coil pickups. I have Truetones in both my Mullen and find I can coax any type of tone I want from them.

interesting. I do like single coil pickups but i dont like the buzz they make. i wonder if anyone makes a noiseless or a humbucker that sounds like a single coil.

David, are the true tones very noisy ? I am wondering about the george l e-66 as well.

I agree about the Mullen/sgl coil combo. You might want to consider the Alumitone pickup. I have one, but haven't installed it yet. Reports are that they have a single coil tone without any of the hum. Downside, for your Mullen, installation might require some jury-rigging.

The Geo L's E66 is a humbucker and does enhance a higher frequency range. You might like it better than the 10-1. Good Luck.

I play a Mullen U-12 that Del built for me back in 1997. This was before the Royal Precision was introduced. I've gone through several humbucking pickups over the years and was never completely satisfied. The original single-coil pickup always sounded much better.

Right now, I've got an Alumitone pickup on the guitar and have been very pleased with it. It has plenty of single-coil tone and is perfectly quiet. I use it in conjunction with a Sarno FreeLoader. The FreeLoader allows me to back off some of the twang when necessary.

Lee, from South Texas

Karen, if you decide you might want to try the Alumitone on that Mullen, and don't want to fool with any mods it might require, Tommy Cass can probably help you. He installed the George L that's currently on there.

What is the diff betw alumintone and true tone pickups ? also what did the RP Mullen originally come with ?

karen i also have a mullen rp sd 10 i have the stock pups in mine they are very good guitars i had a pro play mine a few weeks ago with my 112 and only an ibanez dd7 delay and amp reverb he sure did make my mullen sound good sometime i like my sound and sometimes i dont i think about changing pups then i remember how good he made my mullen sound and i change my mind good luck

Mullen makes their own single-coil pickups. That's probably what came on the guitar originally. Their pickups are designed for their guitars and really do produce some nice sounds.

The Wallace True Tone pickup is also a single-coil pickup. Alumitone pickups are humbuckers, but they sure do sound like single-coils.

Michael do you still ahve the original pickup that the Mullen came with ?

Karen,My advice is follow the sound in your head.

Hello Karen
This is Del from Mullen Guitars. I appreciate what you said about the RP being precision and responsive. About the tone you may have to experiment with different pickups to get what you really are happy with. I go for tone myself above anything else about any guitar but unfortunately we all have a different likes and dislikes. I prefer single coil pickups but that is just me. There are many pickup designs available today something I didn't have when I started playing steel I was tickled it worked but times have changed. Once again you may have to do some experimenting and don't hesitate to contact us here at Mullen Guitars for anything we can do.

Del Mullen
www.mullenguitars.com

and it has the single coil stock pickups. I think it sounds fine. I use a Digitech dd-3 and play on an old school Peavey Delta Blues amp that I've modified with a bigger power and new output transformer. It was completely fried when i got it from a flea market in San Antone. It has a 15 rocking in it. I really like the tone. I don't think i would change it. I've thought about getting a 112 or whatever. But my set up works so I'm not gonna mess with it.

Too me...it gets almost the same tone as Mickey Adams G2 from the videos on youtube. And he's got a real expensive rig going on.


My switch did burn out last week and i replaced it. It sounds a little bit louder. I think 26 years is a pretty good life span for a switch.

Wow ! Thanks Del. Anything you might recommend for me ? I bought my guitar used so it came with the George L. it is a beautiful guitar that is for sure and I am very attached to it even after just a few months. I think single coil is the way to go for me. I also think part of the problem with last nights recording was the amp i went through. It was horrible. next week i will bring my peavey for sure.

As Karen's note implies, I was the original owner of this guitar (bought it from Herbie Wallace). Karen, I sold the Mullen pickup to another Forumite when I replaced it with the George L. I found it a bit dark for my taste, but the fellow I sold it to apparently liked it. It's all subjective. I'm also a big fan of the True Tones, but they are single coil.

Last but not least, as you've experienced the Mullen company is really terrific in terms of customer service and offering helpful advice.

thanks Michael. I will check out the true tone pickup for sure.

In the "for what it's worth" category, I also tried a TrueTone in my Mullen and much preferred the stock pickup. Don't forget, the TrueTone is a single-coil pickup and will be subject to humming and buzzing.

Of all the pickups I've tried, I liked the 10-1 (well, 12-1 in my case) the least.

Lee

Lee said:

Alumitone pickups are humbuckers

Technically that's incorrect. There's a Youtube video posted by Lace explaining the theory and design of their Alumitone pickups and they are neither single coil nor humbucking. They use a completely new technology. Nonetheless, the sound is supposed to compare favorably with single coil pickups and they are as quiet or quieter than humbuckers.

Karen, Jerry Wallace, who builds the TrueTone pickup, will be able to assist you if you will get with him and advise what guitar you have and what sound you are looking for. He has probably heard what you will tell him several times before and can recommend something based on past experience. I have TrueTones on my Zum, but my G2 has Mullen's single coil. Both sound great.

Technically, Alumitones don't hum.

Technically, Alumitones don't hum.

True! Not trying to be argumentative Lee. It's just that the Alumitones have a pretty revolutionary design which I just find interesting stuff. Lace keeps coming up with new ideas. I had their Lace Sensors on a Stratocaster and they were great.
Back on topic: I know Tommy Dodd has the Alumitones in his Mullen G2 and apparently is very satisfied with them.

Karen...One other thing to keep in mind if you are considering purchasing a used pickup, be certain that it is classified as "narrow mount" as a standard width pickup will not fit in a pre G2 Mullen.