The Steel Guitar Forum

I have purchased a new HWP guitar from Herby. I traded in an older Mullen D10 for it. I am not very happy with the tone. The guitar plays like a dream, but to my ear the pickup soounds something like the fender Lace sensors did....very very clean, but very little harmonic content, very flat response. I really liked the sound of my older Mullen, and would like to have the best of both worlds here....Please would you all give me some input as to your choices for the best all around pickup to replace this one with......Your opinions are greatly appreciated.....Mickey in Jax

What PUs did you have in the old one, and whatdyagot in the new one? Are you looking to brighten up the tone....too bright? Give us some info to go on.

<font size=1>See you over in Electronics, where you no doubt will find this thread poste haste.</font>

The new one has a pickup that Herby says is wound.."a little differently"....well it is...I am looking for a rounder richer tone than this one has...as I said the one that came in the guitar just sounds lifeless to me. The older Mullen had a stock pickup. Ive called Del this morning to ask about the differences also...No reply yet.The guitar is built so well, and plays soooo smooth, its kinda dissapointing to have it sound so foriegn to my ear.,...So please.....whats your favorite pickup on the market, and what are the tonal characteristics that you prefer?.....thanks......Mick

I have a 1998 S 12 Universal, and have a similar concern. I brighten mine up with a Profex II using Jeff Newman's 65 Emmons patch throgh a Sessions 400 amp.

Bill Lawrence PU's I feel are great. I think the 705's he produced years ago was the best but the 710 is a hot PU maybe to much. Is the stock Mullen PU's single wound? If so, then maybe a the BL 910 would be a good choice. IMO



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D 10 Thomas with 8&6
Nashville 400 and Profex II
Asleep at the Steel

Thanks so much for the input my friends. I talked to Del this afternoon and indeed there is a lot of difference in the pickups he makes for this guitar, and the older stock ones. So Larry...youre sound is improved through the solid state preamp in the Pro-fex?....and this produces a pleasing tone to your ear, and your guitar is a Mullen also?
John....The HWP pickup appears to not be as high output as the earlier version, this may add to the lackluster tone that I percieve. Of course we all know what kind of player Herby is,and he swears by this thing, but Im not quite ready to invest in such a high dollar Pre-amp, power-amp, external cab config...(big Bux..LOL)..of course I think Herb would sell me one.....or a used car.....anyway...Del is going to wind me some new ones and Im really sure that they will make all the difference in the world. The guitar I traded wasnt as appreciated as it should have been....Live and learn,,,,hehehe....thanks again guys

I have 2 steels. One is a Mullen, the other a Carter. Each has its own sound. The Profex allows me to enhance the sound of the Mullen using the Sessions 400. The Carter sounds best using the Profex with my Vegas. This statement is in reference to my personal taste. This is my second Mullen. The first was a S-10, this one is a U12. My personal preference was for the sound I got from my first Mullen, but the Profex gets me pretty close. I guess the best advice is try before you buy. I too am seriously considering a change in pickups. Good luck.

Moved to Electronics

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I have a Mullen U-12 that Del built for me back in 1998. I get a great tone with the original single coil pickup. He designed the pickup to go with his guitars. I'm not sure what Herby has done to the guitars built exclusively for him.

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Lee, from South Texas

I've never heard of a Profex II "brightening up" any guitar. EVERYONE that I've heard, including the one I had, did the exact opposite.

When I use the Profex with my Mullen, I plug the guitar into the volume pedal and run it directly into the input of the Sessions 400. I run the Profex through the effects loop and do not bypass the 400's preamp. If I take it directly into the power amp, Jack's comment is correct. I know that some folks patch directly into the power amp and bypass the preamp. The way I hook it up, I can use the 400's EQ to tweek the sound to the room I'm playing in. I always keep the reverb on the amp turned off. I keep the outpur of the Profex low to keep from overdriving the amp. I also get virtually no hum through the amp that way.

Jetdrivr,
Are you using a Hilton pedal?
A friend of mine has recently bought a Herby Wallace Mullen, together with a Hilton volume pedal. We discovered that to get the best out of the guitar takes very careful setting up of the volume pedal parameters.

"We discovered that to get the best out of the guitar takes very careful setting up of the volume pedal parameters."

You shouldn't have to go through all of that to get a good tone out of any guitar. I wonder what else, besides the pickups, is different on these "special order" Mullen guitars that are produced for Herby Wallace.

Let us know how you like the stock pickups when you get them from Del. If that doesn't improve things, you may want to ask Del if there are any other differences in the construction or design of these guitars.


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Lee, from South Texas