What?! Reduce Gain?! NEVER!!! Lol. Actually, I so rarely use much gain at all that I didn't even think of that possibility. Huge amounts of gain really do muddy up your tone, though some pickups handle it better than others. You might be surprised to hear how little gain musicians use; especially when recording. When heaps of gain is used, it is usually in conjunction with studio level compression and EQs, which enable metal artists to avoid the problems that yer average metalhead has to contend with.