Interesting new Michael Kelly Patriot. (Dual JB's)

[Inflames626]

Rex_Rocker, that Allender is nice. How much movement do you get on the floating bridge? It seems very Fender-ish.

I've seen other floating bridge designs that seemed sound but didn't catch on. The sought after 90s Parker Fly guitars come to mind.

[Rex_Rocker]

Rex_Rocker, that Allender is nice. How much movement do you get on the floating bridge? It seems very Fender-ish.

I've seen other floating bridge designs that seemed sound but didn't catch on. The sought after 90s Parker Fly guitars come to mind.

It was decent. It held tune fine. Not quite like a Floyd, but much better than my current Mexican Fender, for sure. It floated, but it certainly wasn't made for Dimesqueals as it's not recessed. But it did divebombs just fine. It was a Korean bridge, though. I've heard the USA bridge is much better as it's made of better materials.

The JB is dark and hot for sure, but to me it's not that different than maybe trying an EMG 85 in that position. I have an EMG 89, which is similar to the EMG 85, but splits to an SA coil. The SA is great in the neck. So if you want that tone in a humbucking guitar, you kind of have to settle for an 85ish sound in the neck.

That's what confused me. I agree, the 85 is dark in the neck, but it's not unusable to me like the JB was. The 85 is darker than the JB even, but I guess the low-end rolloff greatly helps it hold together in the neck better. Not sure. *shrug*

[Archer250]

Rust in Peace was 30+ years ago and is not a modern metal sound. The JB was used because it was then a popular pickup that was common, like the EMG 81 or DiMarzio Super Distortion.

Yes, mushy. They probably rolled off the lows in post with a hi pass filter to some degree.

Fairly sure they also used boosted Marshalls, which are not so much a modern amp for extreme metal vs. Mesa, Peavey, Diezel, Engl, Bogner, etc.

Also I've found the JB mushy in my personal experience. I go for EMG 81s in 24 volts, Blackouts, Full Shreds, and Parallel Axis pickups instead of the JB.

Modern metal is also 16ths at 200+ bpm, sometimes to 240, far in excess of 80s-early 90s thrash metal of the period.

The JB is a fine rock pickup at moderate tempos in the bridge, but I have other things I would use first, even the Duncan Custom line.

You can make up pickup deficiencies later in your signal chain. I happen to like the EMG HZs that many people consider anemic. But I compensate by adjusting the preamp as necessary.

Rust in Peace used Bogner racks through a VHT 2150 IIRC

In any case if I'm not mistaken, there was also a Sonic Maximizer in there which would scoop the troublesome JB mids.

[ArtieToo]

In any case if I'm not mistaken, there was also a Sonic Maximizer in there which would scoop the troublesome JB mids.

That's interesting. I have several Sonic Maximizers. I don't perceive them as scooping mids. Then again, they do highlight highs and lows. I gotta listen again.