JB4.....Anyone?

[Frogman]

Thikning about swapping mags in my JB.
Had the A8 in there ('84 LPC) for over a year now, and it's perfect what it does (MASSIVE wall of low mids).


However I've found myself starting to write some softer stuff for the band, and the JB8 is just hard to tame (for more dynamic bluesy stuff and obviously cleans).
I much prefer the tone of the A8 to the A5, and have heard the A4 is similar to the A8 EQ wise, just lower output.


Is this true? Anyone have experience? Would there still be plenty of grunt and RAAAWR? Would the dynamics increase (A4's are un-oriented, right?)?

[CTN]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

Haven't put it in a JB, but I've tried it in a number of other pups.

Chances are it'll sound a lot like the A5 version, but fuller sounding in the mids. The famous JB midspike should be smoothed out a bit. The bass is a bit more chewy than an A5, and the highs are a bit smoother. It doesn't have as much of a low-mid push as the A8 does, and is quite a bit more tame terms of output. You might find cleans to be a bit anemic sounding, but YMMV.

I don't know if i'd call it a low output version of the A8. It does have a somewhat similar EQ, but the character of the A4 is quite different than A8. More chewy, more polite, more vintage sounding, whereas the A8 is very modern sounding and is a take no prisoners kinda mag.

And yes, A4 is unoriented, as are A2 and A3.

[LtKojak]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

Thikning about swapping mags in my JB.
Had the A8 in there ('84 LPC) for over a year now, and it's perfect what it does (MASSIVE wall of low mids).


However I've found myself starting to write some softer stuff for the band, and the JB8 is just hard to tame (for more dynamic bluesy stuff and obviously cleans).
I much prefer the tone of the A8 to the A5, and have heard the A4 is similar to the A8 EQ wise, just lower output.


Is this true? Anyone have experience? Would there still be plenty of grunt and RAAAWR? Would the dynamics increase (A4's are un-oriented, right?)?

Even though what you say 'bout the A4 mag is true to a certain extent, it'll lose that "male singing quality" only attainable with an A8.

I think you'll be bettter off with another p'up altogether, like an A8 Seth, for example.

Or going full-blown "vintage-y" and use an UOA5 Ant bridge or OUA5 Seth bridge and use the volume knob and picking technique to increase the dynamics.

HTH,

[GuitarDoc]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

Or try an A2 in that JB for blues with dynamics, and better cleans.

[darthphineas]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

given the time it takes to swap out a pickup, try the A4 and see how you like it. no one here has your ears and your tastes. the only options to consider are polished or un-polished.

[Myaccount876]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

Have you thought about using the neck pickup? Middle position? Volume control? Tone knob? Turning one of your tone knobs into a bass-cut knob?

Try a lot of things starting small before trying to change pickups. Often problems like this can be solved by playing around with the easy stuff for a little bit. I'd recommend trying each of the suggestions above because it sounds like you really like the JB/A8 but just for this moment it isn't fitting the bill completely.

[Frogman]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

^^roger that....tried multiple combinations of the aforementioned scenarios (minus the bass-cut pot);
It's just hard to tame.. :/

[blueman335]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

given the time it takes to swap out a pickup, try the A4 and see how you like it. no one here has your ears and your tastes. the only options to consider are polished or un-polished.

+1. Try an A4, then you'll know for sure. I like JB2's, and haven't tried an A4 or A8 in one yet.

[Myaccount876]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

^^roger that....tried multiple combinations of the aforementioned scenarios (minus the bass-cut pot);
It's just hard to tame.. :/

Try the bass cut, it works really well for me and is very easy to wire.

Here is the diagram from ToneFiend. Sorry I had to repost it TF, and I will take it down if asked. I highly recommend checking out the TF blog though.

[Frogman]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

+1. Try an A4, then you'll know for sure. I like JB2's, and haven't tried an A4 or A8 in one yet.

How do you feel the UOA5 would compare to the A4 in the JB?

[Frogman]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

Try the bass cut, it works really well for me and is very easy to wire.

Here is the diagram from ToneFiend. Sorry I had to repost it TF, and I will take it down if asked. I highly recommend checking out the TF blog though.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41081[/ATTACH]

Thanks man.

How would this compare/contrast to a treble bleed mod?

[dotsdad]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

Hook your current JB8 to a push-pull pot for series/parallel switching. With the pot down, you'd still get that "male singing quality" that you like so much. Pulling up on the pot would clean and brighten your sound when you wanna play somethin' purdy. In other words; down for "f*ck you", and up for "make love to me baby."

[GuitarDoc]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

The JB8 in parallel might just be what you are looking for. A simple quick thing to try.

[Frogman]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

Well I actually have a push-pull pot in the guitar, so may ill try that first.


On a side note, have any of y'all tried a JBUOA5 in a LP type guitar?

[dotsdad]

Re: JB4.....Anyone?

How would this compare/contrast to a treble bleed mod?

G&L-style wiring is completely different than a treble bleed. G&L wiring gives you one master treble pot and one master bass pot. A treble bleed just keeps your volume knob from sucking the highs out when you turn down the volume.

I would go ahead and add a treble bleed while you are tinkering under the hood. You could then turn your guitar down during the sweety songs without muddying your sound. It's not hard to wire either - there's a drawing on Duncan's support site.

I had the G&L wiring in a Strat for a while. I thought that having that much control would be a good thing but, in reality, it was really a pain in the @$$. Seemed like every time I switched pickups, I had to tweak both tone knobs. It got old fast.