Fender Jaguar HH - Humbucker Advice for Alternative Rock?

[Ryan84]

The Pickups in my Classic Player HH Jag are decent but....I feel I could do a little better. I want to be able to go from Alternative rock to Indie to Shoegaze or even ambient clean sparkly stuff. Any humbucker pickups come to mind? I know there's always some compromises to be made and I can't have the best distorted and clean tones with one set of humbuckers. Just wondering what else would fit a Jag sound good for the rock genres I listed. A pair for neck and bridge that does the Jaguar justice and fits it's wide and eclectic sound palette. Thanks!

Some bands I listen to which give an idea of the tone I like - Pavement, HUM, Failure, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Soundgarden, The Pixies etc.

The rest of my rig:

Fender Twin Reverb 65 RI, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier / Rectifier 4x12, Fender Humbuldt Hot Rod Blues Jr., Marshall Class 5 Head, Micro Terror Pedals: BD-2, PH1-R, CE-2, Big Green Pi, Iron Bell, Megalith Delta, Alter Ego, DD-7, Echorec, Supernatural, HOF, Stereo Wet, Ditto, PolyTune Mini Noir

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Fender Jaguar HH - Humbucker Advice for Alternative Rock?

I know Cobain used a JB in his Jags and Mustangs, Cantrell from Alice in Chains also favors the JB. A Custom would also work well. Probably a Jazz or 59 in the neck. I would also recommend coil splits in there.

If you're looking outside of Duncan, Dimario Super Distortion fits the bill really well too and will nail the Nirvana (Cobain had them too), Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins kind of thing.

[CountFeedback]

Re: Fender Jaguar HH - Humbucker Advice for Alternative Rock?

stuff that is great for Indi/Alterna Rock may not be the best for shoegaze.

I like the JB and find it can cover lots of situations. coil splits will help a bit too.
maybe concider mixing a humbucke with something P90-ish like a phtt cat.
59 or WLH also deserve consideration.

[astrozombie]

Re: Fender Jaguar HH - Humbucker Advice for Alternative Rock?



What you NEED is a DiMarzio Super Distortion. No other Hot Pickup sounds as great, the Gibson Dirty Finger is a close second. I tried the JB but didn't like it, the Invader was a huge rock tone but it didn't clean up well.

the SD cleans up pretty good if you don't have it too close to the strings

As for neck pickup, consider the Phat cat or dream 90, itll get you close to those My Bloody Valentine type sounds.

[brunogio]

Re: Fender Jaguar HH - Humbucker Advice for Alternative Rock?

Only because I have a set for sale check out the Novak Wide Range humbucker. Lee Renaldo uses these in his Jazzmasters and they are both humbuckers and retain a bit of the twang. http://curtisnovak.com/pickups/hum-WR.shtml for more info

[Kais]

Re: Fender Jaguar HH - Humbucker Advice for Alternative Rock?

honestly i think a set of 59's with coil splits could be the best option for you, or a super distortion and another paf type in the neck, with coil splits.

Kurt Cobain and Thurston Moore are known for using the super distortion. And Shoegaze works best with lower output pups, the superdist would be pretty hot. the 59 set would be pretty good since you have dirt on your board/amp.

[TimmyPage]

Re: Fender Jaguar HH - Humbucker Advice for Alternative Rock?

With a lot of those bands, I don't even think you need a hot humbucker in either position. Stuff like Nirvana is really closer to being a fuzz or distortion pedal tone, the rest is looking for a janglier sound, especially if you are going for the shoegaze thing.

I'd say a set of 59's. A hot humbucker will not do much for your cleans or your shoegaze tone, and it'll push a lot of distortion or fuzz pedals a bit too hard.

That being said, the JB in the bridge is still a decent suggestion though, it has a unique tone, and even though it's really hot it has a good clean tone. It has a unique tone overall, look for any thread with a JB mention in it and you'll find that half of the crowd hates it, half love it.

[Ryan84]

Re: Fender Jaguar HH - Humbucker Advice for Alternative Rock?

3 months later I finally settled on a Jazz/JB. Based on the humbuckers sounding great with gain of course.....

But the real decider was discovering how nice the coil split clean tones are!!

Best of both worlds now.