Jb with lower output

[hamerfan]

Re: Jb with lower output

Reducing the magnet strength will make the tone darker and the dynamics mushy. The DiMarzio air gap is their way to weaken the magnet without going to a weaker magnet.

Putting a ceramic magnet in will give a less compressed tone. Or maybe an alnico 8.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think these were quite common mods back in the days. They were something like a DIY version of the Dokkenbucker and the first attempt to create an Alternative 8.

[Dave Locher]

Re: Jb with lower output

Before all the other mods, put the A5 back in, lower the pickup down a fair bit and maybe raise the fillister screws a bit. Voila: JB with a bit less output and a more open sound.

[Ascension]

Re: Jb with lower output

A8 for less compressed tone than A5? Yeah, no...a tighter bottom end, more midrange focus and more output, sure, but definitely not less compression/more dynamics.

Disagree here. I find the A8 to be less compressed than the A5 have run A8's in the JB a couple times like the set up. Tighter quicker in response and more balanced to my ear. I also pull A8 mag pickups down a little further than normal because of the mag pull so the output doesn't change very much just the tone and feel.

[SJ318]

Re: Jb with lower output

This has been around the block for years. The JB is so heavily would to a 16k or so it doesn't matter what mods you make, the over wind will always make it dirty when you lower the volume. Don't believe me? Try any mod and play it through a nice clean Fender like a Princeton or a Deluxe set on clean. The closest you will ever get to clean is dirty.
Great p'up when all the way up for screaming leads, but it will NEVER, EVER, CLEAN UP. You must do a hybrid (then you'll have 2 great pickups) with a much lower out put humbucker, period. Or go to a lower wind like the 59/Hybrid. Still screams, but just low enough to clean up. Mag changes, "air-mods" won't do it. What mincer and Clint-55 said! I know this as fact as l have done them all. I currently like the gritty WLH Bridge, and it cleans up nicely. At 9k with a hot magnet, you outta try it, a step below 59/Hybrid but still screams. And gives you BB King if you feel like it by turning it down with the vol. pot.
SJB

[freefrog]

Re: Jb with lower output

Great p'up when all the way up for screaming leads, but it will NEVER, EVER, CLEAN UP. You must do a hybrid (then you'll have 2 great pickups) with a much lower out put humbucker, period. Or go to a lower wind like the 59/Hybrid. Still screams, but just low enough to clean up. Mag changes, "air-mods" won't do it. What mincer and Clint-55 said! I know this as fact as l have done them all. I currently like the gritty WLH Bridge, and it cleans up nicely. At 9k with a hot magnet, you outta try it, a step below 59/Hybrid but still screams. And gives you BB King if you feel like it by turning it down with the vol. pot.
SJB

In the late 90's I obtained the cleanest tones from a bridge JB in a marshall thanks to a simple trick: a parametric EQ before any gain stage, digging drastically the midrange (F= 1khz, Q factor = 1). It worked pretty well...

Years later, I've discovered that Paul Gilbert was doing the same kind of thing with his "Detox" pedal.


USELESS WORDY FOOTNOTE - Actually, it would be possible to give a JB the same kind of tonal curve than a regular P.A.F. replica by wiring it in series with a small capacitor (something like 470pF). As long as this component would be located AFTER the tone pot, all the controls in the guitar would work correctly.


Another simple solution would be to wire a JB in parallel with a LR network... Find any cheap MIC HB with the same readings than a JB (roughly 16k and 8H). Pull off its mag and baseplate. Wire the whole in parallel with the active JB and burry this "dummy" pickup in the electronic cavity.

Play and listen. If it flattens the tone too much, rise a bit the resistive load to ground (with a no load tone pot, a 1M volume etc.)...

Non limitative list FWIW (a few cents of components and a few minutes of experiments with alligator clips for anyone who would want to hear what this post is talking about).

[zizyphus]

Re: Jb with lower output

I have an A3 JB in one of my Les Pauls, and it sounds divine

That particular Lester is unusually dark sounding, and the additional bass push of magnets like the A4/5/8 made it too muddy, and an A2 rolled off the treble too much. The A3 worked perfectly for that particular guitar. With the lower output its no longer "hot-rodded," but it sounds great!


EDIT:
Writing this comment got me thinking, and I ended up swapping to an A3 in the JB bridge of my main Les Paul shortly after I posted. Equally awesome! This is my baby, my main Les Paul, currently on display on the front page of MyLesPaul.com (link: https://bit.ly/3bmnYPz ). I substituted the smooth A2 that I had swapped in before, and it brightened it up in a pleasant way while relieving the midrange congestion. Its also less hot, so she cleans up well when you roll back the volume. I've tried everything in the JB of the bridge of this guitar – A2 smooth and rough, A4, A5, UOA5, A8. While conventional wisdom is that the JB sounds best with an A2 or an A8, after playing around a bit this morning, I think the A3 is where its at for me!

[Masta' C]

Re: Jb with lower output

I have an A3 JB in one of my Les Pauls, and it sounds divine...I ended up swapping to an A3 in the JB bridge of my main Les Paul shortly after I posted. Equally awesome!

The A3 shines in "hotter" winds...really adds clarity and reduces the output to reasonable levels. A wind like the JB is a perfect candidate for an A3.

I'm surprised this approach isn't exploited more often. I think it's largely because most people who have played with A3 were using them in vintage-spec pickups to begin with, where they lack punch and output. Toss it in a Custom or JB/Distortion type pickup and it's much more versatile!

[lazyfinger]

Re: Jb with lower output

I think Pearly Gates, followed by 59/C Hybrid. Pearly Gates would be my first pick though. Low end on the hybrid sounds closer to the Custom coil.

[zizyphus]

Re: Jb with lower output

Other option to consider are the Perpetual Burn, and the Dimarzio Transition.

IMO The transition also works great with a magnet swap. I've tried it with the stock double-thick ceramic, A5, A4, and A2. I ultimately stuck with the A2.

It actually sounded fantastic with the ceramic mag it came with (I mean... Steve Lukather knows what he's doing...) but I had the same problem that you have with the JB: it was just too hot. With the A2, its gorgeous!

[ehdwuld]

Re: Jb with lower output

there are so many ways to do this

simple answer

lower the pickup
or use the volume knob

[freefrog]

Re: Jb with lower output

I was thinking
add a resistor to ground to send some of the signal
away for the output jack

then I realized
you can just lower your volume knob a bit

maybe?
too easy?

When a volume pot is lowered, a first part of the pot resistance is between the pickup and the output. The other part of the pot resistance is between output and ground.

The first part of the pot resistance, between pickup and output, is schematically what darkens the sound by flattening the resonant peak. Hence the treble bleed solution (which is similar to a bright cap on the volume of an amp but transplanted in a guitar).

A resistor to ground would not quite have the same effect: it would rather make the existing volume similar to a pot of lower value (at least when the pot would be full up)...

FWIW (shared thoughts, no less, no more). :-)