A dumb question - JB/Distortion hybrid?

[Seashore]

I've got a JB in one of my Gibsons and a Distortion that's been in a few guitars. 7-string models. Both good, both very close to being ideal, but I wish they had a little more of an open dynamic feel and more harmonic complexity. Most of my favorite pickups have some offset between the coils, and I have an uneducated hunch that that's part of what makes them feel more open and responsive to me. Would it be worth taking these apart to create two JB/Distortion hybrids, keeping in mind that the differences I'm looking for are pretty subtle? Has anybody done this? Or is this just a fool's errand, not giving me the results I'd want, not worth ruining two good pickups over?

[Aceman]

I suspect not. At the end of the day, you are going to use a JB mag or a Disruption mag (A5/Ceramic) That will pretty much impact the flavor of whatever pickup that mag is from.

The coils are not that different (but not the same).

I suggest the custom shop.

[beaubrummels]

Some information and a couple other options:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/forum/the-pickup-lounge/40284-custom-distortion-hybrid-review

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/foru...id#post1711528
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/foru...60#post4881760

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/foru...d-with-jb-coil

[GuitarStv]

I prefer the JB/Superdistortion hybrid I've got. :P

[Seashore]

I prefer the JB/Superdistortion hybrid I've got. :P

Cool, what's it like? How would you describe it compared to the two parent pickups? And which coils are which?

[GuitarStv]

Slug coil from the JB. It's kind of a mid point between the two pickups. Gets a little bass and articulation of the SD with some mid boost from the JB and plenty of power. I like that you can roll back the volume with it to reduce gain without making it muddy.

[Seashore]

Slug coil from the JB. It's kind of a mid point between the two pickups. Gets a little bass and articulation of the SD with some mid boost from the JB and plenty of power. I like that you can roll back the volume with it to reduce gain without making it muddy.

Awesome... I'm assuming, since you kept the SD screw coil, you kept the Dimarzio baseplate?

[GuitarStv]

Awesome... I'm assuming, since you kept the SD screw coil, you kept the Dimarzio baseplate?

I didn't make the pickup myself, got it in a guitar from Orpheo . . . just looking at it it has a brass baseplate, which I'm guessing would make it the Dimarzio?

[Seashore]

That sounds right, thank you for checking and for the description, much appreciated.

[Seashore]

Well, I made a JB hybrid for my Gibson, and I love the result. I wound up keeping the screw coil and baseplate from the JB and using the slug coil, single thickness ceramic magnet, and shorter filister screws from a BKP Brute Force neck pickup. Those spec at 13.4k, so a bit lower than a JB coil but not light years apart.

Tonally it reminds me a bit of the "Seymourizer" but with a more open/complex high end. The "sweet spot" is wider. Attack and compression are exactly what I was looking for (more and less, respectively) - there's something about my favorite BKPs that makes it easier to get more saturation without having to fight for note definition, and this is doing that. It still has some of the JB sizzle that I love, but also more crunch. I was worried about having a sort of bland, overstated midrange because of the sound of the Brute Force pickups, but these particular coils complement each other well. Sounds great with the amp set flat, no weird humps or spikes to correct for.

Fans of deep clean sounds won't like this coil combo. It has that zingy gritty ceramic bridge pickup clean sound. Middle position with the Jazz Neck, though, that gives me a really cool, scooped, hi-fi clean that I could probably find a lot of spots for. Hot lead sounds on the bridge are not as smooth as the stock JB but still sing well enough, not too jangly.

I had to use electrical tape on the coil-to-lead connections and the bulk of the tape kept me from getting it tucked back in as nicely as I would have liked. The bobbins are also very slightly different heights and I wasn't able to fit a spacer, so the top of the slug coil is tilted ever so slightly out of level with the screw coil. I hope the tape doesn't pose a problem for long term durability. I can take it apart and redo it if needed, I guess.

I'll try and do some clips if anyone is interested. I just had the most fun playing this guitar after I finished up. All in all I couldn't be happier. It's finally not fighting me.

____

I did record a couple riffs with the stock JB, and also the Distortion and the Rebel Yell in their respective guitars, and they sounded so very similar on the recording... and that made me think about the "pickups don't matter" video, the fact that amp and mic and placement and recording preamp are all the same, and that I was playing bland "pickup demo" riffs, when what really sets these pickups apart is how they respond when I'm actually playing the stuff I play, which is more complicated. Wish I had done more recording here before the surgery. Dumb blah riffs hide more than they reveal. But it also made me think about subtleties of feel, and how I know the sound I'm looking for, but some setups make me work harder to get there. Not surprising that it could sound pretty similar in a recording, but my playing will be more or less relaxed depending on how much work I have to do, which is not entirely conscious. With this pickup swap, I kept the same strings on the guitar, but when I was playing I felt like I'd gone a gauge or two lighter.


I've also been playing a Gibson with a Bare Knuckle bridge pickup through this one amp for about 16 years now, so that's very much what I'm used to. Hard ymmv caveat.

[Clint 55]

I made a JB/Distortion neck hybrid and it sounded awesome. I like the subtle differences between the 2 pickups. It's definitely worth making a hybrid.

[Seashore]

I made a JB/Distortion neck hybrid and it sounded awesome. I like the subtle differences between the 2 pickups. It's definitely worth making a hybrid.

Very cool. I think this Brute Force neck model would be in the same neighborhood. What coils and magnet did you use for that? Or did you put both hybrids together?

[orpheo]

The SH7/SH4 hybrid is INSANELY cool. It's very close to a Pegasus/JB hybrid and Custom/JB Hybrid. 43awg, but less winds on the coil (custom has most, pegasus less, SH7 less), so the JB is stronger, but man, great pickup. Love the bite and bark.

[Seashore]

The SH7/SH4 hybrid is INSANELY cool. It's very close to a Pegasus/JB hybrid and Custom/JB Hybrid. 43awg, but less winds on the coil (custom has most, pegasus less, SH7 less), so the JB is stronger, but man, great pickup. Love the bite and bark.

I read through every post of yours that I could find on here about hybrids when I was trying to figure out what to do with this one. So much good info. Thank you for all the cool stuff you've posted about them over the years. It was very helpful to me.

Pegasus was my other Duncan option for this one aside from the Distortion bridge. I would still like to try it. But the 7-string Pegasus and Distortion I have are both in use in the same guitar and I didn't want to screw it up. I suppose with the ceramic magnet and screws, this hybrid has more parts from the BKP than the JB, but similarly to you I can still hear the JB character coming through. Love it.

[Rex_Rocker]

While it's certainly not the same pickup, I've always found the Distortion and JB are more similar than different.

I'd stick a standard-sized ceramic into either a JB or a Distortion and just be done with it if I wanted an in-between sound.