59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover for Charvel w/ Floyd?

[appar111]

Looking to get a cleaner, lower output pickup for my Charvel USA Pro Mod (alder body, maple neck w/ rosewood board, Floyd rose & direct mount single bridge humbucker). It currently has a JB in it and while I dig it, I'd like something that sounds a lot better on cleaner stuff, as well has having a little more of that low output "kerraang!" on distorted chords.

Would a 59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover be a better choice?

The 59B seems like it would be the safest choice, Jazz Bridge seems like it would be the brightest, and the Seth Lover more "live" sounding (and probably more prone to feeding back? Not sure if direct mounting the pickup would help or hurt that).

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: 59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover for Charvel w/ Floyd?

Jazz bridge is awesome. Even if it ends up being a bit more bright than I am used to (chambered black korina LP, wenge neck with ziricote fretboard on a 24.75" scale. 2 point Wilkinson trem) you can always use the tone knob to tame it a bit. Even I turn down the tone a bit on most songs but it really is a nice, clear and articulate bridge humbucker that cleans up great. It takes as much gain as I can throw at it too.

If you are really worried about the brightness, try an Alnico II Pro in the bridge. It's the same pickup as the Jazz only with an A2 magnet instead of an A5. As a result the treble is smoother and rounder while still being clear and articulate. The A2P also has a bit more bass so it makes for a great bridge trembucker in brighter guitars. I use the Jazz in my number 1 guitar and a Alnico II Pro in my number 2 guitar. They are both amazing pickups IMO.

The 59 is a classic and the Seth Lover is pretty much a staple. You would definitely have to expect some feedback with the Seth. In some cases this is desired and in some others it's not wanted so much.

 

[appar111]

Re: 59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover for Charvel w/ Floyd?

I have an old beat up A2P up in the emporium now--- I may end up throwing it in this weekend to give me a general idea of what it'd sound like. It's not trembucker spaced, but that'll allow me to really test the whole "tremspaced/Gibson spaced" thing with a Floyd (I've never noticed an issue with strat bridges before). I have an A5 magnet here, so I can always drop that in too. If it sounds good, I may not even need to buy another pickup. But where's the fun in that?

I think I may rule out the Seth already-- I can deal with the brashness of a 59B, and the brightness of a Jazz bridge (this guitar has no tone knob on it, so no option to tone it down unless I go w/ a 250K vol pot, I think i'll be fine with 500K though), but the bad feedback of a microphonic pickup may be too hard to tame in a high gain setting.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: 59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover for Charvel w/ Floyd?

I have an old beat up A2P up in the emporium now--- I may end up throwing it in this weekend to give me a general idea of what it'd sound like. It's not trembucker spaced, but that'll allow me to really test the whole "tremspaced/Gibson spaced" thing with a Floyd (I've never noticed an issue with strat bridges before). I have an A5 magnet here, so I can always drop that in too. If it sounds good, I may not even need to buy another pickup. But where's the fun in that?

I think I may rule out the Seth already-- I can deal with the brashness of a 59B, and the brightness of a Jazz bridge (this guitar has no tone knob on it, so no option to tone it down unless I go w/ a 250K vol pot, I think i'll be fine with 500K though), but the bad feedback of a microphonic pickup may be too hard to tame in a high gain setting.

I used a non-trem A2P in the same guitar I bought the trem Jazz for. I think I had it in there for 4 years or maybe more. It worked great, I just raised the outer poles a bit to balance the mix a bit better. When I decided to get new pickups I decided why not get a trem spaced one. I must admit I found it to be a bit better of a volume blend on the high E string especially with almost no pole adjustments needed outside of the normal string to string balancing I do.

That being said, the difference was really barely noticeable. The look of it, however, is very noticeable and I can appreciate that a bit.

 

[appar111]

Re: 59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover for Charvel w/ Floyd?

I used a non-trem A2P in the same guitar I bought the trem Jazz for. I think I had it in there for 4 years or maybe more. It worked great, I just raised the outer poles a bit to balance the mix a bit better. When I decided to get new pickups I decided why not get a trem spaced one. I must admit I found it to be a bit better of a volume blend on the high E string especially with almost no pole adjustments needed outside of the normal string to string balancing I do.

That being said, the difference was really barely noticeable. The look of it, however, is very noticeable and I can appreciate that a bit.

I figure if it didn't bother all the guys in the late 70's and 80's that played them and influenced me to pick up the guitar, then it won't bother me In fact, non-trem spaced technically is more vintage accurate-- ha!

 

[AZ Picker]

Re: 59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover for Charvel w/ Floyd?

I've got a USA wild card Charvel with a single direct mount trembucker. The jb kills for hard rock/metal tones. I've also had a pearly gates, 78, and dimarzio Virtual Hot PAF (outstanding pickup) btw. The pearly had great cleans and still a lot of punch as did the 78. I've got a perpetual Burn in there now and it's GREAT, way better cleans than the JB but still can get into the heavy stuff, it also can sound pretty smooth and mellow with the volume at 3/4.

 

[dotsdad]

Re: 59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover for Charvel w/ Floyd?

Before you give up on the JB, get a push pull pot and wire it for series/parallel switching. You still get the rawk you love, but can clean up when you pull the pot up.

 

[JohnnyGuitarCA]

Re: 59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover for Charvel w/ Floyd?

I had a really nice Charvel 475 and I tried it with a DiMarzio Bluesbucker in the bridge with the screw coil toward the neck. It blew me away. The clarity due to only 1 coil 'seeing' the strings is killer. Very good harmonics. Sounds great clean, too! Plus, DiMarzio's exchange policy is great is you don't dig the Bluesbucker. I used it for hard rock and old school metal and got quite a few compliments on my sound when I used the Bluesbucker. Hmm, maybe it's time to buy another one!

 

[appar111]

Re: 59B, Jazz Bridge or Seth Lover for Charvel w/ Floyd?

I would never have thought about a Bluesbucker but it sounds like it could be really interesting! Did you have it wired in series, and just by itself?