A dumb question - JB/Distortion hybrid?

[GuitarDoc]

This has been a very interesting thread/debate. And it proves one thing, for sure...we are all different, we hear things differently and we "know" things differently.

There is a potentially huge difference between what one could absolutely believe ("know") and what is absolute fact/truth/reality.

In a blind test, someone could be given 2 JBs and swear there is enough difference in "how they sound to him" that they are in fact 2 completely different pickups. He could also be given a JB and a DD with the same magnet and swear that they "sound enough alike to his ears" that they must be the same pickup. This all due to the tolerances of each pup and innumerable other variables (and of his ears at any given time).

If we could all differentiate between what we "know" (believe), and what is absolutely fact, there would be no need for psychiatrists/psychologists. The human mind is AMAZING, but it is also very quirky.

 

[Seashore]

It no doubt has some things beyond the engineering "stats"

And what is real vs what we believe are of course, two different things.

But is is clear that the magnets of a JB and a Distortion are quite different. And it is also quite clear that the winds are not the same. However, people who have done the experiment tend to believe that either they are the same or are practically the same, so as to the magnet being the primary differentiator.

And for someone going to the effort of making a Hybrid, it does make a difference.

I propose the OP record their JB, record their distortion, then record the hybrid. Set the pickups up the same, play the same music, and put a blind recording up with samples of each, and see if we can tell.

It is the only way to be sure!

I realize you think the whole JB/Distortion question is settled, my initial hybrid idea is pointless, and this isn't a serious suggestion. I'm a lot less interested in trying to prove a point about the pickups than I am in my Gibson having a bridge pickup that makes me happy. I'm good with what I got out of the project.

The Distortion is in a good home right now so I was happy to leave it as is. If I do wind up putting the JB slug coil and maybe an A5 in there at some point, I'll record some before and afters. Dealing with those active mount housings is a pain.

I did record a couple of samples to a click with the following pickups, heard in order: 7str Distortion (in a 26.5 Schecter with a Floyd); the original 7str JB (in a 24.75 Gibson LP); the new 7str JB/BKP "Brute Force" neck model hybrid (in the same Gibson LP); 6str BKP Rebel Yell (in a 24.75 Gibson Explorer). There are two different boring riffs and they each rotate through the same pickups. I don't know how to embed a Soundcloud player on this board, but here's a link:


https://on.soundcloud.com/3F5eb


The differences are apparent, and the long scale guitar is the outlier, but there's no denying you'd hear a much more drastic difference just moving the microphone a little. This project was not about finding the perfect magic EQ curve. The JB was too compressed and I was digging in too hard to try and get the response I wanted. The hybrid makes it easier. It's subtle. It's more about how hard I have to work to get a sound I like than the sound itself.

I'm still setting everything up in the new space and I might double mic the VHT cab, but I'm close to having something I can use with this setup. It's my guitar into a VHT Pittbull 100CL and a VHT Deliverance 4x12, recorded with an SM7B into a Golden Age Pre73, Focusrite interface.

Here's another couple riffs with just the hybrid pickup:

https://on.soundcloud.com/2QKtR