A JB with more transparency please

greengriff · Nov 25, 2009

I love the smeary 'singing' lead sound I get from string bends and picked runs on the plain strings on my slab board strat with a JB in the bridge, but don't like the tone for chug-a-chug rhythm playing on the low strings, and the general middy-ness gets on my nerves after a while. What I'm after is something with a little less mids, a little more transparency and better/sharper attack on palm muted playing on the wound strings please. The guitar is a Fender Vintage Hot Rod 62 Strat (now routed for a humbucker at the bridge, obviously), with an alder body, massive neck, thick rosewood board, six screw vintage bridge with steel block, and a surpisingly big, dark sound when strummed unplugged. It's not really a bright guitar at all and sounds noticeably beefier than an alder American Series strat with a rosewood board and a 2 post bridge. All in all it is a fabulous guitar, and installing a JB at the bridge was intended to make it my number one all round guitar, but it hasn't worked yet as the JB is proving a bit nasal for me in this particular instrument! The JB runs through the 250k volume pot only, just as the original single coil did. Since a 250K is equivalent to 2 500ks I saw now need to change it. It worked fine with the Fender Sidewinder (I think - it came off of evilbay) I had in there previously which had a lovely, musical tone but was a completely gutless pickup.

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Lewguitar · Nov 25, 2009

Re: A JB with more transparency please

The JB is the only humbucking pickup I've found that sounds good to me with a 250K volume pot, so if I were going to use a 250K pot I'd use a JB.

My favorite humbucker in a Strat is the Duncan Custom Shop '78 that Seymour is supposed to have designed for Eddie Van Halen. It's a spectacular sounding pickup in a Strat but I've always used it with a 500K pot.

Maybe it would sound good with 250K but I would worry that the 250K pot would lose to much treble for my tastes.

IMO, you need a fairly bright humbucking pickup that doesn't mind losing some treble when you use it with a 250K pot.

Maybe a Duncan Custom 5? That's a pretty high output pickup with strong bass and bright treble. It's also a little less thick and midrangey than the JB, to my ears.

AudioWonderland · Nov 25, 2009

Re: A JB with more transparency please

Depends hopw you define mids and transparency. C5 might work or a Custom. Generally a pickup with a little less output helps with what you are talking about. Maybe even a Full Shred or a 59 but those would be more drastic moves away from the JB

idsnowdog · Nov 25, 2009

Re: A JB with more transparency please

You might consider the Bill Lawrence 500XL. The 500 is bright, cutting, resonant and transparent.

GoDrex · Nov 26, 2009

Re: A JB with more transparency please

if you want to tighten up the bass, I'd suggest trying an Alnico 8 magnet before buying a new pickup.

If you really don't like the JB at all, maybe try an Alternative 8.

greengriff · Nov 26, 2009

Re: A JB with more transparency please

Thanks guys. I read on another thread that dropping a ceramic mag into a JB loses some of the mids and effectively makes the pickup into a Duncan Distortion. Is this true? Has anyone tried it?

Aceman · Nov 26, 2009

Re: A JB with more transparency please

Based on what I read, I was thinking maybe a Duncan Distortion. It will Chugga Chug, It has well enough highs for a 250k pot (I actually like a 250k with that...). But the mids are the thing. I can't tell if you will find them to be too much. I suspect so.

For the cost of a magnet, though, give it a try. After that I was thinking Custom. Don't know how you'll feel about the bass there. But again, for the cost of an A5 magnet - it can become a Custom 5.

And Lew is probably right with that anyway!

I say try a converted ceramic JB first. Then get a Custom/Custom 5 if you don't like that.

greengriff · Nov 26, 2009

Re: A JB with more transparency please

Thanks for that. Seems the best place to start! As an aside, has anyone here actually tried a Custom 5 Trembucker in an Alder/Rosewood Strat? What did you think of it? I love it in a Les Paul but imagined it would be quite bassy in a Strat, as a humbucker in a Strat is set quite a lot further away from the bridge than it is in a LP and hence picks up a 'thicker' sound. Anyway, your experiences please

...

orpheo · Nov 26, 2009

Re: A JB with more transparency please

The Lawrence l500xl is very nice indeed, but I don't know what the deal is with Lawrence nowadays, since production has moved to the lace factory.

The easiest solution is to take a 500k pot (with 2 resistors on the middle and neck single to make the pot 250k if you really want that). The 500k will clear up the mids, the overal tone in general.

An alnico 8 will cut a bit in the highs and punch more mids and lows. The ceramic has a lot of lowend chuggachugga and a more sweet topend than the a5.

I'd try those options, and if that's not what you want, I'd buy a Duncan custom with an alnico5 and 8 rod with hex polepieces at wymore guitRs' website to make it into a crossbreed between a regular custom/5/8 and the fullshred. I seriously think that you need a fullshred with one row regular screw polepieces and one hex with an alnico8 mag.

Lewguitar · Nov 26, 2009