A3 Jazz neck & A4 59b

[audiocheck]

Re: A3 Jazz neck & A4 59b

It sounds like a good combo to try out.

An A4 '59b is pretty good. Stiff beefy, but a bit more tame than a stock '59b.

An A3 Jazz neck sounds potentially nice, but I haven't tried it myself. I would expect it to simply hit the amp less hard, thus result in a clearer tone. I don't know about "brighter" in and of itself, though. Probably only as much brighter as you get from the increased clarity as it drives your amp more softly.

With those pickups and those magnet available to me, I'd be more inclined to do A3 '59b and A4 Jazz, myself. I find the '59b to hit my amps very hard, such that it can lose the sting that I like from a bridge pickup and sound more like a "wallop." And I find a Jazz neck to not need nearly as much taming as you'll likely get by putting an A3 in it.

The A3 in the Jazz neck really gave this pickup in this particular LP, that LP neck pickup tone. It really changed the voice of the Jazz. I had found it too full and compressed in the mids, for my liking. My style ranges from Rocking Blues into High Gain 80's metal. So I like tones in the range of Dickey Betts, Warren Haynes, Early and later Billy Gibbons, as well as Johnny Sykes, Vivian Campbell and George Lynch. So I like the hit and drive of the 59b with the A5 in it. The A4 kind of keeps me in that same territory, but with more of a balanced EQ curve. I think the A4 in the Jazz neck would be further away from that classic LP neck tone. I would think that would be very sterile. The Jazz lack character to begin with and I think the A4 would make it worse. I have lived with the Jazz in this guitar for like 5 years and while I never hated it, I never loved it. Now it has come to life. Yes it weaker, but it has added the dynamics I look for.

 

[Discharged]

Re: A3 Jazz neck & A4 59b

The A3 in the Jazz neck really gave this pickup in this particular LP, that LP neck pickup tone. It really changed the voice of the Jazz. I had found it too full and compressed in the mids, for my liking. Yes it weaker, but it has added the dynamics I look for.

This is the single most important audible and "feeling" detail that the A3 mag, more than any other, brings to the table to the neck p'up: dynamics. It'll allow you to control with your touch and picking alone all the necessary playing levels most songs you play need. Add a slight touch of the volume knob and voila! Total expressive control at all times with the least effort.

/Peter