Best pickup combo for everything 80s

[Dauminator]

Looking for a combo of pickups that nails that goo-y glam filled goodness that is the 80s, think Mötley Crüe, Def Lppard, etc. Doesn't have to be SD specific. Hoping to buy and mod one of those Squier HH Jazzmasters in white

 

[elelpe]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

You need colorful Super Distortion bridge and PAF Pro neck, along with colorful knobs and switch tip. But that's just 50 percent of the tone. To complete it: wig, scarf, and spandex.

 

[The JEM Ghost]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

A Jazz at the neck and a JB in the bridge would be a nice starting point if you ask me.
Sure, it also depends on your personal taste, and other combo's are possible too, but the combo above is the first one that pops into my mind for the style you are after and it would offer versatility as well.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

The JB or the Custom come immediately to mind. I have guitars with both of them and they both so the job great.
Personally I like the Custom better.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

I'd say Jazz/JB, but don't forget your JCM800, chorus pedal, and hair gel. The pickups won't even matter if you do.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

I'd say Jazz/JB, but don't forget your JCM800, chorus pedal, and hair gel. The pickups won't even matter if you do.

Also need rows and rows of Marshall cabs that aren't plugged in.

 

[zizyphus]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

If you're going to be installing them in that SG you've got in your avatar, I'd suggest a Pearly Gates in the bridge with a smooth Alnico 8. Not a conventional choice by any means, but trust me - it'll work!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

A Jazz & JB is that sound, look no further. Get a guitar with some kind of graphic on it and you'd be set.

 

[Dauminator]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

If you're going to be installing them in that SG you've got

I’m keeping that one more classic but a pearly gates is a good option for that too. Squier has a cheap HH jazzmaster that has great reviews and looks like a great mod platform. Plenty of body to add graphics too

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

The JB was certainly popular for that era & style, but Motley Crue & Def Lepard are both Super Distortion. Either choice can get you there.

In my experience the Super D is more thick & the JB is more woody sounding?

 

[MikeS]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

I'll echo the JB or Super Distortion in the bridge. Duncan Distortion will get you there, too, but I'd try JB first. That gets you pretty much anything that wasn't the clean arpeggio behind a power ballad verse.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

The JB was certainly popular for that era & style, but Motley Crue & Def Lepard are both Super Distortion. Either choice can get you there.

In my experience the Super D is more thick & the JB is more woody sounding?

I may be wrong but I’m pretty certain that Mick Mars was a Duncan guy. I’m not aware of him ever using a SD

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

A Jazz & JB is that sound, look no further. Get a guitar with some kind of graphic on it and you'd be set.

Is it the Full Shred or the Perpetual Burn that is the JB “without the mid hump”?

 

[JB6464]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

JB/59 works in all my super Strat and super Teles >

 

[Mincer]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

Is it the Full Shred or the Perpetual Burn that is the JB “without the mid hump”?

To me, the PB does that. The FS is just really bright.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

You called?

 

[Aceman]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

If classic 80's hard rock shred and DeMartini-esque leads is your game, JB in the bridge.
For a more all around 80's hard rock experience, I prefer the Custom.
A DiMarzio SuperDistortion is never a bad choice.

As for the neck...what neck pickup? Do you think people used that or something for that stuff? Fine, if we must...
A Jazz if the guitar is dark, a 59 if not, and a an A2P if the the only thing you'll use it for is Sweet Child O'Mine.
PAF with the SuperD if you go that route. PAF Pro if you think you'll be soloing on it extensively.

Now, the bigger issue here, that I see is the guitar itself. HH Jazzmaster for 80's Glam? We need to have an intervention here. That guy in the picture?
- Dean Cadillacs (Assorted colors)
- Neon Yellow Kramer Superstrat
- Graphic Jackson V's Army Air Force style, or Jenna Jameson
- Dean V's...Schenker, or an Inferno (Blue Hot Rod Flames)

But he is NOT gonna play Nothing But A Good Time on a Fender Jazzmaster, on stage or in his living room!!!

 

[Aceman]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

Are you gonna listen to THEM, or this guy?

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

Now I want to got buy a few Charvels and load them with JB/Jazz and Super Distortion/PAF PRO.

 

[allstarrme]

Re: Best pickup combo for everything 80s

I’m gonna go against the grain here and say the fishman fluence classics are the pickups. Voice one is pure paf but louder and when switched over to voice 2 the bridge does the best JB you’ve ever heard, like take all the good variations of JB and just take the best parts, it is the idealized JB but better.

Obviously just ask satchel, or better yet buy one of his charvels: