DD JB/Jazz vs Antiquity JB/Jazz?

[Artie]

My Squier Vintage modified HH Jaguar has the Duncan Designed JB/Jazz set in it. It sounds pretty good, but I wouldn't mind stepping it up a bit. I wonder how much of a difference I'd hear with the Antiquity JB/Jazz set? The thing is, the Antiquities would pretty much double the price of the guitar. It would need to be a pretty significant improvement to make it worthwhile.

Anyone have experience with the Antiquity JB/Jazz set? What do you think?

 

[JB6464]

I have the Ant JB / 59 combo in one of my Tele's and with the Antiquity JB you can hear that the top end has a nice sweet tone without having that ice pick torture that I hear in the regular JB pickups , and that's with 500k pots .

 

[Artie]

Thanks for that info JB. Oddly, the DD vesion of the JB doesn't have that ice-pickiness. It actually sounds not bad.

Jupiters or Duality's might be cool in there too.

 

[jeremy]

ehhh... i dont know if id bother unless you really want that extra 10%

 

[Mincer]

I think if you like the way the guitar sounds, it isn't quite worth that expense. If you were going for something way different, I'd say go for it.

 

[Artie]

Yeah. I think you're both right. Besides, the wiring scheme I want needs 4c cable, and the Antiquities are braided push back coax.

 

[beaubrummels]

I wouldn't go by cost. I'd go by how much you like the playability of the guitar, how often you use it, and how satisfying it would be to have the sound you really want coming out of it.

Haven't used Ant JB/Jazz, but I do have an original Seymour JB and a 35th Anniversary Jazz, as well as newer production of both. The old JB is significantly different - namely it responds to working the volume and cleans up better than my new one, it has some brightness the new one doesn't have, but not harsh bright (like PG or Custom). It's a soft top end, like WLH. The 35th Jazz sounds consistent regardless of what guitar I put it in; almost has a cross between a PAF-like (gives any guitar a slight ES335 tone but no PAF mid-bump) / single coil sound to it (some bottom thump and some bright top end) depending on the amp/EQ. Not sure how similar or different the Ant versions are, but these are the pickups they are kind of based on.

 

[Artie]

I wouldn't go by cost. I'd go by how much you like the playability of the guitar, how often you use it, and how satisfying it would be to have the sound you really want coming out of it.

That's a good point. I don't play this guitar often, but it's just unusual enough, that it's probably a keeper, and I want it to sound good. It's not bad now, but could be better. Besides, I already have the DD JB/Jazz set in a Tele. I don't need two DD JB/Jazz guitars. I'll have to think about this. But I might try something else rather than the Ant set.

 

[Artie]

I do have a set of Seth's sitting around here that might match the character of that guitar nicely. Only trouble is, they're chrome covers, and I think those zebra's really look good in there.

 

[Clint 55]

The Ant JB is pretty cool. It sounds WAY different than the regular JB. Super old school, kind of clanky, kind of open with no brain slicing mids. I have it in my Mustang and I think it suits the offset very well. Maybe to defray cost you could get an Ant JB for the bridge and use a Seth for the neck? Then remove the cover from the Seth and change the leads to 4c. It isn't too much work.

 

[Artie]

That's food for thought. I wonder if they can do a shop floor custom on the Ant, and make it 4c?

 

[Artie]

Let me take this another direction. As near as I can tell, the only difference, (sound wise), is the aged A5 magnet. I have a regular JB. Would a simple mag-swap get me into Antiquity territory? And if so, what mag?

 

[JB6464]

Let me take this another direction. As near as I can tell, the only difference, (sound wise), is the aged A5 magnet. I have a regular JB. Would a simple mag-swap get me into Antiquity territory? And if so, what mag?

You would have to have a roughcast A5 magnet and degaussed .
Not sure SD would sell one but finding one degaussed will be the hard part .

 

[Artie]

Addiction FX has the UOA5's. I wonder how close that would be?

 

[idsnowdog]

Try a RCUO A5 for the JB and A4 for the Jazz.

 

[Artie]

I'll give that a try. Thanks.

 

[Clint 55]

Let me take this another direction. As near as I can tell, the only difference, (sound wise), is the aged A5 magnet. I have a regular JB. Would a simple mag-swap get me into Antiquity territory? And if so, what mag?

Yeah no. It's not just the mag. It's how they produce the whole thing. The mag in my Ant wasn't even RC.

I'm sure it's a shop floor custom option to order a different lead. It's not that hard to change tho.