Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

[dsuigdsf]

Hello!
I'm Karol and my English isn't good, I sorry for my mistakes.
I have a Fender Stratocaster with Duncan JB. I love 80's hair metal tone.
Duncan JB isn't good to me because sound too muddy and low end is sloppy. I like bright tone and tight low end, like George's Lynch tone on the Under Lock And Key album.
I know that George use Duncan Distortion. I heard Duncan JB and Distortion are the same pickups, but JB is A5 and Distortion is Ceramic.
It is true? If I swap JB magnet to Ceramic I get Duncan Distortion?
Thank you have a nice evening!

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

Hello!
I'm Karol and my English isn't good, I sorry for my mistakes.
I have a Fender Stratocaster with Duncan JB. I love 80's hair metal tone.
Duncan JB isn't good to me because sound too muddy and low end is sloppy. I like bright tone and tight low end, like George's Lynch tone on the Under Lock And Key album.
I know that George use Duncan Distortion. I heard Duncan JB and Distortion are the same pickups, but JB is A5 and Distortion is Ceramic.
It is true? If I swap JB magnet to Ceramic I get Duncan Distortion?
Thank you have a nice evening!

I’ve done it for a customer. It’s basically a Duncan Distortion when you put a ceramic magnet in. It’s a bit brighter, but still a dark pickup.


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[dsuigdsf]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

JB with Ceramic will be darker than Duncan Distortion?

 

[dsuigdsf]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

I need bright pickup with tight low. I really like tones: Dokken, Motley Crue, Ratt, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Whitesnake (John Sykes 87).
What pickup do you recommend?

 

[Demanic]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

Well, in truth, the Distortion uses a double thick ceramic magnet. If you put a regular thickness ceramic in a JB, you get what some call the JB+ , or Dokkenbucker. It'll certainly get closer to a George Lynch tone than a regular JB

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[Ayrton]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

To be clear, they are not the same wind but close enough with either a ceramic (various thickness).

 

[Nagisa]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

Just try it. It should do what you want.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

To be clear, they are not the same wind but close enough with either a ceramic (various thickness).

They are both 16.6k. That’s more than close!


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[Ayrton]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

They are both 16.6k. That’s more than close!

What can I tell you, Duncan insist they are different winds. Discussed ad nauseam and everyone freely admits the A2P and Jazz are the same wind, but not the DD and JB.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

Having messed around with both, I'll say that they are similar. Isn't that, for practicle purposes, good enough?

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[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

What can I tell you, Duncan insist they are different winds. Discussed ad nauseam and everyone freely admits the A2P and Jazz are the same wind, but not the DD and JB.

Being a pickup maker myself, I’ll say they are almost exactly the same. And you can hear this if you swap the magnets.

I did it for the guitarist in my old band when he wanted a new guitar to sound like his other one.

And they sounded pretty damn close.


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[Aceman]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

I’ve done it for a customer. It’s basically a Duncan Distortion when you put a ceramic magnet in. It’s a bit brighter, but still a dark pickup.

They are both 16.6k. That’s more than close!

With all due respect - I suggest you ignore these two posts. The Duncan Distortion is in no way a "dark" pickup. For that matter, neither is the JB. The Resonant Peak (16.8k) has very very little to do with the tone of the pickup. Two pickups could have the same res Peak and sound very similar or very different. It is not an absolute indicator of output either.

JB with Ceramic will be darker than Duncan Distortion?

No it is not, and will not be dark with that magnet, or darker than a Distortion. It may not be quite as bright. But it will be considerably brighter / tighter than a JB

A couple of people have mentioned the Thickness of the Ceramic magnet. The Distortion uses a double thick magnet. If you want to get as close as possible, use this. If you use a regular thick magnet, you will get the "JB+" or "Dokkenbucker" that was mentioned. It will likely make you happy. The double thick will make you happier.

The JB and Distortion are NOT exactly the same wind. They are, however, rather close. Close enough that most musicians with wrecked ears wouldn't be able to tell or care after half a song cranked up.

I need bright pickup with tight low. I really like tones: Dokken, Motley Crue, Ratt, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Whitesnake (John Sykes 87).
What pickup do you recommend?

I have played all of that for years with a Distortion and was happy as can be. The Distortion is tight, punchy, and the highs scream and are bright.

My band www.hollywoodblvdband.com plays all of that. Those bands use generally a JB or a Distortion (among other things).
I generally play one of these in a Dean Cadillac or such
- A Pearly Gates
- A JB8
- A Duncan Custom

The other guitar player uses JB's in Ibanez RG styles.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

I agree the Distortion is definitely NOT dark. I owed an Epiphone Les Paul with the Distortion set for a couple days. It sounded like an ice pick through my Super Reverb. More so than the Telecaster I traded it for.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

The Distortion also has plenty of bottom, lest we neglect to mention.

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[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

With all due respect - I suggest you ignore these two posts. The Duncan Distortion is in no way a "dark" pickup. For that matter, neither is the JB. The Resonant Peak (16.8k) has very very little to do with the tone of the pickup. Two pickups could have the same res Peak and sound very similar or very different. It is not an absolute indicator of output either.

I believe you mean “DC Resistance,” not resonant peak. The JB is a dark sounding pickup. A bright pickup would be a Strat or Tele bridge pickup. What you hear that people mistake for treble is a resonant peak in the upper midrange. That’s where human hearing is most sensitive. So to many it sounds “bright.” But listen to it clean. It’s overly “warm” with no sparkle or snap, as compared to a non overwound humbucker like a PAF.

On a high impedance pickup, right after the resonant peak, the frequency response drops off. It’s a 2nd order low pass filter at this point. So the lower the resonant peak, the less high frequency signal is left.

Your talking to someone that’s been winding since 1979. I had pickups on the Grammy’s.

So I suggest we ignore your post. You didn’t know the difference between DC resistance and a resonant peak.

You meant to say that DC resistance alone is not an indicator of the tonal qualities of the pickup. This is true. But when we are talking about a fixed bobbin size like a humbucker; you can only fit so much wire. So we go to thinner gauges. Now the resistance gets much higher. The combination of increased turns and higher residence lowers that resonant peak and bumps up the lows. There’s a point of diminishing returns, and pickups like this are just about at that point. They are great for dirty tones and that’s about it.



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[justFred]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

Were the Grannys a guitar, a band or what?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

Play nice, the OP thinks that the JB is dark, and that's what matters. The OP is more concerned with improving the bass response of his current bridge pickup than fancy electrical terms.

I'd say purchase a ceramic, a double thick ceramic, and also an Alnico 8 magnet just to play around with what possible tones you can get. They are fairly cheap and make a massive effect on your tone.

 

[justFred]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

Seriously, forget mag swap...turn treble all the way up and bass all the way down on your amp. Work the tone controls on the guitar to get what your after.
Go to a pearly gates bridge

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

JBs are great for dirty tones and that’s about it.

I really like the JB's clean tone. Your explanation does make sense tho.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Duncan JB magnet swap to ceramic.

I can't stand the JB's clean tone, but hey, that's why there are different pickups! A pickup with a tighter lower end is the Custom, and even a Custom 5. Neither is dark, and both are certainly very powerful.