Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
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Last year, I decided my tone needed an overhaul. I was using all ceramic pickups in all my guitars: Gibson 500T and Duncan Nazgul and Custom. I realized the only one that was really giving me what I wanted was the 500T.
But then a trade came along where I got a CS Antiquity JB, and I decided to give it a try. I fell in love, and I remembered why I used to love the JB so much. So I equipped my other guitars with a couple of JB soundalikes, the DiMarzio AT-1 and the Suhr Aldrich. All great.
I ended up getting rid of two of my guitars and getting that Modern Lite that I dropped a Suhr SSH+ in. I finally found my pickup! I love it. It's kinda like the more balanced and refined JB's cousin. I'm not going to say it's *better* than an actual JB, but it's a good alternative that gets along well with the rest of my gear. It has the "special" Alnico 5 that I feel has a little something that reminds me of the Antiquity JB more that it does the production JB. So I dropped one in my Tribute as well, and I'm satisfied. They're different guitars with different sound signatures, so they don't sound identical, but I like to be able to plug both into the same preset in my HX Stomp and have them both work immediately without adjustment.
Now about the neck pickups... I've always been in conflict. There's a few that I like, but none that I truly love. Air Norton, Duncan '59, DiMarzio 36th Anni, Gibson 490R, all have good qualities, but none of them give me 100% what I want. I realize it's cool to have a usable neck pickup for the rare occasions I flip the switch for cleans or leads, but I just wasn't willing to go through the same journey to find one that I truly love when, realisticlally, I'm on my neck pickup 1% of the time. So I decided to give a cheapie Artec pickup a try, and honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. I believe it's the HBA115. It seems decently put together with good components, and it sounds the part. It reminds me a little of the '59 or the 36th Anni. It's definitely staying.
So all in all, just wanted to share my experience because I'm super happy that I can finally stop swapping pickups. At least for the time being when the itch gets me again to try something new.
Last year, I decided my tone needed an overhaul. I was using all ceramic pickups in all my guitars: Gibson 500T and Duncan Nazgul and Custom. I realized the only one that was really giving me what I wanted was the 500T.
But then a trade came along where I got a CS Antiquity JB, and I decided to give it a try. I fell in love, and I remembered why I used to love the JB so much. So I equipped my other guitars with a couple of JB soundalikes, the DiMarzio AT-1 and the Suhr Aldrich. All great.
I ended up getting rid of two of my guitars and getting that Modern Lite that I dropped a Suhr SSH+ in. I finally found my pickup! I love it. It's kinda like the more balanced and refined JB's cousin. I'm not going to say it's *better* than an actual JB, but it's a good alternative that gets along well with the rest of my gear. It has the "special" Alnico 5 that I feel has a little something that reminds me of the Antiquity JB more that it does the production JB. So I dropped one in my Tribute as well, and I'm satisfied. They're different guitars with different sound signatures, so they don't sound identical, but I like to be able to plug both into the same preset in my HX Stomp and have them both work immediately without adjustment.
Now about the neck pickups... I've always been in conflict. There's a few that I like, but none that I truly love. Air Norton, Duncan '59, DiMarzio 36th Anni, Gibson 490R, all have good qualities, but none of them give me 100% what I want. I realize it's cool to have a usable neck pickup for the rare occasions I flip the switch for cleans or leads, but I just wasn't willing to go through the same journey to find one that I truly love when, realisticlally, I'm on my neck pickup 1% of the time. So I decided to give a cheapie Artec pickup a try, and honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. I believe it's the HBA115. It seems decently put together with good components, and it sounds the part. It reminds me a little of the '59 or the 36th Anni. It's definitely staying.
So all in all, just wanted to share my experience because I'm super happy that I can finally stop swapping pickups. At least for the time being when the itch gets me again to try something new.
