Spicypickles
New member
Good morrow Duncan group, first time poster here.
I recently acquired a Jackson SL1 that's currently loaded with the stock JB (bridge) and classic stacks (middle and neck). For those unfamiliar, its a maple neck through poplar body with ebony board, so it's fairly bright. It became clear shortly after plugging it in that the bridge pickup was pretty noisy, which was a surprise compared to the singles that usually always have the noise. Turns out that the JB is microphonic, and I have a few choices to rectify the problem. I have a couple other guitars loaded with JB's and they aren't my favorite so I'm leaning towards replacing it. My issue is that I'm not sure if I want to replace the entire set. The classic stacks seem to be a bit underpowered, but they sound really good, and are diverse.
My thinking:
I mainly play heavy stuff, metal and prog nonsense. I've been getting way more into shreddy stuff and lead lines and trebly EQ's seem to be the bane of my tone (hence my dislike of the JB and its tendency to be ice-picky). I do plan on keeping this guitar around standard tuning, maybe a half step down. That makes a pretty big difference as I have a couple BKP's hanging around, but they DO NOT like bright guitars or higher tunings IMO. I suppose I'm looking for something with a big, but tight bottom end, grinding mids, and fairly tame highs. I don't want the highs to be too glassy or round (like a D-sonic or crunch lab, those are a bit too mellow). Maybe I don't know what the hell I want, convince me.
I would highly appreciate your help, or at the very least, discuss your own HSS setups and how you use them.
I recently acquired a Jackson SL1 that's currently loaded with the stock JB (bridge) and classic stacks (middle and neck). For those unfamiliar, its a maple neck through poplar body with ebony board, so it's fairly bright. It became clear shortly after plugging it in that the bridge pickup was pretty noisy, which was a surprise compared to the singles that usually always have the noise. Turns out that the JB is microphonic, and I have a few choices to rectify the problem. I have a couple other guitars loaded with JB's and they aren't my favorite so I'm leaning towards replacing it. My issue is that I'm not sure if I want to replace the entire set. The classic stacks seem to be a bit underpowered, but they sound really good, and are diverse.
My thinking:
Wax Pot the JB, and be done with it. Maybe swap in a different magnet?
- Replace the JB with a Parallel Axis TB, solely on the merits of its looks. How well would they match with the classis stacks?
- Just overhaul the whole thing, new pickups in every orifice, in which case, what would you recommend?
I mainly play heavy stuff, metal and prog nonsense. I've been getting way more into shreddy stuff and lead lines and trebly EQ's seem to be the bane of my tone (hence my dislike of the JB and its tendency to be ice-picky). I do plan on keeping this guitar around standard tuning, maybe a half step down. That makes a pretty big difference as I have a couple BKP's hanging around, but they DO NOT like bright guitars or higher tunings IMO. I suppose I'm looking for something with a big, but tight bottom end, grinding mids, and fairly tame highs. I don't want the highs to be too glassy or round (like a D-sonic or crunch lab, those are a bit too mellow). Maybe I don't know what the hell I want, convince me.
I would highly appreciate your help, or at the very least, discuss your own HSS setups and how you use them.
