I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

[blueman335]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

And you've borne that flag for the last decade all by yourself.

The OP just called his JB 'a mess' in his PRS. First time you've heard a someone (besides me) say this? Apparently your memory is fading. All I've done is quote other people.

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

In the JB's defense... the OP did say it sounded really good in his Les Paul.

 

[blueman335]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

In the JB's defense... the OP did say it sounded really good in his Les Paul.

Absolutely agree. It sounds great in some guitars, for some genres it's an excellent choice. Some members have selective memories about the threads and posts about JB's not working out. Hey, it happens with every PU. I don't get my feathers ruffled when people aren't thrilled with my favorite PU's. Nor does Duncan want us to shower them with praise for every product of theirs. As they said here recently, they value our opinions and input in order to make their products more appealing to players. They want to hear what we like and don't like. This forum is a gold mine of free market research and new product ideas for them.

As I said, I walked into a hornet's nest on JB's when I joined this forum 10 years ago. Like every other PU, JB's have places where they shine, and places where they don't. There is no universal PU.

 

[Demanic]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

That's what I was thinking too. The OP's tonal descriptions sound exactly backwards compared to what I'd expect from those two pickups.



It really depends on the guitar; in my Explorer I found the JB brighter than the Custom. Considering the OP's pickup combo, I'd expect the A2P to be dark, loose, and tubby or the JB to be overly bright and scooped.

I have never heard of an AIIP in the neck having scooped mids. JB with icepick spike in the mids, yes, flubby bass and way too much mids sounds like something with an A2 in it.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

Absolutely agree. It sounds great in some guitars, for some genres it's an excellent choice. Some members have selective memories about the threads and posts about JB's not working out. Hey, it happens with every PU. I don't get my feathers ruffled when people aren't thrilled with my favorite PU's. Nor does Duncan want us to shower them with praise for every product of theirs. As they said here recently, they value our opinions and input in order to make their products more appealing to players. They want to hear what we like and don't like. This forum is a gold mine of free market research and new product ideas for them.

As I said, I walked into a hornet's nest on JB's when I joined this forum 10 years ago. Like every other PU, JB's have places where they shine, and places where they don't. There is no universal PU.

I happen to know where you are coming from... you're a blues guitarist.

Sort of a Mike Bloomfield and maybe veering towards Gary Moore type of player? I've tracked down some clips of you playing in a bar... good stuff. Didn't you win some sort of blues competition?

There is not an instance on God's green earth where the JB would make a sufficient blues pickup IMHO. It just doesn't have the single note heft to play blues lines properly IMHO.

I wouldn't expect you to like the JB in anything although you seem to dig it's sound in certain guitars which is nice.

I've just been playing vintage output pickups for a few years now... I don't think I can go back to high output pickups very easily now that I've been in the vintage camp for so long.

I still play JBs, I'm just veering towards a sort of rockin' smooth jazz tone lately. I'm more Jay Graydon than a hard rocker these days...

 

[blueman335]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

I have never heard of an AIIP in the neck having scooped mids. JB with icepick spike in the mids, yes, flubby bass and way too much mids sounds like something with an A2 in it.

Agree about A2 neck PU's, they've always sounded 'big' to me with their mids. But I suppose in some woods it may not happen.

There's been comments here about JB's having a loose low end in some mahogany guitars, maybe because that wood can naturally have a good dose of low end, and with the combination of the JB's wind and an A5's bass, maybe it can sometimes be a bit too much. But it doesn't always happen in mahogany. To say 'It didn't happen in my guitar' doesn't mean it hasn't happened in someone else's guitar.

 

[blueman335]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

I happen to know where you are coming from... you're a blues guitarist.

Sort of a Mike Bloomfield and maybe veering towards Gary Moore type of player? I've tracked down some clips of you playing in a bar... good stuff. Didn't you win some sort of blues competition?

There is not an instance on God's green earth where the JB would make a sufficient blues pickup IMHO. It just doesn't have the single note heft to play blues lines properly IMHO.

I wouldn't expect you to like the JB in anything although you seem to dig it's sound in certain guitars which is nice.

I've just been playing vintage output pickups for a few years now... I don't think I can go back to high output pickups very easily now that I've been in the vintage camp for so long.

Thanks. I just found out a couple of videos on YouTube of me playing several years ago (look up 'Resurgence Fort Myers', there's two songs recorded outdoors; the indoors one was bizarrely edited). Geez, you even found out about the competition: I won Guitar Center's 'King of the Blues' for the SW Florida district in 2009. Like you, my preferences are moving steadily towards PAF's. It's been a while since I've gotten anything over 10K (and then only to use 10K's in making hybrids).

You guessed it, Bloomfield & Moore, along with Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, Jimmy Page, early Clapton, early Trower, early Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor, Mick Abrahams, Paul Kossoff, Kim Simmonds, Alvin Lee, Luther Grosvenor, and...a lifelong passion for Hendrix.

 

[Demanic]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

No, I understand that. They are all unique. But when I hear of such atypical tonal response, along with someone else saying that the pickups sound as if they are being described as the other ie. neck scooped while the bridge is over middy, makes me still wonder if the pickups were installed in the wrong spot. Or, and I have done this, maybe the three way selector switch was wired up backwards. Thus while you think you are playing the bridge, it is actually the neck, or visa versa.

 

[Mincer]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

To the OP, I'd go with the Custom. It isn't as loud and brash as the JB, and has a tight low end. It isn't as compressed sounding to my ears and hands as a JB, so you get more dynamics too. If you want a little more PAFish vibe in there, go with a 59/Custom Hybrid.

 

[Yzerman]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the feedback.

After using the AP2 for a few days it's starting to grow on me more and perhaps my "scooped" description was misleading. I was comparing it to the 57' in the neck of my Les Paul with an A5 magnet and it didn't seem as full as that one.

As for the JB, it has the same tonal properties as the one in my LP but it's a little flabby on the bass and seems to have more upper mid bite. Granted, the guitar doesn't have a lot of bass response when you strum it acoustically so that might be a factor.

I have a gig this weekend so i'm going to see how the JB performs live but i think it long run it will most likely get changed and it looks like it could be either a Custom or C5.

Thanks

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

I've used a C5/59n in PRS guitars for quite awhile, and it seems well balanced across all the frequencies.

 

[stratguy23]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

If it makes OP feel any better, all homework will do with pickup buying is get you in the neighborhood of where you want to go.

For the untold hours of homework I've done, I don't think I've ever hit the nail on the head with any single gear purchase. Specs go only so far b/c every instrument/rig is different. You could put the JB in one Les Paul and it would rule but in another it would be bad.

B/c every instrument/rig is different, I now view stuff like pickup swaps and amp changing in terms of problem solving. What do I want to fix, or where do I want to go, and how far am I from that. It might take a few iterations to get closer and closer until you're satisfied. Whatever happens along the way isn't a failure, but a learning experience. I'm glad to have tried almost every pickup I've played (some stock Ibanez ones being notable exceptions ).

 

[htwheelz67]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

Sometime I have found I didn't like some pickups and a few days later it sounds better, sometimes I think pickups need to breath and break in like new tubes and speakers. Last Sat I swapped in new pups and TS rings, plugged it in and I was missing some of what the stock pups had, 4 days later it sounded better and today it sounds perfect. You may want to play with the height and adjust the poles on the 3 wound strings, Ive had a JB in a couple guitars and doing some height adjusting and screw pole adjusting made a world of difference. It seems to work with wine, let it sit and open up and its much better.:smash:

 

[djent]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

The JB should be good for you, maybe make sure you've wired it correctly

 

[Mincer]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

I have done a ton of homework, and ended up with the wrong pickup (or succession of pickups) for me. In the end, we can research all we want, but numbers on a web page or videos of someone else playing can only get us so far. Only when you replace a lot of pickups, do you start to know what works for you and your particular style and instrument.

 

[blueman335]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

I have done a ton of homework, and ended up with the wrong pickup (or succession of pickups) for me. In the end, we can research all we want, but numbers on a web page or videos of someone else playing can only get us so far. Only when you replace a lot of pickups, do you start to know what works for you and your particular style and instrument.

+1. It takes a while to figure what kind of PU's are most likely to give the tones you want, and even then the individual guitar woods and designs can throw you for a loop. That's one reason this forum is so great: there's a lot of ways to get the tones you want, whether that's set ups, pots, magnets, etc. No need to settle for a stock PU that isn't giving what you want, nor do you need to keep buying a bunch of PU's in desperation.

 

[blueman335]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

The JB should be good for you, maybe make sure you've wired it correctly

Don't know what's leading you to that conclusion. If you do a little looking here, you'll find there's some guys who love JB's in bright woods, that also have been very disappointed when they try them in mahogany. Regardless of how much you like any PU, there's players who've had poor experiences with it. My favorite Duncan PU is Seth's, but it's not the solution to everyone's tone quest; some guys are going to be very unhappy with it. That's why Seymour has spent decades developing so many different models of PU's, so there's something in the Duncan line that will work for everyone. No reason to be fixated on JB's.

 

[BruceBruce]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

You should check what pots are in your LP. I'm guessing the LP has 300k pots and the PRS 500k, hence the difference in tone.

 

[Drunken Bowling]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

Sorry it didn't work out, man!

 

[AZ Picker]

Re: I didn't do my homework before buying pickups :-(

I had an all Mahogany (no maple cap) PRS CE 22 for years, I ended up with the good old SH-5 custom in there. It was a dark and VERY middy guitar, and the strong bright top end of the custom made it livable. The custom 5 was decent, but it felt looser in the bass in this guitar (the custom 8 was terrible in this axe, too much low mids) and the ceramic custom tightened that up. I had a Duncan distortion in there for a while and it was a pleasant surprise too, more mild mannered than I expected (blame that on the guitar) and it really worked great to reduce the volume drop from the 5 way rotary switch. But I've played the maple capped version as well and it didn't suffer from the complete lack of treble mine had. I ended up with a Jazz in the neck and it was really good in that guitar. I also adjusted the trem down flush with the body and used it like a hard tail because I didn't want to readjust the trem every time I went to Drop D tuning or tune down a half step. That seemed to tighten up the low end as well.