Introducing Thrash Factor!

Re: Introducing Thrash Factor!

I am not sure what the differences are...but whatever they are won't be listed other than generalities.
 
Re: Introducing Thrash Factor!

You're treading in murky waters. In recent weeks, many other brave souls have asked this question only to receive 6 paragraph responses that could just have easily been said in 6 sentences.

As was stated earlier, it might just be a marketing scheme. A JB that just so happened to be wound to a magical higher quality. But then again, look how far out of spec this pickup is. It's not unlikely that the pickup Mustaine bought is different enough from the standard affair to warrant a new pickup.

Suffice to say the original pickup was significantly out of spec, resulting in a noticeably higher resonant peak. Not necessarily better - just different than a standard JB.

I'll be curious to hear the thoughts of anyone who tries them, especially if you compare to a standard JB.
 
Re: Introducing Thrash Factor!

At some point in the 90s a production switch was made to a smoother, more consistently manufactured magnet. I read that here, but won't be bothered to find it.

Oddball winding inconsistencies plus more variability in magnets? Sounds like his JB could easily sound different than any of mine.

OTOH how fortunate this outlier ended up in his hands and not in some asian Jackson owned by a 14 year old bedroom dreamer.
 
Re: Introducing Thrash Factor!

At some point in the 90s a production switch was made to a smoother, more consistently manufactured magnet. I read that here, but won't be bothered to find it.

Polished magnets were created to increase consistency, but that doesn't mean that the old roughcast ones were inconsistent. The main difference between roughcast and polished magnets from a modders perspective is the high end content, the range of consistency is roughcast magnets is negligible.

The chance of the certain A5 in the JB upon which the Thrash Factor is based being a slightly different grade of A5 than in a normal 90s JB is more likely a reason than an off spec roughcast magnet. To be clear, I am in no way saying this theory is true, it's most likely not.
 
Re: Introducing Thrash Factor!

At some point in the 90s a production switch was made to a smoother, more consistently manufactured magnet. I read that here, but won't be bothered to find it.

Oddball winding inconsistencies plus more variability in magnets? Sounds like his JB could easily sound different than any of mine.

OTOH how fortunate this outlier ended up in his hands and not in some asian Jackson owned by a 14 year old bedroom dreamer.

Eh, not buying it. The guitar/pickup/amp is not some sort of magical mythical thing. Mustaine himself said he had to do a lot to the signal path to get the sound he wanted. The pickups are just the first in the line. I personally don't think the guitar or pickup had as much to do with the sound on Rust In Peace as Dave's hands.

That said, we have a new pickup and another way to get musicians closer to the tone they want much quicker and easier. How many "I love the JB but..." or JB mod threads do we need before they go and make a slightly different JB??? Now you can just go and buy the thing without having to do all the dang legwork.

I'm happy with my stock JBs. That said, if I was in the market, I'd try a Thrash factor.

That said too... the Mustaine Livewire are criminally underrated IMHO. They are everything I like about the JB and Jazz but "more."
 
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So it looks like the Trash Factor neck is just a 59 neck with a matte black finish. Thats fine, but its only available in a set with a bridge pickup that isnt trem-spaced? What if I want to buy the neck pickup and a Trembucker bridge pickup? I see the two bridge pickups available separately, but not the neck.

You'd have to contact an SD authorized dealer directly to see if those options exist as a Shop Floor Custom.
 
I think the sound is horrible, not just bad. "Tight low end"? Where'd that come from? But I have to admit that this really isn't my thing, and although I like nearly all types of music (even love classical), thrash and rap (especially with all the hate and cussing) are not on my list.
 
Sure. lots of OEM pickups differ from the regularly available formula. Jackson states what they want, SD makes it happen for a certain # of units. It would make sense that they don't have long legs for the thin body/non-arched top Jacksons.
They do this with all sorts of options: conductor number, colors, size and placement of font on the bobbin.
 
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