Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

[Fusion1]

I know they are Dimarzio SDS-1 (Super Distortion) single coils, but what I can't believe is that they are the pickups used for his clean intros, as they are not the cleanest pickups. Was there a reason he chose these over more middle of the road singles? Some might say he wanted a more powerful single coil, but I can't believe it, as the intros he plays cleanly aren't all that powerful.

If he used these pickups, he;d have to use a noise gate. TO be honest these are more powerful pickups than either his JB or Holdsworth prototype so this baffles me.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

Don't forget, he also had them reverse slanted as well.

 

[Fusion1]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

Reverse slanted will just give more bite to the low end. Would still be noisy and not very jangly.

 

[Fusion1]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

I have 2 Ibanez Roadstar RG440's with the reverse slanted singles and there really isn't much difference to my ears.

 

[beandip]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

I always thought he used SSL-5's. At least thats what the SD sight says, and if he uses SSL-5's, it'd be easier to get a jangley clean tone.

 

[\m/(00)\m/]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

what are the dimarzio sds-1's?

are they still available, sounds cool.

 

[ranalli]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

If he used these pickups, he;d have to use a noise gate. TO be honest these are more powerful pickups than either his JB or Holdsworth prototype so this baffles me.

At 200Mv I don't think they are hotter than the JB....the JB is not quite as hot as a regular Super Distortion(425Mv) but certainly higher than the SDS1.

But 200Mv is hot for a single coil.....although very cool for a Hum.

 

[Farkus]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

One of my ex-bandmates wanted Jake tone...he got 2 SDS-1's that I installed for him (they were hot pink!). Anyway, the SDS's have decent clean tone. The really are like most other DiMarzios (IMHO) in that they don't really respond well to dynamics...kinna all or nothing. DiMarzios best single coil, IMO, is the FS-1. If you're going with DiMarzio, try that one. It has pretty good tone and is quite jangley. In terms of the SDS's matching with the JB...well, he got the SDS and JB in pink, but the pinks were different colors. So he went with an X2N. I had to adjust the pups a little, but they were fine together. The X2N is HOT, BTW...The JB is hotter than the SDS's...the SDS-1's won't compete without height adjustment (SDS's closer to the strings), so watch out for strat-itis.

Farkus

 

[Fusion1]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

At 200Mv I don't think they are hotter than the JB....the JB is not quite as hot as a regular Super Distortion(425Mv) but certainly higher than the SDS1.

But 200Mv is hot for a single coil.....although very cool for a Hum.

I haven't played one myself but after reading this review, (and others like it) I couldn't imagine this pickup being more than a one trick pony; high gain bridge pickup. Here is an excerpt from the oldest Dimarzio SDS-1 Review on Harmony Central from 1993. You read that right, 1993!!!!!

Perceived output level: Pretty high - as high as an old DiMarzio Super Distortion Humbucker (see my review of that pickup, too). At one time, I had the SDS-1 in the middle next to that humbucker and they were pretty comparable in volume (nope, I am not kidding).
Tone: Believe it or not, ____very____ similar to the DiMarzio Super Distortion Humbucker. So similar, I decided that I did not want them together in the same guitar...

 

[Elfunkenstein]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

You realize that as a musician in Ozzy's band, Jake E. Lee probably had access to many different guitars and may not have used his signature exclusively while recording right? For instance I saw a video of Mastodon recording with an original 1950s stratocaster through a Marshall Purple. Then I saw them live; guess what guitar/amp combo they didn't use? (Although their tone still kicked ass)

 

[uOpt]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

Well, he used a hardtail. That alone changes everything.

 

[beandip]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

Holy **** crazy zombie thread

We've gotta start locking these things after awhile.

 

[dmandude123455]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

lmao

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

Old thread is old.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Jake E Lee's neck/mid pickups

stop me if i'm wrong on this, but i have a feeling this isn't the first time elfunkenstein's brought a thread back from the dead...