Jazz/PB combo in an all-mahogany LP?

Liko

Liko

New member
I'm currently playing a Hot Rodded set in my Epiphone LP Studio, worn brown finish (so no maple cap). The Jazz is wonderful, clean or dirty. The JB really only sounds good in hard overdrive or full distortion; in clean or mild overdrive it's just not working for me, way too nasal, an obvious problem with a thick-sounding pickup in a thick-sounding tonewood. I want something a little clearer-sounding for clean and mild drive work, without losing too much of what the JB is capable of at higher gain. The Custom 5 looks/sounds like it'd be too much in the other direction, so I'm trying to split the difference.

I've seen and heard reviews of the Perpetual Burn that say it's one of the most versatile bridge pickups ever made, capable of a lot of what the JB is famous for but more evenly EQed to get the brighter 90s shred sound. However, since it's marketed as a shredder's pickup, I've only ever heard it in Strat bodies. Has anyone here put it into an SG or an all-magohany LP? What did you think?
 
Last edited:
Re: Jazz/PB combo in an all-mahogany LP?

The character of the guitar that's making you think you don't like the JB will have a similar influence on the PB, just in different areas.

Without knowing more about your other tools (amp, pedals, etc) and your goals, it is hard to give a good suggestion.
 
Re: Jazz/PB combo in an all-mahogany LP?

Fair enough.

Amp: Fender Bassman 150 (I know, I know)
Pedals: Hardwire Tube OD (similar to a Bad Monkey but more tonal options), Hardwire Valve Dist, Hardwire Reverb
Goals: Bassier, less nasal bridge position without totally losing "meat".
Stylistic influences: Diverse; 3 Doors Down, 3rd Day, Fair to Midland, The Letter Black, Disturbed, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, Godsmack

From the SD demo clips, what sounds best to me is in the medium-output, slightly-scooped "More PAF" range. The Custom and Pearly Gates sound good to me both clean and dirty, maybe both a touch trebly but there's a knob for that. The WLH and Custom 5 sound decent clean but are too scooped distorted; all hair, no meat. The Perpetual Burn sounds like everything I'd want in a hard-rock to prog-metal pickup, and it even has a touch of Southern rock twang clean, but there's only the trailer Youtube and the usual amateur demos; there aren't the standard apples-to-apples demo clips available for A/B comparisons with the other pickups.
 
Last edited:
Re: Jazz/PB combo in an all-mahogany LP?

Yeah, either the Custom or the 59/Custom Hybrid would be my choices. I think you'd get the power you want, and the EQ you want, without a loss of mids nor a honky sound.
 
Re: Jazz/PB combo in an all-mahogany LP?

Liko said:
I'm currently playing a Hot Rodded set in my Epiphone LP Studio, worn brown finish (so no maple cap). The Jazz is wonderful, clean or dirty. The JB really only sounds good in hard overdrive or full distortion; in clean or mild overdrive it's just not working for me, way too nasal, an obvious problem with a thick-sounding pickup in a thick-sounding tonewood. I want something a little clearer-sounding for clean and mild drive work, without losing too much of what the JB is capable of at higher gain. The Custom 5 looks/sounds like it'd be too much in the other direction, so I'm trying to split the difference.

I've seen and heard reviews of the Perpetual Burn that say it's one of the most versatile bridge pickups ever made, capable of a lot of what the JB is famous for but more evenly EQed to get the brighter 90s shred sound. However, since it's marketed as a shredder's pickup, I've only ever heard it in Strat bodies. Has anyone here put it into an SG or an all-magohany LP? What did you think?
Click to expand...

Liko, it looks like you are going through EXACTLY what I went through recently. I have an all-mahogany Ibanez SZ320 - dual humbucker, neck-through, fixed bridge (strings through body), has the 25.0" scale length of a PRS, but it's solid and heavy like a LP. Love the guitar, but it tends to sound a bit nasal and honky. In replacing the pickups (from the stock pups), I went with the Jazz neck and a Custom 5 in the bridge. I thought the scooped EQ of the Custom 5 would filter out the nasally edge inherent to the guitar. But, just like you thought, it was too much... It sounded decent for rhythm, but very thin for leads.

I followed the exact logic as you and... I paid the extra $$ to swap the Custom 5 with a Perpetual Burn and OH MY~ I would say it's exactly what I wanted, but it was even better! Besides getting rid of that nasally honk, the PB is very, very, very articulate. You can make out every note of a chord no matter how much gain you use. This was very important to me as I tend to use a lot of dissonant chords. There is ZERO mud.

The PB is a very versatile pup. I grew up playing a lot of neoclassical metal, and (coincidentally) Jason Becker was always my favorite, but I rarely play that style anymore. I play a lot of progressive metal (Vanden Plas, Fates Warning, DT, etc) and jazz fusion (lower gain, lots of articulate runs). In split-coil combo with the Jazz neck, the PB handles clean jazz tones well. The Jazz/PB combo handles clean/low gain stuff (like The Police) really well, too.

It's your choice, but seems like I did the trial work for you (on a very comparable guitar). I couldn't be happier with the Jazz/PB combo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top