JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

J

jmp22684

New member
The title pretty much says it.

I put the tb4 in my comanche. I had the sh4 that I put in my ESP and it was almost too much. I replaced that with a duncan custom, exchanged the sh4 for a tb4 double white. Like a moron tried to route my pickguard, snapped on the last cut.... Of course..... Then spent $80 on a new pickguard. Got the tb4 in there and .... Well it feels like a lost sneeze. Lots of back and forth and money and time. Completely let down.

Now I know this most likely has everything to do with different pots and caps. The Comanche is a passive bass treble wiring.

The problem is I love the way my Neck and Middle pups sound. Any change I make can't have an impact on those. Ive tried different combinations of heights with the tb4 and pole pieces. Its just not screaming the way I would have expected it to. Miles and miles from the sound I had in my ESP.

I'll add that since I am a moron I did this with two different JB bridge pups as I dropped the ball the first time and ordered the sh4 double white for the Comanche before realizing I needed the tb4. I assumed it sounded weak due to poor spacing.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Schematic: http://www.glguitars.com/schematics/S-500_schematic_blockdiagram.pdf

Even if there was a way to bypass a pot or two I could live with that. I'd like it to sound closer to the way it did with the esp and its 500k pots.

Next to the zcoils this thing sounds pretty weak and lack luster
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

Back to topic.

I wonder if trying to swap the a5 for an a8 would solve this. Or would that just muddy things up too much... Perhaps a ceramic if it doesn't have the brightness it usually would with 500k pots....

Or just a wiring mod... Hmph...

Sick of chopping strings too. Lol
Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

The pole spacing won't make it sound weaker or stronger enough to account for the "lost sneeze" you're describing.

Have you tried both of those JBs in the same guitar? Have you taken a meter to the one that sounds like a "lost sneeze"?

If it meters good, go through a process of elimination to track down what's going on.
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

Yeah both JBs in the same guitar same setup. I don't think thats the culprit.

I did read another thread where the guy encountered the same thing. But, his solution of a cap removal brightened the entire guitar. I am trying to leave my neck and middle completely unaffected.
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

The JB should not sound weak in any guitar, actually. It is a really strong pickup with its own distinctive voice. Take some pics of your wiring, and try the trick of wiring it directly to the jack. Those guitars have some weirdo wiring in there, so my thought is that something is wrong in there, rather than the pickup. Check the resistance of the pickup (outside of the circuit) with a meter as well.
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

Mincer said:
The JB should not sound weak in any guitar, actually. It is a really strong pickup with its own distinctive voice. Take some pics of your wiring, and try the trick of wiring it directly to the jack. Those guitars have some weirdo wiring in there, so my thought is that something is wrong in there, rather than the pickup. Check the resistance of the pickup (outside of the circuit) with a meter as well.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more, I also highly suspect it's a wiring bug somewhere.
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

with everything still intact I get:
16.8 Bridge
4.9 Neck and Middle

As far as wiring I'll get some pics up when I pull it apart and chop off ANOTHER set of strings... I think I am going to go find some cheapy strings for this. Those D'addario exp's are too much to keep throwing away.

With that in mind the only thing I did was soften the solder enough to pull out the wires from the selector and back of the pot. Then put the JB's wires back in place. I didn't really screw around with anything in there.
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

jmp22684 said:
with everything still intact I get:
16.8 Bridge
4.9 Neck and Middle

As far as wiring I'll get some pics up when I pull it apart and chop off ANOTHER set of strings... I think I am going to go find some cheapy strings for this. Those D'addario exp's are too much to keep throwing away.

With that in mind the only thing I did was soften the solder enough to pull out the wires from the selector and back of the pot. Then put the JB's wires back in place. I didn't really screw around with anything in there.
Click to expand...

Is it fixed bridge or trem-equipped? With a trem guitar you can remove the pickups without taking off the strings!
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

jmp22684, are you the same guy that was upset on another thread about the inconvenience of dealing with strings when swapping a pickup?
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

Lol!

I dont think so. I am not on often. Heck I swapped the JB for the Duncan Custom in my ESP. 10 minutes before I left for a show with the strings on. Dropped the pup as low as I could with out it coming off the theads. Jimmied the pup and ring out and popped the new one. Didn't take but a couple seconds it seemed.

The full pickguard seems a bit more cumbersome to try and pull out without accidentally scratching the guitar.

I may just pop the neck off quick and do it that way.

Only reason I chopped the strings was because of tightening and loosening over and over... I don't need one to pop on me first set while I'm out.
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

If the coils are in phase, wouldn't you get a correct DCR reading, but a thinned out sound as a result?
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

To be honest, I've only accidently done that once, and can't remember whether there was noticeable noise versus the tonal distraction.
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

That happened to me once also where I had the thing in series out of phase. Will read full on the meter but have weak sound and no hum cancellation.
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

Soldered red and white together and taped off.
Soldered green and bare to the back of the pot.
Soldered black to the blade.
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

So with the schematic in my first post up top. How would I go about bypassing pots for the bridge pup only?
 
Re: JB bridge tb4 sounds weak in Comanche

You could just solder it direct to the jack hot/ground, and momentarily disconnect the switch and the rest of the pots etc. (as a test.) Does it hum cancel? If you put alligator clips on a cable from the jack and measure dc, what is it? Could be a short somewhere causing half-output, who knows.
 
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