JB for metal???

[AlexR]

....well old skool metal like Metallica and the others of the big 4.

I've looked at a few threads and there are varied opinions. I was wondering if putting a ceramic or alnico 8 mag in it might make it a bit 'ruder'. Amp has plenty of gain too, so no issues there.

....oh possibly looking at it in a basswood/floyd trem style guitar too

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: JB for metal???

I suggest testing the JB in standard form first, if only to determine what aspects of it might need changing.

The pickup is only one part of your signal chain. There are numerous other factors that will affect how the JB (or any other pickup) will sound when played through your amplification.

 

[LatsMcGee]

Re: JB for metal???

The JB served Mustaine and Friedman pretty well.

 

[AlexR]

Re: JB for metal???

Yeah, i'd read on this forum that the mustaine blackout was based off the JB.

Its pretty mids-y in the ash 'strat' body I've made with an original style 6-screw trem....good for ozzy style metal EVH and Extreme. That guitar is not quite so good for Hetfield rhythms - I'll test it out with a floyd first as I guess that changes the tone a heap

 

[Varg]

Re: JB for metal???

I believe it depends very much on the guitar you put it in. The JB can sound perfect for thrash metal in one guitar, but a little loose in another guitar.
It is a very good pickup, you should try it before changing anything. What it lacks for palm muting riffing it makes up for in sweet lead sound.

 

[MikeM]

Re: JB for metal???

I was wondering if putting a ceramic or alnico 8 mag in it might make it a bit 'ruder'.

A8 makes it really nice A bit tighter in the bass

 

[crguti]

Re: JB for metal???

Yeah, i'd read on this forum that the mustaine blackout was based off the JB.

Mustaine blackout? .... :nono: Mustaine livewire.

 

[AlexR]

Re: JB for metal???

Mustaine blackout? .... :nono: Mustaine livewire.

Funny that, I'd typed livewire before erasing it and putting blackout in - like multichoice q's, always go with the first instinct!!

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: JB for metal???

I believe it depends very much on the guitar you put it in. The JB can sound perfect for thrash metal in one guitar, but a little loose in another guitar.
It is a very good pickup, you should try it before changing anything. What it lacks for palm muting riffing it makes up for in sweet lead sound.

Yeah-huh! On both counts.

 

[Metalblaze]

Re: JB for metal???

The JB served Mustaine and Friedman pretty well.

Yeah. It only takes to listen to Countdown to extinction and Youthanasia to see how it does metal. However it's more on the "rhythm-like-lead" kind of metal playing (Mustaine) than the "Hetfield-heavy" style.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: JB for metal???

do it! in a basswood floydy thing it'll be fine with the stock A5.
word on the street is that a regular-sized ceramic mag also goes very well in a JB (as opposed to the double-thick ceramic in a distortion); this is on my list of 'cool stuff that fusion1 does that i'm going to try'

i read in another thread that hetfield's first main pickup was a slightly hotter JB with 12 screw poles and no slugs, FYI

 

[cvansickle]

Re: JB for metal???

I put an alnico 8 magnet into the JB on my Charvel San Dimas. I love it! It's perfect for Metallica, Priest, etc.

I don't think it make the JB "ruder." I think it makes the JB louder, punchier and more authoritative. The ice pick highs are gone, and there's more mids. Bass is still toyt like a toyger!

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: JB for metal???

The 2 most important things to remember when picking a pickup based on a "famous name" or their style is their pick attack and the overall mix. Both Mustaine and Hetfield, as I understand it, flat-pick, meaning they hit the string like the old Mel Bay books said to. If you're using Jazz IIIs and picking at an angle, it ain't gonna happen. You'll get the same castrated low-end and nasal honk like the intro riff to Holy Wars, but if you're not pushing the strings the way Dave did, and you don't have the Ellefson's bass tone behind it, nor an identical guitarist to double it up, and the kick drum tone, then you're not going to get close.

Body shape has a lot to do with it as well. Vs are notably middy. Listen to Schenker or older Priest (you can really spot when KK started using the V as opposed to the Strat).
An Explorer is not going to sound like a Strat or V or LP. An Invader in a Jackson Warrior sounds closer to Puppets IMO, since it's close to the Explorer shape.