ex-250
Riffologist Extraordinaire
so yesterday i put a JB in my gibson explorer, but i had to wait till today to make a final judgement cause i did it late last night and i really wanted to give it the crank test. the results? damn! its one hell of a pickup. im not sure if i like it better than my DD thats in another guitar, but theyre pretty damn different anyway. i still prefer the tight low end chugging rhythm tone of the DD, but the first the i noticed about the JB was the lead tone. holy ****! its definately the most searing kickass lead tone ive ever gotten. love it. its rhythm tone is still awesome, but i dont think ill ever find a rhythm tone i like better than what comes outta the DD. the JB is a little more smooth too, and i guess i prefer the chunky palm mute sound of the DD. but while i prefer the bottom end tightness of the DD, the mids of JB dominate- theyre so much more usable than the mids of the DD. sometimes the DD sounds like its got so much mids, and because of the texture or whatever of them, theyre kinda too crispy or something, just not really what i want. but the JB, while it certainly has a lotta mids in there, has a lot more smoothness to the mids that dont really make it as chunky sounding, but just sounds better as a mid frequency overall. the JB also has damn good harmonics. not astonishingly more than the DD, but enough that you can tell. PH's scream just a bit more with the JB i think. and, i havent noticed any "ice-pickiness" like some people say about the JB. i really like its high end actually. and im pretty sure my explorer came with 500k pots (ok im not positive, but its a good guess). in a lighter bodied and different wooded guitar it could be too bright, but it sounds great in a giant peice of mahogany like the explorer. overall, a great pickup and im really happy with it.
oh and one more thing i noticed- i now have all my main genres covered with guitars/tone. the explorer (w/ JB) is perfect for NWOBHM and classic metal stuff like maiden, priest, etc. the ex-351 (DD/'59) is perfect for more thrash kinda stuff like Metallica, megadeth (even though dave mustaine uses JB's, i get a much better megadeth tone with the DD), slayer, etc. because of the tighter bottom end and more aggressiveness of the DD. and my viper is perfect for the stoner rock/southern metal stuff like down, COC, etc. cause its got even more low end and a bit less mids, but still has really good clarity and handles downtuning like none other. so im a happy man. but this also shows that i really dont have much use for the invader thats in my bc rich, so im thinking of getting rid of it and putting in an EMG 81. as my only trem-equipped guitar and with its raw maple neck, itd be great for leads with an 81 in there.
JB: A+
oh and one more thing i noticed- i now have all my main genres covered with guitars/tone. the explorer (w/ JB) is perfect for NWOBHM and classic metal stuff like maiden, priest, etc. the ex-351 (DD/'59) is perfect for more thrash kinda stuff like Metallica, megadeth (even though dave mustaine uses JB's, i get a much better megadeth tone with the DD), slayer, etc. because of the tighter bottom end and more aggressiveness of the DD. and my viper is perfect for the stoner rock/southern metal stuff like down, COC, etc. cause its got even more low end and a bit less mids, but still has really good clarity and handles downtuning like none other. so im a happy man. but this also shows that i really dont have much use for the invader thats in my bc rich, so im thinking of getting rid of it and putting in an EMG 81. as my only trem-equipped guitar and with its raw maple neck, itd be great for leads with an 81 in there.
JB: A+
