hamerfan
Well-known member
I had one of these mit 80ies JB J in my spares. I used to like the parallel sound but the humbucker position had the well know "only great when really great volumes" effect.
I first swapped in a A8 and found that the humbucker position improved greatly. More bass and deep mids, the parallel sound was still great. Comparing with my favorite Custom 8 i would prefer still the C8 while sounding ballsier and looser with great harmonics at low level use. But i think the JB8 would also be killer at higher volumes - more beef than the standard JB.
Last step i swapped in the Custom's small ceramic magnet to the JB. This mod you can call ceramic JB or DD light was great too. A little bit stiffer highs than the JB8 which made the parallel sound a little bit sharp, but i was able to compensate with height adjustments. This is a far better pup than say a DiMarzio Super Distortion in direct comparism: not that stiff, more bass, not that annoying highs.
Conclusions in my book: The Custom 8 improved greatly by changing out the ceramic to A8. In the JB the ceramic magnet was not that far away from the Alnico 8. The JB sounds really great with the small ceramic magnet from a Custom.
I first swapped in a A8 and found that the humbucker position improved greatly. More bass and deep mids, the parallel sound was still great. Comparing with my favorite Custom 8 i would prefer still the C8 while sounding ballsier and looser with great harmonics at low level use. But i think the JB8 would also be killer at higher volumes - more beef than the standard JB.
Last step i swapped in the Custom's small ceramic magnet to the JB. This mod you can call ceramic JB or DD light was great too. A little bit stiffer highs than the JB8 which made the parallel sound a little bit sharp, but i was able to compensate with height adjustments. This is a far better pup than say a DiMarzio Super Distortion in direct comparism: not that stiff, more bass, not that annoying highs.
Conclusions in my book: The Custom 8 improved greatly by changing out the ceramic to A8. In the JB the ceramic magnet was not that far away from the Alnico 8. The JB sounds really great with the small ceramic magnet from a Custom.
