JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

X

XPrinceOfArabiaX

New member
Hello there,

This is my 1st post in this forum :)

I am struggling recently after upgrading my Stratocaster HSS pickups (Alder body, Maple fretboard) to TB-4, STK-6m, and STK-6n. The main issue is the bridge pickup that is very harsh on drive channel of many different amps I tried and in the same time very fat (Mid frequencies) that feels it needs a bit relief to be open.

My Volume and 2 Tone pots are rated 450K ohms and I have Orange drop 0.022 mfd capacitor. I am just suspicious about the wiring, which does not match the official wiring on the Seymour Duncan website. Could anyone confirm that wiring the 5 blade switch as below is the issue?

67550268_469307910549743_3963545989985337344_n.jpg
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

What is it that you want the wiring to do?
1) bridge
2) split bridge/middle
3) middle
4)Middle/ neck
5) neck?
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

The JB has a lot of upper mids. That’s why people think it’s a bright sounding pickup, even though it doesn’t have a lot of treble response.

Our ears are most sensitive to that frequency band.

You can tame it a bit with a lower value volume control. Seymour likes 250k pots with humbuckers.

If you don’t want to affect the tone of the other pickups you can wire a 470k resistor to the pickup selector terminal for the bridge pickup and connect the other end to ground. The parallel resistance between that resistor and the volume control will equal a resistance close to a 250k pot.

It’s easily removed if you don’t like the effect.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

Or just lower the pickup just a bit

The JB is very sensitive to where it sits under the strings

Find that sweet spot and its 80s hair metal all day
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

I've always thought the JB just sounds that way, you either love it or don't.
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

I have the TB-4 in an ASAT Deluxe with 250k pots ans I think it sounds killer.

Bill
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

wiring looks fine to me. The pickup just sounds this way. it's a JB. It's supposed to sound like a rusty nail through your eardrums, followed by creamy ointment. Keep in mind: the JB and Jazz pickups were initially developed to emulate a tele pickup set, to be installed in a tele, but with more power. With that in mind, the tone of the JB and jazz suddenly make so much more sense (imho).
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

Thanks for some info guys!

Will lowering the capacitor value from 0.022 to 0.015 help in reducing this 'boldness' of the sound. Think about bending the high E string on the 12th fret...in my case it sounds too warm and bold...Will the capacitor 0.015 make it thinner or in other words much defined?
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

as far as I know, the cap will only determine how far you can roll off the highs but won't effect the tone when the pot is full open.
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

orpheo said:
as far as I know, the cap will only determine how far you can roll off the highs but won't effect the tone when the pot is full open.
Click to expand...

I would not agree on that after watching few videos on YouTube showing the tonal differences at same tone level. Let me also quote this "The cap affects tone even when the tone knob is all the way open, so choosing your value is important" from https://www.electricherald.com/guitar-capacitors-tonecaps-guide/
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

I ve always felt that the TB version of the JB brings out some of the harshness more. IMO its an accumulation of changes made to the design. The polished mag vs the rough cast mag. The changes to the material in the slugs and screws and even the extra wire needed to fit the larger bobbins. All these changes seem to make the TB versions a bit more screechy on the top end. The basic formula of the JB hasnt changed, i.e. x amount of turns of y amount of wire. The rest of the pickup has. All the changes are subtle but do add up. Going from the butyrate or nylon bobbins to the poly carbonate has small tonal change, the changes to the metallurgy in the keeper bars has as tiny change. Even going from 2 conductor to 4 conductor has a slight effect on the sound. When you add them up you get pickups that are just a bit different.
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

Possibly a magnet swap might help, but really, the sound of that wind just pierces through any attempt to stop it. Good thing that sound is liked by so many people. But for those that don't like it, it seems the only choice is to replace it.
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

The moment I'm seeing the claim that there's a tonal difference between a paper in oil cap versus ceramic or whatever, I stop reading because that has been debunked so, so bloody friggin often.

The pot value determines where the resonance peak actually lies. the cap really doesn't to anything. But then again, what do I know? I've only made over 200 guitars so far.


Oh, only carrying my name.
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

I don't want to provoke, disagree with or dismiss the view of anyone, just my 2 cents... I believe there is no definite truth regarding these nuances. People tend to forget that there is HUGE gap between measurable and audible difference. I am a molecular biologist by "trade", so believe me when I say: there are way smaller measurable things than visible or audible ones. It's just that in the case of an electric guitar, a system with so many variables, many of these barely measurable nuances just become negligible. Especially when the measurements have their own inherent bias and the measurement systems aren't standardized. So in a sense, I feel like everyboy's right and noone is right at the same time. If someone says that he can feel or hear the difference, than more power to him, because most probably he is right: he hears it. I don't, but he does. But when orpheo says it's BS, he is most probably right too: we could definitely find an experimental setup where we could show some difference, yet without those measurements none of us could pinpiont that "ah I know what the problem is, that cap he uses is from X company and the sound he looks for can only be achived by Z company's same product" or "yes, the problem is definitely those extra 0,007microFarads". But people forget to think about these things. One of my professors always told be in the lab that "my advise is that you should do whatever you will", which is applicable in my opinion to almost everything, not just the lab. So I chose to listen to all opinions, based on the collected data I make up my hypothesis, then test it through experimenting then draw conclusions based on my results.

So I'd say swap those caps, see what it gives ya, if still not liking it tweak the height, slugs or even your string brand/material and finally just go for another pickup. I've went through almost the same with active EMGs and I'll most probably end up giving Seymour's actives a go because some days I am almost happy with the 81-85, other days I find them so thin that it drives me nuts.
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

Or

Maybe

Just lower the pickup

The bold volume will go away
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?




Ive always found the JB to have a spongy bottom & fizzy top. Much prefer the TB/SH-5 Duncan Custom.

You could solder a jumper from the bridge hot on the switch to the bottom tone pot & try rolling off highs.
I wire all my Strats bridge pup to the lower tone pot.

Your pots look to be 500K to me but hard to see.
I use 250K & have no problems.
 
Last edited:
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

The cap has an effect on the entire range of the tone pot from 0-10 unless it's a no load then it goes out of the circuit at 10.
 
Re: JB (TB-4) too harsh and bold in the same time?

JMP/HBE said:



Ive always found the JB to have a spongy bottom & fizzy top. Much prefer the TB/SH-5 Duncan Custom.

You could solder a jumper from the bridge hot on the switch to the bottom tone pot & try rolling off highs.
I wire all my Strats bridge pup to the lower tone pot.

Your pots look to be 500K to me but hard to see.
I use 250K & have no problems.
Click to expand...

Yup. I also prefer 250k for the most part
 
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