JB Volume Balance Problems?

[Bruce Reed]

I had been using an old JB (SH-4) in my LP Custom for many years and loved it! The only negative I can think of is that it basically overpowered the stock T-top neck pickup. I mainly lived on the bridge pu anyway so it never really bothered me that much. Eventually I put the stock pu back in it and stuck the JB in the box.

I recently purchased another LP and the bridge pu has less output (reads at 7.59) than the neck (7.82) and (both are stock Custombuckers) the difference is really apparent. I am very pleased with the neck pu as-is. I remembered the glorious sound of the JB. I know Seymour has long declared he prefers the JB paired with his "Jazz" model, which has a a relatively modest output. My question is this; since the JB is so hot (15.3 +/-) wouldn't a 'normal' output pickup be overpowered (less volume)? Thanks

 

[beaubrummels]

IME not really. If it is too hot, on LPs there's a separate volume to balance them out, then you can roll it up for leads.

 

[Mincer]

I think some use the hot JB as a 'boost' when you select the bridge pickup. The JB is a little hotter than the Jazz (the Jazz 'sees' more string activity than the JB), but generally it is balanced with the pickup height.

 

[BeKindRewind]

In my experience it's more about playing with the heights and setting your amp to the right settings. different pickup combos will need to be EQ'd differently to balance them since all outputs are not equal. balancing a JB\59' is different than balancing a JB\Jazz combo for example, but both can certainly be done. for example perhaps your presence knob is set a bit too high, making the JB perceivably louder since a lot of its output is in that area

 

[ehdwuld]

I always set the JB to that sweet spot where it sounds great
then raise the Jazz up till it has a similar volume

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I have never gotten a Jazz to balance with a JB, personally.

Just like ehdwuld, I set the JB to the sweet spot. I'm a bridge pickup kinda guy 99.9% of the time, so I don't like making compromises on the height of my bridge pickup.

No matter how high I set the Jazz to balance, it just doesn't. Unless maybe I go into the territory where the neck pickup is actually jacked up closer to the strings than the bridge.

I hate low output pickups matched with hot bridge pickups. I just can never get them to sound right. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

 

[Mincer]

Right, the Jazz doesn't balance volume-wise. It is more of a tone balance. But many people like louder bridge pickups for soloing.

 

[ehdwuld]

Hmm I may have a different seeet spot for my jb

It usually means the jazz is pretty high

 

[Clint 55]

Screw the Jazz, put an A3 in the JB. It's the weakest magnet and will drop the output a notice-able amount.

 

[devastone]

DC resistance does NOT EQUAL output

The DMZ Super DIstortion is only ~14K and hotter than the JB, but strangely about the same output as the Super 3 which is ~25K, go figure...

The JB cuts through a lot with it's upper mid peak and can be an unruly beast, but it does have "that" sound.

But as mentioned, it sounds like you need to mess around with the height of your pickups.

As far as the 7.59K bridge pup and the 7.82K neck pickup up, I'm sure that difference is within spec, so you could switch them, but either way you will need to balance the output by adjusting the heights of the pups.

 

[Bruce Reed]

Great stuff, folks!! Thanks for your input.

To clarify... I haven't installed the JB yet. I am just wondering that if/when I installed it the balance may be insurmountable. Right now I have the bridge PU up all the way and the neck PU dropped significantly. Still not balanced, volume-wise..

 

[Mincer]

When using a tone with lots of preamp gain, the compression generated in the amp makes the difference in volume not quite as great. It might be insurmountable with something like a Deluxe or Twin, depending on how you use your pickup switching.

 

[Clint 55]

Great stuff, folks!! Thanks for your input.

To clarify... I haven't installed the JB yet. I am just wondering that if/when I installed it the balance may be insurmountable. Right now I have the bridge PU up all the way and the neck PU dropped significantly. Still not balanced, volume-wise..

What you can do to get a vintage set to balance is put a double thick magnet in the bridge and an A3 in the neck. It boosts the output of the bridge and drops the output of the neck.

 

[IMENATOR]

I just rise the Jazz neck close to the strings for volume balance with the JB, nowadays I am using a Distortion B /FullShred N combo and do the same for volumes to match. Neck and Bridge volume balance is important to me, however for an HSH guitar I actually prefer the middle pickup to be quieter as a cleaner rhythm pickup then I switch to neck or bridge for higher output dirty lead sounds.

 

[beaubrummels]

Great stuff, folks!! Thanks for your input.

To clarify... I haven't installed the JB yet. I am just wondering that if/when I installed it the balance may be insurmountable. Right now I have the bridge PU up all the way and the neck PU dropped significantly. Still not balanced, volume-wise..

You would have to do the reverse to balance their output differences: lower the hot-output bridge and raise the low-output neck to get them closer to each other in output level. The compromise there is by balancing the output levels may move the pickups out of their sweet-spot for tone.

 

[Artie]

I'll toss this in here, (because it's what I do), but don't forget the often overlooked technique of just adding a simple 2-resistor L-pad to attenuate the output, without changing the pup's character. The primary purpose of the L-pad is that it allows the pickup to continue to "see" the same impedance as it would without the attenuator. I just did a quick chart, using three common pot values, and the most likely attenuation values. 3 dB would probably be what you'd most likely use, and I can't imagine exceeding -6 dB. 6 dB would be cutting the output about about in half.

I've included the formula if anyone wants to calculate their own custom values. These are pretty simple with modern calculators. Calculate "Z" first, then plug it into the main formula. And remember to round the resistor values up or down to "standard" values.

 

[Artie]

If you have dual-volumes, the resistors can just be added to the pot.

 

[David Garner]

I have a JB/59 set in one of my LPs and they balance fine. The neck is naturally a little more powerful due to its location relative to the fingerboard.

I think the key to the rest is getting the amp cooking a bit. If the amp still has a lot of headroom, perceived volume differences are going to be magnified since hitting the amp harder = louder. If a lot of the headroom is taken up already, hitting the amp harder = more saturated and compressed. You don’t have to be out of headroom but having the amp louder helps.

The other thing is EQ. When setting height, I set the neck pickup first, then the bridge. Then I set the pole pieces for each, mainly looking for balance, but you can also warm or brighten the pickup by raising the pickup and lowering the pole pieces or vice-versatile. But the real key is I usually have the bridge tone control on 5 or 6 and the neck on 10. This takes some of the cut from the bridge but gives you all the cut with the neck.

Set up that way, I can go from bridge to neck and back with no volume loss at all.

 

[Aceman]

A JB/59 shoved through a raging amp will be a lot more fine than a JB/59 through a Fender on uber-clean

I have never had problems with the blend, but I'm a raging marshall guy. I would say that I can generally get a decent setting by lowering a bridge a little, or raising a neck a little. Emphasis on "a little"