Hi everyone, first time poster here.
I need some opinions, perhaps somebody has been through something similar.
I currecntly have a JB in the bridge position of my Fender Custom Tele FMT (although tele-shaped, it's a mahogany-bodied, maple capped guitar with a set neck - not a million miles away from a Les Paul tonally). Although I'm sure the JB works very well in some setups, it doesn't for me. Here's why:
I'm mainly a single coil guy and 80% of the time I play an ash-bodied tele with Lindy Fralin Stock Tele pickups. Those pups are relatively bright even by single coil standards (without being ice-picky, at least to my ears). So I choose my equipment/settings that mostly work well with bright single coils. My smallest amp - the Fender Pro Junior - gets used most often, because I love both the tone and the portability. I use pedals for dirt, mostly an Xotic SL Drive and a Carl Martin AC Tone. On those occasions when I fancy myself some humbucker tones, I plug in my FMT Tele, but the JB seems to be the wrong pickup for my use. I know it's supposed to be a bright pup, but with my gear it lacks definition and top end. It sounds like it's all mids (the wrong kind of mids for me), no treble. With my setup, it's usable only with a lot of gain from my SL Drive.
So I'm looking for a bridge pickup that might work better with gear set up for single coils. Medium gain hard-rock tones are what I'd use it for most of the time, but usability for low-gain or even clean playing is a must for me in any guitar. I'm mainly a rhythm player and note separation and clarity in chords/riffs are my primary concerns. I'm NOT looking for a HB that sounds like a single coil, or I wouldn't bother with a HB guitar in the first place. I do want that extra fatness and output that HBs provide, just more "compatible" when swapping with a SC equipped tele mid-gig with little or no adjustment to the amp/pedals.
Has anybody successfully solved a similar problem? I imagine HSS strat guys might have something to say about this. I guess I'm looking for something fairly low-output, but the frequency response is more important to me than output (that's easy for me to compensate for with a clean boost or something).
I'll be very grateful for any input from you guys. All pickup recommendations are greatly appreciated, but because I live in Europe, widely available models by "mainstream" brands like SD, Dimarzio or Gibson are preferred.
Thanks in advance!
I need some opinions, perhaps somebody has been through something similar.
I currecntly have a JB in the bridge position of my Fender Custom Tele FMT (although tele-shaped, it's a mahogany-bodied, maple capped guitar with a set neck - not a million miles away from a Les Paul tonally). Although I'm sure the JB works very well in some setups, it doesn't for me. Here's why:
I'm mainly a single coil guy and 80% of the time I play an ash-bodied tele with Lindy Fralin Stock Tele pickups. Those pups are relatively bright even by single coil standards (without being ice-picky, at least to my ears). So I choose my equipment/settings that mostly work well with bright single coils. My smallest amp - the Fender Pro Junior - gets used most often, because I love both the tone and the portability. I use pedals for dirt, mostly an Xotic SL Drive and a Carl Martin AC Tone. On those occasions when I fancy myself some humbucker tones, I plug in my FMT Tele, but the JB seems to be the wrong pickup for my use. I know it's supposed to be a bright pup, but with my gear it lacks definition and top end. It sounds like it's all mids (the wrong kind of mids for me), no treble. With my setup, it's usable only with a lot of gain from my SL Drive.
So I'm looking for a bridge pickup that might work better with gear set up for single coils. Medium gain hard-rock tones are what I'd use it for most of the time, but usability for low-gain or even clean playing is a must for me in any guitar. I'm mainly a rhythm player and note separation and clarity in chords/riffs are my primary concerns. I'm NOT looking for a HB that sounds like a single coil, or I wouldn't bother with a HB guitar in the first place. I do want that extra fatness and output that HBs provide, just more "compatible" when swapping with a SC equipped tele mid-gig with little or no adjustment to the amp/pedals.
Has anybody successfully solved a similar problem? I imagine HSS strat guys might have something to say about this. I guess I'm looking for something fairly low-output, but the frequency response is more important to me than output (that's easy for me to compensate for with a clean boost or something).
I'll be very grateful for any input from you guys. All pickup recommendations are greatly appreciated, but because I live in Europe, widely available models by "mainstream" brands like SD, Dimarzio or Gibson are preferred.
Thanks in advance!
