Medium output humbucker with BIG mids?

[Reee]

I love the voicing of the JB, it's thick and honky like a "fuzzy violin", but it's so hot that it squashes all the dynamics.

I was suggested to lower the pickup, but it's already screwed all the way into the body and lowering it even more would also result in a loss of clarity etc.

So my idea is to find a pickup with a lot of mids like the JB, but with a more mellow output

suggestions? thanks!

 

[Demanic]

You can try wiring it in parallel, but it might just be too hot for what you want. The JB is what it is. Maybe a Perpetual Burn instead?

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[Reee]

You can try wiring it in parallel, but it might just be too hot for what you want. The JB is what it is. Maybe a Perpetual Burn instead?

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

i've watched all the clips of the PB on youtube and it sounds like a very scooped pickup to me

 

[Demanic]

Maybe, I've never tried one, of course the scooped could also be due to how the people recording the videos set their amps.
I'll invite anyone with actual experience with the pickup to chime in.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[superpete]

Rio Grande BBQ is very middy and not as hot as a JB, although it has a lot of power. It's voiced stronger in the low mids than the JB tho. maybe something like the WLH, Slash, or a 78?

 

[Clint 55]

Distortion neck, hybrid the JB with a cooler coil.

 

[beaubrummels]

Slash

 

[Mincer]

Get a Custom Custom, and stop looking. It is exactly what you are looking for.

 

[ItsaBass]

For the same basic tonal character, but less output, I would mag swap before anything else. Try A3.

I put an A3 in a Gibson 500T, and it did exactly that: lowered the output, but kept the e.q. the same. More dynamic pickup, but still very warmly wound.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Mincer is right. Custom Custom is what you want.

 

[freefrog]

I love the voicing of the JB, it's thick and honky like a "fuzzy violin", but it's so hot that it squashes all the dynamics.

I was suggested to lower the pickup, but it's already screwed all the way into the body and lowering it even more would also result in a loss of clarity etc.

So my idea is to find a pickup with a lot of mids like the JB, but with a more mellow output

suggestions? thanks!

Custom Custom is also what came to my mind spontaneously. Lots of mids to expect with A2 and such a high inductance (7H with a CC vs 7.8H for the JB).


Now and as a side note...

-if you wire a JB in parallel, it will make it kinda Filter'tron'ish (since the DCR and inductance will drop from 16.4k and 7.8H to 25% of these values, roughly). Been there, done that. I used a JB in parallel for sparkling clean tones back in the days;

-BUT what happens if you wire it in parallel AND if you add a 2,2 nanofarad capacitor from hot to ground, in parallel with it? The JB in parallel will sound a lot closer to a JB in series, a wee bit thinner but still with much mids and with a lowered output (-5.4dB @ resonance);

-if ever you want to try that: a 2,2 nanofarad capacitor costs a few cents and can be tested from hot to ground in a few seconds thanks to a pair of alligator clips.

-such "alternative" wirings with parallel caps are something that I mount in guitars for decades.. So this idea is not "theoretical" (even if a small cheap cap paired with a PU is not quite the same than a new PU, of course).


Whatever is your choice, good luck in your quest...

 

[eclecticsynergy]

JB has a pretty distinctive voicing, which seems to persist regardless of mag swaps or height adjustments.

Most pickups exhibit an altered tone character with different magnets. A JB always seems to sound like a JB, no matter what.

As suggested upthread, I'd try a weaker magnet before buying a different pickup.

Custom Custom was the first thing that sprang to mind for me too - but it really isn't much like a JB.
The thick/honky thing that the OP likes is pretty distinctive, the JB's trademark tone.

 

[gsammo79]

As previously mentioned, the Custom Custom would work fine.

 

[Reee]

can you guys post some clips of the custom custom that you think sound good? i've been looking on youtube and nothing really stands out to me, seems like the CC is a very polite pickup, that must be the lack of highs from using A2

 

[Reee]

I think the Screamin Demon or 59/Custom Hybrid are closer to what i have in mind, still lots of clarity from the A5 but a lot of mids and aggression and not too much output!

 

[jimlp]

Dimarzio AT-1

 

[jimlp]

can you guys post some clips of the custom custom that you think sound good? i've been looking on youtube and nothing really stands out to me, seems like the CC is a very polite pickup, that must be the lack of highs from using A2

It is also very compressed

 

[Reee]

It is also very compressed

yeah it gives that impression.


i've narrowed it down to these pickups:

1. 59/Custom Hybrid
2. Pegasus
3. Screamin Demon


they all seem moderate output and not too compressed, with the 59/Custom sounding the most balanced and open, the Pegasus sounds a little more compressed and the Screamin Demon seems to be a bit more spiky like a full shred.

 

[ErikH]

The Perpetual Burn is hardly scooped. It's a big, thick sounding pickup. There are plenty of mids. I have one in my Warmoth Strat. No lack of mids. The Screamin' Demon on the other hand has less mids than the PB, but it still has a decent amount of growl and sounds bigger than one would think. However, the Demon is much more at home through high gain amps like a Soldano or Boogie. For Marshall voiced amps, be prepared to shape the EQ different than you normally would. Depends on what you have. Nothing an overdrive pedal can't adjust (which I've for years with the Demon as I use that as well). The Custom Custom is thick mids as well. Might be exactly what you are looking for.

 

[Reee]

The Perpetual Burn is hardly scooped. It's a big, thick sounding pickup. There are plenty of mids. I have one in my Warmoth Strat. No lack of mids. The Screamin' Demon on the other hand has less mids than the PB, but it still has a decent amount of growl and sounds bigger than one would think. However, the Demon is much more at home through high gain amps like a Soldano or Boogie. For Marshall voiced amps, be prepared to shape the EQ different than you normally would. Depends on what you have. Nothing an overdrive pedal can't adjust (which I've for years with the Demon as I use that as well). The Custom Custom is thick mids as well. Might be exactly what you are looking for.

like the other user said, the CC is probably still too compressed for me and i haven't heard a clip that i thought sounded like it's what i would want with it really, i think A2 are too dark and too polite as well though that is a generalisation of course, but it is known that A5 are bright and more aggressive.

about the EQ of the Demon, do you mean it has that extreme amount of highs like the full shred? if that's the case i'll probably go with the Hybrid or Pegasus. thx