Pickups are too hot/ sound bad.

[Jxn]

Hi,

recently I had a local luthier swap the stock pickups on my Ibanez (V7/V8 Combo) To the classic SD JB and Jazz.
Honestly, the stock pickups were fine, I just wanted to try something new.
So I got the guitar, plugged it into my amp and it sounded absolutely TERRIBLE.
I played with the Hot Rod set before in another guitar and they sounded great.

Both pickups (Especially the bridge) add a ton of distortion to the signal- I can't adjust them closer to the strings because it adds a lot of distortion to signal- They are adjusted all the way down.
And in general both pickups sound Bland and muddy.

I'm pretty sure the problem is not with the pickups, Is it a wiring issue?
Anyone had this issue before and managed to fix it?

Thank you for all help!

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Pickups are too hot/ sound bad.

What pot values do you have, what style guitar did you put them in, what guage strings do you have, and what tuning do you use?

In the meantime you can try raising the polepieces a bit higher to thin out the tone a bit.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Pickups are too hot/ sound bad.

JB can be fickle and a real train wreck in the wrong guitar or pure magic in the right so will leave that alone here. However that Jazz would have been a lower out put pickup that the stock Ibanez. If anything sould have been a little weak and thin not distorted so have no idea on this and would check the wiring and set up with pickup height. I will say this the last JB I had in a Ibanez with a basswood body was fantastic just huge sounding with great warmth and clarity and sang like crazy!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickups are too hot/ sound bad.

Welcome to the forum!
I am sorry the pickups don't sound good to you. First step is to find out that they are installed correctly. The JB nor the Jazz should sound muddy- they both have quite a bit of high end on there. Pics of the pickups and the wiring might help determine what the issue is.

 

[devastone]

Re: Pickups are too hot/ sound bad.

If you have both pickups lowered all the way down and it is still distorting, there is probably something wrong with the wiring, or whatever you are plugging into. Hard to diagnose based on a description on the interwebs though. I'd take it back to the guy that put the pickups in and have him plug into something.

 

[80's_Metal]

Re: Pickups are too hot/ sound bad.

^^This. ^^

 

[chadd]

Re: Pickups are too hot/ sound bad.

Welcome to the forum!
I am sorry the pickups don't sound good to you. First step is to find out that they are installed correctly. The JB nor the Jazz should sound muddy- they both have quite a bit of high end on there. Pics of the pickups and the wiring might help determine what the issue is.

I've had issues with a jazz being muddy on a few guitars. If you dial in a thick, middy tone for the bridge pickup, you'll get mud out of almost any neck pickup.