Possible pup switch to Jb?

rrockwell777

rrockwell777

New member
I own a Fender Showmaster with a basswood body, quilted maple top, and a set thru maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. It has a 59 reverse polarity in the neck and a Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge. I don't mind how the 59 sounds, but the Pearly Gates Plus sounds a little too snarly and bright for higher notes during solos, and I still like using a bridge pup for aggressive solos. It sounds sweet for rhythm, but I'd like both of my pups to be useful for leads. I'm playing thru a Peavey 6505+ with an early 80's cab loaded with celestion k-100s.

I play a lot of metal, if you hadn't guessed that already, and I also like playing for my church's worship band. I really like all of my guitars to be able to cover both of these extremes. The 59 does well, but I'm not sure about that Pearly Gates Plus. I'm wondering if a JB in the bridge would give me more what I'm looking for in a bridge pup?
 
Re: Possible pup switch to Jb?

I normally caution against JB in basswood, but with a maple top it's got pretty good odds of working well.

If you want to try to make the PG+ work, you might try magnet swapping to an Unoriented A5. UOA5 will behave a bit more like an A2. Compared to A5: more midrange and more touch response, but with a bit less treble and a little drop in output (mostly masked by the increased mids).

Or if you just want to take a touch off the treble, a roughcast A5 might be enough.

There are some other great options depending on your tastes in metal and lead tones, and how tight you need things. JB into 5150 (and relatives) is pretty popular in recent metal. Often with an overdrive pedal, not so much for more gain but to shave off some bass/lower mids to tighten things up.

If you don't need low gain or clean from the bridge pickup, PATB-2 is a monster. If you care most about articulation, particularly when downtuned, Full Shred is killer. PATB-1b is a great all around pickup for someone who wants a flexible hot pickup that still retains a taste of PAF for cleans & low gain.

Any of those should work pretty well in your guitar. Parallel Axis pickups are woefully underused, can give more details if you are intrigued. PATB-1b might be a bit bright for your guitar with the maple top, depending on your pots. With the maple top I'd want 250K or maybe 300K pots, I think...
 
Re: Possible pup switch to Jb?

To be blunt, for versatility you should just get a Custom, It will do everything you want and then some......
 
Re: Possible pup switch to Jb?

TB-5 Custom might be a tad biting in 25.5" scale, but also worth a try.

And with a swap to A8, it'd definitely work for everything from thrash to blues. Knew I was forgetting something, Custom 8 was it. Hurray for late night postings.
 
Re: Possible pup switch to Jb?

I've never even considered replacing just the magnets before, and I don't even know much about it. Do I replace the mags in both coils? How difficult of a process is this?
 
Re: Possible pup switch to Jb?

rrockwell777 said:
I've never even considered replacing just the magnets before, and I don't even know much about it. Do I replace the mags in both coils? How difficult of a process is this?
Click to expand...

There is only one magnet per humbucker, it is actually quite easy to swap, so I am told, and basically all you do is unscrew the screws on the bottom of the pup, then take the magnet out, put the other one in, screw it all back together carefully and the re-install into the axe of choice.
 
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