Practical and sonic differences between the Hot/Cool Rails and JB Jrs?

[Dinosaur David B]

Hi folks. New to the forum, trying to decide what would work better in a strat style setup, rosewood board, vintage trem.

I play classic rock, heavy rock, to melodic metal. I like high output. I want power and sustain, but for them to clean up nicely as well.

I already have a Strat with Quarter Pounders in it and they sound great, but I want mini HBs in this other guitar.

I'm thinking I'd like something like

Bridge: Hot Rails
Middle: I don't know yet. Suggestions?
Neck: Cool Rails

OR something like

Bridge: JB Jr.
Middle: I don't know yet. Suggestions?
Neck: JB Jr.

So I'm trying to figure out what the practical and sonic differences would be in these configurations?

Would also like to know why people recommend Cool Rails in the neck position rather than a Hot Rails?

Thanks!

 

[Nacho8807]

Re: Practical and sonic differences between the Hot/Cool Rails and JB Jrs?

Welcome to the forum. I would imagine it's just an output thing. A Hot Rails in the neck would probably overpower a lot of other pickups in the bridge position unless it's something really hot. Not to say it's wrong, it just probably wouldn't produce the most desirable results to most guitarists.

 

[glepko]

Re: Practical and sonic differences between the Hot/Cool Rails and JB Jrs?

Nothing in the middle. Seriously. For those styles, I'd save the $75 ish bucks and put a dummy in unless you happen to have something laying around you'd like to try for the middle.

I have a JBjr on the bridge of a 70's Strat with Maple neck and, FOR ME, it is fantastic for classic rock mid gain crunch, 80's metal - the early 90's Rectifier based metal - not so much my favorite for entering that territory and beyond. For blistering sustaining leads - hmmmm, very subjective. It works well, maybe not quite as 'power'ful and sustaining as you are looking to have? At that point though, it boils down to what are you feeding it into, IMHO. (Primarily using combination of OD pedals, software plug-ins, and modelling here)

I'll reserve comments on clean tones, as I find no value in clean tones at the bridge on a Strat in particular.