Seymour Duncan JB vs Duncan Designed

[Jay_SDS]

i got a question for anyone that has replaced a Duncan Designed with a Seymour Duncan JB (sh-4). or the Dimebacker

is there a noticable difference in the 2 pick-ups, does the JB sound that much better than the Duncan Designed?

and what is the difference? better sound? better distortion? clearer tone?

i am wondering because i have Duncan Designed in all 3 of my ESP guitars and i am thinking of replacing them all with actual Seymour Duncan pickups, and want to make sure there is a big enough difference to purchase them.

thanks
Jay

 

[AmirH]

Re: Seymour Duncan JB vs Duncan Designed

I've had both. The DD one was thinner sounding and had a crappier clean tone. It also responded a little different IMO. Other than that though they WERE fairly close sounding. If you don't like the duncan designed version I would strongly recommend checking out some different duncan models. Also, if you're planning on replacing the pups in all three guitars I'd say you should get a different type for each for some variety- but that's just me.

 

[Jay_SDS]

Re: Seymour Duncan JB vs Duncan Designed

thanks bro,

you pretty much described the duncan distortion to a T, very thin and clean does sound crappy, i will definetley look into some of the SD models.

 

[GuitaristSLSMG]

Re: Seymour Duncan JB vs Duncan Designed

What woods are in your guitars?

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Seymour Duncan JB vs Duncan Designed

You really think the Distortion is thin sounding? I have trouble believing that....

Anyway, I've had a bunch of Duncan Designed pickups. The problem is that they're inconsistent. I've had a few that you could NOT distinguish from a JB, and others that sounded nothing like it.

 

[MartinSixStringCustoms]

Re: Seymour Duncan JB vs Duncan Designed

You really think the Distortion is thin sounding? I have trouble believing that....

Me too. I'ved used the Distortion neck and bridge and neither sounded remotely thin to me.

 

[Jay_SDS]

Re: Seymour Duncan JB vs Duncan Designed

yeah the duncan designed pickups are pretty weak and break up with palm mutes, my bass player brought his jackson Guitar to practice with a JB in the bridge and though the level didnt really change, the distortion, clarity and the clean sound was definetley better.
i wasnt sure that just hearing his guitar would make that much difference in me changing pickups, thats why i asked for advice here to be sure,
BTW the wood in my guitars is agathis, the neck is maple & the fretboard is rosewood!