Something about the JB...

[orpheo]

As I'm getting older I love the jb more and more buy I do prefer 250k over 500k pots, set up lower, and maybe even an aged magnet. The "old" jb's sound insane. I tried a 1995 JB in an 1995 epi LP this week for a client and it k I c k Ed ass. Loved it. The jb derivatives of the customshop (éclair, concept, antiquity (? I remember one?) Etc) sound killer.

If you look at the jb and jazz as tele pickups but hotter and noiseless, the upper mid spike starts to make more sense imho.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I used to have a CS Antiquity JB that was not aged-looking, just had the aged magnet. That pickup must have been the nicest JB I've tried, indeed. But the regular production JB is not far off. At least to me.

I did use to run that CS JB through a 1M pot, but that had more to do with the guitar I had it in. I usually run the pickups in my Gibsons through a 500K volume pot since Gibbos tend to sound bitier. But I'm considering changing it to 250K just to experiment.

 

[Masta' C]

Roughcast Unoriented A5 should be the stock magnet in a JB, just sayin'

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Roughcast, I agree. Unoriented, I dunno. The JB is already kinda "soft" as is. JMO.

 

[Mincer]

I am guessing original JBs were potted, right?

 

[Hsb]

For the longest time I thought I hated the JB, id never tried one but given it was supposed to be the sound of the 80's, Im all big hair and leather, hated what I was hearing a lot.

Then I got both a guitar with a JB and Custom and realized, I loved the JB, hated the tone of the Custom. In the guitar the Custom came in, it was giving tons of Talk Dirty Me vibes and although I enjoyed the song then, hated CC's tone

Just out the guitar with the JB still in it down, sounds great. The Custom sits in a box long replaced.

I have a rough cast A2 in my parts, may have to try it, see how it compares to the OG JB with the A5

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Yeah, for me, the JB is not really about the 80's. I mean, yeah, of course tons of iconic Rock records from that era were recorded with the JB, but that's not really my bread and butter. I personally first got the JB in my radar because of Arch Enemy. Love the old school grind the tone in their records from the 2000's have.

 

[STLMTLHD79]

My experience with JB's has been somewhat mixed. I actually DO like them in certain Les Paul's, predominately 70s with maple necks. My experience has been amazing in Alder body shred guitars but terrible in Basswood. Basswood seems too dark and usually needs something with a ceramic mag.

 

[weepingminotaur]

Funny, I'm just at the point where I'm considering swapping the JB out of my Les Paul. It's not bad -- pretty good actually. But given that I want the Les Paul in E flat playing a lot of metal, I think I need something with a bit more definition and grind, and maybe fewer mids. Thinking Distortion, or maybe Custom (though I didn't quite vibe with the Custom the last time I tried it in another guitar).

 

[Rex_Rocker]

My experience with JB's has been somewhat mixed. I actually DO like them in certain Les Paul's, predominately 70s with maple necks. My experience has been amazing in Alder body shred guitars but terrible in Basswood. Basswood seems too dark and usually needs something with a ceramic mag.

I'm not one of those people that say wood doesn't make a difference, but it's usually not my first consideration when choosing a pickup for a guitar.

My experience is I had a Strat with an Alder body, a Maple neck and Fretboard, a steel block and bent steel saddles. Acoustically, it certainly sounded Strat-y. The main problem I had with that guitar is the bridge pickup was so far away from the bridge itself compared to my Gibsons. I even got a pickguard where the bridge pickup was a few mm closer to the bridge than with actual Fender-branded pickguards. The next problem is there is only so close you can get the bridge pickup to the bridge before you have to get into actually chopping some wood off the route. It never sounded as snappy and aggressive as my Gibsons plugged in (which, btw, acoustically are certainly way less Strat-y, as you would think) no matter what pickup I had in it.

That's point numer one, but I've also had Mahogany guitars that were brighter/thinner than that Strat even before plugging them in. So I wouldn't dare to say the constant is "JB+Mahogany=good" either.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Funny, I'm just at the point where I'm considering swapping the JB out of my Les Paul. It's not bad -- pretty good actually. But given that I want the Les Paul in E flat playing a lot of metal, I think I need something with a bit more definition and grind, and maybe fewer mids. Thinking Distortion, or maybe Custom (though I didn't quite vibe with the Custom the last time I tried it in another guitar).

Oh, I love the Distortion as well. But I also consider the JB and the Distortion very closely related. Not to the point of saying they're interchangeable, and the JB is usually a safer bet for me, but I find them both kinda different takes on a similar recipee. Same with the Black Winter, which BTW, I love about as much as the JB too.