Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

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ovo12

New member
I have a Strat equipped with Jb Jr. (bridge), Stock Single-Coil (middle) and Little 59 (neck) with two 250k tone pots (a bridge tone and a neck tone - middle is wide open) and one 250k volume pot. The guitar is really sounding great except for the bridge position. There's no cristal sounding, no brightness, too much mids. Would a 500k volume pot solve this problem? Is there any suggestions?!

Thanks so much!
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

ovo12 said:
I have a Strat equipped with Jb Jr. (bridge), Stock Single-Coil (middle) and Little 59 (neck) with two 250k tone pots (a bridge tone and a neck tone - middle is wide open) and one 250k volume pot. The guitar is really sounding great except for the bridge position. There's no cristal sounding, no brightness, too much mids. Would a 500k volume pot solve this problem? Is there any suggestions?!

Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

A 500K might help your overall situation..My own JB Jr. in my own strat didn't have chime either..It's more of a warmer,slightly compressed tone,but it sings with gain through a great amp...I pulled mine,sold it,and went with a Fralin Steel Pole 43 that Lew sold me..Love it..Has a great single coil tone but has alot more overall of everything..full sounding,more lows etc..Sounds alot like or reminds me of,a P90 pickup...Try the 500k pot first or brighter strings and see if that helps..
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

If you go for a 500K the tone will be a bit brighter but it won't make it sound clearer. I think it is a matter of the pickup. For me the JB (full humbucker) it is "clear" under high gain/distorsion. You can do articulated soloing with it. But when clear (real clear) tones are needed it isn't the best option, allways sounds a bit muddy for me.

This have worked for me with the JB full humbucker and the 59 full humbucker. Try the Jb jr split, and split and mixed either the stock single or the full 59. It has a very nice "in between" tone very usefull for clean and slightly distorted tones. Very surprising!!

If you want to hear the result here is a tune that I have posted in the "tips and clips" room. The lead rythm was made with a JB split and the solo was made with the JB split mixed with a 59 neck.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=11866
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

STRATDELUXER97 said:
A 500K might help your overall situation..My own JB Jr. in my own strat didn't have chime either..It's more of a warmer,slightly compressed tone,but it sings with gain through a great amp...I pulled mine,sold it,and went with a Fralin Steel Pole 43 that Lew sold me..Love it..Has a great single coil tone but has alot more overall of everything..full sounding,more lows etc..Sounds alot like or reminds me of,a P90 pickup...Try the 500k pot first or brighter strings and see if that helps..
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Right on the mark.

I bought a JB jr of a friend who was selling his strat copy. It sounded brilliant in this strat. I tried it in my strat and it sounded very muffled. I won't go into the hassle I had constantly rewiring/checking/rewiring, etc. :yell:

Anyway, it turns out his guitar had 500k pot's all round, whilst mine has 250k's. It made a world of difference.

To me, a strat doesn't sound right with 500k's and it wasn't a compromise I was willing to make.

I've now got a HS-3 in the bridge. :)
 
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Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

The whole point of the JB JR. bridge model is to get as much of the fat, warm tone of a full sized humbucker as possible into a single coil size.

So they're not as bright as a single coil.

When I used JB JR's, I found I liked the tone of a neck model JB JR used as a bridge pickup...it was brighter.

But I've since found "HOT" Strat bridge replacement pickups I like even better than the JB JR: Duncan Twangbanger, Antiquity Texas Hot Custom Bridge, Antiquity Surfer Custom bridge and, as John mentioned, the Fralin Steel Pole 43.

All are brighter than the JB JR., fat, but still single coil like in tone, and blend better with a stock Strat middle pickup for those chimey tones we all love when a Strat middle and bridge pickup are combined.

Lew
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

My JB Jr.s pretty bright. The JB Jr reminds me of a P90 when playing solo's. I just don't really like the voicing of the pickup, it doesn't do it for me. Sounds too compressed. I'm still deciding on another pickup and thinking of going for either a Custom 5 or a Pearly Gates and putting in a new pickguard.
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

Do you think a 500k volume pot would alter the two other pickups very much? How does Lil' 59 neck sound with a 500k volume pot? Thanks again!
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

I vastly prefer the single sized HBs with 500k pots.

I have a JB/Hot Stack/lil59 Strat with 500k pots that sounds incredible and a JB jr in the mid slot of an Ibanez RG with 500k pots and I couldn't be happier with the single HBs tones in either guitar.

Lose the stock single in the middle slot and get a Hot Stack and add 500k pots, you'll be amazed at the difference.
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

It seems to be a great combo (Jb Jr - Hot Stack - Lil 59)! What about #2 and #4 positions? Which sound do you get? Do you still get that strat sound we all love in these positions?
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

ovo12 said:
It seems to be a great combo (Jb Jr - Hot Stack - Lil 59)! What about #2 and #4 positions? Which sound do you get? Do you still get that strat sound we all love in these positions?
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You will not get good in between switch tones with the JB Jr. and this was another reason I took mine out...I've pretty much found out that the best in between tones you'll ever get are by using single coil pickups..I also didn't care for the JB Jr's split tones..They were thin and weak in both split and parallel...But that was my case,as the lead tones were great..It's just not the right pickup to do clean,very articulate,"Sultan's of Swing" stuff..

John
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

Yeah, I'd probably never had known the JB jr had the potential to sound so good if I hadn't heard it first with 500k pots.

It's ironic that the JB jr sounds it's best combined with 500k pots, but is aimed as a direct replacement pup for a guitar that generally comes with 250k pots.

It might make an interesting suggestion to Seymour Duncan's marketing guys to add a side note about the 500k's with the JB jr. I noticed this description for the JB jr on the website saying "You can expect great harmonics and a sweet high-end".

Well, not with 250k pots. :)

On the other hand, I guess saying 'sounds great with 500k pot/s' would probably cause confusion and loss of sales.

Hmmm, that's probably why SD has a message board. I guess you better use your search engine if you buy the 'other brand'.
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

STRATDELUXER97 said:
You will not get good in between switch tones with the JB Jr. and this was another reason I took mine out...I've pretty much found out that the best in between tones you'll ever get are by using single coil pickups..I also didn't care for the JB Jr's split tones..They were thin and weak in both split and parallel...But that was my case,as the lead tones were great..It's just not the right pickup to do clean,very articulate,"Sultan's of Swing" stuff..

John
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IMO, John is correct. 100%.

The JB JR. is great at getting a tone similar to a full size humbucker...that's the whole point of the JB JR ., and it does that beautifully. But naturally, since it's designed to sound sort of like a full size humbucker, and NOT like the 6K vintage style Srat single coil it was designed to replace, the JB JR. won't sound much like a 6K vintage Strat single coil.

It is what it is...

Lew
 
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Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

I did not like mine even with 500K pots, thus mine is burried somewhere in my pickup drawer.

If you wanna have a thick but still strat pickup and don't mind the hum, by all means go for the ant I custom bridge. It is a great pickup for clean and dirty tones. It is not entirely a standard strat bridge pickup in the usual sense, it is kinda softer compared to 7.00K a5 strat bridges. YET, it does have great cleans, and overdriven has a great thick tone.

B
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

Whether or not you like the JB jr/HS/lil59 combo really depends on what you are going for tonally. If you are looking for a Strat that sounds like a Strat, true singles are the only way to go. If you want a HB tone from any of the positions you are going to start compromising.

For myself, I do not own a Deluxe Reverb or simular amp and I'm not playing a straight blues, country or funk gig. A true single loaded Strat would collect some serious dust at my house as I have no call for such a guitar. I've receintly considered buying a lefty Strat (found a MIA lefty for $400) but it would be more of a curiosity than a working guitar for me and I have more pressing things to spend my money on.

The problem is that a single coil loaded guitars sound horrid and will hum like a nest of angry hornets through the gained channels of my Mesa rack.

So, if you want a fatter hum free Start type guitar that has balls under gain the JB jr/HS/lil59 can sound killer. You will lose some of the glass normally associated with a Strat but unless you are looking to knock off a true SRV, Clapton (with a Strat) or Hendrix tone you can get great results with the single sized HB. Series/parallel switches will help the notched tones somewhat, but the only way to dead ringer Strat tones is with true singles, or maybe a set of Vintage Rails.
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

The JB jr with 250k volume pots just doesn't work that well. 250k pots are ok for tone pots though but 500k are better for both.

Snowdog
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

Thanks for all the posts! I've exchanged the 250k volume pot for a 500k one. The sound quality improved so much! It doesn't have that single coil twang and glassy sound (it was not made to have) but now there are more treble and highs. Thanks guys! See ya
 
Re: Strat - JB Jr. - Where's the brightness?

ovo12 said:
Thanks for all the posts! I've exchanged the 250k volume pot for a 500k one. The sound quality improved so much! It doesn't have that single coil twang and glassy sound (it was not made to have) but now there are more treble and highs. Thanks guys! See ya
Click to expand...

Very cool news...All that matters really to any of us is,that you're happy..Glad you are! :dance:

John
 
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