Swamp Ash Superstrat -- bridge pickup suggestions

Humbucker highs can be pretty aggressive in a thin-sounding guitar - are you running a 250K volume pot?

JBs are sometimes pretty picky about which guitars they like. I concur that it's worth trying an A8 in it, though.


For a swap, my first rec would be The Breed bridge. It was designed specifically for beefing up 25½" scale bolt-on guitars.
Plenty of low mids, fabulous lead voice - stays full even up the neck on the high strings - and it splits well too.
They were discontinued several years ago but there are still a few of NOS ones on eBay & Reverb.

Big +1 on the PATB-1b. The Parallel Axis pickups totally rock. Still almost unknown outside of discussion groups.
An even more exotic option would be the Fuglybucker - one rail coil, one PATB coil. Astonishing spit tone. If you can find one.

Perpetual Burn, AT-1, and Custom Custom all do really well in HSS Strat types too.
Probably none of the above will be as hot as a Super Distortion. On the plus side, they'll all balance better with the singles.



The Anderson H2+ and H3 offer remarkably good split tones thanks to an unusual vertical-magnet design.
And their full-humbucking tones are really good too. Both are popular & very well-regarded for in HSS guitars



If you wanted to match the output of your Super D precisely, you could drop one into the Superstrat too.
It'll still sound different enough from the Les Paul, but should be pretty close level-wise.
It's very convenient being able to keep the exact same gain settings when you switch guitars.
And you'd have a pretty solid split tone for the straight-up Strat parts of the set.



Just brainstorming... If split tone is the main priority and series mode only gets used once in a while:

A double-singlecoil type humbucker gives you true singlecoil tone when split.
Duncan has the StagMag, other makers offer models along similar lines.
I have a TallBreed from Rio Grande that kicks serious butt even when split.

One drawback with dual-singlecoil types is that the series humbucking tone isn't as smooth as conventional designs.
Their magnetic field is quite strong and more tightly focused than typical hums.

The upside is, they punch like champs. Plus, lead lines retain attack & definition really well, even with a ton of gain.
 
Plenty of 'em still available on Reverb and eBay.

Thinking about it again though, I'm not confident the StagMag would be a good fit for the OP in this case.
Despite its great split sound, the series tone is quite spanky and not particularly thick - nothing at all like a Super D.

Not positive, but some have said the StagMag uses JB coils, just with rod magnets instead of an underbar.
 
PATB-3 or Tone Zone

A2 in a JB sounds great, won't be as hot as the Distortion, but it will sound good and mix better with the singles.

There is also a non-air Norton in the trading post right now, one of my personal favorite pups.
 
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Another option, since the JB isn't thick enough, is to EQ your amp to get the sound you want from the JB and then address tonal balance issues with other pickups. Make them the focus.

You could also try a 250k pot for the JB.
 
Thanks again to everyone -- sorry to dip out for a few days. We had a pretty busy weekend.

The JB has a 300k pot right now. I thought about a 250, but I don't think that's going to make the difference. If I had a 500k in there now that would be the first thing I tried.

I found a used Custom Custom on Reverb the other day and went ahead and got it. It hasn't come in yet, but I thought for the price I paid I can flip it if I don't like it and try some of the other options. Plus I have the option of just rolling magnets in it to try all the different Custom flavors. If that doesn't work out, I love the Super Distortion in my Les Paul so much I might try one of those as well, but I'll probably roll the A2 and UOA5 magnets I have through the JB first. I'm hoping the Custom Custom is what I'm after.
 
P.S., I also have the JB on a 250k tone pot, so I'm going to swap that for a 500k pot for the Custom Custom. I'm afraid it will be too dark with the 250k pot.
 
Got the Custom Custom and got it installed. Amazon sent me solid shaft pots instead of split shaft so I have to wait until Saturday to swap them out — I did go ahead and install the solid shafts just to test it out.

I only got to try it through S-Gear because it was late and I’m out of town tomorrow, so Saturday through my normal rig will be the acid test, but first impressions are positive. It’s kind of ridiculous how “Van Halen in a box” this pickup is. I always heard these were dark, but I hear it more as an oxymoronic “bright but warm.” It has a nice spongy give to the tone that is just spot on brown sound. A little loose in the bottom for really heavy chug metal, but it does 80s metal really well. I played some Ratt and Dio in addition to Van Halen stuff and it held up fine.

The JB was probably a lot closer to those last two, but the CC does them just fine. I’m pleased so far. I’ll report back over the weekend when I can try it through a proper tube amp and board.
 
Yeah, I never thought the CC was dark at all. It has plenty of highs, but it is attached to wonderful body in the sound. It does instrumental fusiony stuff well, too. It also splits good.
 
So I've had a few weeks to deal with the Custom Custom, and I like it a lot. The A2 just gives that traditional bite and crunch you hear out of old PAFs, but while still giving you the extra push for heavier stuff. It's a very nice "do it all" sort of pickup, probably why EVH loved them so much. It's very sensitive to the tone knob -- much below 6 and the whole bottom end just mushes out. I'm thinking of putting a felt washer under the tone knob just to ensure it stays where I put it. Short of that though, it sounds amazing. I'm very pleased.
 
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