Just took possession of a used Charvel Wild Card #2 from 2009. Bone stock, alder body, maple neck w/ rosewood board, OFR and a Duncan JB trembucker.
First off, this is the prototypical hot-rodded rock and roll sound-- I've tried the JB in a few other guitars I've had (mostly hardtail strats, teles, etc.) and I've liked it in some, and not been so fond of it in others. In this guitar, it's a winner. Juicy, crunchy leads and rhythms and everything has this nice push and compression to it. Even sounds decent clean if your amp has the headroom (mine starts clipping fairly early, but at the volumes I play at home, it's not an issue).
I could very happily leave the JB in this Charvel and be totally happy. But being the chronic tinkerer that I am (and we all tend to be here...) I dug into my parts drawer to see what else I could pop in the Charvel, just for sh!ts and giggles...
I pulled out an f-spaced Dimarzio Fred that I've had laying around for a while. After a quick detune and a couple hits with the soldering iron, the Fred-equipped Charvel was up and running.
With the first chord played through the dirty channel, there was a marked difference. In place of that juicy, compressed awesome distortion from the JB, I was greeted with a much more direct, uncompressed "kerrrraaaang!" that had a really nice top end, almost like that of a fat single coil. But still plenty of body to it. "Direct" seems to be the best word to describe it.
Really nice for tight rhythm stuff, and an almost esquire-ness to lead lines. Switch over to the clean channel and the Fred spanks the JB :notworthy It's waaaay easier to do chicken-pickin' type lines and it just seems like a more versatile pickup for a single pickup guitar like the Charvel.
Which should I keep in the guitar? I'm so torn! The JB is just so friggin' rock and for playing damn near any kind of distorted rock, I just about can't lose. The Fred though has its own brand of rock-- a little more, I don't know... hifi sounding? Single coil-ish? It's nice to jump from dirty to clean channel and have a really nice useable clean tone. Not that the JB was bad, just a little harder to control due to its output pushing the front end of the amp more. And the instant kerrang out of the Fred is most righteous on the dirty channel.
Such a tough decision! What do you all think?
I've also got a pre 36th Anniversary PAF in the drawer that I feel may split the difference-- a more traditional humbucker-ish body to it, still bright but not in an esquire sort of way, and low output enough to sound great on cleans.
Anyway, just thought I'd share my findings!
First off, this is the prototypical hot-rodded rock and roll sound-- I've tried the JB in a few other guitars I've had (mostly hardtail strats, teles, etc.) and I've liked it in some, and not been so fond of it in others. In this guitar, it's a winner. Juicy, crunchy leads and rhythms and everything has this nice push and compression to it. Even sounds decent clean if your amp has the headroom (mine starts clipping fairly early, but at the volumes I play at home, it's not an issue).
I could very happily leave the JB in this Charvel and be totally happy. But being the chronic tinkerer that I am (and we all tend to be here...) I dug into my parts drawer to see what else I could pop in the Charvel, just for sh!ts and giggles...
I pulled out an f-spaced Dimarzio Fred that I've had laying around for a while. After a quick detune and a couple hits with the soldering iron, the Fred-equipped Charvel was up and running.
With the first chord played through the dirty channel, there was a marked difference. In place of that juicy, compressed awesome distortion from the JB, I was greeted with a much more direct, uncompressed "kerrrraaaang!" that had a really nice top end, almost like that of a fat single coil. But still plenty of body to it. "Direct" seems to be the best word to describe it.
Really nice for tight rhythm stuff, and an almost esquire-ness to lead lines. Switch over to the clean channel and the Fred spanks the JB :notworthy It's waaaay easier to do chicken-pickin' type lines and it just seems like a more versatile pickup for a single pickup guitar like the Charvel.
Which should I keep in the guitar? I'm so torn! The JB is just so friggin' rock and for playing damn near any kind of distorted rock, I just about can't lose. The Fred though has its own brand of rock-- a little more, I don't know... hifi sounding? Single coil-ish? It's nice to jump from dirty to clean channel and have a really nice useable clean tone. Not that the JB was bad, just a little harder to control due to its output pushing the front end of the amp more. And the instant kerrang out of the Fred is most righteous on the dirty channel.
Such a tough decision! What do you all think?
I've also got a pre 36th Anniversary PAF in the drawer that I feel may split the difference-- a more traditional humbucker-ish body to it, still bright but not in an esquire sort of way, and low output enough to sound great on cleans.
Anyway, just thought I'd share my findings!
