What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

[donahue]

Get a bigger magnet to throw on the bottom of the pickup? I love the DD. JB, not so much, but they are so similar. I've converted one full size JB into a DD, just wondering if there's a magnet that could do the same to the JB jr?

On another note, I have a Hot Rails in the bridge of my strat right now, and is that basically a rails DD? It kills in that spot, but curiosity gets the best of me and I want to know if it can kill even harder.

Thanks

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

What makes it hard is the fact that the magnet is glued/integrated with the design of the pickup. It's very hard to modify a single coil sized humbucker. I'd say stay with the Hot Rails. It's a nice pickup in its own right.

 

[posite63]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

deleted

 

[gregory]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

^JB Jr., not JB. I have yet to see any official confirmation that the JB is a DD with a different magnet, BTW. Do you have a link?

@ donahue:

What does "kill even harder" mean?

Shy of paying a pricey sum for an even darker pickup than the Hot Rails through the custom shop, you might consider the following high output models from DiMarzio:

Super Distortion S
BC-2

The Tone Zone S is pretty good, but I think the BC-2 is an improvement.

To me these all sound more like a full-sized humbucker than the Hot Rails. I would avoid the Fast Track 2.

 

[donahue]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

Thanks guys. I was thinking the older version with the exposed magnet and between the two rails. I wonder if one were to simply and literally stick, say a double thick ceramic to the bottom what kind of results that would yield? I might have to try it. The Hot Rails is a great pickup but I was just wondering about how much different it is than a Distortion JR would be.

Edit: I'm also going to look into that BC-2. That seems pretty awesome!

 

[gregory]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

Doesn't hurt to try. You could do the Invader thing and try to affix a repelling magnet against the outside of each rail of a Hot Rails.

RE: BC-2, it has a fair amount of low mids/upper bass and the mids are opened up a bit. The FT2 is powerful, but has too much focus in the mids, giving that midrange honk; very different from the BC-2. The FT2 does hit hard though. I really liked mine, but have enough guitars that have full-sized HBs, so I opted for something more Stratty.

Honestly, if you love the Hot Rails, you should stick with it. DiMarzios have a similar bottom, but they fill out the spectrum more with additional upper mids.

 

[donahue]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

Kill even harder means eyebrow raising evil laugh inducing mean menacing thick grindy loud scary powerchords with a Strat in C standard through a nearly dimed MKIII JCM 900.

The Hot Rails is doing a pretty good job but I figured I'd check on here after being gone a few years and see what you guys have to say. The DD along with the DC are my two fav pups (for different reasons) so I tried the HR to see if it gets pretty close to a DD. I think it does but want to get a little closer if possible, being mandatory that I stay single coil sized. I like that the HR is dark. That and the percussive low end and strong mids are the best part about it. Now I'm just rambling. Back to topic: JB jr to DD jr?

 

[posite63]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

^JB Jr., not JB. I have yet to see any official confirmation that the JB is a DD with a different magnet, BTW. Do you have a link?

My comment was intended as pure sarcasm, I'm quite tired of the debate myself. I thought I would poke some fun at it.

Sent from my XT1097 using Tapatalk

 

[donahue]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

MJ told me right before she sent me my free double thick magnet for my JB. I still have the envelope because the return address was hand written said Seymour Duncan and I thought it was cool. True story. I don't remember of it was on the phone or through email. It was over 10 years ago. I still have the pickup too.

 

[PicoRiveraTele]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

Thanks guys. I was thinking the older version with the exposed magnet and between the two rails. I wonder if one were to simply and literally stick, say a double thick ceramic to the bottom what kind of results that would yield? I might have to try it. The Hot Rails is a great pickup but I was just wondering about how much different it is than a Distortion JR would be.

Edit: I'm also going to look into that BC-2. That seems pretty awesome!

The problem with that is that because the ceramic bar is laid sideways, the two blades are opposite polarity. If you just stick a magnet to the underside of the pickup, the blade that is of the same polarity would become that much stronger, but the other blade would become that much weaker. The tiny space in between the blades is really all you have to work with. You could possibly put flanking small ceramic bars on the outsides of the blades, though. If you want to fit the thing in a Strat route, they would have to be the same thin kind of magnet that is in the center, which might be hard to source.

There's not really much difference between overall magnetic strength and how high you set the pickups though, so if you want to preview the sound of stronger magnets, just take the pickup as is and set closer to the strings.

 

[donahue]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

That is a great point about the magnet and polarity issue. Thanks. I have emailed SD inquiring about getting a custom made magnet for the JB jr.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

The DD and JB are not the same coils. Put an A5 in a DD and it still sounds fizzy, it doesn't have that organic Tele, country vibe that the JB has.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

The DD and JB are not the same coils. Put an A5 in a DD and it still sounds fizzy, it doesn't have that organic Tele, country vibe that the JB has.

I don't get a country/Tele vibe from the JB at all. Maybe I'm not using the correct caps/nut material/pot value though

EDIT: No clue about the Jr. though.

 

[jeremy]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

my best suggestion would be to see if you can fit ceramic side magnets on the jbjr ala invader. cheap and easy to try as long as there is room in the rout and easy to remove if it doesnt work

 

[donahue]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

I wasn't sure I inderstood at first so I googled invader pics. So those are magnets on the outside where spacers would normally be? Interesting.

 

[gregory]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

Exactly.

I think mojotone has them. Clint knows.

 

[donahue]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

Yes they have them. I ordered a couple. Thanks for the info.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

I don't get a country/Tele vibe from the JB at all. Maybe I'm not using the correct caps/nut material/pot value though

That could be it! =P

 

[donahue]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?



So I ordered the ceramic magnets from mojotone and attatched them as Jeremy suggested. Crappy pic, but pic or it didn't happen right? I put some masking tape on to act as a keeper for the magnets. I played with the pickup for a while and it definitely sounds different than the Hot Rails. I was too anxious so I did not try the JB jr pre-magnet mod. Kinda silly, I know. Easy enough though if I want to in the future. It sounds super in-your-face and very big. It still has the Jb chime up top, but now it also has huge, maybe too huge, bottom end. Very tight palm mutes, maybe too tight and semi undefined huge bottom when open chording. It is very high output sounding and nuanced in note attack. I think this would be an amazing pickup for a lead player who is very good technique-wise because the notes fly off the fingerboard and individual notes sound huge loud and sweet with way more character than the hot rails. Or a djent type player who needs very tight compressed sounding palm mutes. However I'm not a great technique lead player and and dont play uber tight stuff at the moment. This mod may be too much of a good thing. Maybe too sensitive and too much bottom end. It definitely made my strat sound more like a Les Paul than the Hotrails did. I'm going to play with it some more and maybe take and stack just one of the magnets directly on top of the original ( they are the same size) oriented the same way for a double thick effect rather than triple. I will also try it with no extra magnets. This mod definitely made the JB jr (if it sounds anything like the full-size) sound very big and aggressive with loads of bottom end. But perhaps too compressed. I guess after trying this mod I've decided I want something as agressive as Hot Rails but more open sounding with more tonal character. Not quite this sensitive and tight. I diving down the rabbit hole of HB sized SCs and its really fun. I will mess around with it some more and report back.

Edit: it won't let me stack a magnet in the same orientation because it repels (dummy me) and if I do stack it, then I have opposite north/south which would take away from the magnet strength and most likely make the pickup sound pretty wonky. So I will try it stock and see how much different it is than the mod.

 

[donahue]

Re: What do you guys think it would take to make a JB jr into a Distortion jr?

Ok, so the stock JB jr sounds freaking amazing!! Better than I remember the full size sounding. Aggressive but in a really nice smooth way. It really reminds me of the full size Duncan Custom, which is my favorite pickup. In my strat I have the JB jr and two SSL-5s. I think its a very good combination. I'm still going to try the lil screamin demon and the little 59 eventually, and maybe move on to Dimarzio, but its going to be really hard to beat this JB jr (non magnet mod). To answer the original post question: I think the extra magnets will make the JB jr sound like a "Distortion Jr." But its a little too much of a good thing. Although I would suggest it for someone wanting an aggressive pickup for metal or searing leads with more character than a Hot Rails.