What's the secret to the JB?

[Travis]

All right, I've had the JB in two different guitars, Hamer Chapparal and Hamer Diablo. The Chap was a mahogany body set maple 24.75" scale neck with Floyd. The Diablo is alder with a bolt on maple 25.5" neck and Floyd. (Both had rosewood fretboards). I no longer have the Chap but I do still have the Diablo and it has a 59 in the neck.

Here's the deal, I cannot get the thing to sound the way I want (in either guitar with two different JBs). I absolutely love the Distortion as some of you may know. The JB just sounds weak in comparison. I get no sustain and the harmonics just don't jump out as easily. Since this is supposed to be a high output pickup with nice harmonics, I'm thinking I just don't have it set up right. I've fooled with the height but haven't really found a sweet spot. I messed around with the individual pole pieces before but still can't come up with the right tone. I'm afraid I may have to just swap it out for another Distortion. But I'd rather keep the JB in there and work with it if I can. Any suggestions?

 

[Dills]

Re: What's the secret to the JB?

I think the muscial upper midrange peak is what people like with the JB (not my thing though)

 

[JammerMatt]

Re: What's the secret to the JB?

I've gone back and forth. Right now I'm on a JB kick. If you like the Distortion, put in a Distortion. You can always go back to a JB and try it again sometime. Before I upgraded the chip in my Line6, I didn't really dig the JB so much. After the chip swap, the JB's the thing for me. I think it's a combination of everything, and everything doesn't work for everybody. Everybody likes the Demon, I haven't been able to get it to work for me, tho.

 

[Travis]

Re: What's the secret to the JB?

I play through a Flextone III and I've gone over a crapload of settings and I just can't get the tone I want. I can get a great bluesy/rock sound, which is nice. But most of the stuff I play is on the shred side of things. Perhaps I should leave it as it is and use that guitar for different styles. I already have a couple of great shredders. Maybe I need some different weapons in my arsenal.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What's the secret to the JB?

Sounds like the JB is just not your cup of tea. That's probably all there is to it.

Keep looking: there's plenty more pickups to try!

Lew

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: What's the secret to the JB?

I'm not a fan of the JB either,but it sure gets alot of love from many of us...

John