which bridge pickup for a big rhythm sound and some nice sustain?

[darthphineas]

Re: which bridge pickup for a big rhythm sound and some nice sustain?

I just find the JB really shines in something like an ash or alder bodied guitar. My lead player just got a Strat that he rebuilt and put a Jb in the bridge and it sounds fantastic.

I'm there with you. I've also had it in alder, ash, mahogany, poplar, basswood... bridge and middle positions. it's always worked fine. until the past couple of years, I focused on the JB is most guitars and let the woods be the difference. after getting my head wrapped around the woods, I've been tinkering with different model pickups for different guitars... but the JB has been the benchmark that I refer to.


it's always been a weird dichotomy to me when a pro-Custom anti-JB (or vice versa) thing gets going when it's all a matter of preference and taste. when I tried to make an object lesson of being fanatical about a pickup in another thread, some clown was ready to come to blows. lol! it's the internet...have some fun! lol!

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: which bridge pickup for a big rhythm sound and some nice sustain?

As you may well know, G'n'R is the Alnico II Pro (Slash) set. This and the '59 set are probably going to give you big enough rhythm tone, but I can't get inside your head. What I like about the JB is this: I play music where the roles I play are very clear-cut (I'm either playing Rhythm or Lead, no between), I put the JB volume on 10 so that when I switched to it for my leads, it's like a sonic kick in the teeth. There's no doubt about it: with the JB I'm punching through the mix.

However, the JB bridge, while it has good enough rhythm tone, has lots of high mids that cut through. You might like that or hate that, depending.

The JB's cleans, however, aren't for me. I've used it for clean-ish stuff but it's got a smokey bar sound that I just don't like. I play most my cleans from the neck pickup anyways.

So your mileage may vary (tm).