Would you ever put a JB in the neck?

Artie

Artie

Peaveyologist
A friend of a friend is getting this advice from GC, on a lower line, PRS.

What do you all think?

Thanks.
 
People have...and I guess it works for them. If it were my friend, I'd ask what they are trying to do. And why do they think they need a JB in the neck?
 
The guy plays "Caribbean", all clean. And Reggae pop. Caribbean modern pop. etc.
 
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Yeah, not sure a JB in the neck is going to do it for clean pop or Caribbean pop. Any good lower-output neck pup, including the Jazz, would be better IMO.
 
Getting advice from GC..... problem number 1. They're gonna recommend what they have in the display cabinet every time without even thinking about the actual need.

Jazz or even an Alnico Pro II would be the first 2 choices I'd recommend. Or even a HSS setup with a PAF class in the neck and good noiseless singles, like the Classic Stack Plus.
 
GuitarStv said:
That's an impressively terrible recommendation of a pickup for that style of play.
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Agreed! I personally would look hard at the Saturday Night specials as running both together clean set up right has an almost acoustic like character. Am surprised they haven't become really popular with the modern worship ambient crowd.
 
ErikH said:
Getting advice from GC..... problem number 1. They're gonna recommend what they have in the display cabinet every time without even thinking about the actual need.
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I'm not positive, because I didn't talk to him myself, but I believe that's exactly what happened.

Ascension said:
Agreed! I personally would look hard at the Saturday Night specials as running both together clean set up right has an almost acoustic like character. Am surprised they haven't become really popular with the modern worship ambient crowd.
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That's good info for me personally. They're well talked about here, if not super often. They're on my list of "pups to try."
 
Yeah that is way off. if i was playing that style i would go with a Jazz/PhatCat combo to get some of those Marley neck P90 tones.
 
Get a Jazz. They are easily available, and it will balance with whatever he has in the bridge. I have no idea why he'd ask about a JB unless another friend is trying really hard to sell him one.
 
zionstrat said:
I can't really figure out why.
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Personally, I did it because I was using Black Winters in the bridge back then, and puny little 7K Alnico pickups weren't keeping up.

But wait, plot twist! It was horrible, LOL. I've always known the JB is more of an upper-mid-focused bridge pickup than trebly or sizzly or airy. But it was when I tried it in the neck that I actually realized how rolled off the highs really are. In the neck, the JB is pure mud, plain and simple. And that's coming from a guy that doesn't like plinky thin neck pickups either. But the JB was too much for me.

It's not even the output. The output is close to a Duncan Distortion Neck. It's just the EQ makes it sound like your pickup was in the next room.

Would not recommend unless you're playing high gain leads past the 12th fret on the high strings, that's the only thing you use your neck pickup for, and you want a super warm, super fat neck tone for that.
 
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GC has too many JB's on the shelves, maybe?

Unless they were recommending a JB wired in parallel? Should sound a bit like a Filter'Tron in this case.

Or the vendor did recommend a JB in series because he considers Caribbean style as requiring dark mid focused sounds...

All that being said: the local winder for whom I've worked did design a set of HB's whose neck PU had higher DCR and inductance than a JB... and it worked, even clean - thanks to a manipulation of other factors than RL specs.
 
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