Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

[Morior]

Hey guys. Lately I have grown tired of the EMGs I have on my Mexi-Strat, so I'm looking for passive pickups with a slightly lower output. So far I have narrowed it down to either a JB or a Custom Custom in the bridge and a Jazz in the neck position.

Essentially, I want my tone to come from my fingers and a lower output, slightly more vintage-sounding set of pickups, not from a set of super-hot, modern-sounding EMGs. (The KH-21 set, to be exact). I need a crystal clear driven sound (I play extreme metal using a nice pile of mids, so clarity is a must for me) and a good, warm clean tone.


So... Your opinions are needed in the following two questions:

-Which bridge pickup is better for a Strat in your opinion? The Custom Custom or the JB? (since I'm a big fan of Dave Mustaine's tone, I guess the JB might be the answer...)

-As I am a sucker for HSH combinations, which single coile would be excellent in the middle position? It doesn't have to be hum-cancelling. I'll mostly use it in paralel connection with split humbuckers.




Any help is very appreciated. You are also allowed to suggest other pickups if you think I'm walking the wrong way. :22:

 

[seafoamer]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

Don't think I'll be much help with u'r situation (no habla extreme metal). I just wanted to offer a warm welcome to a fellow Pirate.

 

[Morior]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

Don't think I'll be much help with u'r situation (no habla extreme metal). I just wanted to offer a warm welcome to a fellow Pirate.

:dance: <-----Crazy pirate with seafoam all over his body-dance.

Thanks man, happy to be here. Now let's drink some grog and laugh at the landlubbers. :evil: :bigok:


I'm actually not using a sound that is typical for extreme metal. My tone sounds a lot like Megadeth. (Probably because I'm using a Marshall, not a lot of gain gain and a lot of mid frequency. Very punchy and nice sound. Except for the very active-sounding pickups, of course. Besides, I really prefer the feel of passive pickups.)

Urgh.... I tried an old-ish Ibanez US Custom shop prototype model the other day. It had Duncans, but I couldn't figure out which ones they were. That guitar sounded like heaven and hell united. :newangel:

And I didn't buy it. How stupid is that?

 

[Morior]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

I'm going to describe my perfect driven tone, just for the hell of it, and then I will go to bed. Becoming an adult is overrated. :smack: You still get really tired around 11 PM. :yell:


Anyways....


The perfect tone for me is very tight. It is basically very mid-oriented, as the guitar in my opinion exclusively is a middle frequency instrument, and the bass should be handling all the DOUUUUUUDOUDOUDOU sounds. :duh: When soloing, the bridge pickup will have a lot of clarity and definition on the lower notes. As one progresses up the neck, the pickup wails, but retains it's clarity and definition. The pickup has to handle fast runs a la shred (not quite there yet, but I'm getting closer every day :dance: ).

And obviously, the pickup has to sound good when you turn down the volume knob to clean up the signal.

 

[BachToRock]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

IMO... a KILLER H-S-H combo is the Custom Custom/Twangbanger/Pearly Gates...

 

[theodie]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

IMO... a KILLER H-S-H combo is the Custom Custom/Twangbanger/Pearly Gates...

+1

 

[Armotron]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

Custom Custom bridge, twangbanger or Aps-2 in middle, pearly gates neck.

 

[Morior]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

So the Custom Custom will be punchy enough? And how does the Custom Custom handle pinch harmonics? (I use quite a lot of PHs when I'm soloing, so pickups that don't make pinch harmonics hard to achieve are a must to me.)

 

[theodie]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

I find the CC handles pinch harmonics really well. I had a Pearly gates in my ibanez before the CC and I can say that the CC gets them a whole lot easier.

 

[Morior]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

Great. How does it handle low palm-muted chords? (in E standard)

 

[fenderiarhs]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

i have used both pickups in my strats bridge position (although i do not play metal). Both pickups can do metal, you can be sure of that. I think you will like better the JB. CC is a nice pickup that really warms up a strat and helps you cut in the band mix because of its huge mid spike......the downsides(at least to me) are a certain lack of bass frequencies and the fact that the huge mids of the CC can become a little bit "one dimensional".....The JB still has good mids (high mids), better bass responce than the CC and is not as trebly as some describe it......plus it can do pinch harmonics better than the CC.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

I wonder if the Custom would be a better choice than the CC...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

To me the Custom Custom sounds a bit like EVH's tone on the early albums only it's hotter than what he was using back then. It has very thick, plucky mids that sound fabulous through a bright amp like a cranked Marshall Plexi. I find it an easier pickup to live with then the JB because the JB has a hard sounding peak in the upper mids/treble frequencies that hurts my ears eventually. Neither is a lower output pickup though...they're both overwound alot compared to a vintage paf. My favorite humbucker in a Strat would be the 59 Trembucker. I have one in two of my Strats and they get a tone that reminds me of Eric Clapton's tone on Wheels of Fire or Disraeli Gears. If you wanted something hotter, but not as hot as the JB or one of the Custom pickups, then I'd say check out a Screamin Demon. An excellant pickup that is often overlooked.

The Jazz/JB combo is probably more what you're after though...

Lew

 

[ranalli]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

Well, he's going after a Megadeth type sound and they use Marshalls and JBs as far as I know......so I would recommend the JB.

 

[SABOTAGE]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

Well, he's going after a Megadeth type sound and they use Marshalls and JBs as far as I know......so I would recommend the JB.

I agree get the JB

 

[Morior]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

Ok, I'm back to what I originally wanted until I was in doubt, then. Hehehehe


Michael Åkerfeldt in Opeth uses the JB as well, and his tone is DEFINITELY among my favourites, so I think that should be the direction to be walking in.

How does the JB sound split?



And most of all, thanks for all the help, people.

 

[Davey]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

JB split is similar to a fender single coils sound, but thats just me from hearsay as i dont have it wired so it splits.

let sound speak for itself .. listen to my music and decide fory ourself.. some is bad, some is better.

and +1 for the JB

 

[Morior]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

Shrink and grow! hehehe... Dream Theater...

It's possible to wire it both split and full on if I get a 4-conductor JB, right?

 

[Davey]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

the JB only comes in 4 conductor.. and with the 5 way switch you can wire it that way.. or you can use a push/pull pot.

 

[Morior]

Re: Yarr! Should I get a JB or a Custom Custom for my Strat?

Or both.


I think I might go with both a 5-way and a push/pull, actually. Sure, it won't sound COMPLETELY like a Strat bridge pickup, but I like having the option.