Rex Rocker
Well-known member
I recently got an LTD EC-400VF that I found used locally for pretty cheap. I initially got it thinking "this would make a great beater guitar", but I ended up loving it. It rings out acoustlcally, and it plays much better than my Gibson, IMO, with the thinner neck and the jumbo frets.
That guitar came with a JB/'59 set stock. When I first got it, I initially liked it, but didn't love it. I thought it was lacking power and agression. It sounded good, but not great, because I kept comparing it to my other two guitars: Les Paul with a 500T and SH-6N and Strat with a Nazgul and SDS-1.
It is a cheapie guitar, so I didn't wanna drop a lot of money on it. I sold the stock JB, found a cheap Duncan Custom, and I dropped it in. Initial impressions was it's good, but is it that much better than the JB? I tweaked the pickup height, polepiece height, I even tried swapping an oversized Ceramic in it. No luck. I liked it better stock. What I decided to do is disconnect the tone knob altogether and swap the pots for 1Meg to get that extra bit of attack and aggression. Worked out great, but the one thing that I couldn't get rid of was the thuddy low-end. That isn't entirely the pickup's fault. The guitar itself sounds like that to an extent, and it doesn't help that I'm tuning to Drop C and that low C is a 59 gauge. But it is undeniable that the Custom has a bigger low-end than the JB.
I found a limited edition CS JB handwound by MJ locally. All the fancy stuff. I offered a Wylde Overdrive pedal and some cash for it, and I got it. Dropped it into the guitar with the 1Meg volume pot, no tone, and I immediately loved it! The attack is a bit softer compared to the Custom. We'll see how I get along with that in the future, but the whole EQ of the pickup is just "right", especially considering what other pickups I'm using. The mids are nice and cutting. The low-end is not as overbearing as the Custom, but it's not thin either because there is some lower mid chunk in there. It's just a great-sounding pickup.
I kinda felt like a dumbass for not attempting to tweak the stock JB to start with. I could've remoded the cover, tried different value pots, even droppin in a different magnet. But I mean, this other JB is as "objective" upgrade from the stock production JB as it's going to get. In the end, I think it worked out, and I don't really feel bad about trying the Custom (I think I might actually drop it into the Strat because I kinda like it better than the Nazgul).
Anyways, that's my story. I came full circle back to the JB, which has always been one of those those pickups that are "home" for me.
That guitar came with a JB/'59 set stock. When I first got it, I initially liked it, but didn't love it. I thought it was lacking power and agression. It sounded good, but not great, because I kept comparing it to my other two guitars: Les Paul with a 500T and SH-6N and Strat with a Nazgul and SDS-1.
It is a cheapie guitar, so I didn't wanna drop a lot of money on it. I sold the stock JB, found a cheap Duncan Custom, and I dropped it in. Initial impressions was it's good, but is it that much better than the JB? I tweaked the pickup height, polepiece height, I even tried swapping an oversized Ceramic in it. No luck. I liked it better stock. What I decided to do is disconnect the tone knob altogether and swap the pots for 1Meg to get that extra bit of attack and aggression. Worked out great, but the one thing that I couldn't get rid of was the thuddy low-end. That isn't entirely the pickup's fault. The guitar itself sounds like that to an extent, and it doesn't help that I'm tuning to Drop C and that low C is a 59 gauge. But it is undeniable that the Custom has a bigger low-end than the JB.
I found a limited edition CS JB handwound by MJ locally. All the fancy stuff. I offered a Wylde Overdrive pedal and some cash for it, and I got it. Dropped it into the guitar with the 1Meg volume pot, no tone, and I immediately loved it! The attack is a bit softer compared to the Custom. We'll see how I get along with that in the future, but the whole EQ of the pickup is just "right", especially considering what other pickups I'm using. The mids are nice and cutting. The low-end is not as overbearing as the Custom, but it's not thin either because there is some lower mid chunk in there. It's just a great-sounding pickup.
I kinda felt like a dumbass for not attempting to tweak the stock JB to start with. I could've remoded the cover, tried different value pots, even droppin in a different magnet. But I mean, this other JB is as "objective" upgrade from the stock production JB as it's going to get. In the end, I think it worked out, and I don't really feel bad about trying the Custom (I think I might actually drop it into the Strat because I kinda like it better than the Nazgul).
Anyways, that's my story. I came full circle back to the JB, which has always been one of those those pickups that are "home" for me.
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