I
itsme
Well-known member
Sh-14 Custom 5
Greazygeo
Well-known member
The JB is my go to pickup in LP’s. Pretty much perfect for me. I like a tight sound. In SG’s I don’t like them though. The Custom /59 hybrid sounds great in my SG Custom. Years ago I hated the JB, now it’s one of my favorites. Weird how that worked out.
napalmdeath
Well-known member
I've never had a tight JB, but I suppose other factors could make it tight. It's too round and bouncy for my liking.
Funny you mention the SG.. I have an SH-5, and have had my SG for about a year, and toyed with throwing it in there. But, the stock pickups seem to just work. It's tight, great clarity, and sounds crushing through my Rectifier 25.
DanTravis62
Moderator
Greazygeo
Well-known member
My SG is a ‘90 with those Bill Lawrence designed pickups with the circuit boards on the bottom. Squeal like hell and suck tonally. They had to go. First thing I popped in was the JB, figured it would work…nope, dull city. Duncan recommended the Custom 5…nope, no midrange, just lows and highs. Then they recommended this Custom hybrid, it’s really good in it. SG’s just seem tricky with pickups.
Recently swapped a JB in my RG570. It sounds great in there. Surprised me it sounds good in basswood.
I
itsme
Well-known member
Love this pickup
Speeddemon
Well-known member
I'll second the SH14 Custom5. It's beefy, not too overpowered, and the low end is not as loose as the JB's.
ToneZone is an option, but in the wrong guitar it would become muddy probably.
Have you considered the DiMarzio Breed Bridge? It's big sounding, but also quite polite. So I figure for hard rock (think Y&T, Thin Lizzy) it should work fine.
I had the Custom5 in a Les Paul first and it rocked; punchy too. Now it resides in my ESP Horizon to add some beef. It probably has more high end crunch and sizzle than the Breed Bridge, but it's nowhere near a Duncan Distortion or DiMarzio Norton.
Oh, another beefy contender: DiMarzio AT-1!
ToneZone is an option, but in the wrong guitar it would become muddy probably.
Have you considered the DiMarzio Breed Bridge? It's big sounding, but also quite polite. So I figure for hard rock (think Y&T, Thin Lizzy) it should work fine.
I had the Custom5 in a Les Paul first and it rocked; punchy too. Now it resides in my ESP Horizon to add some beef. It probably has more high end crunch and sizzle than the Breed Bridge, but it's nowhere near a Duncan Distortion or DiMarzio Norton.
Oh, another beefy contender: DiMarzio AT-1!
tementnoise
Active member
Ha, I recently put a JB into a 1980 LPC. Just wanted to swap out the T-Top quickly before some shows I had coming up at the time and intended to change it for something better afterwards but now I kinda love it. Same deal, used to not particularly like the JB but have come around.
As for the original topic, I’m gonna be weird here and suggest trying the SH-11 Custom Custom. Duncan’s EQ chart for it seems to be misleading, it’s got quite a loose bottom end like you’re describing and is overall huge sounding in mahogany guitars in my experience.
johnny q
Active member
Rio Grande BBQ: My Les Paul Custom sounded huge with this pickup in the bridge. Can tend to veer towards "dark" though in certain applications.
Someone else mentioned the Duncan Whole Lotta Humbucker and I concur. I have these in my Gibson R9 and that guitar has never had a set of balls like it does now.
Someone else mentioned the Duncan Whole Lotta Humbucker and I concur. I have these in my Gibson R9 and that guitar has never had a set of balls like it does now.
Speeddemon
Well-known member
Loose yes, but huge sounding, far from it...at least in my experience. Tried it in a Les Paul too. Couldn't sell it fast enough. It's very spongey in its response, but very bland.
H
hopkinWFG
Well-known member
Gibson T495 ?
shar-vell Dan
Well-known member
SD JB.