Pickup recommendation needed. Alternative to SH4 JB?

[technomancer]

I'm on to a new favorite wind pattern. I'll have a few more options after the holidays.


As for muddiness, you have 2 options. Either less winds or higher turn per layer. The Roxy uses a high turns per layer resulting in a more tight/immediate low end. In this case, I think it'd fit the bill of the OP as long as you don't like to run the treble and presence high on the recto

Crap ima' have to get some more guitars lol

 

[TheGreatGreen]

For a Duncan replacement, I really like the SH-5 Custom. I think it is just a better overall pickup and fixes some of the things I don’t like about the JB.

BKP option would be Holydiver, which is closest to the JB imo or consider the Nailbomb with a ceramic magnet.

Came in here to post this. I’ve always found the JB to sound honky and weird, almost to the point of sounding like a half cocked wah.

The SD Custom is much more suited to giving you a balanced tone with no honk, and still perfect for big and full but also tight high gain tones.

 

[Nigel]

Hi, like the title says, I need some recommendations for a bridge PU.
My setup is a Gibson Firebird Studio (all Mahagoni) --> JB --> some sort of boost --> Dual Rectifier.
My Musik style reaches from Punk to Metal.
I play in Eb to D Standard.

Though I am pretty happy with the JB, I recently realised that the bottom end can be a little bit mushy or squishy with this PU. Paired with a Dual Rec with it`s sluggy low end, this can be to much sometimes (with my Mark III the PU works very well).
I catch myself muting the strings very hard and hitting the strings hard to tighten up the bottom end. Although this works well, it slows down my playing as I have to play with lot of force to get the desired sound.

So I am searching for a PU with a more firm and percussive/aggressive bottom end.
I was thinking of maybe a SH6, which to my understanding is an SH4 with a ceramic magnet, or swapping the Alnico 5 of my SH4 with an Alnico 8 to basically get an Alternative 8. I heard this tightens the bottom end but also increases it, which may be too much for an all mahagoni guitar?

Last but not least, I faintly remember I red about my exact problem with the JB on this forum and the person was pointed out to Bare Knuckle PUs. Can`t remember the model, but it was basically a JB with better bottom end.

Thanks for the suggestions

What kind of strings and what gauge?

What pots/load on the JB?

 

[Speeddemon]

SH-14 Custom 5 or a DiMarzio Norton, if you want it tighter. The Custom 5 has a bigger low-end, but tighter than the JB, without the shriek.
Especially the Norton has great harmonics for that mid 80's (hair) metal tone.

 

[endofall]

Ever thought of swapping the magnet? I dropped a uoa5 magnet in my jb and it turned it into one of my favorite pickups. Reduced the spiky midrange, and also reduced some of the lows. Just seemed to balance the pickup more.

 

[BesaMoogie]

What kind of strings and what gauge?

What pots/load on the JB?

I am using dAddario EXL115 (11 to 49).
The Guitar came with 300k pots but I changed the Volume pots to 500k to open it up a bit more.

 

[BesaMoogie]

Ever thought of swapping the magnet? I dropped a uoa5 magnet in my jb and it turned it into one of my favorite pickups. Reduced the spiky midrange, and also reduced some of the lows. Just seemed to balance the pickup more.

I was actually thinking of putting an Alnico 8 in the JB. Never heard of an uoa5. Different material?

 

[johnny q]

Alternatives...........

As some have mentioned already, the Duncan Custom with the short ceramic mag is fantastic.

If you are trying to stay in JB territory try:

Suhr Aldrich
Dimarzio Tone Zone

And here is one from left field: Pariah 1986. It is designed to emulate the pickup in EVHs 5150 guitar which according to Larry Dimarzio was a Duncan JB albeit with one shorted coil.

 

[scottosan]

Alternatives...........

As some have mentioned already, the Duncan Custom with the short ceramic mag is fantastic.

If you are trying to stay in JB territory try:

Suhr Aldrich
Dimarzio Tone Zone

And here is one from left field: Pariah 1986. It is designed to emulate the pickup in EVHs 5150 guitar which according to Larry Dimarzio was a Duncan JB albeit with one shorted coil.

The shorted coil was in the original PAF in EVHs Franky. That's was prompted the rewind to Seymour's early JB prototype specs. Those specs would have about 1k lower than a modern JB but with higher inductance, indicating thay Seymour probably used a much tighter wind pattern (higher TPL) than what he used today. This would result in a brighter tighter time than what you'd get out of a modern JB.

 

[Luke Duke]

The shorted coil was in the original PAF in EVHs Franky. That's was prompted the rewind to Seymour's early JB prototype specs. Those specs would have about 1k lower than a modern JB but with higher inductance, indicating thay Seymour probably used a much tighter wind pattern (higher TPL) than what he used today. This would result in a brighter tighter time than what you'd get out of a modern JB.

This is a great post!

I had an 80s JB with the rare nylon that measured 15.xxK and it sounded different from the modern JBs…it actually sounded GREAT! Add to that a rough cast magnet and you’re looking at a pickup with a significantly different sound. I posted a controversial thread on the SD forum about it and how it was so different.

In any case, responding to the OP, I always preferred the SH-6 Distortion. It had an authoritative sound in mahogany I just don’t get from a JB. I also tried the SH-5 and was not a fan, it was a bit dry sounding to me in my LP, and I liked the invader MORE!

Finally, if you don’t mind paying the coin for a custom shop pickup the Dokken-bucker is a great choice. It sits between the SH-6 and SH-5 tonally and in specs. I believe it’s the “old” JB/Distortion wind (lower DCR) with a small ceramic magnet rather than the double thick of the Distortion.

Luke

 

[harddriver]

The shorted coil was in the original PAF in EVHs Franky. That's was prompted the rewind to Seymour's early JB prototype specs. Those specs would have about 1k lower than a modern JB but with higher inductance, indicating thay Seymour probably used a much tighter wind pattern (higher TPL) than what he used today. This would result in a brighter tighter time than what you'd get out of a modern JB.

You are describing those very early JB's that were around 15K and had a certain amount of mismatch on the screw coil wound hotter usually. Jalen has reverse engineered one of the early JB's and he sells it under the name Fair Warning. Supposedly it's still bright and tight like a PAF but has more grunt and gain output. PLX has one of these pickups, he loves it.....maybe he can comment on it.

 

[scottosan]

You are describing those very early JB's that were around 15K and had a certain amount of mismatch on the screw coil wound hotter usually. Jalen has reverse engineered one of the early JB's and he sells it under the name Fair Warning. Supposedly it's still bright and tight like a PAF but has more grunt and gain output. PLX has one of these pickups, he loves it.....maybe he can comment on it.

A few things on that. Specs used for the fair warning seem to be consistent with the Darth Phineas specs a single early JBs that he measured and posted there.

http://f02.406.myftpupload.com/2017/02/seymour-duncan-jb-model-comparison/
I was provided similar specs by a California guitar builder that has measured quite a few of these, and the mismatch thing is not consistent. Many were pretty close. This is a spec that I have literally wasted spools of wire on trying different patterns and mismatches. I've actual spent most of my holiday trying to finalize this. I've pretty much settled on the same 15.6k range, but with matching coils. This isn't as hot pickup of a pickup as one would imaging since that's about 6800 turn of wire vs 7000 on the Duncan Custom line or super distortion, just smaller gauge wire.

 

[johnny q]

The shorted coil was in the original PAF in EVHs Franky. That's was prompted the rewind to Seymour's early JB prototype specs. Those specs would have about 1k lower than a modern JB but with higher inductance, indicating thay Seymour probably used a much tighter wind pattern (higher TPL) than what he used today. This would result in a brighter tighter time than what you'd get out of a modern JB.

Interesting, I thought the damaged JB was in Eddies 5150 guitar and it was what Larry and Steve examined when they tried to design a pickup for the Ernie Ball guitar.

This is what I was referring to, from the online article Dimarzio: Remembering Van Halen. Emphasis mine:

"Ed plugged in his main touring guitar, the striped 5150, so we could hear the bridge pick - up as a reference. The guitar had a damaged Duncan JB in the bridge and a Kramer neck. This became the starting point for the bridge pickup sound he wanted. Ed told me the pickup changed after the high “E” string had caught under the lip of one of the coils during a show. The sound changed in a way he liked, and this became his favorite pickup."

So I assumed the Pariah Pasadena 1986 model was an attempt at recreating Ed's favorite pickup

 

[scottosan]

Interesting, I thought the damaged JB was in Eddies 5150 guitar and it was what Larry and Steve examined when they tried to design a pickup for the Ernie Ball guitar.

This is what I was referring to, from the online article Dimarzio: Remembering Van Halen. Emphasis mine:

"Ed plugged in his main touring guitar, the striped 5150, so we could hear the bridge pick - up as a reference. The guitar had a damaged Duncan JB in the bridge and a Kramer neck. This became the starting point for the bridge pickup sound he wanted. Ed told me the pickup changed after the high “E” string had caught under the lip of one of the coils during a show. The sound changed in a way he liked, and this became his favorite pickup."

So I assumed the Pariah Pasadena 1986 model was an attempt at recreating Ed's favorite pickup

The reality is that Eddie took all of the truths to the grave. There's lots of stories and theories and we know Eddie himself was never completely upfront. There's so many other variables that affect the tone, to be honest, specs on paper partially there. Winding tension, spacing, and coil geometry all come into play as well.

 

[Ben Waylin]

Supposedly it's still bright and tight like a PAF but has more grunt and gain output. PLX has one of these pickups, he loves it.....maybe he can comment on it.

It's a good pickup.

 

[Nigel]

I am using dAddario EXL115 (11 to 49).
The Guitar came with 300k pots but I changed the Volume pots to 500k to open it up a bit more.

How’s your bass response feel when you adjust the bass knob on your amp? Is it hard: empty then full and easily bloated early on the knob like a black face or soft and easy like, more middy like a Marshall?

 

[Nigel]

Reason I ask is I went from EB nickel plated Slinky 11-48’s to Fender pure nickel 150R 10-46’s and it tightened the bass up a ton. Same tension as the 11’s! Ed used these and that is probably why he played 9-44’s. TOTALLY changed the bass to the degree I could dime my tone stack. Ymmv but worth a shot. Highs will be more musical too since you’re running twice the load the JB is designed for with 500K pots.

 

[Subsonic73]

Hi, like the title says, I need some recommendations for a bridge PU.
My setup is a Gibson Firebird Studio (all Mahagoni) --> JB --> some sort of boost --> Dual Rectifier.
My Musik style reaches from Punk to Metal.
I play in Eb to D Standard.

Though I am pretty happy with the JB, I recently realised that the bottom end can be a little bit mushy or squishy with this PU. Paired with a Dual Rec with it`s sluggy low end, this can be to much sometimes (with my Mark III the PU works very well).
I catch myself muting the strings very hard and hitting the strings hard to tighten up the bottom end. Although this works well, it slows down my playing as I have to play with lot of force to get the desired sound.

So I am searching for a PU with a more firm and percussive/aggressive bottom end.
I was thinking of maybe a SH6, which to my understanding is an SH4 with a ceramic magnet, or swapping the Alnico 5 of my SH4 with an Alnico 8 to basically get an Alternative 8. I heard this tightens the bottom end but also increases it, which may be too much for an all mahagoni guitar?

Last but not least, I faintly remember I red about my exact problem with the JB on this forum and the person was pointed out to Bare Knuckle PUs. Can`t remember the model, but it was basically a JB with better bottom end.

Thanks for the suggestions

As many others have mentioned already, my first thought after reading your post was that you might want the Duncan Custom SH-5.
I have been using that one a lot lately and found that it has worked out perfectly for me.
It's got a hearty low end but not to the point where it gets overbearing or mushy in any way.
Right now I've got one in a baritone scale guitar that is tuned to C, and it's actually balanced perfectly for that.
Sounds tight and the low end is clear without sounding sterile either.

The Distortion SH-6 is not a bad option if you're looking to keep it higher output like the JB, I do think the SH-6 is a tighter option than a JB.

I've done the magnet swap in the JB before to make a JB-8 with an A8 magnet and I liked the results. But truthfully if I were to want something like that again I would just go with the Alternative 8 pickup. Less hassle than magnet swapping and I didn't really feel like the JB-8 was giving me anything that I couldn't get with the Alternative 8, but that's obviously subjective I know. I think the Alternative 8 has a really similar sound to it overall as a JB and a Distortion but it's got a warmer, fuller sound on the low end and definitely more clarity on the high end with no shrill or harshness that the JB can sometimes be known for.

 

[Ventura]

The options in that direction with Bareknuckle would be either the Holy Diver or the Rebel Yell. The Holy Diver has always been considered to be their take on a JB but I’ve also heard that the Rebel Yell may do the job better. I’ve only used the Holy Diver and in my opinion it doesn’t really do what you want. I actually found it to be a bit of a weird pickup that excelled at leads but for rhythms was too quacky and almost twangy.

It is definitely not a tighter JB, the mid focus is lower and while it definitely has a cleaner bass response it ends up sounding a little fatter. It’s actually “cleaner” sounding all around compared to the JB which is maybe why I always perceived it to have a sort of stringy and twangy quality in the top end.

If I wanted a BKP that does what I like in a JB but tighter I’d probably try the Rebel Yell just based on what I’ve heard via clips and word of mouth. Don’t go with the Nailbomb, it has massive amounts of low end. Even though its clear/punchy low end, it’s too much IMO unless your guitar or amp is thin sounding.

I'm a RebelYell convert. 3 of my Lesters are now equipped with these pups. I can't imagine anything sounding better.

 

[Exo-metal]

Anyone ever swap mags in a sh6