Pickup Help- a hotter JB

[Hellbat]

Duncan Custom (ceramic) = Sully's favorite and a nice cross between a distortion and jb. Lamb of God is using them now.

Customs rule. I wonder when Morton will start changing out pickups during the songs since he seems to change his go-to pickup every couple of weeks hehe.

[toejam]

I don't think Mark's using the Custom any more. He (and Willie) were listed in the Duncan catalog awhile ago as using them. Willie seems to use a JB now. And Mark's also listed in the catalog as using the Livewire Metal, Invader, '59 and PhatCat. He also used EMGs and seems to be using DiMarzio Breeds in his latest model.

[The Rossness]

Dimarzio Super Distortion. End of story.

I just sold my gunslinger and it had one. Good pu, but it sounded muffled no matter what amp I used it with.

[MartinBarre]

I just sold my gunslinger and it had one. Good pu, but it sounded muffled no matter what amp I used it with.

Yeah, Dave Murray always sounded muffled on the Iron Maiden albums. I particularly despised his muffled solo on "Flight Of Icarus" and the one he did on "Powerslave" was all muffled to fuck so I could hardly even hear it.

For FUCK SAKE. These threads are fucking useless.

Find a pickup you like yourself! And if you think Nuno is ferocious, fuck knows what you need.


New fucking ears.

[The Rossness]

Anyone ever use a BK Nailbomb? I was listening to some clips and -Wow!

[Hellbat]

I am under the impression (possible mistaken) that the BK pickups are hard to find and expensive in North America.

YMMV.

[Newc]

The main trouble with these threads is that everyone has a different guitar and amp setup, as well as different personal tone (attack, phrasing, etc).

Plus when you're comparing recorded tones, you have to remember those have all been post-processed with EQ, so it's not "exactly what came out the amp".

I'm sure countless thousands have been happy with the JB. No one tracks anything but sales. So what if it's the best-selling pickup in history? How many are still being used? If you sell a million of them but 900,000 people toss them out, guess what? That means you only have 100,000 people who actually like it, and 900K who don't.


The JB is an excellent neck pickup, or if the only sound you want is Rust In Peace. I've had a dozen JBs in different guitars of different woods - Ash, Alder, Mahogany, Maple (throughneck), basswood, bolt-on, neckthrough, set-neck - I did not like it in the bridge of anything.

[toddstaples]

Seymour Duncan Alternative 8

[The Rossness]

I am under the impression (possible mistaken) that the BK pickups are hard to find and expensive in North America.

YMMV.

yup

[sully]

to go with what newc said, the JB is one of the most inconsistent pickups i've experienced. some guitars have sounded anemic with them, only to wake up with a custom. however, when you get a magical JB (i had one in a white import firebird that i sold), it's a special thing.

sully

[The Rossness]

Bill Lawrence USA 500XL

or

Duncan Distortion

Although to be perfectly honest I'm not sure how you think Ratt and Nuno are "ferocious" when the JB isn't hot enough for you, considering Marty Friedman and Dave Mustaine used them for the classic 'Deth stuff?
Nuno more ferocious than Marty?


Not sure about that...

Here's the tone I'm after, something inbetween these three-

Impellitteri- Rat Race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vV5RQ3LBuQ

Pantera- Cowboys from hell-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_WZkCgeXWk

Ratt- Body Talk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akIY0aKYknY

[sully]

here's a few custom sound clips for ya:


custom in an alder/maple topped body/rosewood fretboard with the volume rolled off, with a jcm800 tone:
http://www.sullyville.net/music/regrets.mp3

custom in a alder/maple topped body/rosewood fretboard:
http://www.sullyville.net/music/shockme_cut.mp3

custom in an alder bodied/ebony fretboard:
http://www.sullyville.net/music/BATM.mp3

The custom will get you JB styled stuff, but with a fuller tone, better harmonics, a bit more output, and a lot more clarity.

sully

[Grahf]

I can comment on the duncan mustaines.. they have a little more output, but definately less detail. less organic, less harmonics. they do sound really cool for metal, they have a really cool tone

[sully]

in a previous pickup thread, zeegs suggested that it might be nice hearing some downtuned stuff. So....here's a little demo I just recorded for you. apologies if i'm out of tune.

http://www.sullyville.net/music/custom_demo.mp3

there's a little ratt, a little ozzy, a little pantera, and a riff i wrote but never did anything with.

sully

[6string40]

I just dropped a Steve Morse Dimarzio bridge/neck set into my candy purple sd2 and they are killer! Extremely high output, but with amazing clarity. I don't think you'll find too many people using them, but I think they are a hidden gem in Dimarzio's lineup.

If you're looking for a Duncan tho, I gotta agree with Sully here as well...the Duncan Custom is the only Duncan bridge pickup I like. That and the '59 are the only 2 I can tolerate.