For the Love of JB

[Jackson Distortion]

Am I the only one here anymore that finds the regular old JB quite fine as is? I know alot of guys just immeadiately change out the magnet, which if it suits your needs that is fine but, what's it about the standard JB that kills it for you? Should Seymour Duncan himself go back to the drawing board and scrap or redesign the original to appease the masses?

[Diego]

The problem with the JB is that it's suggested as a instant recipe for a good sound. It isn't!

In my Ash Strat, it sounds amazing. Thick, clear and cutting. Heavy rhythm sound, perfect leads.
In my Mahogany double cut Ibanez, it sounds awful.
Thick, but muddy and completely congested in the mids. Like it's blowing it's nose in front of you.

Some folks like Blueman quickly change magnets on it, but then he'd rather be stabbed than having to play a Tele or a Strat.
And it's in instruments like that where the stock JB does it's thing the best.

I love the JB. Just not in every guitar out there.

[misterwhizzy]

I found it to require tweaking. It's not a bad pickup, but I find the Custom series more versatile and more amenable to magnet swapping. It can definitely do the high output thing well, but that's not always what's required.

[lenco12]

I found it to require tweaking. It's not a bad pickup, but I find the Custom series more versatile and more amenable to magnet swapping. It can definitely do the high output thing well, but that's not always what's required.

I agree with Diego. There should be a "depends on the wood" option in the poll. I have one in my Flying V and its good but there is always something that doesn't sound quite right about. In my Ash Jazzmaster it is perfect. The JB is very finicky! when everything is right the tone is great, but if all the variables aren't correct it can sound like trash.

[nalo1022]

I agree with Diego. There should be a "depends on the wood" option in the poll. I have one in my Flying V and its good but there is always something that doesn't sound quite right about. In my Ash Jazzmaster it is perfect. The JB is very finicky! when everything is right the tone is great, but if all the variables aren't correct it can sound like trash.

[GoDrex]

I like the jb a lot. with an A5 or A2 - depends on what I want.

[DrNewcenstein]

We here at the Forum are not "the masses". The JB has sold millions worldwide, and if only a dozen or so people here don't like it, there's nothing to compel SD to change it.

However, while there's plenty of ways to track SALES, there's no way to track RETENTION. Just because they sell millions a year doesn't mean everyone kept it. That is what would determine whether it should be changed at the production level.

As for me, I like the stock JB as a neck pickup, or as a bridge pickup that isn't doing the Metal I want it to do. Yes it can do Megadeth, perfectly. I'm sure it can do any other Metal band's tone that uses a JB. In the full context of a band, it fits nicely between the drums and bass and cymbals and vocals. By itself jamming alone, it sounds like ass.

[King IzzO)))]

I've had a bunch of them over the years, only kept in 1 guitar for any amount of time, and that was a baritone.

I had an ash/maple top/maple/maple/FR G&L Invader with one that I think would be where it's supposed to sound best and I hated it. Conversely I kept one in a mahogany/mahogany/rosewood/neck-thru baritone for a long time, and people say it's bad in mahogany. Who knows?

I LOVE it with other magnets, A2, A8, and I guess a DD is the same thing so UOA5 too.

[blueman335]

I LOVE it with other magnets, A2, A8, and I guess a DD is the same thing so UOA5 too.

+1. Being a blues/classic rock player, I couldn't make the stock JB sound decent, and I tried several in several different models of guitar. I had given up on it when I discovered I still had one left (I thought I'd sold all of them). After reading posts about it with an A2, I decided to give it one last try. Wow. Totally fixed all the issues I had, and it sounds great.

It's a very hot wind with thin wire, and with the stock magnet, is frustratingly particular about the woods and guitars it likes. When it sounds annoying (I love Diego's comment of it sounding like 'it's blowing it's nose'), then there's a good chance that an A2 or A8 will give you what you want, maybe even with an A4. A number of guys use 250K's, and I bet roughcast magnets will also help with the piercing high end.

I think it's a great idea to offer several versions of the JB (like the Custom family). You have the A5 and ceramic, and now an A2 and A8 offering would be the 'warm' versions to work in guitars when the 'bright' ones don't. We've got a wide range of woods, and the current JB doesn't sound good in a lot of them.

[SFW]

I love the stock JB. I have done some mag swaps to meet the needs of certain guitars, but the plain jane JB is a great pickup.

[crguti]

my experience:
ESP Horizon (drop D) + JB + tube amp =

[JOEBACCA]

The love/hate relationship of the (stock) JB will always exist.... I happen to fall on the LOVE side of the spectrum but for the right applications that is.

I will say this and I'm sure many will agree.... I have yet to find another bridge pickup that has better singing lead tones under saturated gain than the JB.

[wjombat]

I have not tried it but if you look at the amount of them on ebay . . . possibly that could show you how many people have tried JBs and then put something else in. Not scientific by any means but it might give us a clue.

[SrDeMaFp]

I haven't tried a mag swap since the guitar that I owned that had a JB in it was sold recently but, I've never really dug it. Seemed to lack balls, for the lack of a better term.

[Sanford]

Sounded fine in my Epi Sheraton II w/the tone knob about half.

[Nightburst]

A JB is perfect in a band situation or for playing lead over backing tracks at home. When people say it lacks balls (seem to be a populair comment on the JB) they probably mean it doesn't chug. And they're right, it doesn't chug like a Custom does. Got a loose bottom even though its a tight sounding pickup to my ears.
In the right guitar it sounds great! My JB is a hoe, put it in al lot of guitars, even loaned it to friends to see if they liked it hoping they would buy it from me. It always returned and has now landed in a Squier strat where it sounds great. But it still doesn't chug!

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Stock JB is fine for what it does in the right guitar.

[TSE]

I like the middle ground between a JB and a Duncan Distortion so I always swap to a ceramic 8 mag. Then it becomes my favorite pick up.

[Kensai]

I have a JB in my Alder, maple fingerboard Strat, and love it. Swapped the magnet twice, and returned to Alnico V.
To tame the higher frequencies, it´s simple, just 250k volume pot, and tone control to the bridge pickup.
I´m not impressed with the Custom, it´s good, but not so overwelming superior to the JB.
The JB has a "wet" pick attack, that I like. The Custom just sound right in the face, raw...too hi-fi. May be very good for compensate the warm sound of rosewood fingerboards, don´t know, didn´t tried yet on that.

[metlking]

I've always said a JB in an alder bodied strat was stellar and in a Les Paul type it was horrible. This was based on past experience. A month ago I picked up a used Les Paul Standard with a JB in the bridge so I decided to gig with it as is. It cut through the mix so well that now I have to rethink everything! In the right guitar, in the right situation...........sometimes it just works!