Dave Mustaine's Pickups - Over the years

[Yash]

Hey guys! Another Mustaine related post. Forgive me :P


As you all know, I am a big Dave Mustaine fan (kinda obsessive about little details right now) and recently bought a 1999 Jackson KV1 (with LSR tuners) which is currently in transit (finally did, more on the whole story later, I'll post )

So, while I was researching about Dave's guitars, watching a few interviews (new ones), I kinda compiled what he has used over the years, but there are also some things that I don't know about and would like more information on. So, here goes nothing.


Dave began with Megadeth in 1983, played his BC Rich Bich which had a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge (I assume, correct me if I'm wrong) and a Bill Lawrence pickup in the neck, which I assume is an L500XL which later appeared in his KV Pro signature models. Now, since that's out of the way, let's move on to the real deal?


He switched to Jackson guitars after Peace Sells came out in 1986. I saw the Jani's Jackson Guitar Palace Mastermind tribute site to Dave Mustaine which has a ton of information on his guitars. So, lots of information is from there.

http://www.jacksonguitarpalace.com/davemustaine/guitars.htm

So, he apparently used some stock Jackson pickups around 88-90, and the work order for his Black King V with a Megadeth logo King V says that he ordered it with J-80 in the bridge, and a J-50N in the neck. Does anyone have more information on these pickups? And, I wonder how did the 5 way in such guitars work? And, what's the JE-1200 mid boost? Is it any good?


However, he switched to Seymour Duncans before Rust in Peace, and the guitar currently (I assume) has a JB-4 in the bridge (which will remain constant until he switches to the signature Livewire set), and again, a Bill Lawrence L500XL in the neck. What's the best replacement for such an L500XL pickup in the modern age?


Next, we move on to his Pro series models which were made between 1993-1995, and they came with a Jackson J-92C in the bridge and an L500XL in the neck. What's the J-92C? Would love to get some more input on this pickup as well.


Next, in 1996, Jackson came out with the KV1. It came with (according to the catalogs) a Seymour Duncan TB-5 in the bridge and an SH-4 in the neck. However, the KVs did have the TB-4 in the bridge instead, since mine is stock and I had the previous owner look into what is in there, and it has got Dual JBs, TB-4 and SH-4.


In 1999, Jackson and Dave came out with the Y2KV which again had the same Dual JB combination.


Later, in 2004, when Dave switched to ESP guitars, his DV8s came with a JB-4 and Jazz set. Which became the basis of his signature Livewire set in 2006, which has been on all of his Deans ever since. Did anyone try putting them in one of the old King Vs? KV Pro or the KV1?


Now, as many of us know, Seymour Duncan and Dave Mustaine came out with the Thrash Factor set last year, which is Dave's JB-4 bridge pickup and a '59 in the neck!? Since when did Dave start favouring a '59 in the neck? And, what's the difference between a usual JB-4 and the Thrash Factor?


Fun fact - Dave's Number 1 Jackson, still currently in his position has the infamous Seymour Duncan in the bridge, and a Livewire in the neck!? Now how does that work? And, why?


And, for the final question, with all the different pickups he has used in the neck position over the years, an L500XL, SH-4, Jazz, Livewire (and now '59, apparently), and the JB being constantly there in the bridge throughout, does he even use the neck pickup, ever? I've tried to find live videos of songs I suspect he might be, but he uses his bridge pickup for all the clean parts that he rarely plays (Trust, In My Darkest Hour, recently, My Last Words), and every time I see him solo, the switch is in the bridge position. So, why confuse/troll us Dave?


What are your opinions? Any input will be greatly appreciated.

[Newc]

The J-92C was a ceramic J-92, which was the hottest Jackson humbucker (previously the J-90 held that distinction). If the J-90 was a Distortion, the 92 was a step above that.
J-50N was equal to a Jazz
J-80 was Jackson's JB
J-90 was Jackson's Distortion
J-92 was Jackson's...Invader with standard poles? I dunno.

JE-1200 mid-boost offered a 20dB gain boost of the midrange (whatever they set it to - could be anywhere from 850Hz to 1200Hz, but I think they were going for the 1kHz) for making sure your solos cut through when not using a Marshall and Celestions.
Or just to watch people wince when you were using a Marshall and Celestions.

The Jackson Special 5-way switch was a 4-pole switch, equal in function to a Fender SuperSwitch made today. It is 4 independent switches mounted to one frame controlled by one lever.
On a standard Fender-style 5 way, positions 2 and 4 are automatic bridges between 1 and 3, and 3 and 5, due to the wiper/contact plate touching two contacts at once in these positions.
On a SuperSwitch, there are no such bridges. All 5 positions on each pole can be wired completely independent of any other position. With enough jumper wires, you can make it behave like a standard Fender 5-way. In fact. it takes considerably more effort to make it perform like a standard 5-way than to simply use a standard 5-way.

However, the switch offers an insane amount of custom configurability, not all of which have been fully explored these 30 years since it was introduced, especially where combined with other switching systems like push-pulls or rotary 5-way or 6-way switches.
I did some experiments with one a few years ago, and had 3 pickups wired to their own poles, and used the 4th pole for output to the controls, using push-pulls to intercept given parts of the circuit (take out the tone control, phase inversion).
I had another one where I combined 2 Special 5-ways. One selected options on the other, and mini-toggles selected which pole on which 5-way was active.
As I said, insane amounts of options with those switches, but Jackson almost always wired them up for standard 5-way operation. For a J-80 and J-50, it would be
Bridge
Split Bridge
Bridge + Neck
Split Neck
Neck

As for why those pickups came on Dave's ordered guitar, only Dave knows. They also came with the Kahler flatmount bridge, which Mustaine called "tone sucking Kahlers", so it's entirely possible he either didn't understand the concept of a Custom Shop Jackson or it was the only way to get a downsized KV at the time (KV was originally a Double-Rhoads).

Whether or not he had his tech swap them out for the JB and XL500, I dunno. One would assume he did.

As for why the neck pickup swapping but the JB remaining consistent, by then the JB was part of his tone. He was familiar and comfortable with it. Neck pickup character changes drastically with playing and with amp changes, even with the same brand of amp.
If you look more closely at his neck pickup swaps, you'll probably see they coincide with amp changes.

The JB in the neck is not much different from it being in the bridge. It's a slightly more mellow tone, but not "Jazzy" or as dark as a 59. Works great for solos where you're not trying to kill people or shatter glass.
It also depends on the room.

Mixing active and passive pickups has been done. Takes a bit of work to get the right switching, but it all goes to a passive output jack.

[JacksonPyro]

The Vintage Jackson J-80 ( without the "C" means its Alnico ) is the greatest rock-n-roll pickup ever made !!!!!!!! and a USA made or Japan made Jackson J-80 pickup is really hard to find..

The J-92C was a ceramic J-92, which was the hottest Jackson humbucker (previously the J-90 held that distinction). If the J-90 was a Distortion, the 92 was a step above that.
J-50N was equal to a Jazz
J-80 was Jackson's JB
J-90 was Jackson's Distortion
J-92 was Jackson's...Invader with standard poles? I dunno.

[Newc]

As far as I know, all Jackson pickups from the time used alnico magnets unless they had the "C" designation for ceramic.

There's also a rumor/myth/story of Abigail Ybarra having wound pickups for Jackson for some time in the 80s. She was a living legend at Fender. Eric Clapton has reportedly stated he will only use pickups wound by her, and he pays out the ass for them.

[Black Shadow]

Mustaine has been a rather restless gear hound, but he sticks by that one lucky JB from the early days, which was apparently less honky than most that came off the production line for whatever reason (hump day pickup?).

I actually like the JB best in a full weight Les Paul personally. The naturally girthy tone seems to make up for that nasal JB midrange, while a neck thru or Superstrat may not have enough low-mid oomph to overcome it for me. For those, I like the Distortion much better.

I have a sort of Mustaine revival myself last year and rediscovered all of the '80s Megadth albums. Had a lot of fun recording a few classics like Wake Up Dead with my Charvel 650, which has an EMG 85. Funny thing is that I was able to nail the album sound very well with that guitar. Who needs a signature JB anyway? That said, if I was in the mood for another JB, I'd definitely buy a Thrash Factor just to have something a little different...