Pickups in Kelly JS-30KE?

[blackwing]

I did a search of the forums before posting because I thought this would be a common question but came up empty. What pickups are in the Kelly JS-30KE? Mine is a 2008 model. I know they aren't the greatest sounding pickups but they are very quiet so I'm trying to find out who makes them to see if there are better models available. I removed both pickups to see if there was any kind of logo on the bottom but I just saw wax pencil markings of "10.82" on the neck p/u and "11.02" on the bridge p/u (DC Resistances?). They are black with the white Jackson logo on top, and the bottoms are sealed and shiny (potted), and they have a 4 wire lead (just bare wires, no quick connect). My guess is EMG Selects, but does anyone know for sure?

Andy

[DonP]

EMG Selects wouldn't have the Jackson logo on them.

I doubt the noise would be comming from the pickup - humbuckers are usually silent. Most likely the noise if from unshielded wiring in the control cavity.

Adding some shielding might solve your problem.

[wilkinsi]

Does this help?

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96279&highlight=CVR2

[DalyTek]

They are CVR2 pickups I believe. I loved how they sounded when I had my JS30KE. If you wind up swapping them out, let me know what you want for them. I have a set of Jackson J70's in my new Kelly that I replaced the stock Kent Armstrong pups with, but they are a bit too harsh for me. I liked the somewhat mellower tones that the CVR's had, but that's just me...

[SlaytanicDude]

Jackson CVR-2 pups.

[blackwing]

EMG Selects wouldn't have the Jackson logo on them.

I doubt the noise would be comming from the pickup - humbuckers are usually silent. Most likely the noise if from unshielded wiring in the control cavity.

Adding some shielding might solve your problem.

Hey DonP,

Thanks for replying. This question comes about because I did an experiment. Besides the Kelly, I have a second guitar that has a Seymour Duncan 59 in the bridge and that pickup is wired to one volume pot and then to the 1/4 output. Dead simple. EVH would be proud. All of the wiring is shielded and the soldering is solid. I love the sound of the Seymour, but it gets a lot of hum and noise when my amp is on the high gain channel. So I swapped the Seymour out for one of the pickups in my Jackson and the noise was significantly reduced. I am going to shield the pickup cavity but the experiment has me thinking about swapping the Seymour out for something else, possibly an EMG.

Andy

[blackwing]

They are CVR2 pickups I believe. I loved how they sounded when I had my JS30KE. If you wind up swapping them out, let me know what you want for them. I have a set of Jackson J70's in my new Kelly that I replaced the stock Kent Armstrong pups with, but they are a bit too harsh for me. I liked the somewhat mellower tones that the CVR's had, but that's just me...

Thanks DalyTek (and everyone else who suggested the Jackson pups were CVR2s). I like the CVR2s in my Jackson as well so I'm keeping them for now But I'm trying to find something that will sound as good for my other guitar and reduce the hum and noise as well. Leaning towards EMGs.

Andy

[DalyTek]

Hey DonP,

Thanks for replying. This question comes about because I did an experiment. Besides the Kelly, I have a second guitar that has a Seymour Duncan 59 in the bridge and that pickup is wired to one volume pot and then to the 1/4 output. Dead simple. EVH would be proud. All of the wiring is shielded and the soldering is solid. I love the sound of the Seymour, but it gets a lot of hum and noise when my amp is on the high gain channel. So I swapped the Seymour out for one of the pickups in my Jackson and the noise was significantly reduced. I am going to shield the pickup cavity but the experiment has me thinking about swapping the Seymour out for something else, possibly an EMG.

Andy

I would seriously look more into your wiring and possibly shielding. I know you said it is all shielded and the soldering is good, but looks can definitely be deceiving. Does the hum change when you are touching the strings (or any metal part for that matter?) From my experience, that kind of noise is caused by a bad ground (either solder joints or even the ground wires themselves.) Can also come from electrical interference, faulty cable, etc. I have never had it be from the pickup itself though....:think:

[blackwing]

I would seriously look more into your wiring and possibly shielding. I know you said it is all shielded and the soldering is good, but looks can definitely be deceiving. Does the hum change when you are touching the strings (or any metal part for that matter?) From my experience, that kind of noise is caused by a bad ground (either solder joints or even the ground wires themselves.) Can also come from electrical interference, faulty cable, etc. I have never had it be from the pickup itself though....:think:

Hey DalyTek,

I should record the hum with the 2 different pickups and post them so you can hear the difference. With the wiring being so simple in my second guitar I can't see it being the wiring, though I will certainly go over it again today. The ground wire is soldered solidly to the spring claw of my Floyd so that when I touch the strings or touch any metal part then the higher-pitched buzzing will stop (the buzzing is very low anyway). But the hum will continue. If I change to the clean channel on my amp the hum is imperceptible because the gain is very low. If I go to my "crunch" or rhythm channel the gain is increased quite a bit so the hum is definitely audible, and then if I press the boost switch for the crunch channel then the gain gets boosted a little more and the hum gets even louder. Also, if I turn my body or move around the room the hum will change in volume. Of course, as soon as I start playing the hum can't be heard because it is drowned out by the guitar signal. But as soon as I stop playing, if I don't quickly roll back the volume knob (which I have done as a habit for years now) then you can hear the hum. With the Jackson pickup that open volume knob "idle hum" is significantly reduced to the point that it is not annoying. But with the Seymour it's much more noticeable which is why I thought this was a pickup issue. But I'll go over the wiring today and see if I can post some audio samples later this weekend. Thanks for the advice though!

P.S. Something else I thought I should add. I have checked the electrical outlet with a ground tester gadget and the ground is OK. I have also swapped 1/4" cables for the guitar and there was no difference. The room I practice in does not have any large transformers or dimmer switches or other interference creating items that I am aware of.

Andy

[DonP]

Hey DonP,

Thanks for replying. This question comes about because I did an experiment. Besides the Kelly, I have a second guitar that has a Seymour Duncan 59 in the bridge and that pickup is wired to one volume pot and then to the 1/4 output. Dead simple. EVH would be proud. All of the wiring is shielded and the soldering is solid. I love the sound of the Seymour, but it gets a lot of hum and noise when my amp is on the high gain channel. So I swapped the Seymour out for one of the pickups in my Jackson and the noise was significantly reduced. I am going to shield the pickup cavity but the experiment has me thinking about swapping the Seymour out for something else, possibly an EMG.

Andy

I wonder if the issue with the 59 was potting?

EMG's are quiet, but you won't hae the same tone.

[blackwing]

I wonder if the issue with the 59 was potting?

EMG's are quiet, but you won't hae the same tone.

The Seymour 59 has wax potting and you can see residue wax on the bottom of the pickup, while the Jackson CVR2s claim to be potted and have "polymer encapsulation" which I assume is the shiny black plastic on the bottom of the pickup.

Does EMG make a pickup that has a similar tone to a SD 59? I've read so much about the 81/85 set but considering who is using them (Zakk Wylde etc) I get the impression they are going to be a much hotter output than my SD 59.

Andy

[blackwing]

Okay, just finished my recording experiment. I don't have time to post the audio samples here right now but I will later tonight. The results confirmthat the Seymour Duncan pickup in my second guitar has way more hum. The Jackson pickup in my second guitar is noticeably quieter, but my Jackson Kelly with a Jackson pickup is much quieter hands down. I guess my next experiment would be to put the Seymour into the Jackson and see how it sounds but I've run out of time to do anymore soldering today. So what can we conclude? First, the Seymour 59 is noisier than the Jackson pickups. But that doesn't account for the hum I hear with the Jackson pickup installed so there must also be an issue with the wiring in my second guitar. I double-checked the wiring and verified I have decent copper braided shielded wire from the volume pot to the output jack. The spring claw is securely grounded to the back of the volume pot. And the Seymour 59 has nice braided wire so it's solid too. There are no other pots or switches in the circuit. This is a dead-simple one pickup EVH guitar so I'm not sure where the wiring issue could be. I'll keep hunting.

I took a close look at the Jackson's wiring and noticed the wiring cavity and the pickup cavity has been painted black (carbon paint?) and they use the "star" grounding technique of wiring all the grounds to one point which is a terminal ring screwed into the wood of the wiring cavity. There is even a ground wire screwed into the wood right underneath the pickups so I take it the black paint must be conductive.

Next step is to hunt down the wiring issue in my second guitar, possibly replacing it all. If that doesn't fix it (and it should) then I will look into shielding the pickup cavity which to me doesn't really resolve the main issue. After that, well, maybe I should just get rid of the second guitar and buy another Jackson

Andy

[DalyTek]

Also, if I turn my body or move around the room the hum will change in volume.

I must admit, this is a tough one, but this particular line you wrote seems a lot like an interference issue. Have you been able to try a different amp? Or even plugging the amp into a different room?

Your troubleshooting steps are very good. You should have this figured out really quick. i'm really surprised the other guys here haven't chimed in on this yet. Maybe they are all still passes out from Thanksgiving turkey?

[Hellbat]

Flourescent lights or things containing them (for example LCD monitors) can output a lot of noise. The are essentially arcing out 60 times a second and it generates a lot of RF energy.

The easiest fix to your problem is an Electro-Harmonix hum debugger pedal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbdtS_SNqvY