PC Archtop sound vs JS32 sound

[Paulzx]

I've had my Phil Collen arch top since around 1990, I believe it's the Japanese made guitar, not a USA, I don't know what pick ups they were using in those guitars, but I've recently bought one of the budget JS32 guitars as a daily driver type of guitar, and those guitars are often criticised for the sub par Jackson own brand pick ups, although my one actually sounds pretty good.

When I play these two guitars back to back, I notice the JS32 sounds better in terms of it produces better, thicker crunchier distortion tones, whereas the Arch top, always sounds thinner and slightly under par in the distortion when using the same settings. Has anyone else got one of these 90's Arch top's and noticed this issue? I'm wondering if it's just a case of being an old guitar and the pick ups at the time were just not as hot as even what they're putting in the budget guitars now?

Anyone got any experience with this??

[metalhobo]

I think those phil collen archtops from the '90s had the J-90C in the bridge position and the J-100 single coil in the neck position, right? I have no idea what's in the JS.

the J-90C by all accounts is a hot hot pickup. probably the hottest wind produced by jackson. https://www.charvelusa.com/jackson_pickups.html

how do they sound compared when unplugged? also do you maybe have a clip comparing the plugged in sounds?

I don't personally have a lot of experience with the J-90 or J-90C but it's possible yours is one of the thin sounding ones. see: https://www.jcfonline.com/forum/equi...-j85-j-90-j-95

hopefully one of the other local heads with more experience with the J-90C can chime in...

if there is actually an issue with the PC then you could check these things:
- new strings
- pickup height
- wiring fault, dirty jack, etc.

[Nimitz]

Here is a video back when I briefly owned a Charvel Deluxe Fusion... I bought and sold to/from members on here and can't remember his name.... would love to buy it back... anyway this guitar is loaded with a J90c

[Paulzx]

I think those phil collen archtops from the '90s had the J-90C in the bridge position and the J-100 single coil in the neck position, right? I have no idea what's in the JS.

the J-90C by all accounts is a hot hot pickup. probably the hottest wind produced by jackson. https://www.charvelusa.com/jackson_pickups.html

how do they sound compared when unplugged? also do you maybe have a clip comparing the plugged in sounds?

I don't personally have a lot of experience with the J-90 or J-90C but it's possible yours is one of the thin sounding ones. see: https://www.jcfonline.com/forum/equi...-j85-j-90-j-95

hopefully one of the other local heads with more experience with the J-90C can chime in...

if there is actually an issue with the PC then you could check these things:
- new strings
- pickup height
- wiring fault, dirty jack, etc.

It's not the guitar, I just had a set up done on it so it's none of the above. I do agree with the J90C description in that thread though, that's exactly what mine sounds like - cuts through really well, good definition, quite bright but lacking bottom end, and that's where I think I may be noticing the difference. Maybe I can EQ that like the guy says in the thread and add some lows back in.
My PC1 has the super distortion in the bridge, which seems quite similar to the J90C except it's not as bright

[metalhobo]

yeah sounds like these are some of your options:
- EQ out front
- change the pickup for something else
- modify the control values. changing the volume pot to a smaller value will roll off some of the brightness. this won't add low-end per se, but it will shift the balance which will make the low-end more pronounced.
- I see that model didn't come with a tone knob. this means the pickup will necessarily present more brightness. assuming you don't want to add a tone knob by drilling out the body, you add a bleed resistor/capacitor inside the control cavity which will roll off even more high end than swapping the volume pot.

I've got a guitar with a PAF pro that when run with volume and tone on full bore, is definitely a lot more bright and less bassy than some of my other guitars. What I find myself doing is often playing the guitar with the tone knob on like 7 or 8, which balances the sound out perfectly. since yours doesn't have a spot for a tone knob, there are other options for emulating that effect.

[Paulzx]

Having run my Js32 and JS42 budget Jacksons against my Phil Collen 91 Archtop and my solar PC1.. it's quite interesting. Obviously the two Phil Collen models are much better guitars, and there is better clarity and definition in my distortion tones on those guitars, but... the much newer JS guitars do have a thicker more distorted tone, a lot of which I think is down to them having more low end. The arch top is a thinner sound as we've discussed, the PC 1 is different again with the super distortion in the bridge, but the Junior series guitars have a thicker darker tone.

I suppose if you never play them back to back you would never know and you would just be dialled in for whatever you're playing but it's noticeable to me because I play these guitars through the same patches on my fractal FM3. You basically have to make adjusted patches for each guitar.

The jury is out for me on which sound I prefer. The jackson own brand pickups in the JS guitars are quite often criticised but they seem decent to me, particularly for budget guitars

[Razor]

Weird as hell. Every Jackson and Duncan Designed branded pickup I've ever played that wasn't a late 80's - early 90's "J" series was muddy and mushy as hell that never had any real clarity or bite to speak of even those in the older MIJ Professional models. The newer Chinese Jackson pickups sound like hammered shit compared to my JB, Dimarizio Super Distortion, EMG 81, J-50BC, J-80C and J-90C pickups.