Jackson PUPS - Covers on or off?

[Ricey]

I have a 1990 USA Fusion which I bought used. A previous owner had swapped out the original Jackson PUPS. I scored a set of J-200's and a J-50BC to restore the guitar close to stock. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that not all J-50BC's are created equal. The one I got came from a Japanese Model 6 and had to be modified to fit into the cavity of my guitar. One of the mods involved removing the cover. The PUP sounds great; however, the volume level does not match up well with the neck and mid J-200's. I had to lower the J-50 really low (lower than the PUP ring on the low E side) and I had to raise the neck J-200 as high as I could (Treble side almost touches the high E string when I fret the 24the fret). Even still, the J-50 is louder than the J-200's and I like to be able to switch PUPS mid song without making adjustments at the amp or fooling around with pedals. I am wondering if I should try to find a J-50BC that has the right dimensions for my guitar. My thinking is that the plastic cover will help even out the volume so the J-50 does not overpower the J-200's. On the negative side, the J-50 sounds really good now. Will the addition of the plastic cover have a negative effect on the sound? I have read that removing the covers on these PUPS is a popular mod in order to get more distortion, but lack of distortion is not really a problem for me because I have a high gain amp that gives more distortion than I ever use, even with single coil PUPS. I am assuming Jackson manufactured the PUP with the cover for a good reason. Any thoughts?

Ricey

[Bert]

Re: Jackson PUPS - Covers on or off?

A plastic pickup cover makes no difference whatsover in tone, except that it often causes the pickup to be adjusted such that the pickup itself is further away from the strings than otherwise (making it seem to "muffle" the sound).

That said, A LOT of people here will disagree with me vehemently. Bottom line -- let YOUR ears be the judge.

[Rikrok]

Re: Jackson PUPS - Covers on or off?

The plastic pup covers were just to make it look more uh... "classy" looking...like an EMG.I took the covers off of my pups just to see if it made a difference...it did sound a little more crisp, but I play loud, so it might have been just that time. I put them back on to get that clean look. It also keeps the salt air out of the pup itself and that is a big prob with playing on (or around the beach)! Some may disagree!

[Greg Crowe]

Re: Jackson PUPS - Covers on or off?

To me they sound a lot better with the covers off. They look cooler with the covers on. Choose what's important to you.