Duncan JB in a 650xl?

[Rockinloud]

Just wondering if anyone has swapped out the stock bridge pu for a JB and if so how does it sound. The stock pu sounds ok but I prefer the sound of the JB in my soloists. I have a Duncan Custom 5 in a Schecter that I really like but I'm afraid the Custom 5 with the Charvel's active circuit may be a bit much. Thanks!

[Rich#6]

I would think it would be the same sound that you get out of your soloists.

[microtonal]

I have the JB in my RR1-T, SL-3, Schecter Tempest and Charvel and they all sound a little different but simular.
It may have to do with the wood type and POT/CAP values in the electronics being different in each guitar.

[LexLuthier]

I have an 80's JB in my 750xl, much better than the stock Jackson j-90c. May try an old Duncan Holdsworth that is basically the same as a JB but with double screw poles (no slug bobbin) which mellows the highs a bit.

[DonP]

What is the stock pickup in the 650XL right now?

The JB will sound pretty much like your soloist - same guitar builds pretty much.

The Custom 5 might work better with the actives. Actives were mainly used on weaker pickups to increase the output.

I personally like having different pickups in all my axes, but if you aren't happy with the tone, I can't blame you for swapping.

[NEWYEARKID]

Just a suggestion

I owned perhaps the first custom guitar ever before Jacksons were available: a 1980 B.C. Rich Mockingbird-it had a rotary switch, phase switches, coil taps and an active boost switch-The happiest day of my like was when I had a tech disconnect everything and wire in two duncans, a 3 way switch and one volume knob. Instead of the active circuit you can drive the front end of your amp with a variety of units: compressor-peg the level knob, distortion/overdrive units(works great for the early Satriani/Vai sound) or an boss 7 band eq pedal. An Mxr micro amp is really cheap and works great. My point is don't get hung up on output in a pickup-if you're playing loud and picking hard you'd be amazed at the level your guitar will put out. Listen to Stevie Ray or Yngwie-those are low out put single coils going thru a stompbox(dod 250 or Ibanez Tube Screamer). Satriani use low to medium output pickups thru a boss Ds-1 into the clean channel of his Peavey. The less stuff you have in your guitar the cleaner and better it usually is.

[Rockinloud]

Thanks for the input! I agree with you NEWYEARKID, keep it simple on the guitar. I would prefer just one volume control & a simple pickup switch but since the 650 already has the active system on it I thought I'd just leave it alone and try a different pickup. I run a Sansamp PSA-1 preamp & a TC G-Force so that I have all that flexibility in the rack and really don't need a super hot pickup. The Soloists with the JB are very "even" but the stock pu in that 650 is a little weak on the high end, even with the midboost up. I could program a set of patches to compensate for this but it would be easier to correct the guitar in my opinion. I do run different pickups in other guitars such as a Duncan Custom 5, Custom, Jazz, a 59 & EMG-81. I like having those tones for different purposes instead of everything "one flavor". I know a guy who removed the active circuit and installed passive Duncans and was very happy with it. My question is how much if any does the active circuit affect the tone of the JB. If there's not much difference maybe I'll just leave it alone.

[rocksoldier]

If you prefer it with just a pickup switch and volume control, then i can't see any reason to keep the active electronics, and it's not hard to remove it either.

[hippietim]

A buddy of mine did the JB/Jazz swap in his 750XL and it was great.