USA Soloist sounds a little weak

[Force]

Had the same JB issue so put a D'Activator X in. Sounds better but i'm gonna end up going with the good old EMG 81. I'm just so use to using them I need to follow suit for most of my guitars, love actives.

[StealthPro]

Quite interesting thread to me as i just received a Jackson Elite Soloist with the JB/Jazz combo last weekend and i seem to have the same problem.
Spec wise it's quite a japanese SL2H. Additionaly it has an active-eq (i suppose the je1200).

On your Soloists, couldn't it be a problem with the quality of the guitar itself? Maybe a piece of lower quality wood was used? (just a simple thought)

The problem i immediately recognized with my elite soloist is the weak output (weak high gain sound) and the mediocre if not weak sustain on that thing.
Shouldn't have a neck-through construction guitar with a quartersawn maple neck give me quite a good sustain even with a (made in germany) floyd on it?
In one of my JDR94s i do have the same PUs but without the active-eq and it's got more "crunch" when playing some palms especially on higher frets.
My first thought: Maybe a bad piece of wood (it's also a surprisingly light guitar)? Second: maybe that je1200 steals output? (battery is ok, i alread checked that)
Bad guitar or do you think it is worth trying different pickups instead of sending it back?

Besides a dead spot my SLSMG with EMGs blows that elite soloist away in terms of sustain and distortion.

[j2379]

I felt the same way about the JB in my SL2H, then a friend recommended that I desolder that white wire to the tone knob. It made alot of difference in output and brightness in my opinion. Worth a try?

what does that do, does it just disconnect the tone pot?

[veniculum]

Quite interesting thread to me as i just received a Jackson Elite Soloist with the JB/Jazz combo last weekend and i seem to have the same problem.
Spec wise it's quite a japanese SL2H. Additionaly it has an active-eq (i suppose the je1200).

On your Soloists, couldn't it be a problem with the quality of the guitar itself? Maybe a piece of lower quality wood was used? (just a simple thought)

The problem i immediately recognized with my elite soloist is the weak output (weak high gain sound) and the mediocre if not weak sustain on that thing.
Shouldn't have a neck-through construction guitar with a quartersawn maple neck give me quite a good sustain even with a (made in germany) floyd on it?
In one of my JDR94s i do have the same PUs but without the active-eq and it's got more "crunch" when playing some palms especially on higher frets.
My first thought: Maybe a bad piece of wood (it's also a surprisingly light guitar)? Second: maybe that je1200 steals output? (battery is ok, i alread checked that)
Bad guitar or do you think it is worth trying different pickups instead of sending it back?

Besides a dead spot my SLSMG with EMGs blows that elite soloist away in terms of sustain and distortion.

I mean...I suppose a bad piece of wood could be something that's a problem for some...but this is a really easy thing to figure out..at least for me. Bottom line is...the guitar sounds AMAZING acoustically. This is one of the first things I do when I try out a new guitar. Granted...my soloisit was an online purchase, so I didn't have that initial chance to try it. But before I ever plugged in, I strummed on it for a good hour or so. It sounds better than 90 percent of my guitars (i have a lp Custom that sounds a little better...but that's to be expected).
In any event...I'm voting no to any imperfection in the wood. But i am more and more surprised how many folks are saying they have the same experience. I think that a pickup upgrade, in this case will probably fix the problem..especially considering that i'm going with Actives that require different pots. Matter of fact, I had a similar problem in a Music Man...changed pickups, didn't matter. I then changed out the pots and it helped. Had I put an EMG in that guitar, I probably would still have it (traded her for a Suhr and am not looking back).

I'm hopeful in this case, that the EMGs will make the difference that I'm looking for. I did see that USA Dinkys come with the EMGs standard...soloists, JB/59. Not sure why that is. Unfortunately, as much as I love the sound of actives, I don't particularly like the way they look...as I'm a bit more traditional. But, I guess at the end of the day, tone is king. Maybe I'll paint my EMGs to look like passives

Thanks again..i'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who has experienced this issue. Interestingly enough, I briefly had a Japanese soloist (nice guitar by the way) before I traded it up for a USA...this guitar had the same setup, basically...and the JB in that guitar sounded amazing. And that guitar didn't sound nearly as good as my USA soloist acoustically. So I'm pointing my finger at the pickup itself (or the pots).

[Ward]

what does that do, does it just disconnect the tone pot?

Yes. Brightens things up a bit, because even when the tone is cranked it is still bleeding off some highs.

[toejam]

Yes. Brightens things up a bit, because even when the tone is cranked it is still bleeding off some highs.

Why would you want to brighten up a JB? With a 500k pot, it's bright enough with its high mids and treble, sometimes even shrill... unless you're using a 250k pot to warm it up, just like Seymour Duncan himself does.
I'm in the camp that finds the JB overrated. I do find it sounds better in mahogany than alder, but I guess it depends on body shape, too, as the ones that came in both of my RR1Ts were actually pretty decent sounding.

[Ward]

Toejam - I wouldn't, I was just explaining this comment:

I felt the same way about the JB in my SL2H, then a friend recommended that I desolder that white wire to the tone knob. It made alot of difference in output and brightness in my opinion. Worth a try?

I have a tone on all my JBs.

[toejam]

Oh, I see now.

[sully]

I mean...I suppose a bad piece of wood could be something that's a problem for some...but this is a really easy thing to figure out..at least for me. Bottom line is...the guitar sounds AMAZING acoustically. This is one of the first things I do when I try out a new guitar.

More people should pay attention to this. If the guitar is resonant acoustically, that's a great sign.

Sully

[veniculum]

More people should pay attention to this. If the guitar is resonant acoustically, that's a great sign.

Sully

Amen man...

[xenophobe]

JB + SL2s seems to be a common disappointment. I didn't like mine either.

[warlok]

Just an observation as I'm reading the other posts. When I wired my Model 6, I did with a 500K volume and a rotary switch. No tone pot.. Started with a Custom. Thought it had no real drive and bite (crunch) that I really like. Tried a Distortion and it was too grainy and loose. The JB is perfect for me in that guitar. Then my '90 Soloist Pro I put the Custom in with a 500K Vol/Tone and a .047 Mallory cap. Sounded dead and kinda dark so I tried the JB and still no good. Went with EMG's and now I'm happy. (Those were both poplar wings). So the Custom was about to go in the classifieds but figured I'd try it in the Ibanez RGT I just redid (Mahogany wings). Used a 500K vol/tone and a .022 cap. Finally found something that I really love the Custom in. It's bright, alive, and super clear.

Questions - Doesn't the SL2 come with a 500K vol and 250K tone? And what cap? .047, no? I thought mine was dark with a 500k tone and a .047 cap. Maybe try a 500K tone and a .022 cap. It worked for me.. It takes me a bit to find the balance between guitar and pickup but no on setup is going to be perfect in other guitars. Find the balance..

[1337storm]

My CS Soloist and both RR1:s came with a 250K tone pot and 0.022 cap.
I have no JB left in any of my Jacksons, don't know why they don't work for me,
could be something in my setup or just a matter of taste.
In the soloist I first tried a Duncan Distortion, then a Tone Zone and none of them did the trick.
Now I have EMG:s in there and they are best so far.
With my two RR1:s I tried Tone Zone/PAF Pro for a while and had EMG:s in one of them
briefly, but now I have the Suhr Aldrich set in both of them.

[toejam]

Questions - Doesn't the SL2 come with a 500K vol and 250K tone? And what cap? .047, no? I thought mine was dark with a 500k tone and a .047 cap. Maybe try a 500K tone and a .022 cap. It worked for me.. It takes me a bit to find the balance between guitar and pickup but no on setup is going to be perfect in other guitars. Find the balance..

It should come with a .022. A .047 is usually for basses and will sound darker, but it can be used in guitars.

[veniculum]

The verdict is out....I have the EMGs installed (81 Bridge/60 Neck), and they sound way better than the JB. Looking back, I suppose I could've waited a little longer..just to see if a few more suggestions might have swayed my decision. There's definitely some great info being passed along here...I guess I just went with something I knew would work for me.
EMGs are still relatively new to me. I never used them coming up. My first guitar to have them was an ESP Eclipse...and I really liked the way they sounded. I had never had an active pickup in any guitar, and could notice a substantial difference in tone right away.
I will say...the EMGs sound more...um...processed...would probably be the word I would use to best describe their sound. But for me, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think just about any modern (passive) pickup can be made to sound big and mean if you crank your amp...but the subtle differences are often heard much clearer when playing at low volume or through headphones. When I play EMGs vs. any of my guitars with passive pickups (JBs, Tone Zones, Burkbusters..the list goes on), the difference is not so subtle. At the same time, the difference between some JBs that I've used and the one in my soloist was not subtle either....it was noticeably weaker than what I was used to or expected. To put a pickup in that made that much of a difference (in a positive way) was exactly what I needed.

I had also mentioned that I was a little concerned about how the appearance of this guitar may be altered in a way that i might not like (as silly as that is)...turns out, it's not too bad. I did prefer the more traditional look of the JB/59 combo...but it certainly doesn't look out of place. It just has a bit more modern feel to it...which isn't necessarily a bad thing either.

Anyway...I've enjoyed reading these replies. There's a lot of interesting things being mentioned here. I'd be interested to continue hearing about other folks' experiences with this guitar. Still a little surprising to me that a USA Soloist would sound a little flat. If I didn't own one myself, I would've thought that impossible.
Thanks again.