Jackson Pickup/Midboost Question

[defec]

Hi. I have a 1990 USA Randy that I just dug out. It's spent most of it's life in it's case. Anyway, I figured that I should enjoy it and was adjusting the pickups trying to get it to sound more to my liking, it has a kind of harsh sound now, and a screw came undone so I had to totally take out the bridge pickup to fix it. To my surprise I found a j80 instead of what should be a j-50. I always wondered why the guitar had much more output/noise then my Charvel models 4 and 6 and why the 1200 midboost didn't seem to work all that much. Used with my other guitars it has a lot more effect.

What I'm wondering is if you guys think I should either try to locate some j50bc's etc for the guitar or ditch the 1200 and wire the j80 normally. I assume the neck pickup is also a j80. Maybe the 1200 is overkill will with what's currently in the guitar.


Any opinions on what you'd do would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

[Ward]

I also have a USA 1990 Rhoads with 2 J80s. Just curious, but why do you think they should be J50s? Pretty sure J80s were the standard pickup for that guitar that year.

I can't help you on sound as I love the sound of the J80s with the JE1200, but don't really like the 2 Jacksons I have with J50BCs.

[defec]

Hi Ward. You're probably right on the pickups sense both of ours have the same ones. I just always assumed that the 50bc is what they paired the je-1200 with. Also in the catalog it lists the guitar as having 50's.

http://support.jacksonguitars.com/catalogs/us/JacksonCharvel1990-91_catalog.pdf

To be honest I'm sure that the pickup would probably sound okay in something I own. With the je-1200 it seems like it's output is a bit much for my taste and I'm a Super Distortion devote. The active electronics seems to give the pickups quite a boost. I probably should give just turning down the guitar vol a shot though. You never know right?

on the 50 sound. In my model 4 they sound great. In my 6 they don't really. Maybe they do better in basswood than poplar.

[Ward]

I didn't know the catalog had the Rhoads listed with J50s. Anyone else reading this have an original 90 or so Rhoads they can check the pickups on?

Sound is so subjective. If you don't like the J80 because its output is a bit much, I think you would really like the J50. I don't like the J50 because its output isn't quite enough, but I like the J80.

Try a J50, it sounds like it might be right up your alley. I always thought they had great sound, just not aggressive enough for my tastes. I've got one in a soloist with a JE1200, and I think you might like it.

[Ward]

Ah, I see from your edit that you have a J50, so you know what they sound like.

[defec]

Yeah, I have two guitars with them. I probably could even just take the bridge out of my model 6. I'm sure that the j-80 neck will over power it though. I wish that the je-1200 just used 500k pots so I could even just try to totally bypass it and hear how the 80's sound on their own. I'm guessing maybe duncan JB ish.

Do you have any idea what the current going rate is for a j-50 pickup these days? I remember when no one wanted em. I guess now people changed their minds on jackson pickups/electronics.

[defec]

Got the guitar out now and it's pretty good with the guitar volume knocked down a bit. It doesn't' even take all that much. Takes care of a lot of excess noise also. I'll have to double check it again though with daytime volume. I've been fooled before

[DonP]

Someone was selling a J50B in the classifieds recently for less than $50. Some people on ebay think they can charge stupid amounts, but I'm not buying.

My 1992 RR1 has a J80 neck and a J90C bridge with the boost. There was the JE-1200 and the JE-1000 so make sure both preamps are the same.

I wired together a Model 6 I bought empty and used a J80C for the bridge. I use the boost for solos and certain times.

I have a Model 4 that needs to be wired up. Good to hear you like the stock pickups. I'll go for the OEM wiring on that one.

[defec]

You should find stock interesting with your Model 4 as long as you can deal with not having as much output as a 80c with jackson's active electroncs. I get some pretty cool classic metal tones with mine playing around with the mid knob etc. Drop D is really fun. With my guitars the je-1200 seems to do more tonal variations with the 50bc. No idea why. It probably boosts the output of the guitar to about the level of a standard super distortion without the electronics. The stock single coils are pretty useless without the circuit also.