Has anyone used a Hot Rails and/or a JB Jr?

[Ward]

I took the active electronics out of an old soloist this weekend, so I need to get replacements for the J200 pickups in the neck and middle positions. I have narrowed it down to either Hot Rails or JB Jrs. Can anyone tell me in simple terms (bass, mid, treble, clarity, output) the difference in sound between the two?

Unlike Dimarzio's site, Seymour Duncan's site doesn't give a chart of bass-mid-treble and output ratings, so it's hard to know what they will sound like. I don't want to rely on sound clips.

Any thought on either pickup in the neck or mid position (even if you haven't heard both) would be appreciated.

[The Poolman]

http://www.seymourduncan.com/comparetones

Just scroll down, and all the info you asked for is there.
JB Jr Bass=4 Mid=6 Treb=5
Hot Rails Bass=5 Mid=7 Treb=4

[dg]

I have a Hot Rails in the neck position of my Model 6, and I like it a lot. I prefer it to most of the neck humbuckers I have in other guitars, because I like how it has more of an aggressive bite than most while still having some of the smoothness you expect from the neck position. One downside is that it makes the guitar a tad less versatile, because there is less of a distinct difference from the bridge pickup sound (a Custom in this case), but I don't mind. YMMV. Haven't tried the JB Jr., but I've heard mostly good things about it.

[Ward]

http://www.seymourduncan.com/comparetones
Just scroll down, and all the info you asked for is there.
JB Jr Bass=4 Mid=6 Treb=5
Hot Rails Bass=5 Mid=7 Treb=4

Thanks. My bad, I searched all through the pickup section, but didn't look in the support section.

Thanks dg, kind of what I was expecting, and why I'm leaning towards the Hot Rails. But you make a good point about the versatility...

Keep the descriptions coming. I'd rather have those than eq ratings from a website.

Another one I thought of was the li'l screamin' demon. I have a Duncan Distortion in the bridge, so I didn't know if the lower li'l demon output would match the higher output of the distortion as well as a JB Jr or a hot rails.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

If you like the Duncan Distortion bridge pickup I think the Hot Rails would make a great pair to it. I use on in the bridge pos. of my "fake Strat" with just a 500K volume pot and it sounds metal as hell, I think if you like that round, dark screaming lead tone from the neck PU with a lot of gain it will be a good one to try.

[j2379]

i dont know about the hot rail, but the cool rail is one of my favorite single sized pickups in the neck, & they sound great tapped too.

[JACKSONFREAK]

The hot rails has been compaired to the distortion. The jb Jr is cool too but less bright then the full size jb. A little different voicing to. Both sound great. I've used both and like the jb Jr a.bit more than the hot rails.

[Ward]

Thanks again for all the replies. I found someone who was selling a pair of Hot Rails together, so I bought them.

I may end up swapping in a cool rails or JB Jr at some point if I need some more variety, but for now I like the idea of having a guitar with 3 aggressive pickups. Sounds like the hot rails will mix well with the Distortion, which I am really liking the sound of.

[wilkinsi]

I have a JB.Jr in the bridge, Hot Rails in the middle and Lil 59 in the neck of my USA Warrior. The JB is alot brighter than the Hot Rails. That said, the shop changed the wiring, so the guitar currently sounds as though all the umpfh has been scooped out. As soon as this is resolved, I'll be able to give you a better answer.

UPDATE: I do like the JB.Jr, but only when using a distortion pedal between the guitar and amp. Too weak otherwise IMO. Tis amazing how irrelevant ohm ratings are. JB is 14.09k, Kent Armstrong is 13k. I thought with the Invader being 16k, there'd be more bass in the JB than the Armstrong. Wrongo!

[Ward]

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on those. I bought 2 hot rails for now, but I may not like them in both positions, and I've got some other guitars that I might do some swaps with single coil sizes...

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I use a Cool Rails in the neck position on a couple of guitars. It is absolutely my favorite single-size humbucker so far, and it's really versatile. If I wanted basically lots of punch and signal to drive the amp the Hot Rails neck PU is what I'd pick, for versatility the Cool Rails is my go-to, at least compared to the Hot Stack and the Classic Stack.

I hear good things about the DiMarzio singles, but I have not tried them.

[Ward]

I'm not sure why I hadn't looked into the cool rails more closely, but it sounds like I should.

So many choices...

[tonemonster]

I have a hot rails in my Charvel spectrum. bridge pos. it works for rock, blues, but not metal.

I have a JB jr in my DK1 neck pos. works great. nice and smooth, but lots of oompf.

I have a Cool rails in the neck pos of my SL1. that works REALLY nice. I am a big fan of the cool rails in the neck. very bluesy and smooth tone. works great clean or high gain. just nice and round.

[j2379]

I have a Cool rails in the neck pos of my SL1. that works REALLY nice. I am a big fan of the cool rails in the neck. very bluesy and smooth tone. works great clean or high gain. just nice and round.

check out a push pull pot & coil tap it, very believable vintage single coil tone.

[Ward]

Just got the Hot Rails. Does anyone know of a way to fit this in the old style single route without cutting into the guitar? The route is exactly the size of the pickup.

I had read on here that some people shave a bit of the plastic off the pickup and tuck the wire, but there are 2 solder joints right where I would need to file down. I can't see any way to do it other than Dremmeling a channel into the route...