JE-1200 + non-jackson pup

[DR5Guy]

Hi!

I want to replace the J-50BC in my Soloist Pro with another humbucker. After reading Jaskon's documentation about the low-impedance electronics employed in these guitars I started wondering if the new pup will play nice with the preamp or I will need to throw it out and go passive all the way.

Please share your experience if you have used the JE-1200 with regular pups.

Thanks

[dg]

I've got a Model 6 with the JE-1200 and a Duncan Custom & Hot Rails. Sounds good, but the active preamp does seem to add a little gain & compression even when the midboost level is turned all the way down. I experimented a little and tried it with & without the preamp and ended up keeping the midboost for variety's sake. If it was my only guitar, I probably would've gone without the preamp or maybe tried lower-output Duncans with it.

Keep in mind that the Jackson pickups are just regular passives, and that preamp was used with a couple different pickup models. The J50BC isn't very hot, but they used it with the J80C in some guitars and that had a med-high output.

[bratfink]

I have a JE-1200 with J-80C's and it's brutal! (in a good way). Great tone and tonnes of gain. Perfect for death metal. I did try a Duncan Invader with it, seemed a little flatter than the J-80C.

[LoRydr]

I have a dimarzio 'fred' in the bridge position. The mid boost doesn't do much until it gets turned to 2, then by 3 it's about all on.

[DonP]

I have a JE-1200 with J-80C's and it's brutal! (in a good way).

I have one Model 6 like this and Model 4 like this.

I also have a stock Model 6 and love the J50BC just as well.

[Axewielder]

Even turned down all the way, it still converts the output from high to low impedance and has a big effect on the tone. Personally I wouldn't use one with non-Jackson pups, but that isn't to say you can't make it work out. I just like to know what I'm getting if I lay out the cash for Duncans or whatever, and the JE-1200 makes it a bit of a wonky wildcard. I do have a Duncan Custom wired with a PA2, which is similar to the JE-1200 as far as the quasi active circuitry goes. It works well.

EDIT: One other thing, the J50BC is the best humbucker to pair with the JE-1200 IMHO. I've played that combo as well as a J90C/JE-1200, and the J50BC was better balanced. Without the preamp, I much prefer the J90C.