Question regarding the JE-1200 and my pickups.

[Raidogen]

Hi, I've owned a an '87 USA Jackson Soloist SL-1 for approximately 3 years now. In this time I've changed the pickups several times (currently a TB-4 in the bridge and a JB Jr. Neck Ed. in the neck position) and have always been content with the tone. I've always thought the the JE-1200 thickened up the tone and made it really chunky but I'm starting to think it's been amplifying string noise much more than it should. When playing with distortion, sweep picking and tremolo picking are so noisy that it drives me nuts. I've read around the forum and I've seen multiple people say that this circuit was only supposed to be used with the original J-90 and the two other single coils. I'm sort of baffled because when I play other guitars my playing sounds fine and clean. With the circuit turned to the off position I get a cleaner noiseless extremely thin sounding P-90 sound from all of the pickups I've had installed (including a TB-6). What's going on here? Could it be a compatibility issue with the JE-1200 or should I try and replace the battery?

[DonP]

Something isn't right.

The JE-1200 is usually paired up with a PAFish J-50B(C). Not too often with a J90C - usually that pickup is in guitars without the boost.

Try a new battery.

[Axewielder]

My metallic black Strat came stock with the JE1200 / J90C. I think it sounds pretty good, but the J50 does seem to be a better fit in that circuit. I don't experience the noise that you are hearing, though.

[BayRocker]

... or should I try and replace the battery?

I'm not trying to be a wise ass, but I would think you'd try that first...even before typing out a post. I always wonder why people jump past what might be an easy fix?:think:

[Raidogen]

Well I didn't mention that the battery I did have in there is practically brand new. I just figured someone would spout out "REPLACE THE BATTERY!" without giving any thought to it. But the closest store with a 9 volt is sort of far away (minus obscure connivence store brands). I'd rather get all the input I can before making the trip and buying a 7$ (yeah they're that expensive here for some reason) battery that may or may not solve a a problem I know nothing about. The "tone" is fine but the noise has always been a little annoying and after exploring the forum I saw people mentioning how the circuit was very specifically paired with the original stock Jackson Pickups (which I thought sounded terrible and shrill).

[Hellbat]

I've used the JE-1200 in my Model 5 with several pickups (JB, Custom, Full Shred), including the stock J-80C's and never had any noise issues. You can always remove the JE-1200, or there are some guys out there making copies that you could replace it with if a new battery doesn't solve the issue. It doesn't sound like a battery problem to me, but you never know.