Duncan JB Opinions

Pxz

Member
Nov 13, 2006
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Chile - La Serena
I know this pickup has very mixed reviews. Preety sure the guys from Gojira use them so i doubt they are as bad as some people says. What's your opinion on them?
 
The JB is awesome. The only (metal) guys who hate them are the diehard EMG guys. The JB is looser in the low mids than the 81 but also has a different high mid texture.
 
got a JB SH-4 at the bridge as well. I love it for distorted sounds, works very well in my guitar.
For cleans. no thank you. Here I like the super trebly Häussel´s at the middle and neck position a lot more. That makes them unusable for distortion though, way too raspy and boomy at the same time. But if you like Humbucker cleans, give it a try.

Mids are plenty and well distributed on the JB, as stated above. Not too much low-end, but it´s not too thin either
 
The JB is awesome. The only (metal) guys who hate them are the diehard EMG guys. The JB is looser in the low mids than the 81 but also has a different high mid texture.
Eh, no I'm not a emg user and I dislike jb. For rock or 80's metal they're fine though.
 
In my maple cap mahogany body guitars I love it, in my alder Frankencaster its pretty good but not quite perfect for my tastes. My friend also has one in his SG, sounds awesome.

Some people online discourage them in mahogany guitars but as stated that goes contrary to my experience with it. Its not as tight in the bottom as ceramic types but i like the nature of the bottom it foes have
 
I had a JB in one of my guitars. It's good for rock or hard rock, but for metal, I prefer the Duncan Distortion much more.
 
Seymour Duncan's JB are awesome !! I will say one of the best pickups ever.
 
I have 2 guitars with JBs and I have mixed results. my framus panthera is great and my goto for tracking as its thick and responsive. I have a Peavey wolfgang stoptail and I got a JB fitted and its thin and bright and pretty unusable. I think they work great it dark sounding les paul style guitars but if your axe is pretty bright already I would maybe look at something else.
 
I had them in a mahagony body Horizon. They always sounded cloudy and howly in the mix.
On the other hand i really enjoyed it's texture and there are people who manage to fit it in a mix perfectly (listen to the The Way Of All Flesh).. So I think you just have to try it and see if it works for you
 
Absolutely, i bought one for cheap and it was installed a few days ago in my jackson soloist for just 3 hours. Sounded super weird , like zero balls but the bass was still floppy idk. I removed the emg81for the JB on my ltd eclipse and it "works" there. Balanced with good tonality overall. First time i hear such a big change in tone from a pickup. My experience with pickups is almost all ceramic magnent, high dc resistance ones, so this is a big change. I'm kinda tired of actives, so i just wanted to give something different a try.
Also if you tune anything lower than Db the JB gets very mushy and undefined. For standard to D tuning it holds up better.
 
it is very good, but sometimes a bit thin. If your guitar is bassy or you use it downtuned it can help compensating, but if the guitar is thin or you use it in standard tuning, it can sound a little too "razorblade"
 
I was literally just on another forum telling someone to check out the JB. I love mine.
 
JB in my USA Charvel So Cal.
Sounds amazing. So good that 3 guitarists out of bands who have recorded at the studio have bought So Cals and put JBs in too.
 
it's a great pick up, but i would not use the 7 string version.

works great in my ltd ec in D standar or dropped C