favorite pickup similar to a jb?

[Racerxrated]

Motor city afwayu

Wow, aren't the mids WAY different? I love the Afwayu, but it's much darker than any JB I've played.

Well, I must admit that my afwayu is ceramic, not the normal alnico; and the only JB I have left is a JB under Jazzmaster which looks very different under the cover. Add to that my afwayu is in an ash body strat with a gotoh 510 and my JB is in a full mahogany hard tail jazzmaster. So maybe I'm not getting a truly accurate representation of normalcy or a truly relative base of comparison. Not sure how much the differences in pickup build to standard and the different guitars I have them in plays into it but my afwayu plays like a better JB to me... in fact, 2 weeks ago I ordered two new bridge model Afwayus to replace the Friedman Classic+ in my green meanies. The Friedman is a great pickup but I wanted more output.


That being said, "The man" "used jeff becks for years" and then switched to Afwayu so I wouldnt think they could be that strikingly different.

Afwayu is probably my favorite pup, I need to get another..my experiences with them is only with my Alder Charvels, and in each the Afwayu replaced a JB and were very different to my ears. I found the Afwayu had more in common with a Duncan Custom than anything else I've had.
Fantastic pickup though...

 

[the rossness]

I pretty much swear by the Dean DMT Baker Act. Think of it as a cross between a JB and a Dimarzio Fred

 

[firejack]

DiMarzio Norton.

All the harmonics, crunch, but with a tighter low-end, and while still bright, the high-end never gets harsh.

I really need to try a Norton some day. Keep seeing folks say positive things like this about it.
And yeah the Afwayu has a similar vibe to the JB if you set it far away from the strings. But if set up the usual distance it has much fuller bass IME.
Aldrich is a good call. I agree it's the most JB-like I've tried.

 

[Speeddemon]

DiMarzio Norton.

All the harmonics, crunch, but with a tighter low-end, and while still bright, the high-end never gets harsh.

I really need to try a Norton some day. Keep seeing folks say positive things like this about it.

Fo' sho! They work well in different applications.
I had one in a Les Paul (with maple cap) and it's still in my alder-bodied Charvel So-Cal Pro Mod. So, quite different guitars in pretty much all respects.
(mahogany vs alder | fixed bridge vs. Floyd Rose (blocked though, with D-Tuna) | set neck vs. bolt-on | maple vs. rosewood fb | 24.75" vs. 25.5" scale...)

The only reason it's no longer in the Les Paul, is I found a DiMarzio AT-1 in double cream for a good price and it has possibly an even sweeter split-tone than the Norton with a bit more low-end, although the low-end is slightly looser than that of the Norton.
It has perhaps a bit less output than the JB and less compression, but more controlled across the range, with plenty Alnico V flavour going on. In a Les Paul it did a nice EVH-ish rendition.

JB=Katy Perry. Norton=Angelina Jolie. Makes sense?
Sometimes loud 'n brash with some jiggle just works (see my Kramer SM-1...a shred-axe).

 

[mchn13]

I have never had any time on an aldrich. Sounds like i should give it a try. I really dig the snarl that a ib has, but could just be a little tighter when it comes to real hard suffocation type palm mutes, or i wouldnt change a thing. Thanks. The boack winter sounds cool too. Had one a while back but never got a chance to wind it up to band volume and really chunk on it. I do remember it having a similar high mid gring to it.

 

[PAULYC2]

FWIW psychodave's clips all use a Suhr Aldrich and he covers quite a few styles in some of those clips and (to me) they always sound awesome.

 

[Detroit1973]

FWIW psychodave's clips all use a Suhr Aldrich and he covers quite a few styles in some of those clips and (to me) they always sound awesome.

I have an Aldrich Set that i need install in one of my Les Pauls but i just haven't had the time. I also need to listen to Psycodave's clips.

 

[PAULYC2]

His clips are usually in the Cameron or Jose themed threads...he has some really great clips in a thread about a Jet City mini head he modded to Jose spec. All the clips are an Alder body USA Charvel with an Aldrich.

 

[Detroit1973]

His clips are usually in the Cameron or Jose themed threads...he has some really great clips in a thread about a Jet City mini head he modded to Jose spec. All the clips are an Alder body USA Charvel with an Aldrich.

I've never been so excited to listen/watch clips.

I absolutely love the whole modded Marshall Tone.

 

[LPMojoGL]

This thread makes me want to try the Suhr Aldrich.
Can’t believe all the praise for the 500t. Couldn’t get it out of my LP and Explorer fast enough.

 

[Detroit1973]

This thread makes me want to try the Suhr Aldrich.
Can’t believe all the praise for the 500t. Couldn’t get it out of my LP and Explorer fast enough.

I don't like that Pickup at all. I know that Al from Minstry loves that Pickup with his Marshall JMP-1. I prefer the Dirty Fingers to the 500T.

 

[mchn13]

I have a bkp brute force in my other les paul, and ill do a comparison tomorrow when i get some new strings, and get both in the same tuning...

 

[romanianreaper]

I had a Suhr Aldrich in my Les Paul years ago and that pickup just kills. Not harsh, articulate, and great low end and cleans up unbelievably for a hotter pickup. I haven't had an actual JB in a guitar for years (I have the RTM in my Charvel but not technically a JB) and don't remember that pickup cleaning up well at all.

As others have mentioned, I'm not a huge 500T fan either. I mean it is ok but when I would play thru other pickups, I'd realize that it is not one of my favorites.

 

[D-Rock]

Black Winter for sure!

 

[napalmdeath]

Not real common, but the Schecter USA Pasadena Plus in my Solo II Custom really has a polished JB vibe. I even find it harmonically richer and more percussive.

 

[Zado]

Not real common, but the Schecter USA Pasadena Plus in my Solo II Custom really has a polished JB vibe. I even find it harmonically richer and more percussive.

Well it is harmonically richer than a JB and pretty much the entire standard Duncan production. Great pickup, that is. Too bad Schecter's pickup catalog is not as hyped as some other brands

 

[skullfxr]

I will throw out a dirty Fingers. A bit different but it's still wicked. Also I will agree on the black winter.

 

[stephen sawall]

I changed out a 300K pot with a 500K pot and the JB got much brighter and more aggressive. You might want to look at changing the pot to something bigger or smaller. It effects the entire voice.
Changing the value of the tone capacitor also effects the voice.
Contact Seymour Duncan and tell them how you want the voice to change. They might recommend a different magnet or other change. Maybe a different pickup.

What I'm saying is if you like the JB there is several ways to alter the voice.

I messed around with mine and ended up with a 500K pot and 0.047uf Orange Drop.

 

[skullfxr]

@stephen

Good point. you can get very different results with different pot/cap combos. And it's way cheaper than a new pickup.

 

[chunktone]

Motor city afwayu

Another vote for MCP Afwayu. Great pickups! Really warmed up my Ibanez.