JB Jr. vs Regular JB

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japetus

japetus

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I am getting a Strat and want to get a single spaced humbucker for the bridge. I have always used JB's in my humbucker guitars, but I have never used a JB Jr. Anyone compared the 2? I don't expect them to be identical but do they have similar qualities?
 
It definitely sounds like a JB, just missing a bit of thickness that you get with a full humbucker.
I used it for a long time and prefer it sound-wise and aesthetically to the rail type pickups which I find ugly. The JB JR I have is an older one with no logo and it’s around 12k, also believe they have ceramic magnets.
 
I have a couple of strats with JB Jr pickups, and a couple of charvels with regular JBs.
I actually prefer the JB Jr for the cranked marshall cock rock thing. But the tone is slightly different, perhaps a little less low mids which I think lends to a little more clarity. Overall very very similar, if you're happy with a regular JB, then I think you will be happy with the Jr.
 
It won't sound like a full size humbucker no matter how you slice it. The pickup "sees" the strings in a different manner, which along with the construction, installation angle etc makes it sound different.

Take it for what it is. Comparing it to the full size JB will only make you disappointed. The Jr is it's own thing.
 
I had a lil 59 in a strat and it was ok, but I changed it to the JB jr and was quite impressed with the improvement. I wasn’t expecting much, but it did sound much better especially after I set it up for a whole step down. Maybe it was the guitar itself but I thought it had more balls than a Charvel strat I had with a full size JB. I’m sure the dropped tuning helped.
 
Thinner-sounding and lower output, but along the lines.
 
They are different but they have the same general character overall, if you like the JB, I really don't think you will hate the JB Jr. but from a physics perspective they are going to be different no matter what.

IMO it's nothing a small tweak of a knob can't fix.

At the moment the master luthier who trained me and I are colaberating on a hotrail style SC sized HB with great results so far. It's quite a different process than designing my Skullbuckers ( my custom wind with my master luthier) that is slowly moving to production. The SC HB rail we are doing has one ceramic and one alnico magnet and unique winding between the two. At the moment it's quite epic.

( off topic here is a demo of the Skullbucker but it's different from our rail... https://www.instagram.com/p/CFR-6AaHQfU ... inmejsuru2)
 
I guess they can call it a JB Junior, wire it as close as physically possible, but I think a JB is a humbucker size. To that end, the trembucker JB is slightly different as well.
 
Searay":124qcbrh said:
I guess they can call it a JB Junior, wire it as close as physically possible, but I think a JB is a humbucker size. To that end, the trembucker JB is slightly different as well.
Click to expand...

Good point on the JB trembucker, which I never bonded with, but I really like the regular spaced JB.

JB Jr is in the family, to me sounds more like the trembucker which I found more thin and nasal. I do really like the JB Jr (or Hot Rails) with the coils wired in parallel, great option to have for those mini humbuckers.
 
Here's a quick vid I just recorded of a JB vs JBjr
I'm not sure if the Charvel has an SH4 or TB4. As someone already mentioned, the differences might be quite a lot to do with the pickup location, the Jr being closer to the bridge toward the treble end etc.

@0:02 JB pickup: 2017 Charvel San Dimas
@0:50 JBjr pickup: MIM with 2000s era pickup
JCM800 straight in

 
I put one in a Hamer Daytona strat and it brought the toanz quite well. Blended perfect with a Dimarzio HS-3 middle and Dincan STK-2 hot stack neck.
 
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