Seymour Duncan JB vs Suhr Aldrich

[jayd41]

Just did this last night.

I thought the JB was a little flubby and undefined in this Jackson, and I had an Aldrich lying around.

I decided to do some before and after clips to make sure the differences weren't just in my head.

I think the Aldrich was much tighter and more clear. I tried my best to adjust them to the same height.

Pardon my iffy playing (particularly the crunch riff... I just looked it up before recording because it seemed like a good pickup comparison riff, but I butchered it).

What do you think? Aldrich by a landslide?

 

[Vrad]

They sound very similar to me. I've had a bunch of guitars loaded with JB's and it's a very guitar-specific pickup. It'll sound like flabby shit in one guitar and fantastic in another guitar. General rule of thumb for me is JB in an LP style guitar (24.75" scale and non-tremspaced) sounds awesome. Put it in a F-Spaced super strat and I don't like it.

The Aldrich sounds GREAT in 53mm spacing in super strats. I have 2 in my San Dimas Jackson and they work great in there.

 

[scottosan]

If you compare 1:07 to 4:43, you can hear that the Aldrich has more bite assuming you are like me and did some OCD style measuring of pickup height to make sure they were setup the same way

 

[shreder75]

Had a jb in my lynch for years, and it was a bit of a love hate thing. Sometimes it sounded great, then it would sound shitty. I now have the Aldrich in that guitar. Really dig it. It's hot with a bit of a vintage vibe to it. Pretty tight on the low end, no annoying upper mid spike

 

[jayd41]

They sound very similar to me. I've had a bunch of guitars loaded with JB's and it's a very guitar-specific pickup. It'll sound like flabby shit in one guitar and fantastic in another guitar. General rule of thumb for me is JB in an LP style guitar (24.75" scale and non-tremspaced) sounds awesome. Put it in a F-Spaced super strat and I don't like it.

The Aldrich sounds GREAT in 53mm spacing in super strats. I have 2 in my San Dimas Jackson and they work great in there.

Yep, I agree completely!
I had the Aldrich in an all mahogany set-neck guitar originally, and put a JB in that guitar and there wasn't a real big difference. The JB sounded good in that guitar.

If you compare 1:07 to 4:43, you can hear that the Aldrich has more bite assuming you are like me and did some OCD style measuring of pickup height to make sure they were setup the same way

Agreed! I did measure and get the height as close as possible

Had a jb in my lynch for years, and it was a bit of a love hate thing. Sometimes it sounded great, then it would sound shitty. I now have the Aldrich in that guitar. Really dig it. It's hot with a bit of a vintage vibe to it. Pretty tight on the low end, no annoying upper mid spike

Yep, its tighter to my ear, and the mids just sit in a more pleasing spot to my ears in this guitar.
I think the JB is better in a warmer guitar. This Jackson is a little more on the bright side.

 

[shreder75]

They sound very similar to me. I've had a bunch of guitars loaded with JB's and it's a very guitar-specific pickup. It'll sound like flabby shit in one guitar and fantastic in another guitar. General rule of thumb for me is JB in an LP style guitar (24.75" scale and non-tremspaced) sounds awesome. Put it in a F-Spaced super strat and I don't like it.

The Aldrich sounds GREAT in 53mm spacing in super strats. I have 2 in my San Dimas Jackson and they work great in there.

Yep, I agree completely!
I had the Aldrich in an all mahogany set-neck guitar originally, and put a JB in that guitar and there wasn't a real big difference. The JB sounded good in that guitar.

If you compare 1:07 to 4:43, you can hear that the Aldrich has more bite assuming you are like me and did some OCD style measuring of pickup height to make sure they were setup the same way

Agreed! I did measure and get the height as close as possible

Had a jb in my lynch for years, and it was a bit of a love hate thing. Sometimes it sounded great, then it would sound shitty. I now have the Aldrich in that guitar. Really dig it. It's hot with a bit of a vintage vibe to it. Pretty tight on the low end, no annoying upper mid spike

Yep, its tighter to my ear, and the mids just sit in a more pleasing spot to my ears in this guitar.
I think the JB is better in a warmer guitar. This Jackson is a little more on the bright side.

What wood is the Jackson? My lynch is alder..seems to get along with the Aldrich much better.

Had a jb in my old Edwards lp. Sounded great. Like you're saying, the jb is picky

 

[jayd41]

What wood is the Jackson? My lynch is alder..seems to get along with the Aldrich much better.

Had a jb in my old Edwards lp. Sounded great. Like you're saying, the jb is picky

The Jackson has an alder body.
I think you're on to something here
My unscientific conclusions so far... Mahogany = JB and Alder = Aldrich
But that's just my opinion between these 2 pickups, there are plenty of other killer pickups out there as well.

 

[shreder75]

What wood is the Jackson? My lynch is alder..seems to get along with the Aldrich much better.

Had a jb in my old Edwards lp. Sounded great. Like you're saying, the jb is picky

The Jackson has an alder body.
I think you're on to something here
My unscientific conclusions so far... Mahogany = JB and Alder = Aldrich
But that's just my opinion between these 2 pickups, there are plenty of other killer pickups out there as well.

Yeppers. The jb seems to dig guitars with some heft to them. Granted, there are other variables such as amp, speakers, how you dial things in, but the Jb sounds warmer to me in. LP or something similar. Vlad brought over an old hamer with a jb in it. .Sounded great. I think that's mahogany

 

[fuzzyguitars]

Aldrich is way more even

jb with alnico 2 magnet is tits

you should try it

I think they call it the dimartini mod

 

[scottosan]

Aldrich is way more even

jb with alnico 2 magnet is tits

you should try it

I think they call it the dimartini mod

I used to have the RTM. I'll see if I can muster some clips

 

[Racerxrated]

Its really hard to say what wood works with what pup. IMO. I had a JB in an Alder Hamer Diablo that was the best sounding combo ever. Killer tone. Aldrich in a Washburn, also Alder. Average. Put a JB in..also average. I think more than the wood, some guitars just have better tone than others even if all other things are equal...woods, style etc. Just have to experiment. Some guitars sound like shit even if you go the boutique pup route. Trial and error.

 

[IntenseJim]

In one of my Les Pauls:

JB --great aggressive rock. Sounds very fat, powerful and 'muscular' (whatever that means in sonic terms ) but a bit congested sounding at times. Not bad; just a descriptor.

Aldrich-- hot pickup with a generally 'neutral' PAF-vibe. To my ears no particular sonic characterstic to stand out. Ie, no mid cut, mid boost, shrill treble, bassy. More open compared to the JB

 

[glip22]

A JB can kick ass in the right guitar but that is not an easy thing to accomplish. That pickup does not play nice when it comes to it's guitars. When you pair it right though it's excellent. I would go Aldrich.