Swapping out a Dimarzio Super Distortion for a Duncan JB

Bman

Power User
Why? Because I'm bored...lol. I have a Charvel USA Select, made of Alder that has the Dimarzio HSS set up. Great playing guitar and real versatile. I've always wanted to play a JB just to see what the fuss is about (for high gain p/u's. - 80s metal). What I'm wondering is if I'll need to use 250K pots. It's a single knob (volume) control guitar and I'm not sure what the pot's value. I suspect a couple of things:
  1. 250K Pots because it's a HSS - But I don't read a lot of SuperD owners talk about using 250K instead of 500K. Most recommend 500K. Most are also in Les Pauls or not a HSS config.
  2. It's a 500K Pot
  3. It's a 500K Pot with resistors (do I have that right?) so that the singles see the equivalent of around 250K.
I want to be armed with all the knowledge I can because I KNOW that guy at the shop I'm taking it to is a huge proponent of 500K. ("Open those humbuckers up man...."). The issue is that JB's can be extremely harsh with 500K. So, I plan on deliberately walking him through how I'd like the JB to be set up. I'd prefer the 250K if my pot isn't already 250K. If it's 500K w/ the singles seeing resistors (?) I want to know that. I'm not extremely confident he will or can communicate that to me. I guess I've swapped out enough pots on my Les Paul with him that I'm skeptical that he's doing what HE thinks is cool, not what I'm trying to achieve.

At the end of the day, I might be headed back up to put the Dimarzio back in. We'll see. I know I'll need to address my input EQ hump values to match the pickup on the Axe3.

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for pickups.... It is guitar related. Any comments or feedback is welcomed.
 
I've had JB's with 500's and they weren't harsh. I'd always rather do subtractive eq anyway
Do you mean deal with the harshness by dialing down the tone knob or using ..say the Fractal? This guitar only has one vol knob.
What guitar did you have them in and do you recall what type of wood?
 
Pickups are such a subjective discussion. I recently put a JB ( my very first time) into my LP with 500K pots. Ive read about supposed 'harshness' but i don't hear it. In fact, i'm tickled pink with the JB. That 80's rock sound. bam. I'm very happy with my decision to put a JB in.
 
I'll be interested to hear what you think about the swap. I've been a life-long Dimarzio SD user. I've tried a ton of pickups, but always go back to the super D. I recently installed a fishman fluence classic, which is supposedly a JB clone. It has some similarities, but seems thinner than the SD. I do like how it cleans up a little quicker than the SD, but that might be the fluence thing and not the JB. I keep giving this pickup a chance, but am almost positive I'm going back to the SD.
 
I'll be interested to hear what you think about the swap. I've been a life-long Dimarzio SD user. I've tried a ton of pickups, but always go back to the super D. I recently installed a fishman fluence classic, which is supposedly a JB clone. It has some similarities, but seems thinner than the SD. I do like how it cleans up a little quicker than the SD, but that might be the fluence thing and not the JB. I keep giving this pickup a chance, but am almost positive I'm going back to the SD.

The Super D in there now sounds good w/ some EQ. Without it seems sort of flat across the curve. I have an old Duncan Distortion in another guitar that sounds really good. I've been curious about JB's and have read that they often work better with 250K pots to tame some high end harshness. We'll see though. It's in the shop now. I felt the Super D was sort of sterile but when I add some mid eq hump to the Input EQ it adds life. I'm not sure how others go about dealing with different pickups or guitars in their presets. I'm thinking the input EQ is the way to address that.

Since I'm without that guitar, I'll be using another and will need to dial it in to get me thru the week. They all sound different in a way that usually needs to be dealt with, whereas an a real amp, the guitar sounds like a different flavor but basically the same.
 
If is almost certainly 500K. That is pretty standard for a passive humbucker. The pot should be marked and you can Google search for a wiring diagram for the guitar.
 
Jb’s don’t suck. All depends on the guitar. More than half of rock tones people love were jb’s. He’s sold tons of them.

It's definitely a personal thing. I've always been a huge fan of Adam Jones' sound. When I got my LTD EC-1000 Piezo, it came stock with a JB in the bridge. It didn't matter which amps, cabs, or how much EQing I did. Tone was pure mud every time for me. Swapped it out pretty quickly.
 
It's definitely a personal thing. I've always been a huge fan of Adam Jones' sound. When I got my LTD EC-1000 Piezo, it came stock with a JB in the bridge. It didn't matter which amps, cabs, or how much EQing I did. Tone was pure mud every time for me. Swapped it out pretty quickly.

Oh yeah, cant dismiss it all together though.. I've heard it sound terrible in some guitars and magic in others. My G&L cantrells i installed jb's in both as that's what he was using back in the day, and the guitars are soft maple. It sounds great in those, and garbage in other guitars. I have a Yamaha RGXTT Ty Tabor model that it sounds decent in as well. It's almost as polarizing as EMGS ;)
 
It's definitely a personal thing. I've always been a huge fan of Adam Jones' sound. When I got my LTD EC-1000 Piezo, it came stock with a JB in the bridge. It didn't matter which amps, cabs, or how much EQing I did. Tone was pure mud every time for me. Swapped it out pretty quickly.
Had a JB/Jazz combo in an Eclipse I had, sounded great. Crazy how different experience/perception can be
 
If I am understanding you correctly your concern isn't running the 500k pot for the JB it's running the 50k pot for the single coils since it is a single volume setup. IMO 250k pots on a humbucker is really cutting into the top end. But what do i know, I run 550k superpots on all my les pauls. :p

Question, Why not just leave the control pots that are in there, and just wire in the JB? Then you don't have to worry about it?
I would assume the pot that is in there is a 500K but you would have to check to be sure.
 
If I am understanding you correctly your concern isn't running the 500k pot for the JB it's running the 50k pot for the single coils since it is a single volume setup. IMO 250k pots on a humbucker is really cutting into the top end. But what do i know, I run 550k superpots on all my les pauls. :p

Question, Why not just leave the control pots that are in there, and just wire in the JB? Then you don't have to worry about it?
I would assume the pot that is in there is a 500K but you would have to check to be sure.
I read a lot about the JB's having harsh high end with 500K. Duncan's site even has a note or almost a warning that JB's might like 250K. I guess at this point I'm going with the current wiring. If it sounds like crap, I'll try a 250K. It that doesn't sound as good as the Dimarzio, I'll back to the Dimarzio and either put the JB in my Ibanez (I'm not afraid to do that one myself) or sell it cheap. The good think about JB's are they are one of the cheapest pickups out there.

I can't find any literature on Charvel USA Select guitar volume pots - the single volume HSS version. My guess is that's 500K, and the singles see less, although they are bright with the treble bleed I have on the volume. That was a must, otherwise it was muddy.
 
I have a Fret King Super Hybrid that I put a JB/59 set in a few months back. It is now my no.1 guitar. They both split well and I can get pretty much any tone I want out of that guitar. The JB is an outstanding pickup, IMO. There is a reason they sell so many.
 
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