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The Pickup Place / Re: JP Neck Pickups

« on: September 25, 2020, 10:40:53 AM »

I've played the CL/LF, Illuminators, and SEs in the same guitar - a friend's 2HB parts tele - and to my ear they sound damn near identical, with the general trend that I wrote in my other post: I've genuinely heard SD JBs that sound more different because of the differences between the 80s and modern models, or just between individual pickups, and you could easily make up this ground with about half a degree turn on your amp's EQ.

They feel pretty different though (the bridges more so than the necks - those just feel like you have a cranked MXR compressor on all the time). The CL feels way stiff and to my hand kinda harsh - I pick pretty hard and I have a bass background, so I tend to push the strings in towards the pickup a bit more than most guitarists, while the owner of this tele (who picks more normally) doesn't get that harshness so much. The Illuminator is less stiff but IMO it's a bit tubby in the low mids, so especially if you play kinda hard you get this really strange response where the treble and upper mids take a sec to come up in the sound. SE IMO is less stiff like the Illuminator but doesn't do this so it's my favorite one for the bridge.
As far as neck, my big issue with them (and why I kinda agree with Darth Phin) is that they sound different in the same way that the matching bridge pickups do, but they all feel so compressed that I could frankly not tell them apart when playing. Just off of hearing the sound, the SE is my favorite because I prefer brighter amps and it works well with that, Illuminator is so-so and the LF I really don't dig because it feels really indistinct. As far as playing feel I'd rather go for an Air Norton, which is just as fat but retains some dynamics, or a D-Activator X set to do something kinda like Michael Romeo thing (Tone Zone neck/X2n bridge) which sounds similar but IMO responds to my playing a lot better despite still being way too OTT for me.

I'm still curious, it's just that in my experience this particular line of pickups is a pretty shallow rabbit hole to dive into - OSHA wouldn't be too keen on that.

See this is very helpful.

+1 karma.

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The Pickup Place / Re: JP Neck Pickups

« on: September 24, 2020, 09:47:13 PM »

I know that but this is a forum about pickups. We are supposed "want" to know the differences between those. All the details. Does that makes sense to you?

I mean yeah but Darth Phin is right - these are pretty minor changes in pickups that feel and sound very similar. The CL/LF is has the most treble and is the most aggressive overall, the Illuminator has a bit more low-mids and less low bass than that and a brighter but less extended treble (so a growlier rather than snarlier attack under gain), and the Sonic Ecstasy is basically the same tonal recipe as the Illuminator but a bit sweeter on the treble. They're all a great steak, so to speak, it's just a matter of whether you're a skirt steak (CL/LF), NY strip (Illuminator), or ribeye (SE) kinda person. Even JP seems to take them as just evolutionary steps bc every time a new pickup comes out, all of the guitars he still plays switch over to them (JP 15 started with CL/LF, got Illuminators, JP16 started with Illuminators and switched to SE, Majesty did the same).

Welp maybe right about the minor changes but for the record I own both Crunchlab and Illuminator bridge. Tested both on several guitars. Similar but not "that" close.

What I disagree with is telling someone not to sweat the details. Pickup forum bro. Stay curious.

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The Pickup Place / Re: JP Neck Pickups

« on: September 24, 2020, 08:05:24 PM »

Air Norton
Liquifire
Illuminator
Sonic Ecstasy
Rainmaker

Anyone kind enough to share your experiences with those? I'd like to know the differences as well as the direction of his tonequest.

have tried:
Liquifire
Illuminator
Sonic Ecstasy
Rainmaker

but not:
Air Norton



I'd suggest not sweating the differences.  all variations of the same goal.  tweaking amp settings and playing technique can get them all in the same ballpark.

I know that but this is a forum about pickups. We are supposed "want" to know the differences between those. All the details. Does that makes sense to you?

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The Pickup Place / Re: MOD Idea! 1/4 Air mod!!!

« on: March 02, 2020, 11:07:03 AM »

Sorry guys but I'm too lazy right now. But I'll let you know once this is done. The idea here is to achieve what we all want. Tight lows (or airy lows) and fat highs.

3/4 air mod could work too.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Do you remember the "Fred Lite"

« on: February 27, 2020, 07:25:06 PM »

Check this vid. Skip to the solo. Air fred sounds perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQNkrWkdm0g

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The Pickup Place / Re: MOD Idea! 1/4 Air mod!!!

« on: February 21, 2020, 02:16:41 PM »

I have unused humbucker from hell and paf joe. I could make a hybrid out of those two but I'm too lazy right now.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Any chance of a stickied DiMarzio Mods post?

« on: February 19, 2020, 06:37:02 PM »

I might try the 1/4 air mod. Thought of this idea today.

Cut the metal spaced in half then only air the three coils for bass strings. In theory, this should take off some bass from the bass strings.

What do you guys think?

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The Pickup Place / MOD Idea! 1/4 Air mod!!!

« on: February 19, 2020, 06:22:48 PM »

Instead of removing the spacer on one of the coils, why don't just cut the spacer in half and only "air" the three coils for the bass strings?

I might actually try this. I need a tonezone.

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The Pickup Place / Re: JP Neck Pickups

« on: February 19, 2020, 04:53:44 PM »

Cool. So far I have only tried the illuminator. Sure I have heard samples online but also want to hear it from players that have experience with those.

+1 karma!!!

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: Humbucker From Hell

« on: February 19, 2020, 03:00:03 PM »

I had bad experience with humbucker from hell in a 22 fret alder strat. Sounds muddy and doesn't cut through live. That guitar have steve's special bridge. Its like the guitar switches off whenever I use the neck pickup clean or overdriven.

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The Pickup Place / JP Neck Pickups

« on: February 19, 2020, 12:30:57 PM »

Air Norton
Liquifire
Illuminator
Sonic Ecstasy
Rainmaker

Anyone kind enough to share your experiences with those? I'd like to know the differences as well as the direction of his tonequest.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: PAF Joe

« on: February 19, 2020, 11:22:03 AM »

Love the tone but hate the pick attack.

Sounds good in a 21 fret strat. If they could only release a Paf Joe v2 (with more pick attack lols)

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The Pickup Place / Re: Slug/Screw PAF Joe!!!

« on: February 17, 2020, 07:30:24 PM »

Sure I'll drop by next Saturday and take pictures at the whole thing. I'm really curious about this. I had a PAF joe on one of my strats before and wasn't satisfied with the pick attack, so I replaced one side of the coil with screws from another dimarzio pickup (it was from an illuminator if I recall correctly) result was it had a very small little bump on higher mids. pick attack was still dull tho.

btw, I bought gravity storm bridge + dark matter 2 neck.

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The Pickup Place / Slug/Screw PAF Joe!!!

« on: February 17, 2020, 07:13:40 PM »

Went to my local guitar store last weekend and surprise a slug/screw PAF Joe!

see attached. afaik, paf joes come with hex polepiece. Does this one sound any different?

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The Pickup Place / Re: Need a chunkier pickup than the Paf Pro

« on: May 09, 2019, 01:53:20 PM »

+1 for the breed neck in the Bridge.