[effectsman]

What do people think of this set in an alder bolt on guitar with maple neck? Guitar is inherently bright acoustically so looking for a set to balance that up and provide 60s - 80s pop, classic rock and hard rock tones. Typically use pedals for gain rather than an amp.

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Should work fine.  I really like the Mo Joe.  It has little to do with the Fred, it's more a nice hot 9k PAF.  Has a balanced high end rather than the super sharp highs of PAF Pro or Fred.  Haven't used PAF Joe in a few years but as I recall it's basically a PAF pro with less low end to muddy things up in the neck position.

[greenlion]

"Alder bolt-on guitar" can cover a wide spectrum of guitars, so its kinda hard to say. A Fender Strat with 250K pots and vintage trem will sound really different than a Jackson Superstrat with a Floyd Rose Trem and 500k pots. So its kinda hard to make specific recommendations.

I like the Fred, but found the Mo Joe to sound very sterile and boring. They are both kinda thin sounding for some Alder/maple neck guitars. I would try the Paf Joe neck with an Air Zone or Breed bridge.

[effectsman]

"Alder bolt-on guitar" can cover a wide spectrum of guitars, so its kinda hard to say. A Fender Strat with 250K pots and vintage trem will sound really different than a Jackson Superstrat with a Floyd Rose Trem and 500k pots. So its kinda hard to make specific recommendations.

I like the Fred, but found the Mo Joe to sound very sterile and boring. They are both kinda thin sounding for some Alder/maple neck guitars. I would try the Paf Joe neck with an Air Zone or Breed bridge.

Its an alder body maple/rosewood neck bolt on with two humbuckers and 500k pots.

I want a clear neck humbucker that's not too bass/woofy. I don't like the PAF Pro in the neck for this reason as I don't like that really strong low end it has. Might try the PAF Joe or the Air Classic or 36th Anniversary.

For the bridge I'll either do the Mo Joe or the Air Zone for the extra low mids to fill out the thinner sound of an alder bolt on guitar.

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Mo Joe and Air Zone are two VERY different pickups.  I've used both extensively.  Mo Joe is a high-ish wind PAF.  Air Zone is a modern sounding medium hot output pickup with a very pronounced low mid/mid emphasis.  So if you want PAF kind of articulation on the low strings, go MoJoe, it has that.  If you want very thick sounding low strings with lots of bass and low mids, and rolled off, fatter highs on the high strings, go Air Zone (or AT-1).

[mobys436]

I recently replaced a breed neck with the paf joe, and it's great. It pairs nicely with the breed bridge. I thought the breed neck had too much low end compared to the bridge, and it had this sharp pick attack that I disliked. The paf joe is brighter, but it's somehow still smooth and doesn't have the icepicky attack.

There is a slight vol boost when switching from the paf joe to the breed bridge, but I actually like that.

My guitar has a swamp ash body with a bolt on all maple neck with 22 frets. I would not recommend the paf joe for a 24 fret guitar though.

[RayBarbeeMusic]

I've never understood Breed neck as a neck pickup, waaaaay too dark on the wound strings and not very bright on the high strings. 

Makes a GREAT high wind PAF type bridge pickup though.

[darkbluemurder]

I once used the Breed neck in the neck spot of a very bright guitar - worked well there but I can see it being over the top in low end on a more balanced guitar. I agree to its usefulness as bridge pickup.

Cheers Stephan

Edit: text in italics added for clarification purposes