[nitro]

City,im not going to post something thats misleading.If im not sure of a specific subject then im not going to say nothing plain and simple.

[nitro]

Oilpit still waiting on the lies and false facts.

[oilpit]

City,im not going to post something thats misleading.If im not sure of a specific subject then im not going to say nothing plain and simple.

But you just did.  Steve B. did not tell you the Music Man pickup was based on a JB, there's no way he said one of the most sought after Dimarzio pickups ever made was based on a pickup made by his biggest business competitor.  On top of that, find me ANYTHING that says that Eddie ever had a JB in Frankie...if Ed ever used a JB it was for a very brief period of time, and he certainly didn't model his signature pickup after it.

[nitro]

Thats what Steve Blucher explained to me,when Dimarzio got the contract to make the Ernie Ball EVH guitar pickups the pickup that was taken out of Eds original frankie at that time(89-90) which had the maple neck with the kramer logo on it was a Duncan JB.They used that pickup as a foundation to make the Ernie Ball EVH pickups.The Duncan JB is a 16k pickup,in designing the ernie ball EVH pickup they made the pickup alittle hotter(17k) due to the basswood body and maple top plus the guitar was very lite.Steve Blucher was invited to 5150 studio,for some that dont know,5150 studio is Eds studio which is located on his home property,to work and design that pickup.Steve also explained that they went though many designs but they didnt change the res.of 17k,Ed is a hard person to please when  it comes to his equipment.So why would I lie about this,for what reason.Dudley Gumbel at Ernie Ball can also explain the same thing he was also part of designing that guitar with Ed.Do you think that Ed is going to explain everytime he gives a interview to a guitar magazine about his equipment and what he honestly uses,I dont think so.When van halen was playing clubs in the 70s Ed would turn his back to the crowd(sometimes) when he played eruption because he didnt want people(guitarist) in the crowd to see how he played eruption Ed didnt like people copying his sound,thats why in early interviews(Guitar player magazine) he knew guitar players would read, he would say things about how he achieved his sound that werent true,one example "turning up the variac to 140 volts and watch the tubes melt"which was complete BS Ed lowered the volts to 90 volts.Anyway I need to go back to setup more guitars.

[Marshall Law]

When VH went to EBMM to have his sig guitar built he wanted to have seymour do the pu's  but EBMM had dealings/agreement with dimarzio. so they went with dimarzio for the mass producer of the pu's.
The duncans that were shelved are called "black backs" .these are the prototypes seymour made for the EBMM EVH sig guitar. and you can still buy these for $130 each from duncans custom shop or ed roman
Anyway according to blucher many  bridge p'u prototypes were made for EVH and he narrowed it down to 2 models ,one went on to become the tone zone and the other wound up known as the ebmm EVH bridge pu.(also called the axis bridge pu). and are in that guitar to this day.
this pickups starting point was the duncan JB in VH's kramer 5150 guitar.
This JB was not your typical off the shelf duncan JB model you can buy, it is the old school  JB that uses a rough cast UOA5 magnet in place of the polished A5.(if you know anything about magnets and the effect on tone you will know that the two sound very different) So they used this pu as the template for the bridge pu in the EVH or axis.
this is why the spec's of the dmarzio EVH or axis bridge pu is so similar to a JB(16.5K alnico 5 wound with awg 44 and matched coils) essentially it is dimarzio version of a JB as is  newly released the AT-1.
Get a JB and slap a roughcast UOA5 magnet it it and hear the JB in a new light!  very VH sounding!

here is blucher talking about tone zone and EVH

IHG: With regard to when you said pickups don't exist in a vacuum, I imagine you seek feedback from various players from different genres when designing a new pickup? For example, Paul Gilbert was featured in an ad for the Tone Zone - did he have any feedback into its development?

Blucher: We sometimes seek opinions from players in different genres, but not when a pickup is being designed for a specific player or style of music. Paul Gilbert didn't provide any input towards the development of the Tone Zone. The only player who did was Eddie Van Halen, in the course of doing the pickups for the MusicMan EVH guitar. My understanding is that the final choice for the bridge pickup was between the TZ and the pickup he actually chose, and it almost literally came down to a coin toss.

[Marshall Law]

It's the internet gentlemen, try to remain civilized.

The AT-1 is a pretty darn good pickup. I mean, Andy Timmons lent his name to it, what more could you want? For the longest time, it was a custom order only pickup, and those who were able to get their hands on it would always tout its fantastic tone. Needless to say, they were right.

COBL, i agree and what is great is that if you mod it by removing the Virtual Vntage and air design it has the same  tone as the Axis bridge pu.
I did this to my AT-1 before i sold one of my dimarzio axis pu's to be sure

[nitro]

+1, knowledgeable person(Ed Hunter) when it comes to the Van halen sound.

[oilpit]

Old JBs had UOA5s?!?!

What the hell?
The bullshit is getting more absurd by the minute!!!

[nitro]

OH MY GOD.......Oilpit you are just looking to argue,what knowledge do you have in regards to this topic.Answer, not a thing why bother with you your a joke........

[oilpit]

The Duncan JB has been exactly the same from day one.  Unoriented, roughcast magnets have never been used in any Duncan pickup in their history.  Only recently have forum members started to swap them into pickups.

Ed never played a JB, they never used UOA5s, you and Ed Hunter just live in a little EVH fantasy world where whatever you want to be true automatically becomes gospel truth, and anyone that disagrees is "a joke"

Call up Duncan, ask them if you don't believe me...

[nitro]

"Call Duncan and ask them" Eds going to tell Duncan everytime he changes or tries different pickups. OH MY GOD...............

[frankfalbo]

The Duncan JB has been exactly the same from day one.  Unoriented, roughcast magnets have never been used in any Duncan pickup in their history.

This is mostly true. Rough cast and unoriented are two different things. All Alnico humbucker magnets are sand cast, the difference is that ground magnets are sand cast oversized, then ground down to a precise dimension, with a smooth, flat, polished surface. When someone says "rough cast" (which is sort of a made up term) they mean that the sand casting is attempting to make the magnet the exact size, but of course leaves a rough surface. Even what we'd call a sand cast magnet still has the important dimension (the one along the pole pieces) ground to precision. You wouldn't really want that surface to be granular.

Old JB's did not have unoriented magnets, but they did have what forumites would call "sand cast" or "rough cast" magnets, where the sides facing the strings and the guitar body are rough. Even those surfaces can be passed through a grinder to knock off high spots. Occasionally you'll see magnets like that with a few shiny spots across the top surface where the grinder hit. These magnets are used in the Antiquity JB/Jazz. The result is less predictable. When making a production pickup like the JB, I would say it's "better" to use the ground magnets, for the ultimate in precision and repeatability. But for the Antiquity and 35th Anniversary commemorative, we went with the original.

These magnet differences are a very small. By answer to this post I am not agreeing with anything said by anyone about JB's, EVH, AT-1, etc. Just clarifying the magnet talk.   

[devastone]

These magnet differences are a very small. By answer to this post I am not agreeing with anything said by anyone about JB's, EVH, AT-1, etc. Just clarifying the magnet talk.   

Chicken... 


j/k 

[nitro]

Frank wouldnt know that anyway.

[frankfalbo]

Frank wouldnt know that anyway.

You wouldn't know what I know or don't know.