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The Pickup Place / Re: NGD - Ibanez JS1000

« Last post by darkbluemurder on September 15, 2025, 04:56:29 AM »

There is a substantial difference in a neck pickup in a 22 fret guitar vs a 24 fret guitar but not so much in the output. The tone will be warmer in the 22 fret guitar - all else being equal - due to the fact that the pickup is positioned further away from the bridge and picking up a different spot of the vibrating string. That tonal shift to more warmth can make the bridge pickup brighter in contrast than it would be on the same guitar if it had 24 frets.

Now - FRED and PAF Pro are about the same output. This in itself should not be a problem as in the 50s and 60s there were no calibrated sets or humbucking pickups wound specifically for bridge or neck. Nevertheless, as you said that the neck pickup is as low as it will go you might benefit from a stronger bridge pickup. Before jumping at a pickup change I would check if the wiring is correct and measure the bridge pickup's DC resistance with a multimeter to see whether it is close to the specified resistance.

I have experience with all of the pickups you listed except for the Satchur8. If the FRED is far too thin for you I would discard the Mo' Joe and the Norton as the Mo' Joe is not more powerful and the Norton can be quite bright (depending on the guitar), so can be the Super Distortion. The Tone Zone was standard on many Ibanez guitars so that would be worth considering, or the Air Zone if you don't want/need a high output pickup.

BTW I have the FRED in one HSS strat but I use a 250k volume pot with it, and it does not sound thin at all. Assuming that your volume control is a 500k audio, you could wire a 470k resistor from the switch to which the bridge pickup is connected to ground. Thus the neck pickup sees a 500k load, which is optimal for the neck humbucker, whereas the bridge pickup sees a load of approx. 235k, which will make it warmer. The "both position" will also have the lower load but usually it is fine. That would be the cheapest option to try.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / NGD - Ibanez JS1000

« Last post by Zoo Keeper on September 12, 2025, 12:03:19 AM »

Ok, I just bought an Ibanez JS 1000.  Great shape and it's a guitar I have always wanted. I have a '92 RG550 that has a neck that is in need of some professional care beyond a setup. It still plays decently, but I decided to take the plunge on the JS.  The JS is a 22 fret Basswood body Rosewood neck, with a Fred in the bridge and a PAF Pro in the neck - common knowledge around here. My  24 fret RG is Basswood with a Maple neck and a Fred / PAF Joe combo.  If you buy into the theory- acoustically the JS is a warmer sounding guitar, the RG much brighter.  Both with regular 9's on them. Why do I compare on NGD?
Plugged in, the JS is much brighter, thinner sounding. And yeah that is not with the push pulls splitting the pickups. I'm kinda confused. I don't expect them to sound the same. But the qualities I like about the Fred are not here. It's the thin sound I have read a very few people on various forums complain about. The JS pickups have the DiMarzio  raised black logo on them. My direct from Dimarzio Fred of course doesn't. I don't mind the PAF Pro in the neck, but I can't raise it and it's sunk pretty deep. It didn't fall off the screw, either the screw or the hole seems to be stripped. The screw just turns.
Now I think because of the differences in a 22 fret and 24 fret guitar of the same scale, the JS bridge pickup is roughly 4mm closer to the bridge than the RG pickup. Is that causing that much of a difference in the tone?
Bottom line is I really like this JS, it's a keeper but the thin sound is not. Does any of this sound familiar to the Forum ?  Is the Fred really destined to be a 24 fret bridge? If there is something I can check, please let me know. Based on the Dimarzio logo my hunch is this is as it came from Ibanez. Dud pickup? Seems unlikely but who knows.

I wanted this guitar for many reasons, trying to sound like Joe was not one. ( but I do like his tone, and his playing goes without saying). I also love everything I hear from my Fred in the RG. If it needs new pickups I have a few ideas.
Mo Joe - but afraid it's different enough to warm up this axe to were I want it
Tone Zone
Norton
Satchr8
Super Distortion - this is the classic and original replacement pickup and I have never had one.
I want whatever to split well. I also don't want to go super modern. 
If I do swap the bridge out, I'll figure out if I want to see if the PAF Pro can be fixed or get a new neck as well. Bridge first

This is the last time LOL  - time to get this one more guitar sorted and I'm done.  * yea right *

Thanks as always !!!

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by Zoo Keeper on September 11, 2025, 11:32:10 PM »

So I got my Orville back with the Wolftone Legends. I only had a chance to play it thru my tech's bench amp, a  Roland Cube. Early results are very promising. I'll be able to plug into my rig tomorrow.
I'm pretty excited with what I did hear. More open and alive, softer highs but still with an aggressive snarl when we hit it with some gain compared to the AN. The AR is a darn fine pickup, but I think the Legends will tick the boxes for this guitar.  Full report coming.  I'll be starting another thread centered around my splurge buy I just got in.

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The Pickup Place / My Dimarzio Cruiser Neck Review

« Last post by nienturi on September 02, 2025, 06:28:02 AM »

Hello,

This is my Dimarzio Cruiser Neck review. Hope you like it;

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-cruiser-review

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The Pickup Place / New Pickup: DiMarzio Colossal Bass pickup

« Last post by buddroyce on September 01, 2025, 05:01:34 PM »

Sorry I haven't been that active. Work's taken over more of my life than I thought it would.

But I got this in my e-mail today and figured I'd share. Looks like a great passive replacement for anyone that's already spaced for an EMG soapbar pickup.

###
Living up to its name, “Colossal,” this pickup set has more of everything. Play them softly and they deliver an unmatched airiness to the notes; play them aggressively and they will blow your hair back. These passive pickups are designed to effortlessly respond to soft touch, slap, or aggressive pick attack with ease.

As with our game changing Relentless™ pickups, we removed all the hard edges from the metal covers, and added an arch to the top contour, bringing the sensing coils closer to the middle strings. These improvements increase the string balance and overall dynamic range.

The Colossal™ pickups are a fully humbucking design and are completely shielded, making them a better choice for both recording and live shows. These pickups can be used with the coils in series, parallel, or split configurations, making multiple sounds easily achievable without the need for digital filters. The Colossal™ Bridge and Neck can easily be combined with active electronics.

Using a thick .09375” circuit board baseplate as the foundation, the Colossal™ pickups are simple to install and use our quick connect cable system. The soapbar shaped (EMG40® sized, 37.75mm x 101.25mm) pickups incorporate Neodymium magnets, producing significantly more output and dynamic range than traditional active or passive pickups.

To improve the balance when both pickups are used together, we made the bridge position pickup louder than the neck position pickup. When the pickups are blended, you get a better volume match.

Colossal™ pickups have a richly detailed mid-range that growls, delivering notes with definition and openness, and they work well with dropped tunings. The highs are present and precise without harshness, and the lows are thunderous and tight, like the footsteps of a giant.

Available in Nickel, Gold, or Matte Black finishes.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by gregr on September 01, 2025, 02:49:10 PM »

Regarding whether DiMarzio pickups are hand-guided I dug this up. It’s an interesting read with contributions from someone who used to work at DiMarzio.

https://www.dimarzioforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=7154.0

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by gregr on August 31, 2025, 08:41:17 PM »

If it reads ~8.6k out of the guitar then I guarantee the pickup is mislabeled. At that point it could be anything, really; so it’s probably most accurate to say that if it doesn’t measure ~7.3k then it most definitely isn’t a 36th Neck. I’ll be charitable and say anything between 7.1k and 7.5k. +/-200 ohms is a large variance for a modern DiMarzio pickup.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by Zoo Keeper on August 31, 2025, 05:18:55 PM »

So the 36th is definitely the neck model based on the model number on the base. Maybe it was an unusually hot version, although I doubt it based on the fact that they are not hand wired. I did a quick reading so there is a chance I got it wrong. What is 100% is the levels between the two pickups.  I decided to put the AN and 36th in the guitar because I wasn't happy with the previous pickups and I had these two waiting for something to do. A little research said that it could be cool, and by and large the AN in the bridge is pretty nice.  ( you are waiting for the "but", I know it. lol)

BUT in going down the rabbit hole I started gravitating towards a more classic PAF family of sounds.   I  was looking at Duncans  Alnico Pro II, Antiquity, and Custom Shop Pearly Gates. All some form of known versions of a PAF. 
I ended up putting in an order  for a Wolftone Legend set.  They seem to be a little bit of everything I ended up wanting, and was hoping to get when I bought the Skinnerburst set. Wolfe was great to work with, responded to my emails quickly and  with a great knowledge base. He already has them in the mail and I should get them this coming week. It might take a week to get them in unless I try it myself.  I've swapped pickups before but my soldering is not pro level so I might leave this to my longtime repair person.
I'll give my 2 cents once they are in and compare to what I have now.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by gregr on August 28, 2025, 10:42:06 AM »

You cannot compare the DC resistance of the Air Norton to the 36th for output because the coils are wound with a different wire.

This is especially true with DiMarzio pickups in general since air bucker, virtual vintage and dual-resonance technologies effectively render DCR numbers useless.

That out of the way I’m not sure why this is being raised.

The mV value is a better indicator.

The 36th Anniversary model that is spec'd with a DCR of 8.6k is spec'd with an output level of 285mV.

The Air Norton is spec'd with an output level of 270mV.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to go with Air Norton in the Bridge of a Les Paul

« Last post by darkbluemurder on August 28, 2025, 05:43:57 AM »

You cannot compare the DC resistance of the Air Norton to the 36th for output because the coils are wound with a different wire. 36th uses 42 AWG, and one of the AN coils uses 43 AWG which is thinner and has a higher DC resistance. The mV value is a better indicator.

Cheers Stephan