[Zoo Keeper]

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 !!!

[darkbluemurder]

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