Do you hear a difference?

[gorch]

Zen just put up a test of three Seymour Duncan JB models on Soundcloud. Do you actually notice a difference?

I had difficulties to hear any on the iPad. That made me wonder.

https://soundcloud.com/zenmindbeginner

[MCChris]

I heard some differences. Of the three:

Antiquity was the brightest

Production was the most compressed

35th anniversary was the most balanced

[princeofdarkness56]

Kind of what I have been thinking for about 90% of the stuff out there. Not so much.

[cynic]

Kind of what I have been thinking for about 90% of the stuff out there. Not so much.

True enough. Even the differences are different....I heard less brightness in the Antiquity.

[gorch]

And then the question is, why are there three JB? Which one is the most original?

[murkat]

Yup, I do.

I heard some differences. Of the three:

Antiquity was the brightest
Production was the most compressed
35th anniversary was the most balanced

close, my ears here the anty as more "open". I like it, sounds close to the real deals.

And then the question is, why are there three JB? Which one is the most original?

marketing?

oem for the production models.

the anny for the wannabe's

the anty's for the guys like me who actually have some really nice early ones,

having a tough time and coin to find more, and other pup makers

cashing in on the actual JB recipe, re claiming the market share.

[bubs_42]

Yup, I do.

I heard some differences. Of the three:

Antiquity was the brightest

Production was the most compressed

35th anniversary was the most balanced

close, my ears here the anty as more "open". I like it, sounds close to the real deals.

And then the question is, why are there three JB? Which one is the most original?

marketing?

oem for the production models.

the anny for the wannabe's

the anty's for the guys like me who actually have some really nice early ones,

having a tough time and coin to find more, and other pup makers

cashing in on the actual JB recipe, re claiming the market share.

Jay knows it, until you actually have played the originals, you can't compare. The original 59's are the same way, the productions are nothing compared to the originals. I spent a ton of money hording them away plugging and playing and swapping. Jay turned me onto a couple of the Jb, Seymourizer, Duncan Distortions as well.

I've stayed away from the Whole Lotta Pickup for one reason. SD has been making that set in the custom shop by order only for years. Doubt the production is better than the original.

[zenmindbeginner]

Actually the 35th Anniversary Commemorative is a Limited Edition pickup that celebrates the JB being the best selling replacement pickup for 35 years.

It is for collectors, serious Seymour Duncan fans and or JB enthusiasts and was only for sale during 2011. I bought mine used way before I ever started working with SD as a JB fanboi.

It's not like SD sells 3 different kinds of JBs... well they do but the 35th Anniversary isn't one of them. The other JB that SD sells is the Concept JB which is designed off of the actual prototype JB that Seymour wound for Jeff Beck.

Those that read the text in my Super V review will know that the Super V is based off of that very same "Concept JB". The "Concept JB" is made in the Custom Shop and wasn't available for this comparison.

Basically, I already owned a regular production JB, vintage long legged JBJs and the 35th Anny so they just sent me the Antiquity for a 3 way. Frank Falbo suggested I include (2) regular production JBs and a few other people wanted me to throw in an old JBJ that I've got. I narrowed it down to the 3 way comparison in it's present form because I thought that they would provide the biggest differences in sound.

I've got a video for it and I'll share the link in a couple of days after youtube unfreezes my views. The video has the riffs played by through all three pickups back to back so one doesn't have to go back and forth between soundclips.

There is a variety of riffs because not all of the riffs are equal at showing the differences between the models and I wanted a clear and most broad test bed I could come up with. If my guitar skills were better, I would have even more of a variety of riffs.

My quick observations are:

1). The 35th Anniversary Commemorative JB and production JB have a lot in common. The 35th Anniversary seems to have a focused midrange with dampened first octave bass and slightly attenuated high frequencies... the midrange texture seemed to be enhanced in the 35th Anny but isn't audibly apparent on every riff or lick.

2). The Antiquity seemed almost like a different pickup altogether. It's potted even less than the 35th Anny and the biggest thing with potting I've come to appreciate is reducing mechanical noise. The Antiquity JB would let loose a big wallop of sub bass whenever I would slam my palm down on the strings and I had to be VERY careful of trying to play with the least amount of "palm noise" that I could. The 35th Anny has about a 1/4 of the Antiquity's mechanical noise but the profoundly potted production JB was almost free of mechanical noise which was GREAT for my playing style.

So, I could care less about feedback or microphonics... but mechanical noise is bad for me. That's why I can't play Bill Lawrence pups because they chirp whenever I slam my palm down.

F**k mechanical noise.

3). The Antiquity had some extra sort of odd order harmonics present which the other two models lacked... was this the slight potting or did the degaussed magnet do this?

4). The Antiquity had a slight scooped lower midrange which made it feel more aggressive or forward leaning... definitely coupled with the extra harmonics, gave the Antiquity quite an extra edge that the other two didn't have.

5). Those extra harmonics gave a slight "fuzz" quality to overdrive which was really nice IMHO.

6). The Antiquity also was the most dynamic producing peaks which introduced some distortion into it's clean track... the peaks were huge spikes. The clean patch was designed with the 35th Anny in the guitar and so when I finally got around to recording the Ant, it was peaking all over the place... I couldn't change the tone because that would have ruined the scientific "control' aspect of the experiment, so I had to grin and bear it (my Princeton Reverb has some sort of harmonic distortion distortion that prevents it from ever getting 100% clean, so the clean "Killer of Giants" was through the Line 6).

7). The 35th Anniversary was the smoothest and most polite.

8). The production JB had the biggest lower mids, tightest second octave and a general consistency to the tone that was neither boring or inspiring.

I liked the Super V better than all 3 but the Antiquity had some magic and tonal surprises that I wasn't expecting.

If I could reduce the mechanical noise of the Antiquity JB without changing it's tone, that would be almost a perfect pickup and the ultimate JB. Not sure if a cover might help isolate the pickup from my palm and handling noise or if I need to send it back for more extensive potting. If the potting kills the extra harmonics I was getting, it's not worth it and would be better suited to a player with a lighter and smoother right hand.

So, I'm not sure if the extra tone was from the really light to no potting, the degaussed magnet, using the Leesona winder, the aging of the wire and insulation, or due to Seymour winding it personally.

The comparison answered a of of questions but some have remained unanswered and still a mystery.

[murkat]

Excellent tech write up from a guitarists point of view Zen.

There are some tricks up the anty's sleeve for sure.

I am sure the mag is degaussed a lil bit, just "sounds" that way...

If you could heat up the bottom bezel with a hair dyrer,

then drip in some melted wax around the magnet channel area

without applying any on the bobbins, that would quite it up a lil bit,

but then, maybe not....

[gorch]

Very delicate observation Zen. I want to come back to the initial point. Without a doubt Zen wouldn't create comparison soundfiles if it wouldn't make any sense. The point is that I had not become aware of the differences listening through the iPad. Whereas the iPad stands synonymously for the range of devices of the class. Nowadays most people wear headphones or in-ear buttons which I did not while listening to the files. The frustration that comes up is that I have a 600 quit entertainment machine in my hands that didn't get me there 1st place.

[Disturber]

Very cool Review Geoff! The tracks sounds great, and Ratt riffs, awesomenes!

I like the 35the Anni the best. Got the most balls. And the mids sound warmer to my ears. But I can't help to (still) think the JB sounds gnarly with that mid hump. It's not a pleasant pickup by itself at all. In the mix though, it works well a lot of the time. The eq is right on spot for harder rock Music. That is why so many players like it I guess.

Post that Youtube clip when it's up there. I'd love to see it.