tonemonster58 Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 I was floating around on the SD site and ran across the Custom Shop Joe Bonamassa Pick ups and decided to pull the trigger. A bit spendy at $375 for a set but after reading the whole story it seemed like a worthwhile investment. I am going to put them in my 93 solid mahogany Studio.Just curious if anyone here has any experience with them, what they put them in and their overall opinions/impressions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragan Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 never heard them but would be interested in hearing your opinion & or a sound file when you get them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubs_42 Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Ya, a tone report is manditory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonemonster58 Posted November 16, 2013 Author Share Posted November 16, 2013 They are on the way now so when they get here and I get them installed I will post. Being new here I am not sure of the etiquette. Should I post in this thread or give it it's own thread? Ya, a tone report is manditory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velorush Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Interesting! Can't wait for a report. What are they replacing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthes Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Post here! I'd like to hear 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
django49 Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Conorb is a Joe Bonamassa fan here in the Pacific Northwest and I believe he has at least one pair of those. He might be a good person to compare notes with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonemonster58 Posted November 16, 2013 Author Share Posted November 16, 2013 Interesting! Can't wait for a report. What are they replacing? Previous owner changed the original pick ups to a Lollar Imperial in the neck and a Wolfetone Dr. Vintage in the bridge. Sounds pretty decent as is but not quite to my taste. The Lollar is not bad in the neck but sounds a bit sterile. The Bridge pick up is average at best with largely forgettable tone. Can't wait to get my greasy mitts on these puppies and finally really hear the tone hiding in my studio, I know it's just in that just waiting to be set free... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ting Ho Dung Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Are you talking about the p-90 signature set? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolfeel Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 Will be interesting to hear them/about them.I have a custom wound set of WCR Bonanassas in my Tally Pro. My bands album is basically a tone report for those pickups as that guitar is my main studio guitar...lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonemonster58 Posted November 16, 2013 Author Share Posted November 16, 2013 Are you talking about the p-90 signature set? No they are the Humbuckers Limited edition modeled after his #1 1959 LP Burst. They have been out for about a year and is a pretty cool little kit including a usb stick with interviews and a making of video. At the time of order the Custom shop manager told me that she expects them to only be available for maybe 2 more months and then they are gone forever except I am sure for Joe himself. These are pickups that will never depreciate in value. It is my understanding that Joe bought about a dozen or so for himself including #0001 for some of his touring guitars. I didn't know they even had a P 90's set. Are they SD? If I was to add a sound clip what is the best way (non Youtube) ? Can I just attach an mp3? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackass Posted November 16, 2013 Share Posted November 16, 2013 You have to wear sunglasses when you play them. He should have went with a different pickup maker.Bm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cynic Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 These are pickups that will never depreciate in value. From the SD website: "Only 1,959 Custom Shop sets will be sold."Nearly 2000 sets makes for a pretty saturated market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonemonster58 Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 Here are pics of the unit they are going into. I always thought this was a studio but after some time on the boards I am not so sure. It is a 1993 serial # 335184 Trans Red. Flat top solid Mahogany. Other than the pickups the only non stock item (I Think) is a Nickel Plated Billet steel tailpiece ala Callaham with locking Steel Tone Pros studs. It is VERY HEAVY and has a great woody tone with sustain for days. Can anyone tell me what I got. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirrorimij Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 If it came with humbucker routes from the factory that is a Special HB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonemonster58 Posted November 17, 2013 Author Share Posted November 17, 2013 If it came with humbucker routes from the factory that is a Special HB.Yep it has factory HB routes. Thanks Now I know I was wondering why I had never seen a flat top studio. But then again I haven't seen a Special HB before either. Is it an uncommon model? Does anyone know what the stock Pickups were from the factory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirrorimij Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Hamer made a few batches of Special HBs. They are not as common as Specials with P90s or Special FMs. Essentially its a Special FM without the maple top.I believe the stock pickups were JB/59 with covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ting Ho Dung Posted November 17, 2013 Share Posted November 17, 2013 Are you talking about the p-90 signature set?I didn't know they even had a P 90's set. Are they SD? If I was to add a sound clip what is the best way (non Youtube) ? Can I just attach an mp3? I have a friend who buys all things Joe B. I thought he was telling me about a p-90 set. I am probably mistaken because he's really hard to listen to for more than about 12 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonemonster58 Posted December 26, 2013 Author Share Posted December 26, 2013 Well finally time for a players report on these pickups. I wound up changing my mind and put them into the BCR Burst Artist I bought from Ray (Bloozguy) here on the board. The reason is because the Guitar is more along the line of a LP with its maple cap and since the Pickups were designed from True 59' PAF's out of a Burst I thought it was more appropriate.After first installing them I wanted to rush to put in a report but I figured it would be better to give myself some serious time with them rather than have a report based on a first blush response. Now that I have had them in for over a month and have logged countless hours, both in practice and in live settings I feel I can give a much better assessment of what they truly are. Most of you here don't know me so my report will probably be viewed through many different filters, but I will tell you this I am going to give a brutally honest assessment with no cheerleading. I both love and hate these things and I'll tell you why. First off let me tell you why I hate them. They revealed just how crappy a guitar player I really am. While that sucks for my ego in the end it is an important revelation. I have some very decent guitars with fine pickups that sound great but in the end I have come to find out that while they sound IMO pretty good they are all in a different league than these JB's. They all have slight variations in tone and of course the guitar make a big difference too but they all have one thing in common and that is that they help hide/mask player technique and error..While this has overall been good for me in the past as the general consensus opinion has been I have great tone and play pretty well but I now realize it has also been holding me back. Let me try to clarify this a bit. For example on the "Wanton Song" by Zep. This is a song that by nature is meant to be played lose and with a bit of reckless abandon. Playing it with any of my other guitars it sounds like normal pretty great over all. But when played with the Artist with the JB Pickups I can hear a multitude of pick clicks, string noise from lazy chord changes and a variety of other unpleasant noise artifacts. Now while that is certainly bad and takes away from the overall enjoyment of the song there is also some underlying magic in there. There are spots on the fret board that when certain chords or notes are played that have overtones and resonance from the string that produces harmonics that I have never heard before with any of my other guitars, and believe me when I tell you they really sound sweeeeet. So I took it upon myself that I was going to really focus on my playing and work hard at trying to eliminate all the unpleasant sounds I was generating to allow more of the sweet tones that showed themselves become more prominent. It was a real pain in the ass and not much fun. It took me over a week of relentless practice to get to the point where I was finally making a dent in my goal and it started paying dividends. I can now play the song much cleaner and I have to admit that it put shivers up my spine at how good it sounds when I get it just right. Switching back to other guitars I can now also hear improvement with the same song but the tone cannot touch what is being put out by the new JB'sProbably the best way I can describe it is that these pickups extremely articulate and more so than any others will capture nuance with pick technique and left hand interaction with fretting. The way that they can cause certain notes to bloom and swell is quite special indeed. However I tried to explain they are incredibly unforgiving and in the beginning if you are not a true virtuoso will punish you for your years of acquired sloppy habits. For those of you willing to put in the efforts though they can be very rewarding and give you tone and character that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand right up and let you know you are alive.I can also tell you this. Both pickups offer excellent note to note separation and handle all chording work without blending into mush. Even with heavy OD or distortion the chords ring true with clarity from note to note. The Neck pickup is the finest example of any neck pickup I have ever heard in my entire lifetime. With other neck pickups usually even with significant adjustment to tone and volume between the neck and bridge pickup there is such a huge difference in tone that it often sounds as though you are playing another guitar. Not with these. In all honesty it sounds like you are playing a different variety of another bridge pickup when you make the switch, and that's with no tone adjustments. A different, more mellow tone to be sure, but bright, richly detailed, lively and full of character. Frankly the neck pickup alone would put most other bridge pickups to shame. When combined the pickups play very well with each other and create a whole new element with a signature tone all on it's own that is completely different than the pickups individually. All 3 tones are very usable and will cover just about any style you can throw at them. Of course Classic rock/blues sounds awesome but I am very surprised at how well it handles county twang ala a good Telecaster and smooth jazz chordings.Overall the pickups are very bright and verge on P90 territory. As a side note I found that I much preferred them when I switched to much heavier strings. I am using a custom set of .11-.54 and they sound incredibly ballsy. It will be quite a while before this could ever be my go to guitar but I love what it is now capable of and will keep the pickups in it. I can only play about 10% of my music repertoire with it and make it sound decent (but boy does it sound F@#&in' AWESOME). The rest will take endless practice to make it up to snuff. It's almost like learning the guitar all over again but harder, because now I have to break bad habits. But in the end it is going to be so worth it.In conclusion these pickups will not be for everybody. If you want to discover just how crappy of a player you are and use them as a tool to morph into a much better player, then I give them my highest recommendation as they are the best pickups I have ever heard. If on the other hand if you are more in the camp of the Dirty Fingers/Super Distortion and they are to your liking, then avoid these like the plague.CheersI hope this was useful to some of you and sorry for the long delay in making the review. 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Roshark Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Nice review Tonemonster58 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordOfTheThighs Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 First off let me tell you why I hate them. They revealed just how crappy a guitar player I really am. The story of my life. HA!Great review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HamerHokie Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Overall the pickups are very bright and verge on P90 territory.That statement surprises me, because every time I hear his humbucker guitars they sound very fat and midrangy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolfeel Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Tone is in the hands... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HamerHokie Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Tone is in the hands......so who needs signature pickups? Just graft on JB cloned hands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diablo175 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Sound clip or it didn't happen.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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