7 replies to this topic

[Adz6794]

Hi, I am trying to get a good metal tone out of my Jag-stang and I have an Alnico Bareknuckle Nailbomb on the Bridge https://bareknucklep...pickup=nailbomb but the tone I am getting seems a bit fuzzy and not very defined?? Do you think its worth replacing the single coil on the neck with something else or is the Jag-stang just not setup for this kind of tone??

Any help would be welcome

Adz

[redman1401]

That sounds more an issue with the pedal or the pickup. Remember the jagstang was designed for kurt and whatever he chose to play. That being said you can play anything on any guitar really.

[Mad-Mike]

Jag-Stangs sound kind of wooly and undefined because of the lighter body wood (basswood) and lighter bridge mass + metal used (Jag-Stangs often have brass bridge saddles with = warmer tone)...too many of those elements and the output will be undefined. Also, the Jag-Stang comes with 250K pots stock, and those tend to cut down the volume and make the guitar sound thicker, that's why those pot values are used with single coil pickups usually.

I use mine for metal (that's the primary reason I bought it), but it has EMG pickups in it, and I added a no-load tone control, and a shortened wiring path to compensate for the light bridge, warm body wood, and brass saddles. EMGs in anything else would sound sort of tinny and flat, and it was still too wooly until I put a no-load tone control in there - a no load tone control is a tone control that cuts itself out of the circuit when turned all the way up so the guitar does not have the highs being drained off to ground by the tone pot while full up.

The kind of pickups one would want with a Jag-Stang would have Alnico 5 or Ceramic magnets, and would be tuned to have more high-end response to warm up the sound. For single coils, I could really see stock Mustang pickups doing an excellent job in the neck, I have an EMG SA in mine though, which sounds a lot like my 5.9K 66' Fender Mustang's neck pickup. That's one thing that draws me to the Jag-Stang, the pickup setup is balanced - fat pickup in the bridge, thin pickup in the neck, and it is very balanced out but still sounds very different.

Hopefully this spurs some ideas.

[Adz6794]

Thanks alot for your comments and taking the time to go in to detail it def gives me some ideas to look at, I will post again once I have done some investigating.

[johnnykazz]

Thanks alot for your comments and taking the time to go in to detail it def gives me some ideas to look at, I will post again once I have done some investigating.

All of the information they gave you is dead on and hit the nail on the head. I just wanted to say that if you have a reissue Jag-Stang from the 2000's, it is made of alder instead of basswood. I don't play metal, but what pedal or amp are you using for distortion if you don't mind me asking? Just was wondering because it may be easier to diagnose if the problem is there.

[Adz6794]

johnnykazz4l the Jag is a re-issue and Im have a line 6 Spider 2 (150 watt) I will have the latest spider in a few months time albeit in the 75 watt incarnation.

Alot of the bands I like seem to use active pickups but are they essential for that Killswitch engage/A Day To Remeber sound or can I foind a sound pretty close without them?

[redman1401]

johnnykazz4l the Jag is a re-issue and Im have a line 6 Spider 2 (150 watt) I will have the latest spider in a few months time albeit in the 75 watt incarnation.

Alot of the bands I like seem to use active pickups but are they essential for that Killswitch engage/A Day To Remeber sound or can I foind a sound pretty close without them?

you could probably get it without active pickups. my friends band gets their guitars to sound similar and they use passive pickups.

[johnnykazz]

you could probably get it without active pickups. my friends band gets their guitars to sound similar and they use passive pickups.

+1. I don't think it's necessary to use active pickups for that tone. To be honest with you, A Day To Remember is probably not a tough tone to achieve. I don't follow either of these bands. I have in the past purchased some of their records. That tone is not that hard to achieve without active pups. Take a look at this...

http://www.uberproau...r-and-equipment

That shows what ADTR's guitar player uses. Notice at the bottom he uses the Jaguar Special HH, pretty neat cause I didn't know that. It seems a lot of his tone is an Orange or Mesa Amp. I would setup a few different tones on your Line 6 using the Metal or Insane presets and listen to the records while making adjustments. Also, the neck single coil is probably not used too much in this style of music, so that is pointless to change. I personally would run a DiMarzio Super Dist in the bridge and if you ARE going to change the single-coil in the neck, I would put the neck version of the JB Jr. in their. This would give you high output from both pickups for what you're looking for, but both of those pickups also sound good for less gain-y things.

The cheapest route to start on:
If you are not liking the Bare Knuckle, take it out and sell it and try out the DiMarzio Super Distortion. They also make even higher gain pickups, but like I said, the Super Distortion will be able to get the ADTR tones and also come down in gain for blues tones and such. That will keep your guitar pretty versatile and still get the sound you want.