Seymour Duncan Joe Bonamassa Signature Pickup Set

[eda123]

Got mine yesterday, installed them and rehearsed w/ them last night.

Love em! Compared to the BB1/2 i had in there before, they have the same signature PAF bark in the mids, but are smoother and not quite as harsh. Articulate and open on the neck pickup... happy guy here.

 

[Sct13]

My second set will arrive soon, I asked if they could put my aged pup covers on and Guess What????

 

[carydad]

08-22-12
N-7.61
B-8.07
#0607
Residing in a lifeson LP

 

[drew365]

Here's a link to an audio clip of the solo for Stormy Monday, using the Bonamassa pups, that I made at band rehearsal. The recording was made with a hand held Tascam recorder. My guitar is a Carvin CS4 (LP copy) with solid mahogony body, maple top, ebony fretboard, stainless steel frets through a Vox AD60VTX.
MP3 Player SoundClick

 

[Sct13]

Here's a link to an audio clip of the solo for Stormy Monday, using the Bonamassa pups. The recording was made with a hand held Tascam recorder. My guitar is a Carvin CS4 (LP copy) with solid mahogony body, maple top, ebony fretboard, stainless steel frets through a Vox AD60VTX.
MP3 Player SoundClick

Sounds great!

 

[Zen Guitar]

Here's another clip of the JB sigs (my R9 through a Cat 5 JB Custom-50)...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSiH9kCvScU]While the morning coffee is a brewin'... - YouTube[/ame]

 

[d1m1]

hi guys

i ve got before some days my jb´s. and WOW i´m in LOVE!!!

i´ve read in threats about them things like, great clarity, great top end, woody, dry, hollow, airy, natural, warm, great string deffinition etc and you know what? hell yes thats right!!!

they have the greatest top end clarity i ve ever heard. not that harsh bright sound which a lot of "boutique" PAFs have. its a nice warm round clarity which makes the amp breath and sing. this clarity is propably the reason why the have a freaking awesome fidelity. you can hear the soul of the guitar. you can hear the wood! they have an old matured tone on them but sound still fresh like spring. the neck pu has an awesome woody hollow airy tone. it makes the guitar sound like an old dry wood les paul from the 50´s!! the bridge pu has a beautyfull crispy bite and is at the same time still fat (not thin). sorry i dont know how else to descripe that. they also take chords great. you can hear even overdriven and with overdrive pedals every single note and string! and the final thing that impressed me is that both pu´s together give the sweetest middle position ever!!

no matter in which guitar or amp (EL84 or 6V6 etc) i´ve tried them, they keep always a great tone quality!! e.g. my sheptones tribute sound good in my les pauls, but thin in my sg´s and semiacoustics. same my tim shaws (specially the bridge pu).

as you can see the backplate has MJ´s signature too. to be honest i dont care about those things. sound is more important. but her signature is a nice bonus.

and something else.. i´ve read on different threads a lot of "hater posts" from people who even did not tried the JB´s.. you know from "gear hipsters" who think that seymour duncan is mainstream and not cool enough and only boutique pu´s are good their arguments are things like: the agnles on the pu covers are too square, the backplate is wrong, this screw should be 0,001mm more to the left etc.. and thatswhy the JB´s are not PAF clones get a life man!!! thats not a girly beauty contest!!! who told you that those SISSY things are determining what a PAF is?? the JB´s are SOUNDWISE acurate clones of joes beloved 59 burst PAF´s!!! i know, every 59 PAF sounds different but we all have an average sound in our mind of how PAF´s sound or should sound like. well IMO the JB´s are soundwise some of the most acurate PAF clones out there! and thats the point!! SOUND!!! what happend to the spirit of rock and roll man?!? the world is nowadays full of people who care more about beauty sissy things instead of wasting your time in front of the pc with writing billion of troll posts, grab your guitars and practice!!! go and find a rude band and be rock!!! if you would practice in the time you wrote your 10.000 smartass wannabe posts, you would sound better even on an epiphone with chinese pu´s!!! the sound is to 90% in the fingers and not in the holes of your backplattes, or photomodel nickel covers, or 0,001mm acurate screws, or other irrelevant crap!!

sorry but after long long time of reading many many of those trendy 100% 0,001mm exact acurate must have to sound better and be cooler sissy crap, i had to tell some things. cheers

 

[HopelessRomantics]

nice pickups!

 

[Actinic]

I found these two videos surfing Eddie Vegas' web site:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4NMgja5tk0"]1959 Gibson ES 355 with Joe Bonamassa PAF Seymour Duncan Humbucker Pickups Bell Tone Eddie Vegas - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXzYaAST1rY"]1959 Original Gibson ES 355 Bell Tone Eddie Vegas www.eddievegas.com - YouTube[/ame]

Well, we know that real PAFs do not sound good in every guitar, but how good do modern pickups sound in a vintage guitar? Not just any vintage guitar, but a 1959 ES-355 with the Bigsby removed? Is this the ultimate test of just how good the Duncan JB pickups are, or does it just add to the confusion (Tubescreamer contaminating the sound)? Interesting to watch just for the magazine picture of Joe Bonamassa before he became world famous.

 

[Scott Olson]

Glad you guys are liking the Bonamassa Sets. Most of us here at Seymour Duncan own a pair (even several folks who don't have a guitar to put them in).

They went through quite a bit of prototypes until Joe was completely happy. During soundcheck he would A/B between his cheerished '59 and an LP with the Bonamassa set. Finally got a set where he said they were virtually identical and then quite a bit of back and forth was spent on just determining the correct level of oxidation on the screws. Little details like that matter to both Seymour and Joe. If you have any audio clips or videos, feedback, etc we love to hear it.

 

[Sct13]

Cool to hear from SD! Welcome to the forum!

I have a question.....Whats up with the covers? I had MJ put covers on that are closer in appearance to the 59 than what SD put on. I know the tone is the point but appearances are too.

Again thanx for chiming in! and Welcome!

 

[tonybony]

I love those pickups. The neck has that hollow thing going like no other and the bridge has a midrange presence and a top end that is defined and articulate but never harsh. I can get nice Kossoff sounds with those through my Reinhardt JKC33. I did put on Throbak covers though.

 

[BlackForestSociety]

Hey guys,

i'm new to this board and had a blast reading for a couple weeks, now i decided to register

I bought a Gibson custom shop ES339 recently, and i'm very pleased with its playability, but i think the 57 classics make it sound very unfocused and not tight...the response on the bass strings is soooo flubby. I dont like the lead sound either, to ice picky and no compression at all. Unplugged the guitar sounds so nice and woody, but all of that is gone as soon as i plug it in a amp.

I'm rather playing in the high gain terretory ( no 8 string death metal;-)), more like Doug Aldrich type of thing.

You guys think the jb set would be suitable for me? Anyone tried some high gain with them?

Are they feedback resistant? Or should i look somewhere else?

Best regards from germany,

Ben

 

[Sct13]

Excellent pickups I have two sets....great in high gain and the feedback (squeal) is fine in my solid bodies I cant speak for the hollow bodies

A similar set is Haussell higher gain a much hotter pickup in the bridge, and a lower output in the neck.

 

[LtKojak]

I'm rather playing in the high gain terretory ( no 8 string death metal;-)), more like Doug Aldrich type of thing.

You guys think the jb set would be suitable for me? Anyone tried some high gain with them?

Are they feedback resistant? Or should i look somewhere else?

Best regards from germany,

Ben

Wilkommen, Ben!

For the description given, to play that kind of music you bought the "wrong" guitar and now you're looking for the "wrong" p'ups as well.

Can I ask you the motivation of the choices you've made? I mean, at first look, seem less than ideal... if you don't mind, of course:

HTH,

 

[BlackForestSociety]

Nah, the es339 is really small with a relatively big sustain block, and its defenetly the 57 classics that are sqealing...

i'm just a bit worried that the jb's are maybe lacking a bit output for a tight, focused sound.

i really like joes tone, but i wouldnt consider it high gain ;-)

oh, and i'm playing it through a mesa mark v.

 

[BlackForestSociety]

Wilkommen, Ben!

For the description given, to play that kind of music you bought the "wrong" guitar and now you're looking for the "wrong" p'ups as well.

Can I ask you the motivation of the choices you've made? I mean, at first look, seem less than ideal... if you don't mind, of course:

HTH,

Buona sera ;-)

For me its not the wrong guitar, because i like it. Also i am not looking for a ultra brutal sc ooped metal sound. In my band we play blues oriented doom/groove metal, it fits just fine. I just dont like using stuff that everybody else uses for harder music... Its not that bad with the stock pickups, its more like they dont put out what they are gettin in, you know. And of course i play other stuff, too. And i'm a tone freak ;-)

 

[Tom.Ashworth]

Nah, the es339 is really small with a relatively big sustain block, and its defenetly the 57 classics that are sqealing...

i'm just a bit worried that the jb's are maybe lacking a bit output for a tight, focused sound.

i really like joes tone, but i wouldnt consider it high gain ;-)

oh, and i'm playing it through a mesa mark v.

Bareknuckle Warpig

 

[BlackForestSociety]

i dont know...i guess its to bassy....

 

[drew365]

I have the SD/JB pups in an LP copy and I love them. It's my best sounding guitar. But I'm not into high gain so I don't know if they will be right for you or not. I know that I try not to make quick changes to my guitars or equipment, because usually something that bugs me at one time, will no longer be a problem six months later. I think I keep evolving in circles. But, if it still bugs me a few months later, I make the change.
Pickups are so subjective, and you can rarely compare them side by side. Plus most deficiencies can usually be fixed with a few knob twists.
The Mesa Mark V is high on my list, slightly eclipsed by the Egnater Tourmaster at this time.