Jem pickup question

[AlexBHome]

Greetings all,

At one point I was trying to trade my Jem90 for a 77GMC. I've now seen the error of my ways and am instead trying my hardest to simply get a GMC replica made, possibly from a 777VBK. The 90 will remain. The thing grows on you and its an utterly wonderful guitar to play.

My favorite lead / distorted sound comes from Vai, and Eddie Van Halen as well.. both have clean, beautiful tones that come from Marshall / Bogner / Soldano / Carvin stacks and such, and I'm still trying to figure out how to even come close with a Digitech 2120 Artist (not easy but not impossible). So.. do the pickups have a lot to do with that tone?

In other words, will a PAF Pro sound inferior in any way to an Evolution, Blaze, or The Breed? Is the awful Ed Roman right when he extolls Seymour Duncan pickups..? Is there really that much difference? All opinions very much welcome. Thanx!

-Alex
www.ionstorm.com

[jono]

Well many folks like Seymour Duncans, I do too they're great pickups, but most folks here don't trust what Ed says, he tends to be very "market orientated" i.e. he sells Duncans, so he promotes them.

There is a fairly big difference between the pickups but I'd not go so far as to say one was "better" than another.

Personally I get my best EVH style tones from my guitars with slightly lower output pickups and thicker necks. But EVH's tone has changed a bit over the years so it depends on which era/song's tone you're after.

I think that the best EVH tone on a stock JEM probably comes from the early JEM777s with maple boards and PAF Pros.

[jsdetrait]

Hello;

I think every one has something to say about the way that pickups sounds... It 's got a lot to do with what you hear!
I've been tried differents jems since 1991 and i like the sound of a "paf pro". I also like the sound of the "evolution pick ups" but in a different way.

For me, the "paf pro" sounds more "rock and roll", more "yankee rose*" than the evolution who has more sustain, more control, they are less loosy...

I'm not sure that every body will agree with me but I really think :

Paf pro = steve vai in David lee roth* (*I know he was playing differents types of guitars : green meanie, tom anderson etc... but when I play "skyscraper" or "stand up" with my bfp... I can feel it!)

Evolution = steve vai "alien love secret's" type of sound.

I'm sure there's a lot to say about pickups sound and I really want to know what other jem fan thinks about that...
Let's share our point of view.

May be you can also check in the jemsite forum archive, I think they have already talked about that.


See ya

JS
PS : I repeat it's only my point of view!

[Joel Lyndgohrd]

Originally Posted by AlexBHome

The 90 will remain.

Thank god! Just kidding, the 90th is a wonderful guitar, stick with it!

[AlexBHome]

Thanks for the tips dudes! Much appreciated... good info.

-Alex