Hi. I recentley purchased a Custom Shop Jackson "Jack Butler" guitar. The guitar is amazing, but the pickups came with Seymour Duncan JB on the bridge and S. Duncan 59 on the neck which I believe it´s not the pickups which was installed at the Vai´s Charvel Green Meanie. I love the Jack Butler tone and wish to put the right pickups to get that tone. I´ve receive an email from Steve Blucher from DiMarzio saying he doesn´t know what pickups was installed during movie recording.
Anybody could help me ?
Just a suggestion - If I were you I would save the money and leave the pickups - the SD JB & 59 is one of the best pup combos ever and the JB should definietly be able to get you that Jack Butler sound you're looking for. IMHO the critical path to getting the Jack Butler sound is going to depend more on the amp, gain and eq settings. Save your money and put it towards amp, quality distortion pedal, which I believe are more critical to your tone quest and will make a bigger difference than the difference between a JB and a PAF Pro.
I would ditch the Duncans and try the PAF Pros. They would surely come closer to that tone. Not to mention you should easily be able to pick up a PAF Pro set for about $100 and easily sell the JB/Jazz set for at least $90. Really not much cost involved at all.
Thank you Riverdragon. Steve Blucher sent an recent email to me telling me he do not believe that Steve Vai used the Paf Pros in the movie but just after the movie. Stevie Blucher said he cant say what pickups were just by hearing them, but he guess they probably was the Super Distortion or X2N.
I vote for PAF Pros, as that will really help you get the mid 80's tone. Even if Steve was using teh X2N in his green meanie at teh time, don't forget that amps and effects have moved on a lot in the last 25 years but the PAF Pros really do epitomise that "sort" of tone
If you had a replica of Clapton's The Fool SG, and you wanted to nail those sounds from Cream, you'd look for some sort of PAF replica, right?
The good news is that in this case you don't have to look for a replica. Both DiMarzio and Duncan still make those pickups. I'd say PAF Pro, but the JB you already have probably isn't too far off the mark either. The JB was another popular pickup in the 80s. Think DeMartini. I'd also bet money on the Screamin' Demon bridge getting you close too. I've heard those are sorta close to the FRED (total heresay, never compared the two myself) which is 1/2 PAF Pro anyway.
If I could find the right neck, I'd be on building one of those very quickly. That's the guitar (and movie sequence) that brought buying a decent guitar to the front burner for me.
Thing about the JB is that it's a much changed pickup since the 80's. The old 80's JB's were pretty awesome. The new ones are honky and trebly and just too hot.
I had an opportunity to talk to Steve Vai about that. Firstly he told me he does´nt remember what pickups he used. But I insisted, talking that the Jack Butler´s tone is my top one guitar dirtorted sound at all. So, he told me to buy a Carvin X100B...and when I was almost finishing the talking he say he was not sure but he thinks he used a DiMARZIO PAF !! Not a Paf Pro !!
If this was true, I believe the PAF should be considered the best humbucker of time...great for clean and amazing for distorted tone...
And... of course I asked Steve to sign my guitar as Steve Vai and Jack Butler !! Was a very great moment to me !!
I finally change the pickups !! I replace both Duncans JB, 59 and installed a pair of the DiMarzios PAF 36th. Steve Vai was right about his recomendation! This Jackson comes to life ! I finally got the Jack Butlers tone with it now and my Marshall JCM2000 TSL602.
This DiMarzio PAF 36th is the best pickups that I´ve played. I am very happy with this guitar now !!
Its in the maple fretboard. Adds that little extra bit to it.
Its the same deal with my PGM301. Its one reason why it rocks for ultra shred, but why I never get to use it with my prog metal band, it cant do ultra modern tones.
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