All user reviews for the Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB Model

I use it for 2 months on an easel Ibanez MC300 (Mahogany body, neck-through).
I chose it because I needed a microphone that restores shine and slamming my guitar all dark. I've won quite a lot of singing with EHJV surly trs, trs what rock'n'roll. For it is not against and not hyper prcis trs home in the grave. In drop D with a distortion of the sounds pretty rough.
I find it near the trs DiMarzio Norton in brighter / slamming and incisive that it prcis but less and less comfortable in the grave. One could say that the sh-4 is oriented rock hard punk-rock trend 70 Led Zep coughed, while Norton is more modern, more solid and can go for the mtal "quietly".
It has an output level as a lv trs trs tone zone but the precision and color have nothing to see here is saturated to the dirty, not cinderblock.
I put 8 because it is very well, but its lack in the bass can sometimes be Gnant.

Hi, this is my favorite micro hehe ... [bridge position]

I use it on a mahogany Cort (PRS style). I played on EMG, and Prs Gibson.
It is very special and enjoy a beautiful velvety. Extremely warm and round, it is beautiful in the high (but is doing less well in the lower).

The clean sound is terrible, in a style jazzy trip-pop (yes heuu TT ..) it works wonders. It was indeed within all the assets of my compositions.
In disto he is doing okay, but I like less rhythmic rock with (I prefer the SH1 in this case).

The sustain is good.
€ 80 for nine short I find the ratio q / rather good price!

I install the microphone on a fender jag stang.
I find it really not bad, compared to sourtout original pickups.
A microphone that is very versatile, especially if it is known to change the equalization of an amp, it goes almost everywhere in disto is very very good clean sounds as in
After the 4-conductor cables let you use differently depending on the microphone wiring as you wish, which is a humbucker ...
But remember that the microphone is just one link in a long chain in the development of sound, and you'll have a beautiful great with a micro scratch, cables, an amp and a set of crap, ca never change anything!
bought in the U.S. for 55 euros including shipping, genial!

- This is my first Seymour Duncan and I immediately not a big diffrence compared to that dimarzios j'tais accustomed dimarzios have a compress its ample, the JB has a natural dynamics, output level MODR spectrum and refocused a lot of grain. He brings great warmth to the sound while maintaining a certain edge, an identity a little dirty with lots of charm, characters, and some rhausse frquences who sing my EL34 amp. But what is even more cider is its versatility, the saturation of the crunch it is never put in default.
- It fits my particulirement hardware (guitar Basswood in the Saddle rather dark, head amp intgre with compression and a lot of low frequencies)
- I've possd possde or several microphones (dimarzios: mdagrive, tonezone, evolution, steve's special, d-sonic - EMG 85 and 81)

I possde this mic on my LAG since 1993
the sound is hot, rock hard rock and even see if the amp mtal permits as my Hughes & Kettner Trilogy, it is possible to have beautiful clean sounds much easier if you split the micro, the beginners there silent with mounting SERIES / parallle prfre in editing and I double and Splitter simply because I think he had too much power in his clear, use disto no concern whatsoever for crunch sounds, or with max distortion frankly if you have a problem with the change of micro amp or effects, ct power I could compare the EMG it is powerful and can be more transparent to the game of guitarist besides, I've just put together a (SH4) on a WSL has a good violin but trs ncessite microphones more suited s short a killing! Otherwise I have tried other Seymour Duncan SH2, SH4 and SH6 ct double all good microphones but DIFFERENT from each other SH2 SH6 a nice little nag what goes into it and do not forget also that dpend that a lot of guitar, wood guitar ... but do correct testing it's worth so much that I always SH4 advance in case ...
the distorted sounds are excellent there is plenty of power
Micro trs trs versatile high Russianness, its equilibrated go I put 9 / 10 because perfection is not of this world ... well it's clear there are always better, but considering the price is exceptional, in fact I have no action at Seymour Duncan or win a trip
if you want to pay for this microphone: myspace.com / dominiquevassart

Hi All, I install the microphone on a Squier Start and then run another layer function with a sturdy handle trs (like jeff beck, again).
First, the spacing of the studs do not play with a fender, too strait so the E string cot pads are, thank you seymour.
Then I can not imagine what gives a clear round with a duffer as aggressive as hell is this microphone! It was hard to bite Graille is dcoiffant! But quickly boring, every time I removed after one week so I could more. If so. And I like to play heavy.
There is something magical about this microphone with which I have not encountered elsewhere, the sustain it produces. As if it was vibrating the strings alone, is pretty trs.
So I will install it on a scratch rather dull, a strat's really not possible any Clinque everything starts all over the place, and I have a trs prpare good marriage.
In short a good mic, especially, but not on a layer or so should be angry ...
There's who want ...

MJ end of May: Do install this gem on my Fidler HarleyBenton tbl 300, and indeed the all-that-ct motion layers is no longer against by the sound of the JB is still best, matris more with a little polish so to speak. TRS is a good marriage, and splitter (single coil bridge cot) in combination with the microphone is serious royal funk as it is packed prcis. This mic is really amazing with a guitar round al-fixed bridge.
Cel said, even on a micro epi les paul std trsmdium is more ac / dc rhythm that satch / solos while on the Harley (see my opinion) is the reverse. Like what impdance despite its large and large output levels it meets trs guitar uses well, congratulations!

I tried several times, once on a jackson soloist USD in configuration 2 single and 1 double and again more recently on a Shecter Blackjack 7-string configuration 2 doubles.
I tried EMG 81, EMG 85, DiMarzio PAF FRED, TONE ZONE, EVOLUTION, the GFS, and others ...
I think it's the microphone ideal for those who want to stand out solo, it's really a great balance between the presence, articulation marks, grain, as it is rare ...
I find it much more accurate than any DiMarzio ...
for quality / price ratio is far too expensive when it is found in the store (between € 80 and € 100!) is better to buy abroad on ebay, you win easily see that € 30 'in France ...
this microphone will soon equip my Washburn N4, so, so much for the sequence of operations!

Seymour Ducan is probably the most popular aftermarket pickup maker in the industry and this is probably their most popular model. The JB is pretty much the standard when it comes to hot rodded humbuckers. Put this in just about anything and it will really wake it up. There is no wonder why so many guitar makers put these pickups in their guitars. From ESP to Jackson you can find models that use the Seymour Duncan JB usually paired up with its buddy the Jazz in the neck. These pickups can make just about any guitar sing. This pickup is more eq'd on the high end for clarity. Because of this these pickups work best in guitars with darker woods. The output is about 16k so this pickup will drive just about any amp. You see these pickups in a lot of Les Paul style guitars because they can add some crispness to the naturally dark sound of those guitars. Seymour Duncan even goes as far as to say mahogany guitars with rosewood fretboards. I dont think I would go this far but a darker wood like mahogany is really the best pairing of wood with this pickup. You also see these pickups in shred guitars like Jacksons because with their high end bite and tight low end you can get a metal chug yet still have singing high end with the pickup. Even with this, this is not the first pickup I would recommend for a bright guitar. A bright guitar with a bright pickup can equal painful ears when played out. It doesnt have a huge amount of bottom end but what it has its really tight. The high end is nice and crisp and you can get it to scream if you want. If you are looking for a good all around humbucker replacement for the bridge of your guitar this is what everyone else is using.

I just installed it on my Ibanez sz320MH instead of HB103 (Duncan Designed) original. What strikes immediately is the quality of manufacturing, particularly at the level of protection for drivers. Once you install peroit direct greater clarity, better DEFINITIONS, contrasting with the ct a little "rough draft" of the original bridge pickup. Far fewer microphones (certainly thanks to a "wax potting well executed for), which adds to the ease of use in high volume live. Try microphones is a utopia and it is mthode Reduces the "trial and error. The Seymour Duncan website contains samples fortunately very helpful (but listen to an installation dcente, if any ring toss up donkey). hesitating a moment I take SH14 but the curve frequency drives me look too empty at the midrange. I do not regret that choice and would recommend any owner of a violin scratches dcente. When my back is my second home SZ32O luthier (refrettage), I will offer him an easel in SH4 ...

This pickup came stock in my ESP Stephen Carpenter 6 string which has an alder/maple body with a maple neck and ebony fret board and my ESP Eclipse which has a Mahogany body, maple neck, and rosewood fret board. My main amp is a framus cobra 100 watt tube amp and I also used a peavey 5150 and hughes & kettner triamp. I mainly play a mix of rock, metal, and very pedal effected looping.

When I first plugged in my SC6 I thought there was something wrong with it. The sound was just thin with tons of irritating treble and no real meat to the sound. The attack is great for cutting in a mix but the lack of fullness behind it just makes it sound like a stuck wah pedal to me. I tried a lot of different EQ settings on my amp to compensate but never really got a sound I liked. The wood combination of alder and ebony is a bit bright so I figured maybe it just wasn't a good match for this guitar. Using lower tunings made the pickup sound a little better to me but I never go below a c# so it had to go.

I replaced it with an Anderson H3

A few years later I bought the eclipse. The eclipse having the standard LP woods I figured the pickup would sound much better than my experience with the sc6. It was slightly better but still not for me. Fast leads sound good and it had a bit more low end compared to the SC but I still found it overly bright with a kind of stuck wah "quack" sound and not very full. Also as with the SC6 I thought the pickup sounded pretty good with real low tunings.

I replaced it with a Duncan Distortion

I use it for a few days ... mounted on a Jackson JS1R it to truly transformed the guitar. The pickups were very average Jackson: loss of power, sustain, clarity, etc. ...
Despite the entry-level guitar sound is very clean and precise. I play Heavy (Black Sabbath, Maiden, Metallica ...) or more Rock (Kiss, Mötley Crüe ...) and the sound is superb. He brings all that was missing before, and corresponds to my registry. The sound is precise, perfectly fits into the same distortion gain thoroughly brief you really feel the difference!
I also run a 59 'in Neck and solos is extra.
Paid about 100 € in the corner store, I'm not disappointed.
Micro perfect for a guitar which boosted potato shortage in origin or simply for the sake of change. The couple 51 '/ JB is really a good investment.
I put 9 because I prefer the sound of my Start up in Hot Rails.

The Seymour Duncan JB (JB standing for Jazz/Blues, NOT Jeff Beck as many people think!) has been a mainstay in the Seymour Duncan line of pickups along with the '59 and Jazz. It's a very good sounding pickup overall and that's the reason you can find it stock in a lot of guitars today. However, it is my opinion (and apparently many others' opinion as well) that this pickup is very picky/choosy when it comes to the wood it's being mated with. I'd take that one step further and say it's not just the wood being used, but it's also got something to do with the body shape and quality of the wood being used. In some guitars it has a great L.A rock type sound with a round bass, nice biting top end and scads of gain. However, in other guitars it can sound thin, weak and have no definition with higher gain settings.

Case in point, I've owned two guitars in the last year that have come with the JB stock as a bridge pickup. One was a 2010 USA made Charvel San Dimas with an alder body, quartersawn maple neck, and an Original Floyd Rose tremolo. The other was a 2009 USA made Jackson King V Select with an alder body, maple neck with ebony fretboard, and an Original Floyd Rose tremolo. I would have definitely thought that guitars with such similar specs would sound very similar and hopefully have that biting top end and thick low end that I really like from this pickup. The Charvel hit home on all fronts... it was to me a prime example of a great sounding L.A rock machine, and the JB in the bridge just had this beautiful, snarling attack. The Jackson, by comparison, was a complete and utter letdown. For a guitar that had such similar specs, I was absolutely shocked at how thin, weak and lifeless the JB sounded. It had none of the aggression that the Charvel did, and there was a serious lack of sustain as well... definitely confusing.

All in all, I would say if you are looking to buy this pickup, tread with caution. Though it CAN sound great, it really does depend on the guitar you are using, and as my experience shows, similar specs doesn't mean a similar tone.

I owned a guitar with three pickups simple, first purchase a few poorly documented on the role of microphones. The guitar is of good quality (less noise Godin Triumph pickups, mahogany body) but lacking a sponsor in overruns and did not exploit the potential of the Spider Jam amp simulations that I have. Even with the pedal tube Zoom G9 something was missing ... SOLUTION FOUND: The addition of SH4 Seymour has given him a second life: more punchy! Versatility is now the appointment (best blues record), simulations of Crunch, Metal and Insane are well managed in any case lead perfectly, a little game just for the agreements in some cases (depends heavily on the preset makes ), but this is not the personality of the original guitar. The dual microphone produces a powerful, well defined, without breath in 95% of cases, the sustain is impressive, it seems to have a professional guitar now. For an investment of less than 130 euro causes included at all I changed all my stuff. Congratulations and thank you to my luthier (Eponyme / Paris 75020), but happiness in store!

Mounted on my Charvel San Dimas Style 2 by a bridge with 59 'in neck.
The sound is very rich and gives a big part of his character in my Charvel.
A full ball, on any amp lamp, it reeks of Slash. I also love playing the big Texas blues.
In middle position with 59 ', it leaves the big eye on the funk that his Red Hot.
Most is stored by the Sustain Jumbo guitar and harmonics much fat coming out of everywhere.

For the sound, and beautiful harmonics
http://www.myspace.com/485502828
All the guitars of the song "West" out live on an AC30, a hot rod III and a simulated dual grinder.

So HSH configuration, it makes SH4-SSL4-SH2neck. On a guitar Ibanez Prestige S2075W modern mahogany-rosewood fingerboard with zero-Floyd. Skyscraper designed to be versatile. Very nice violin, excellent mechanics and a round of the prestigious (love). But nothing in his level.

Since yesterday, I have these new pickups (installed with my little fingers), I DO NOT FEEL MORE SHIP ... I told myself before that was versatile scraper for amateur and now she is versatile with a pro sound and stage.

If you have the same type of guitar and you want to do everything in one, micro adopt this configuration. With SH2n one makes Django or Hendrix or a prelude to Beethoven, I SSL4 with Gilmour and Chris Rea Blues to then I Fenderise in intermediate, and finally with SH4 i am born to be wild. The SH2 is downright beautiful and SSL4 surprised by her presence as a single coil as a prince among the 2 doubles.

No parasites.

The JB pickup! One of the most standardized duncan pickups on the market today! Comes stock in the bridge in almost every decently made guitar. Let me just clarify one thing before I go on, JB doesn't stand for jeff beck. It does NOT. A lot of people have confused this for some reason, I don't even know how it began but it's not for jeff beck. Jeff beck doesn't even use this pickup as far as I can remember! It stands for jazz/blues.

Ok back to the pickup review. It's a decent pickup, and can be used for many applications. This review will be one for the JB as a bridge pickup, which is what it's famous for. A lot of artists used the JB pickup for a lot of their recordings, so many I can't even begin to name them it'll just take forever!

Cleans: As a bridge pickup it's not bad, it's nothing to write home about either, it's relatively clean, doesn't break up and is definitely a usable clean. But the distortion is where it's at.

Dirty: This is what made it WORLD famous. It's sharp but not too sharp, and clear, I'd say it's high output, though it's not as high output as other pickups out there today. Depending on the amp you can get some very tight metal sounds out of this pickup. Again it is tight, and sharp, not flubby. Which, for some people is or isn't good. It depends on the guitar, I think for the majority, most players prefer it in a mahogany-bodied guitar to balance out the bright/sharpness that the JB offers. This is highly famous due to it being a rock or heavier tastes of music type of pickup. I don't personally know anybody that uses the JB for anything else. Andy Timmons used to use this pickup for years and his tones have always been great, and yes I would consider him rock.

I've also owned a guitar that had the JB coil tapped, and was not impressed with the tones either. I don't know what it is but it wasn't very musical to me, sort of just flat and lifeless.

Overall as i've stated it's a decent pickup, the cleans are good and the distortion is tight and sharp. The harmonics don't fly out compared to other guitars as the gain structure of this pickup seems to be a little different it seems. When I palm mute, the mutes don't come out as strong as if i strummed chords even with the same amount of strength put into it. I noticed this over years of playing different guitars with different pickups. I don't know what it is about the dynamics of this pickup that makes it so, but that's what I disliked about it. But then again it's in almost every guitar from the factory now so it must've worked for a lot of other players before me! It cleaned ok decently with the volume rolled down but of course you'd need to do the treble-bleed mod, I do it on all my guitars now just out of principle. I give it a 7. It's good but it's not perfect, but it's very usable and versatile for rock and heavier music, but not for anything else, even though it's labeled as a jazz/blues pickup.

The Seymour Duncan JB is, without a doubt, the most popular pickup in the Seymour Duncan lineup. It has been one of the pinnacle pickups in the ‘80s, and it’s still extremely popular today. It features slugs on one coil, adjustable screw heads on another, four conductor wiring and an Alnico 5 magnet.

The JB is an extremely love or hate pickup. It has such polarizing opinions that it’s crazy. The biggest reason is that it’s very picky when it comes to what guitar it mates to. It’s also very picky when it comes to pickup height. Both of these can lead to either an amazing sound or an awful sound, depending on what it was mated with.

The low end on this is fairly vintage sounding. It’s not terribly tight, but it’s just tight enough to work for metal. The midrange is a bit “stringy” at times, and the treble has a bite to it. This helps it really cut through the mix, and it generally doesn’t get too harsh. Split coil and parallel tones are great, too.

I find this pickup to sound best in mahogany. Most of the time, when I try it in alder, it sounds a bit too bright. However, it totally depends on the guitar in question. In my alder bodied Strat, this pickup just screams like crazy. The same went for my alder bodied ESP M-II. It’s really a pickup you have to try for yourself to see if you like it, and be sure to spend some time with it adjusting the pickup height. Some people use the JB in the neck, and while it does work, I find there are better pickups out there for the neck.

Given how popular the JB is, it’s worth at least trying one time in your life. They’re so plentiful that they’re very cheap on the used market, so there’s no reason to avoid it. If you don’t like it, just sell it or maybe swap in a ceramic magnet to have a baby Duncan Distortion.

Seymour Duncan's JB pickup has been burning up stages, studios and bedrooms for over 30 years now. It has become one of the most popular all-around blues/rock/metal pickups in existence. Many guitar companies such as Schecter and ESP install the JB in the bridge position of many of their upper level guitars stock.

The JB is built around an Alnico V pickup which delivers exceptional harmonics and overtones, as well as juicy overdrive and chimey clean tones. The strong point of this bucker is its versatility. It is literally equally at home playing blues, classic rock, modern hard rock or heavy metal. It may not be the best choice for modern, ultra aggressive metal tones, where a ceramic pup with an extreme tight low end is preferred, but plenty of modern bands use the JB for aggressive metal tones.

I currently have the JB in two of my guitars; a Schecter C-1 Classic and a G&L Invader. The Schecter has a mahogany body with a maple top and a neck thru design with rosewood board. This is a very dense and warm guitar, and the JB sounds very good in it. It may not be the absolute best choice for this guitar, but it delivers good note separation and an addictive airy quality that I love. At first I felt that the high end was too shrill in this guitar, but I've grown to like the detail in the highs.

In the Alder bodied G&L, the pickup delivers perfect rock distortion sounds. The G&Ls are known for their "snappy" response and tone, and the fact that it has a bolt-on maple neck adds to this spanky, snappy sound. The JB is a near-perfect fit in this guitar, producing rich and warm overdrive, that cuts through with a nice airy sizzle, but doesn't get harsh.

As great as these pickups are, I am always searching for something better. I've recently spent a fair amount of time on the phone with several custom pickup builders and when they ask what I'm looking for, I catch myself saying "something like a JB, but better". After several years of tone searching, I'm beginning to wonder if there really is a better pickup for rock. I still want to try some of the boutique pickups that are becoming popular, like Motor City and Bare Knuckles, but I don't have several hundred dollars to drop for a set of pickups.

The JB is a time tested workhorse that suits most styles of electric guitar playing. If you haven't yet, check one out.