Currently I have the Seymour Duncan Hot Rodded Humbucker set, which has an HS-2 Jazz in the neck and HS-4 in the bridge and it gives me a good sound... But recently, I have wanted to set up like this: Seymour Duncan Hs-6 Distortion bucker in the bridge and move the HS-4 in the neck, It should give me a really heavy sound, but do think that having that powerful of a humbucker in the neck would have any negative side effects?
Please give me any information or thoughts you have on this...
Thanks in advance...

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Playing your guitar is an addiction after your first riff you just can't stop. Kind of like raisins you taste one then eat them by the handful.
-Oldpat

It's okay, so long as the neck pickup is set lower and the bridge pickup is noticeably louder.


-The Screamin' J

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CURRENT RIG:
2008 Squier bullet stratocaster modified with Rumpelstiltskin pickups -> Dunlop GCB-95 Original Crybaby -> Fender Vibro Champ XD

"Could you take the stain from this pair of pants, and put in on this pair of pants?"

It is a great combo if you are looking for a, "one trick pony" in terms of a guitar being geared towards Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, etc. and nothing else:

The JB with its high output and characteristics of predominant upper mids and highs would be a good choice for the neck, especially with a 500K volume pot. Because of the Alnico V magnet, it would give you a smoother sound at lower volumes and because this pickup has no appreciable bass, it wouldn't sound 'farty' at any volume. Of course, this pickup will really wail on 10.

The Distortion with its high output and to my ear, an extreme of the attributes of the JB would 'crank' more in the bridge than a JB would. The bass, although not more than the JB would seem a bit tighter because of the ceramic magnet. However, because of this type magnet, don't expect any kind of superior cleans out of it. Hence, the name.

Both pickups would give you more than ample sustain and the DC resistance is virtually identical. Consequently and all things being equal, the JB will surely overpower the Distortion, believe it or not. FWIW, from my experience, I perceive the JB and the Distortion are the exact same pickup with the only difference between the two being the type of magnet. YMMV.

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You dig?

So if I weren't to change my pickups, then what could I do to get a little heavier sound but still have versatile sound?

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Playing your guitar is an addiction after your first riff you just can't stop. Kind of like raisins you taste one then eat them by the handful.
-Oldpat

If I'm interpreting your objective correctly, it is for maximum versatility out of ONE guitar, not a fleet of them. Having said this:

IMO, the JB is too over the top in general and the Jazz is a little bit too flat in general. Yea, I know Duncan designed both for Jeff Beck but to the best of my recollection, Beck only used the Tele which Duncan put them in for two or three songs on his Blow by Blow album and that was it. If I remember correctly too, these pickups were paired with 250K pots which gave them a bit more compressed tonality as well. So, as popular as this pairing may be among the general populace, 'pedigreed' or not, unless you use dedicated EQs for each pickup, there isn't much you can do to achieve your objective. And then there's the amp, but read on.

I know I'm going off on a tangent here but if I were you, here's what I'd do:

You have to strike a balance. See, the heavier the sound you try to achieve, the versatility will take a hit if the pickups are TOO powerful and 'dedicated' so to speak towards this one objective. Inversely, if you want versatility, the pickup must have a wide dynamic range too and naturally, not be so 'conservative' that it is essentially, ineffective for a wide range of applications. So, most powerful and/or 'anemic' simply won't do.

Most of all, the pair's tonality and output MUST BE COMPATIBLE WITH EACH OTHER so you don't find yourself prioritizing when setting your amp, forced to clearly favor one pickup over the other to achieve it's maximum tonality where the one wins out, the other loses out, sounds awful and when both pickups are on, at best, the sound is grudgingly tolerable. This favoring situation is unbelievably common with twin HB guitars because players often don't think along the lines I am 'preaching' now.

In your particular situation (and I speak from first hand experience), without hesitation I'd put a Duncan Custom in the bridge position and a Duncan Pearly Gates in the neck position. You will get the "teeth" when you need it and the guitar will have the ability to clean up quite nicely too and BOTH have a most complimentary PAF tonality of themselves and toward each other. The Custom is loosely speaking, twice the output of the Pearly Gates so again, you'll get a 'heavier' PAF sound from the Custom and a nice, versatile and singing PAF sound from the Pearly Gates with a slight extension of the higher end which is so vital in terms of taking the fart out of the neck pickup and giving it a a solid high end which too many PAF type pickups lack. At the risk of being redundant, this pickup pairing does not nor cannot lose their identities as they are of the SAME inherent tonality. By necessity, they balance well with each other.

Needless to say, you will have to experiment with your amp as whatever settings you are used to with your JB/Jazz combo will be right out but once you've got it all dialed in, you are set!

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You dig?

Wow, Thank you for all the information! I'll definately have to look into the pearly gates and the custom... and would that be the custom sh-5 sh-11 or the sh-14?

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Playing your guitar is an addiction after your first riff you just can't stop. Kind of like raisins you taste one then eat them by the handful.
-Oldpat

You're quite welcome.

It would be the SH-5.

Don't let anyone talk you into either one of the other two.

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You dig?

alright cool, thanks alot again.

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Playing your guitar is an addiction after your first riff you just can't stop. Kind of like raisins you taste one then eat them by the handful.
-Oldpat