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I think we should take a minute and admire the JB and Distortion, two 40+ year old pickup designs that still hang and chug in 2022. The EMG81 is no youngster either. For me it's a tie between the JB and Nazgûl.
I still use a JB in two of my guitars. Thick and dirty, but cutting at the same time. Now, it doesn't do cleans or classic break up tones as well as it does distortion tone, but that's why we have MANY guitars, right? 😁
I could barely hear any differences this time around, other than the Seymour Duncan Distortion, which I think was my favorite last time as well. And even that was small. I think Pick material and thickness make a much bigger difference in tone than anything I heard in the Pickups. I was surprised by how similar the Pickups sounded. Thanks
@@picksalot1 yikes, might need to test your hearing. I know I have some minor hearing damage, but I can hear the difference in most of them. That said, the Duncan Distortion stood out to me the most as well. the rest seem to have a mid boost, but that one has the most highs to my ears.
The differences were definitely in line with what I heard in the shootout with Helix Native. I guess modelling software/hardware is the easiest thing to point fingers at when people don't hear what they're expecting to.
Crazy how much sound is subjective. Reading these comments about how people liked the Fishmans the least and im here thinking about how they were far and away my favorite. Great video.
This video confirmed for me that I am not a fan of the Fluence sound. The 81's sounds better than I want to admit and the SD Dist may be too much for me.
Some things to consider is how you listened to the video, phone speaker, headphones or bigger speakers make a difference, the quality of headphones comes into play too. The eq settings may also not be to your taste, then there are stomp boxes and the guitars themselves make a small difference and the cab and speakers make a huge difference. Videos like this give a very, very rough idea to judge from. I have guitars with EMG 81/88, 57/66, Fluence Moderns and Seymour SDs and I get great sounds out of all of them on my 6505. My favorite set is the 57/66 but the Fluence are right up there with them.
I have confirmed this firsthand. Fishman Fluence Moderns are just the 'hip' thing nowadays when it comes to actives for metal and Fishman's aggressive marketing and the signing of many renowned ex-EMG-using metal guitarists supports this a lot. But really, when it comes to all out clarity and attack on high gain especially for death metal, the EMG 81 still trumps the fishman moderns.
@@shadowalk The Fluences seem to lack confidence in the high gain tones - especially when palm muting. Not quite “fizzy” but definitely leaning that way. The EMGs just power through like bulls.
Scrolled down to comments to listen blind. When that chugging riff was going on one of the pickups, I had to scroll up because, damn it sounded the best. It was the EMG 81.
The Duncan Nazgul was the clear winner for me in this pickup shootout. The highs were quite clear and open for a hot pickup, but the razor sharp midrange seemed to have the most bite without getting over-compressed and man, were those palm mutes heavy thanks to that tight bottom end that Duncans always excel at! Nice job as always Jon! keep up the great work.
That's a great tune you came up with for the demonstration. I've been rewinding and jamming leads along with it on my guitar over and over. Great riff.
The biggest factors for tone are the speakers, the cab its in and the amp going into it, and of course mics and mic placement. The pickups absolutely do matter, its about how you hit the amp and your pedals, and its also about how the pickups feel to play, but that all has far less impact on the tone, especially because these pickups arent worlds apart in terms of what they do or are meant for so they wont sound massively different at all unlike if someone were to compare something like a low output single coil, a tv pickup and a high output humbucker, then there would be a much bigger difference.
Nazgul for me with the 6505. Just the most satisfying, powerful, yet tight crunch for me (in the high gain tests) and surprisingly not too harsh (Duncan Distortions had something slightly harsh going on in the attack). Fishman active mode sounded too boxy and EMGs a little too wooly for my taste on this amp. Fishman passive not bad though, just not as satisfying as Nazgul. JB a little softer - more lower mids (or at least mid mids) than Nazgul.
No matter how many comparisons I have seen, when I see these videos pop up in my suggestions I can’t help but click. I believe I have become a tone snob, I think this is the definitive sign of that fact. These videos are excellently done and I be turning is always time stamped and the visual aids let you know exactly what equipment you are hearing. This is how every comparison video should be done.
I agree with your assessment. I thought the SD pickups killed it but they were all good. I'd rank them as JB, Nazgul, Distortion, 81/81TW (same to me), Fluence passive, Fluence active.
Perfect comparison! It really goes to show that as long as the pickups aren't microphonic, they sound close enough that it really doesn't matter much when you consider amps have EQ and gain controls which can make up for the minute shifts in pickup tone - Conclusion - Pickups matter less than the pickup companies want you to know ;)
Not at all. Pickups make a significant difference, they determine when you go into breakup, how much volume you need to breakup and how hard you breakup and eventually distort, that by itself can make one amp sound totally different from playing another set of pickups on it. If a pickup adds low or high end that means ou will get to different points to where you can't take away that high or low. Can I play metal on a low output pickup, yeah I could but I'm going to need a ton more volume to breakup and more gain to distort. On top of that if I'm out playing and I want something with more punch in the low end its a hell of a lot easier to switch guitars to a pickup that does it rather than saying "sorry people I'm gonna have to fuck with my eq for a minute". Oh and of course these are going to have more nuanced differences, they are pups from different brands designed to go for a similar sound.
For me the Duncan JB has more rounded and warmer tone than the others, the Nazgul was pretty close to it. My Jackson DK2 has Duncan 59 and JB pickups and I'm very happy with that combo
The JB's and the distortions are a tie for the win in my book. The Nazguls would be up there but they just don't have the bite on the palm mutes. Hence why my explorer has Black Winters instead :) Fave pickup in the world right there.
Another idea if you haven't already done it with the EMGs is to run them at 9 vs 24 volts as well to avoid their preamp clipping which contributes to the compression Can also play with swapping them for a 57 or 81X since they're all solderless
I‘m listening to this on an iPad, so a pretty lofi environment, and the differences seem minute as soon as distortion is involved. But one thing that I noticed is that in all cases I preferred the passive setting of the Fishman over the active one. Overall I found them relatively weak in comparison, given the praise that they are given all over the net.
There's so many pickups out there today but I still find the SDs that have been around since dinosaurs roamed the earth like the JB are still so relevant.
besides the pickup factor, we should point out the player behind the guitar. That's some great and steady playing that brings out the sound of all the sound chain.
That was a really great. What was interesting was that I liked different pickups depending on the riffs. Heavy 1, 2 and 3, each had different winners to my ears! Keep this sort of thing coming!
@_ MySilentBlue I don't know how is this thing called in Ukrainian. And I'm not even sure it exists here. Done the mod btw. Couldn't hear a difference. Will be recording ab test tomorrow and will see if it was all worth it:)
The heart of the tone is in the speaker, spectre sounds studios did a whole study on, speakers, tubes, wood all the stuff people claim effect tone. The speaker is the heart then the amp, then pickups, then strings. But using ir packs for a cab doesnt give as accurate results as a live cab with a mic on on it. It doesnt sound bad but its not the same. That being said the Jb is my favorite of all time the distortions are nice too, But everything thru a 5150 into v30s is gonna sound about the same
I think that the Helix actually highlighted the differences more. The pickups sounded more similar through the 6505, but still had some differences and characteristics that I noticed in the Helix comparison as well. My biggest takeaway from this is confirmation that I don't particularly like the EMG 81 because the mids sound really weird and notes don't ring out as clearly as the other pickups. My other big takeaway is just how well the Duncan JB and Distortion aged, and that they sound good for modern music, but having tried the JB, there are better options for low tunings. The Distortion was my favorite pickup here, followed pretty closely by the Nazgul and then the Fishman Modern Passive voicing.
Let's Goooooo! The Fluence Modern (Active) wins hands down, and it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the fact that I have a set. 🙂 Actually, they were all pretty close but the Duncan Distortion was noticeably... brighter? More articulate? Edit - Yeah, relistening to the isolated tracks, the Fluence (Active) and the Duncan Distortion were my favorites, followed closely by the Nazgul.
I've been playing a Nazgul for about 2 years now and I love it. Great midrange for super heavy downtuned chugs. The JB is a classic, though, and I think that might be the pickup I put in my next mod guitar. The Distortion was a little bright for my taste but still sounded great!! Awesome comparison between a ton of heavy hitter pickups!!
The Nazgul sounds amazing, like a hi fi smoother version of JB. The 81 TW has a nice growl. Fluence sounds compressed and a little tame. The distortion has the most mids and is very edgy...punk. The Nazgul has great harmonics of the JB but slightly more even, smooth...the best all around. The JB and 81s speak to why they are so iconic with distortion.
Great video. I could definitely hear the differences in the pickups. Although I have no experience with the Fishmans personally, I was left really unimpressed with them in this demo. I personally liked the JB and EMG (which is surprising because I have become sort of sick of EMGs as of late). Great video!
To me, everything between the JB & the Distortion sound more like each other than they do the JB or the Distortion. The JB and Distortion sound like their own thing where the others all sounded like variations on the same theme. They were all tighter & perhaps more compressed than those 2. And on the isolated Heavy 3 the Distortion was absolutely slamming the heck out of the amp compared to the others. I have the Distortion, Nazgul, & 81 in (very) different guitars; they all do their thing, but the Distortion is special to me.
liked the video straight before watching, your content is THAT good and useful! thanks for this part 2, always interesting to hear. still partial to passives, and specifically the JB. have to admit that the Nazgul has an interesting low end though. I think the Distortion through a 5150 sounds too much compressed and thin.
In the mix it was hard to really hear the difference. But isolated, I liked the distorsion the most! The Nazgul had something going on which I didn't like which suprised me a bit. Anyway, great video as always!
all of them sounds very good. After a lot of years playing with active EMG 81, I bought an american Jackson RR1T with Duncan JB and Felt more clarity and definition. If you use Hi Gain amp, pasive pickups don’t are a prinlem, because you hace in the amp enough gain and EQ to find a very good metal tone. Pasive pickups give you the best of two worlds. In my experience, after some months since I bought the Jackson I changed the tune to Drop C and I realized that JB with tune didn’t give a high definition with power chords using a lot og strings, I changed the pickups and I installed BareKnuckles Juggernaut (pasive with high out put) and I got a very good tone for alternative tunes. Active pickups in this vídeo, may be sound criminal in palmuting, and cut very good in the mix in this situation, but after all, guitar is an expresion instrument, even metal can be explored in differents ways. So after all these words, my opinión is the combination of pasive pickups with hi out put and hi gain amp is totally brutal in any situation, any stile and any tune. So for me in this vídeos pasive fishman is the winer. Good balance, transparent in clean tone and aggressive tone with good definition in distortion. Any way, all these pickups are very good. Depend how strong you play, how tune your gear.
It’s been a while since I watched the first video but I actually feel like I noticed less differences between them with the tube amp honestly. JB still sounds the best to me probably though and I think that was the case last time as well.
How in the world do you only have 44k subs??? You need to do some advertising man. Your channel is too good for gear nerds, to not have a larger audience. I mean seriously, the amount of time you spend time stamping a video like this... come on.
I agree, although I have come to realise for all the dissing EMG take, they are great sounding pickups, I only have one guitar with EMG retroactives, and I love the sound of the guitar straight int the amp, they are definitely more compressed, but I guess that is something I really like.
My reply is like in the other video. Rocking a Duncan Distortion in my 2001 LP Std since 2003. Never looked back! Almost too heavy (nah...). Had to remove my pickguard to compensate...
ironically i changed my 7 string and my 8 string to EMG 81's after i got my explorer with EMG 81s because they made me fall in love. But my other 6 & 7 both have duncan job's in them because i find that to be the best passive pickup on the planet. Thanks for this bro, great vid as usual.
That top-end snarl on the Duncan Distortion really stands out. It kind of makes me wonder how a Black Winter would fare in this comparison, since it has a similar character. That said, the JB and the EMG 81s seemed the most consistent.
The black winter are basically hotter and tighter (low end) JBs, with a bit more gnarly mids. If you always wanted your JBs more aggressive and better fitting for lower tunings, the Black Winter are for you.
I'm listening out of order -- I watched the recto vid first. I have to say, the recto is such a distinct sound, it's almost too distinct; I feel like there's more recto sound than there is guitar/pickup sound. Of course, that distinct sound is a holy grail for lots of people, but not as much for me. The 6505 on the other hand, to my ear, allows for a lot more nuance to come through. I could tell a lot more difference between the pickups on this video. Just like on the last video, I love the Duncans, especially the JB. The nazgul isn't my sound, but I prefer it to the fishmans. And the distortion is hot as hell. Emg's sound like Killswitch engage end of heartache era -- a nostalgic sound again, but not my favorite. The fishmans don't really do anything for me. Again, great video!
Sick vid as always. Great to hear these pickups through the 6505. Man the FF sounds so damn good through it, though they're all really good. Good amp for the test as it's a great amp without a boost and it really allows the pickups to shine and get their true voicing through. Still thinking how good that FF sounded.
always loved the JB, especially in Les Pauls. Now, Im a bit partial to their Pearly gates- like a JB with a pinch more top end- sounds better on cleans. But the JB is good on EVERYTHING.
Dimarzio Dominion FTW! LOL Seriously, I love the JB and the 81 and now moreso the Distortion, but you gotta give the Dominion a go. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. And I would love to hear you play it!
EMG still the king of actives imo. Half my guitars have them, the other half have Bare Knuckles 🤘Also I truly believe nothing compares to the clean tone of an EMG
I think an interesting pickup shoot out would be to compare the same pickup in different string configs. 6 vs 7 vs 8. Not sure if you have right guitars for that. Wouldn't be fair to use a 25.5 scale for the 6 and a 26.5/27 for the 7/8.
I have guitars with both a JB and a Nazgul so this was interesting to compare. The Distortion blew me away, insane bite and clarity, just amazing. Surprisingly disappointed with Fishman, sounds quite dull. Positively surprised with EMGs.
every pickup sounded wonderful to me except the Duncan distortion. It sounded horrible to my ears, just my opinion of course. I know tons of people who swear by those pups and that's cool. On the other hand the other pickups were awesome!! I still have yet to dig into the active pickup territory, but those fishmans and emgs sounded very cool. Im a long time fan of the JB, I have them in two of my guitars and just love it. The nazgul just has an awesome name! hahah been wanting to try that pickup as well. Great stuff Jon!
Great video and all of them sound decent but none of them has the type of character/mid-range attack that I feel so happy about every time I pick up my Misha Mansoor signature guitar with Juggernauts in it. They‘re just different and probably my favorite pickups of all time.
I still like the JB for the clean sounds between all of the SD's. If all you want to do is chug, the Nazgul would probably be best bet. I do like the range in the SD Distortion sounds in the gain settings. Makes me question my JB choice for a guitar I have that needs better pickups.
This amp combined with the emg81 is tough to beat I believe. Classic metal combo. The sd distortion is usually my favorite pickup but it sounds a bit harsh with this amp in these clips. Usually I prefer the distortion over the jb but not in these clips. Maybe its the amp voicing that accentuate the resonant peak of this pickup? (I believe you could have set the amp a bit darker to balance, but you have not adjusted the amp to each pickups, for the comparison.)
Still love the JBs after all these years. Maybe because that's just what I've always played and I fear change? I dunno. The Nazgul and the Fishman passive also sound really good to me.
There’s a thunderous chug on the Duncan’s at the low end that don’t exist on the EMG’s and Fishman’s. Once you hear it, you can’t unhear it. Maybe the 6505 is better acc accenting the passive pickups along with the IR, maybe this would be different with different speakers.
I went back and listen on better headphones and a device that had support for the Opus codec, that really pushed the Fishmans up the rankings. My new take is 1. Fishman Fluence Modern 2. Seymour Duncan Distortion 3. Seymour Duncan Nazgul The EMG’s were better but I don’t know if the low end was my cup of tea but they are still a great choice for things like thrash.
You should really try bareknuckle juggernauts😀 they’re some of the best passive pickups I’ve tried. For clean stuff I prefer the musicman single coil stuff 😊
Honestly, if you listen to this without looking to know when the pickups changed, you almost never hear a difference, and certainly not one that any non-musician listening to one's songs would ever hear.
Honestly, with my eyes closed, I could not differentiate them. I do not have cheap headphones, yet the differences (if any) are barely noticeable. RUclips audio compression is probably part of the problem, but also, all of those pickups are probably just great pickups.
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I think we should take a minute and admire the JB and Distortion, two 40+ year old pickup designs that still hang and chug in 2022. The EMG81 is no youngster either.
For me it's a tie between the JB and Nazgûl.
I still use a JB in two of my guitars. Thick and dirty, but cutting at the same time. Now, it doesn't do cleans or classic break up tones as well as it does distortion tone, but that's why we have MANY guitars, right? 😁
Spot on. JB and Nazgûl
I really like the thrashy sound of the JB!
Agree. I personally have the Nazgul and 81 in some of guitars, but this video made me consider trying a JB out. Sounds pretty sick.
@@jihamiya5755 my only issue with the JB is that when you get to tunings below drop C it starts to get muddy without some post eq.
That JB and Nazgul sound incredible. WOW.
This pickup sounds brutal and really clear on the highs 🤘
I could barely hear any differences this time around, other than the Seymour Duncan Distortion, which I think was my favorite last time as well. And even that was small.
I think Pick material and thickness make a much bigger difference in tone than anything I heard in the Pickups. I was surprised by how similar the Pickups sounded. Thanks
they also sound quite different through my headphones! What were you listening through?
@@DelScully Monitoring Headphones.
@@picksalot1 yikes, might need to test your hearing. I know I have some minor hearing damage, but I can hear the difference in most of them. That said, the Duncan Distortion stood out to me the most as well. the rest seem to have a mid boost, but that one has the most highs to my ears.
The differences were definitely in line with what I heard in the shootout with Helix Native. I guess modelling software/hardware is the easiest thing to point fingers at when people don't hear what they're expecting to.
Yes, good point
Jb is sick, i would say its superior cuz its sounds good on everything not only metal.
JB is my favorite, followed by Nazgul. They all sounded decent, if I had to pick a least favorite I'd say Fishman.
Agreed.
I admire the work that goes into this and subtle differences we can hear, but I wonder how much RUclips compresses the audio once it gets to us.
Crazy how much sound is subjective. Reading these comments about how people liked the Fishmans the least and im here thinking about how they were far and away my favorite. Great video.
This video confirmed for me that I am not a fan of the Fluence sound. The 81's sounds better than I want to admit and the SD Dist may be too much for me.
Some things to consider is how you listened to the video, phone speaker, headphones or bigger speakers make a difference, the quality of headphones comes into play too. The eq settings may also not be to your taste, then there are stomp boxes and the guitars themselves make a small difference and the cab and speakers make a huge difference. Videos like this give a very, very rough idea to judge from. I have guitars with EMG 81/88, 57/66, Fluence Moderns and Seymour SDs and I get great sounds out of all of them on my 6505. My favorite set is the 57/66 but the Fluence are right up there with them.
I have confirmed this firsthand. Fishman Fluence Moderns are just the 'hip' thing nowadays when it comes to actives for metal and Fishman's aggressive marketing and the signing of many renowned ex-EMG-using metal guitarists supports this a lot. But really, when it comes to all out clarity and attack on high gain especially for death metal, the EMG 81 still trumps the fishman moderns.
@@shadowalk The Fluences seem to lack confidence in the high gain tones - especially when palm muting. Not quite “fizzy” but definitely leaning that way. The EMGs just power through like bulls.
Scrolled down to comments to listen blind. When that chugging riff was going on one of the pickups, I had to scroll up because, damn it sounded the best. It was the EMG 81.
EMG81 and Fishman Modern are my Jam. JB didnt sound bad either.
The Duncan Nazgul was the clear winner for me in this pickup shootout. The highs were quite clear and open for a hot pickup, but the razor sharp midrange seemed to have the most bite without getting over-compressed and man, were those palm mutes heavy thanks to that tight bottom end that Duncans always excel at! Nice job as always Jon! keep up the great work.
That clean riff at the beginning is just one of the best clean riffs ever.
The whole track is something special
I love the Nazgul. The bottom end thump is great.
Yeah they have really thick but tight chugs
The low mids too *chef's kiss*
@@EliPorterMahn right. I downtune to Cstandard and my Nazgûl’s keep tight when most others sag. They are far better than my Emgs.
Nazgûl’s absolutely rip, my fav of them all
That's a great tune you came up with for the demonstration. I've been rewinding and jamming leads along with it on my guitar over and over. Great riff.
A comparison with the SD Black Winter would have been nice. The black winter are basically hotter and tighter JBs with gnarly mids.
The black winter is a badass pickup
I'm really taking a liking to the Nazgul. Something about what it does to the high mid range is incredibly unique and fantastic sounding.
The biggest factors for tone are the speakers, the cab its in and the amp going into it, and of course mics and mic placement. The pickups absolutely do matter, its about how you hit the amp and your pedals, and its also about how the pickups feel to play, but that all has far less impact on the tone, especially because these pickups arent worlds apart in terms of what they do or are meant for so they wont sound massively different at all unlike if someone were to compare something like a low output single coil, a tv pickup and a high output humbucker, then there would be a much bigger difference.
Nazgul for me with the 6505. Just the most satisfying, powerful, yet tight crunch for me (in the high gain tests) and surprisingly not too harsh (Duncan Distortions had something slightly harsh going on in the attack). Fishman active mode sounded too boxy and EMGs a little too wooly for my taste on this amp. Fishman passive not bad though, just not as satisfying as Nazgul. JB a little softer - more lower mids (or at least mid mids) than Nazgul.
I concur dear sir. The distortions are set up to be mid and high heavy and much less bass.
I’m shocked the JB and Nazgûl are so similar.
Really loving the Duncan Distortion sound. Didn’t expect that.
No matter how many comparisons I have seen, when I see these videos pop up in my suggestions I can’t help but click. I believe I have become a tone snob, I think this is the definitive sign of that fact.
These videos are excellently done and I be turning is always time stamped and the visual aids let you know exactly what equipment you are hearing. This is how every comparison video should be done.
I agree with your assessment. I thought the SD pickups killed it but they were all good. I'd rank them as JB, Nazgul, Distortion, 81/81TW (same to me), Fluence passive, Fluence active.
Perfect comparison! It really goes to show that as long as the pickups aren't microphonic, they sound close enough that it really doesn't matter much when you consider amps have EQ and gain controls which can make up for the minute shifts in pickup tone - Conclusion - Pickups matter less than the pickup companies want you to know ;)
Not at all. Pickups make a significant difference, they determine when you go into breakup, how much volume you need to breakup and how hard you breakup and eventually distort, that by itself can make one amp sound totally different from playing another set of pickups on it. If a pickup adds low or high end that means ou will get to different points to where you can't take away that high or low. Can I play metal on a low output pickup, yeah I could but I'm going to need a ton more volume to breakup and more gain to distort. On top of that if I'm out playing and I want something with more punch in the low end its a hell of a lot easier to switch guitars to a pickup that does it rather than saying "sorry people I'm gonna have to fuck with my eq for a minute". Oh and of course these are going to have more nuanced differences, they are pups from different brands designed to go for a similar sound.
For me the Duncan JB has more rounded and warmer tone than the others, the Nazgul was pretty close to it. My Jackson DK2 has Duncan 59 and JB pickups and I'm very happy with that combo
That's a classic combo. I run that same thing my Les Paul and tune to Drop C
The JB's and the distortions are a tie for the win in my book. The Nazguls would be up there but they just don't have the bite on the palm mutes. Hence why my explorer has Black Winters instead :) Fave pickup in the world right there.
you just cant go wrong with a JB my friend.
Another idea if you haven't already done it with the EMGs is to run them at 9 vs 24 volts as well to avoid their preamp clipping which contributes to the compression
Can also play with swapping them for a 57 or 81X since they're all solderless
As always, the SD JB sounds the best.
JB surprised me. I'm happy this vid came out. I needed this. Trying to decide pick ups for a custom build H S configuration is so difficult.
I‘m listening to this on an iPad, so a pretty lofi environment, and the differences seem minute as soon as distortion is involved. But one thing that I noticed is that in all cases I preferred the passive setting of the Fishman over the active one. Overall I found them relatively weak in comparison, given the praise that they are given all over the net.
There's so many pickups out there today but I still find the SDs that have been around since dinosaurs roamed the earth like the JB are still so relevant.
besides the pickup factor, we should point out the player behind the guitar. That's some great and steady playing that brings out the sound of all the sound chain.
That was a really great. What was interesting was that I liked different pickups depending on the riffs. Heavy 1, 2 and 3, each had different winners to my ears! Keep this sort of thing coming!
If you have EMGs then you must get the 24 volt mod. It makes a difference.
the 24 volt mod is so good
Will be doing 18v today since there is no room for the 3rd battery
@@dmytrotarasov9477 they sell a 24v pack with 21/23 batteries that fit into a standard 9 volt pocket.
@_ MySilentBlue I don't know how is this thing called in Ukrainian. And I'm not even sure it exists here. Done the mod btw. Couldn't hear a difference.
Will be recording ab test tomorrow and will see if it was all worth it:)
The heart of the tone is in the speaker, spectre sounds studios did a whole study on, speakers, tubes, wood all the stuff people claim effect tone. The speaker is the heart then the amp, then pickups, then strings. But using ir packs for a cab doesnt give as accurate results as a live cab with a mic on on it. It doesnt sound bad but its not the same. That being said the Jb is my favorite of all time the distortions are nice too, But everything thru a 5150 into v30s is gonna sound about the same
Have a JB and a 59 run out of phase on a hamer studio archtop. I can't imagine the axe without them. The Duncans are perfect for LP's.
The Duncan JB still sounds so awesome after all these years :)
It has such great upper harmonics that make it shine played cleanly. It's a very complex sound.
Dumcan Distortion did it for me. JB never disappoints
I think that the Helix actually highlighted the differences more. The pickups sounded more similar through the 6505, but still had some differences and characteristics that I noticed in the Helix comparison as well.
My biggest takeaway from this is confirmation that I don't particularly like the EMG 81 because the mids sound really weird and notes don't ring out as clearly as the other pickups.
My other big takeaway is just how well the Duncan JB and Distortion aged, and that they sound good for modern music, but having tried the JB, there are better options for low tunings.
The Distortion was my favorite pickup here, followed pretty closely by the Nazgul and then the Fishman Modern Passive voicing.
Let's Goooooo! The Fluence Modern (Active) wins hands down, and it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the fact that I have a set. 🙂 Actually, they were all pretty close but the Duncan Distortion was noticeably... brighter? More articulate?
Edit - Yeah, relistening to the isolated tracks, the Fluence (Active) and the Duncan Distortion were my favorites, followed closely by the Nazgul.
Can we all give a round of applause for the JB? A 40+ year old pickup that still sounds good in modern music.
I've been playing a Nazgul for about 2 years now and I love it. Great midrange for super heavy downtuned chugs. The JB is a classic, though, and I think that might be the pickup I put in my next mod guitar. The Distortion was a little bright for my taste but still sounded great!! Awesome comparison between a ton of heavy hitter pickups!!
The Nazgul sounds amazing, like a hi fi smoother version of JB. The 81 TW has a nice growl. Fluence sounds compressed and a little tame. The distortion has the most mids and is very edgy...punk. The Nazgul has great harmonics of the JB but slightly more even, smooth...the best all around. The JB and 81s speak to why they are so iconic with distortion.
Man just when I was thinking of watching your other video you make this too! Great comparison and I reallllly love your playing style
The JB has such great cut and midrange, and the massive low end of the EMG 81 can really be heard, but it's stils tight. Thank you for this video.
I wanted to hear Mark Tremont's pickup in these comparisons a lot of people speak well of him .very good your videos great work 🇧🇷👇✌️🤘
Great video. I could definitely hear the differences in the pickups. Although I have no experience with the Fishmans personally, I was left really unimpressed with them in this demo. I personally liked the JB and EMG (which is surprising because I have become sort of sick of EMGs as of late). Great video!
To me, everything between the JB & the Distortion sound more like each other than they do the JB or the Distortion. The JB and Distortion sound like their own thing where the others all sounded like variations on the same theme. They were all tighter & perhaps more compressed than those 2. And on the isolated Heavy 3 the Distortion was absolutely slamming the heck out of the amp compared to the others.
I have the Distortion, Nazgul, & 81 in (very) different guitars; they all do their thing, but the Distortion is special to me.
Those Seymour Duncan Distortion pickups sound nasty AF. I might have to pick a pair up and toss in an old guitar.
liked the video straight before watching, your content is THAT good and useful! thanks for this part 2, always interesting to hear. still partial to passives, and specifically the JB. have to admit that the Nazgul has an interesting low end though. I think the Distortion through a 5150 sounds too much compressed and thin.
Can I just say, what a close comparison. Very surprised by the Duncan Distortion. They all sound good though. But that that 81...damn
Ok so these are my favourite pickups all in one video I think tuning matters quite a lot however in this tuning
1Fishman active
2Emg 81
3SD JB
In the mix it was hard to really hear the difference. But isolated, I liked the distorsion the most! The Nazgul had something going on which I didn't like which suprised me a bit. Anyway, great video as always!
all of them sounds very good. After a lot of years playing with active EMG 81, I bought an american Jackson RR1T with Duncan JB and Felt more clarity and definition. If you use Hi Gain amp, pasive pickups don’t are a prinlem, because you hace in the amp enough gain and EQ to find a very good metal tone. Pasive pickups give you the best of two worlds. In my experience, after some months since I bought the Jackson I changed the tune to Drop C and I realized that JB with tune didn’t give a high definition with power chords using a lot og strings, I changed the pickups and I installed BareKnuckles Juggernaut (pasive with high out put) and I got a very good tone for alternative tunes. Active pickups in this vídeo, may be sound criminal in palmuting, and cut very good in the mix in this situation, but after all, guitar is an expresion instrument, even metal can be explored in differents ways. So after all these words, my opinión is the combination of pasive pickups with hi out put and hi gain amp is totally brutal in any situation, any stile and any tune. So for me in this vídeos pasive fishman is the winer. Good balance, transparent in clean tone and aggressive tone with good definition in distortion. Any way, all these pickups are very good. Depend how strong you play, how tune your gear.
It’s been a while since I watched the first video but I actually feel like I noticed less differences between them with the tube amp honestly. JB still sounds the best to me probably though and I think that was the case last time as well.
Does the tube amp make a difference? Are the differences between the pickups more obvious? Let me know! -Jon
How in the world do you only have 44k subs??? You need to do some advertising man. Your channel is too good for gear nerds, to not have a larger audience. I mean seriously, the amount of time you spend time stamping a video like this... come on.
I agree, although I have come to realise for all the dissing EMG take, they are great sounding pickups, I only have one guitar with EMG retroactives, and I love the sound of the guitar straight int the amp, they are definitely more compressed, but I guess that is something I really like.
My reply is like in the other video.
Rocking a Duncan Distortion in my 2001 LP Std since 2003. Never looked back!
Almost too heavy (nah...). Had to remove my pickguard to compensate...
ironically i changed my 7 string and my 8 string to EMG 81's after i got my explorer with EMG 81s because they made me fall in love. But my other 6 & 7 both have duncan job's in them because i find that to be the best passive pickup on the planet. Thanks for this bro, great vid as usual.
That top-end snarl on the Duncan Distortion really stands out. It kind of makes me wonder how a Black Winter would fare in this comparison, since it has a similar character. That said, the JB and the EMG 81s seemed the most consistent.
The black winter are basically hotter and tighter (low end) JBs, with a bit more gnarly mids. If you always wanted your JBs more aggressive and better fitting for lower tunings, the Black Winter are for you.
Distortion is my favorite, has that clear piano-like tone I want from a pickup!
I'm listening out of order -- I watched the recto vid first. I have to say, the recto is such a distinct sound, it's almost too distinct; I feel like there's more recto sound than there is guitar/pickup sound. Of course, that distinct sound is a holy grail for lots of people, but not as much for me.
The 6505 on the other hand, to my ear, allows for a lot more nuance to come through. I could tell a lot more difference between the pickups on this video. Just like on the last video, I love the Duncans, especially the JB. The nazgul isn't my sound, but I prefer it to the fishmans. And the distortion is hot as hell.
Emg's sound like Killswitch engage end of heartache era -- a nostalgic sound again, but not my favorite.
The fishmans don't really do anything for me.
Again, great video!
I'm listening through my studio monitor rig, and I cant tell any significant difference !
JB and Nazgul were my favourite same as in the previous video.
were the measurements made at the same attraction of the moon?
Tip: Nazguls sound best when they suddenly squeak in the middle of a dark new moon night.
Sick vid as always. Great to hear these pickups through the 6505. Man the FF sounds so damn good through it, though they're all really good. Good amp for the test as it's a great amp without a boost and it really allows the pickups to shine and get their true voicing through. Still thinking how good that FF sounded.
always loved the JB, especially in Les Pauls. Now, Im a bit partial to their Pearly gates- like a JB with a pinch more top end- sounds better on cleans. But the JB is good on EVERYTHING.
I had a SD ‘59 and an SD JB in an ESP LTD 1000 Deluxe. It’s a great combination.
JB best. Making me want to pull the fluence out of my Phoenix.
Dimarzio Dominion FTW! LOL Seriously, I love the JB and the 81 and now moreso the Distortion, but you gotta give the Dominion a go. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. And I would love to hear you play it!
Great comparison. I absolutely love nazguls on 7 string guitars
EMG still the king of actives imo. Half my guitars have them, the other half have Bare Knuckles 🤘Also I truly believe nothing compares to the clean tone of an EMG
I think an interesting pickup shoot out would be to compare the same pickup in different string configs. 6 vs 7 vs 8. Not sure if you have right guitars for that. Wouldn't be fair to use a 25.5 scale for the 6 and a 26.5/27 for the 7/8.
I have guitars with both a JB and a Nazgul so this was interesting to compare. The Distortion blew me away, insane bite and clarity, just amazing. Surprisingly disappointed with Fishman, sounds quite dull. Positively surprised with EMGs.
every pickup sounded wonderful to me except the Duncan distortion. It sounded horrible to my ears, just my opinion of course. I know tons of people who swear by those pups and that's cool.
On the other hand the other pickups were awesome!! I still have yet to dig into the active pickup territory, but those fishmans and emgs sounded very cool. Im a long time fan of the JB, I have them in two of my guitars and just love it. The nazgul just has an awesome name! hahah been wanting to try that pickup as well. Great stuff Jon!
Great video and all of them sound decent but none of them has the type of character/mid-range attack that I feel so happy about every time I pick up my Misha Mansoor signature guitar with Juggernauts in it. They‘re just different and probably my favorite pickups of all time.
All the SDs sounded close but as in my own testing I found the active pickups lacking.
The differences seem to be small enough just to fix is with an EQ
I still like the JB for the clean sounds between all of the SD's. If all you want to do is chug, the Nazgul would probably be best bet. I do like the range in the SD Distortion sounds in the gain settings. Makes me question my JB choice for a guitar I have that needs better pickups.
This amp combined with the emg81 is tough to beat I believe. Classic metal combo.
The sd distortion is usually my favorite pickup but it sounds a bit harsh with this amp in these clips. Usually I prefer the distortion over the jb but not in these clips. Maybe its the amp voicing that accentuate the resonant peak of this pickup? (I believe you could have set the amp a bit darker to balance, but you have not adjusted the amp to each pickups, for the comparison.)
The emg81 it's still unrivaled for me: it has that tight low mid bark that is just more pleasant, instead of those brittle ear-piercing pickups.
Still love the JBs after all these years. Maybe because that's just what I've always played and I fear change? I dunno. The Nazgul and the Fishman passive also sound really good to me.
Nazgul for me. The thickest (as opposed to fuzziest) distortion. Also a bit of a low pass filter it seems.
There’s a thunderous chug on the Duncan’s at the low end that don’t exist on the EMG’s and Fishman’s. Once you hear it, you can’t unhear it. Maybe the 6505 is better acc accenting the passive pickups along with the IR, maybe this would be different with different speakers.
EMGs definitely have a low cut! That helps them sound more tight
@@SonicDriveStudio That could also be due to hearing frequency not projected by the headphones I have that are lower than the Duncan’s.
I went back and listen on better headphones and a device that had support for the Opus codec, that really pushed the Fishmans up the rankings. My new take is
1. Fishman Fluence Modern
2. Seymour Duncan Distortion
3. Seymour Duncan Nazgul
The EMG’s were better but I don’t know if the low end was my cup of tea but they are still a great choice for things like thrash.
I liked the JB and the Distortion. EMG 81TW came in 3rd. None are really bad. 👍🏼
For all the praise I get for Fishman, I would expect better but the EMG and SD (mainly the Nazgûl) blew them out of the water.
JB for the win, followed by Distortion. Would like to hear an EMG Het Set though; much better than EMG 81 IMO (I have both)
Never gave the JB a second thought but for my taste it easily wins this in all areas, im surprised.
You should really try bareknuckle juggernauts😀 they’re some of the best passive pickups I’ve tried. For clean stuff I prefer the musicman single coil stuff 😊
Cool Song but i cant hear No differends between the pickups
Honestly, if you listen to this without looking to know when the pickups changed, you almost never hear a difference, and certainly not one that any non-musician listening to one's songs would ever hear.
Honestly, with my eyes closed, I could not differentiate them. I do not have cheap headphones, yet the differences (if any) are barely noticeable.
RUclips audio compression is probably part of the problem, but also, all of those pickups are probably just great pickups.
I like the Nazgul and the Fishman passive ...
I super love the Dimarzio Imperium set
Jb for me then the nazgul ❤
I really want one of those LTDs!
I'd imagine (without looking them up) that most - if not all of these pickups are using ceramic magnets?
Seymoir Duncan Distortion ♥️
SD Distortion and JB for me