Jazzmaster Pickup Shootout: Duncans vs. Fralins... well what do you think?

smurfco

smurfco

Meatus McPrepuce


Duncans vs. Fralins. The Fralins are hum-canceling, the Duncans are not (except in the middle position).

Clean sounds first half, dirty sounds second half. I go through the positions and play the same chords/riff. First is the Duncans and second is the Fralins in each case.

Would love to hear your thoughts before I shares mine... wheeeeee!
 
In the cleans, across the board, the Fralins sound slightly muffled compared to the Duncans.
In the dirt it's a toss up. Fralins sound dirtier (kind of static like?)
Overall for me, Duncans
 
Which duncans and fralins?



edit:
< team duncan but the fralins are fine, especially if they buck that hum for you.
 
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Good question!

The Duncans: https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/vintage-jazzmaster
The Fralins: https://www.fralinpickups.com/product/hum-cancelling-jazzmaster/

For recording I'm going through the Strymon Iridium in Fender Deluxe Reverb mode. For the dirt I'm using the Catalinbread Dirty Little Secret pedal I got from @jelloman .

The settings / levels are the exact same. I recorded the old pickups, changed them out, and recorded the new pickups without touching any of the knobs on either the Strymon or the DLS. In theory the only difference is the pickups but the strings were older with the Duncans, pickup height might have been a little different, etc. I tried to keep it as apples to apples as possible.
 
I listened to the whole thing on my studio monitors.....

I suppose it depends on the sound you are going for. The Duncans seem to have a more pronounced top end clarity while the Fralins seem to have a bit more 'depth' overall. Personally I liked the Fralins, but they both sounded nice.
 
I liked the Fralins. The Duncans were too bright, sounded more Jaguar than Jazzmaster to me.

Do you know what the pot values are in the guitar?
 
Chad said:
I liked the Fralins. The Duncans were too bright, sounded more Jaguar than Jazzmaster to me.

Do you know what the pot values are in the guitar?
Click to expand...

In the normal circuit I replaced the stock 1meg pots with 250k pots a long time ago to get rid of the real brittle top end. The rhythm circuit is still stock and ai’m not sure what’s in there.
 
smurfco said:
In the normal circuit I replaced the stock 1meg pots with 250k pots a long time ago to get rid of the real brittle top end. The rhythm circuit is still stock and ai’m not sure what’s in there.
Click to expand...

Might be why the Fralins aren't as bright. I can't imagine how bright it was with the Duncans and 1M pots.
 
To me the Fralins really sounded like a bit of height adjustment was all they need. They remind me almost of active pickup compression, because they sounded the most balanced up top to me, but not quite as alive. Like @Help!I'maRock! said, the Duncans were louder, so that's another sign it could be a little adjustment to make 'em shine fully.
 
Kerouac said:
To me the Fralins really sounded like a bit of height adjustment was all they need. They remind me almost of active pickup compression, because they sounded the most balanced up top to me, but not quite as alive. Like @Help!I'maRock! said, the Duncans were louder, so that's another sign it could be a little adjustment to make 'em shine fully.
Click to expand...

Do you think they need to be raised? They’re already pretty close to the strings...
 
I like the Fralins better overall, though the Duncan in the neck when clean is a sound I’d probably use a lot. I can def hear why the Duncans with gain are noisy enough to annoy.

The Fralins are less spiky, but they definitely sound like single-voiced humbuckers vs pure single coils.
 
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Here is the guitar!
 
Tralfaz said:
The Fralins sound better clean. The Duncans sound better with dirt.

Really depends on what you want, though. Better isn't always better.
Click to expand...

This was my impression as well. The Fralins sound more compressed with dirt. Clean they are very close, tho the Fralins were a little smoother too my ear.
I'd be tempted to try the Duncan in the bridge and and the Fralin in the rhythm circuit if they are anywhere close in inductance.
 
Chad said:
I liked the Fralins. The Duncans were too bright, sounded more Jaguar than Jazzmaster to me.

Do you know what the pot values are in the guitar?
Click to expand...

I've got the Antiquity IIs in my JM and they've definitely got a big bright top end with out sounding brittle, IMO.
The tone knob on that guitar is incredibly useful & required for dialing them into the sweet spot.
 
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