I have a Fullerton Doheny but…

[babydaddymusic]

… there is something about it that doesn’t feel authentic to me. I have been considering a Fender Jazzmaster and am trying to sort out the difference in pickups versus what I have on the Doheny. I play Brit pop, indie and some ambient stuff along with basic rock.
I had a G&L Fullerton ASAT Special which was very well built and played great but I feel the MFD pickups were too clinical and lacked character. I bought an American Performer Tele and I love everything about it - I’m a fan of the Yosemite pickups.
I’m wondering if the same jump in tone and non-cheesy headstock would apply to a Fender Jazzmaster.
I’m confused about the various Fender models and their respective pickups and tone tendencies- not only compared to my Doheny but amongst themselves.
I’m looking at
1) American Performer JM
2) American professional 1 or 2
3) American Original
4) 62 AVRI

The fit and finish of the Doheny is top notch. It plays great and stays in tune- but the headstock is meh/ and I wonder if the tone is sterile compared to Fender JM.

1) do you like the JM Yosemite pickups?
2) do you like the Vmod II pickups?
3) the 65 vintage ?
4) am I missing how to use the Doheny MFD’s?

I like the tones of Ryan Adams as an example- I have a 65 deluxe and 68 Princeton RI.

[JamesSGBrown]

I think you can get close enough with the MFD's by rolling back the bass and the volume so they're a bit less strident. I had a Tribute Doheny (USA pickups still) and it sounded fantastic.

[GGJaguar]

I think you can get close enough with the MFD's by rolling back the bass and the volume so they're a bit less strident.

Yes, this. I have several Fullerton Dohenys and using the controls on the guitar is necessary with the MFD pickups to find a sweet spot.

[babydaddymusic]

I think you can get close enough with the MFD's by rolling back the bass and the volume so they're a bit less strident. I had a Tribute Doheny (USA pickups still) and it sounded fantastic.

I actually have been working with the volume and tone knobs- it really does help. But, I could never make the MFD asat pickuos sound like the Yosemite- and I highly prefer the Yosemite pickups.
I’ll probably just have to try mine compared to a JM in the store

[beninma]

Fiddle with your amp and settings or try a different amp/guitar?

The two amps I have are a Princeton Reverb (12" speaker) and an Orange Rocker 15.

The Doheny sounds really different on these two. Until the Orange starts breaking up it has a way brighter/chimier high end than the Princeton.

The MFDs are also really sensitive to adjustment. IIRC G&L has never really released specs for where the Doheny pickups are supposed to be in relationship to the strings. I initially tried the recommendations for the other MFD guitars but they put the pickups very close to the strings and the sound was incredibly bright. I ended fiddling with them by ear.

Sometimes it is just not the right guitar for a particular style of music though. I'm not really sure a Jazzmaster would be either. Depends on the day I guess.

[46346]

i use two Dohenys for mostly a more modern sound, but can also replicate my vintage JM tone that i'm used to.
of course it takes a bit of dialing, and has luxurious as the G&L's are to play, i will reach for one of my classic Fenders
if i'm going straight for that vibe. the feeling is different, mostly because of the bridge/vibrato systems, and the hard maple neck of the Doheny. i love the Doheny neck and sustain, but in plenty of situations the Fender offset vibrato makes the guitar part happen.

on Fender JM's i only have original '59 pickups, AV65's, and WRHB's which are all great. i don't know those other pups.

the MFD singles are the most useful, and the MFD V12's are the most amazing (especially for ambient/compressed texture, and are dead quiet.

the Fender pups are less amazing (tho the WRHB are beautiful) as they stick to their specific task.

as for the headstock, i don't notice a difference at all. they seem exactly the same.
even the modern G&L tuners aren't that different from the '59 vintage ones. just easier to string up.

you might feel more comfy on a vintage-style JM.

[Dr. Ooh]

In terms of your pickup questions, really depends on if you're going for the classic JM sound, or are open to the more modern takes on them.

If you want the vintage sound, the Pure Vintage 65 and Pure Vintage 66 will get you there, as will a lot of the boutique JM pickups available on the market.

From my experience the PV 65 and PV 66 are pretty much the same pickup, if not absolutely 100% the same. I have JM's with both, and they sound great. I play in the same category of music as you, and I find myself wanting a different sound, often.

I like the Yosemite's, and I really love the V-Mod II. I may really love the V-Mod II because of how they sound and are wired on my Am Pro II JM. I have 8 JM's from vintage to japan to custom to modern american issues. The Am Pro II is my favorite, and a lot of that has to do with the tonal variations I can get with the electronics and the V-Mod II's. It can get into a portion of the vintage territory, but really excels at doing a modern indie sound, clean, overdriven, distorted, and fuzzed out.

I too, have a doheny, which I love, but it could never satiate my JM hunger, by itself.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

You should get a JM, it’ll compliment the Doheny nicely.

I have both, and if I could have only one?

For gigging I might have to say that the Doheny would be a more solid choice overall, but for recording I’d probably go JM more for sentimental reasons I think.

But you’ve gotten solid advice so far regarding making sure you work the knobs on the Doheny in order to get a plethora of tones.

I think I get 90-95% of the way to a JM tone wise, but the Doheny with its MFD’s doesn’t have the more raw clang and twang of the JM, I could say in a way.
However the Doheny has a more refined sparkly Hi-Fi sparkle that, believe it or not, reminds me of Filtertron pickups, especially in the middle position. The Doheny can also get more aggressive bridge RocknRoll tones.

If I want a more versatile guitar that feels more solid and less fussy I reach for the Doheny.
If I want “that” JM sound I go JM. Of course the JM also has the Jazz circuit which I use for monster fuzz tones, to pseudo baritone guitar sounds especially when I use my JM strung w flats.

So I recommend having both !

I’m not a fan of the smaller G&L headstock on their S and T style guitars, but the bigger Doheny one looks great to me.

[timtam]

If you're interested enough in the American Performer/Yosemites, contact Fender customer service and ask them for the Performer's service manual ... which is currently the only major-release jazzmaster model service manual that has until now never seen the public light of day. We have service manuals for every other JM model from the last two decades (short of the recent Vintera II's, which should be out any day). If the Performer's manual is available from Fender (I haven't tried), like other recent manuals it should have enough specs on the Yosemites to place them sonically more accurately in relation to the 65-style and other JM pickups that Fender has released specs on (ie DCR, maybe inductance). Of course the Am Performer is somewhat close to the Doheny in having a strat-style trem rather than the traditional JM trem. And if you do get the manual, let us know.