Novak Jm-180 in the neck

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
Post Reply
User avatar
Cross
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 68
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 5:18 pm

Novak Jm-180 in the neck

Post by Cross » Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:31 am

Has anyone tried the Novak JM-180 (with the high gain rhythm circuit replacement) in the neck position instead of the bridge? I bought one off of a fellow forum member and it is destined for my modified Squier J Mascis, which has evolved into my dirty-ish rock guitar now that I have a partsmaster with some gorgeous sounding antiquity Is. The JMJM already has a novak JM-WRHB in the bridge, which I like the sound of (and I dropped north of $150 on). I believe Curtis winds the JM-WRHB to be around 10Kohm, but the neck pickup tends to dominate that guitar, such that I have it dropped pretty low and the bridge PUP set pretty high. I like the idea of a WRHB in the bridge and a JM-90 in the neck, and flipping over into overdrive mode with the rhythm switch engaged (I think it's like 16kohm or something bonkers!) But I don't want to have a massive volume mismatch between the 2. If worst comes to worst I will put the JM-WRHB into the neck position, but I'd prefer it in the bridge for that classic rock sound and have a nice swampy bluesy P90 neck tone. So if there are any other rebels out there who have tried the JM-180 in the neck, let me know what your experience was like! 8)

I would ask Curtis himself, but as I got the pickup second-hand, I don't really want to bother him.

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Novak Jm-180 in the neck

Post by Embenny » Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:04 am

Have you ever had a mega-overwound P90 in a neck position before? A JM-180 with the extra windings engaged is literally double the windings of a regular bridge P90. That's an insane amount of output and an insane level of midrange and bass. It's not a tone I would personally consider usable in the neck position, but that doesn't mean you won't like it.

If you're upset with the neck-dominant output of a pair of WRHBs, you're not going to like the JM-180 going "full blast" in the neck position, as it'll be far more dramatically neck-dominant than before.

Even in its lowest output, JM-90 mode, it's going to sound like a high-output neck P90 since it was intended as a bridge pickup originally, i.e. it'll be bassier, middier, and higher output than most neck P90s...
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
Cross
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 68
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 5:18 pm

Re: Novak Jm-180 in the neck

Post by Cross » Mon Apr 24, 2017 1:41 pm

I should clarify that currently in the neck is the stock p90 style pickup, which I actually like. I think they rate around the 9-10 Kohm mark. It balances well with the WRHB in the bridge after I lowered it a bit. I just couldn't pass up on the JM180 when it became available. I agree that the full jm180 in the neck might be too bassy/hot/overwhelming to use, but who knows it might be so wacky as to be fun, like a built in fuzz or something. But since I have essentially have 2 bridge pickups, it might make more sense to have the WRHB in the neck and the JM180 in the bridge.

Post Reply