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Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Sun May 21, 2023 12:00 am
by jazzmasterjunkie
Currently have a set of lollar jm pups in my jazzie and thinking of switching to the Novak vintage and fat combo. Wondering if anyone has any experience with both and could chime (heh) in?
The one thing that annoys me is Novak doesn't list output stats or even a "high/low" rating on his pups so I was wondering if anyone can say where these fall?
I've heard several clips of them, but it's always hard to tell unless the exact settings someone used on an amp are listed, seems like there's a lot of varying definitions of "clean" floating around lol.
Also wondering how they compare in the mids department. The lollar set is pretty mid forward, and from what I've heard, it seems the Novak fat especially is, even though his description says "less mids than a normal jazzmaster pickup" lol.
Thanks!
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Sun May 28, 2023 9:39 pm
by Soniqfreq
jazzmasterjunkie wrote: ↑Sun May 21, 2023 12:00 am
Currently have a set of lollar jm pups in my jazzie and thinking of switching to the Novak vintage and fat combo. Wondering if anyone has any experience with both and could chime (heh) in?
The one thing that annoys me is Novak doesn't list output stats or even a "high/low" rating on his pups so I was wondering if anyone can say where these fall?
I've heard several clips of them, but it's always hard to tell unless the exact settings someone used on an amp are listed, seems like there's a lot of varying definitions of "clean" floating around lol.
Also wondering how they compare in the mids department. The lollar set is pretty mid forward, and from what I've heard, it seems the Novak fat especially is, even though his description says "less mids than a normal jazzmaster pickup" lol.
Thanks!
I just installed some of Novak's excellent JM-V and JM-Fat pickups. They measure 7.8k (JM-V/neck), 7.40k (Fat/bridge), and 3.82k (middle) directly through the standard lead circuit. Sound great. They definitely have a clean, rounded chime and a balanced tone. They can also be quite dynamic with lot's of depth and they can growl too. I am getting a ton of tonal variation through them as I roll off my volume and tone in different combinations. Never played the Lollars, but I'd assume they are equally fantastic.
Here is the spectral profile of Novak's...direct capture in the Hi-Z input of my interface playing just a single C note (G string) and then a C Barre chord (7th fret). You can see the mids profile bump in lower mids range (750k to 2.5k) clearly.
JM-V - C note
JM-FAT - C note
JM-V - Cmaj Barre
JM-FAT - Cmaj Barre
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 7:01 pm
by jazzmasterjunkie
Thanks!! If you have any audio clips of you playing that'd be great too!
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 5:59 am
by soundslikework
Just curious - what is it about the Lollars that you're thinking you'd like to swap them out?
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 6:29 am
by Larry Mal
Soniqfreq wrote: ↑Sun May 28, 2023 9:39 pm
Here is the spectral profile of Novak's...direct capture in the Hi-Z input of my interface playing just a single C note (G string) and then a C Barre chord (7th fret). You can see the mids profile bump in lower mids range (750k to 2.5k) clearly.
Just curious, how did you capture those images of that EQ graph?
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 7:47 am
by Soniqfreq
Larry Mal wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2023 6:29 am
Just curious, how did you capture those images of that EQ graph?
I used the Logic EQ Match plug-in. Activated the learn function and stuck the note or chord a few times to capture a good eq profile.
@jazzmasterjunkie I’ll see if I can add a clip sometime this week.
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 3:42 pm
by pikmin
I just made a pickups comparison video .
I never played Lollar but my sunburst Jazzmaster has the Curtis Novak JM-V / JM- Fat combo .
So here you have that Novak set , a Fralin set , 2 Q pickups sets and some Fender Designed wide range ( non Cunife ) .
https://youtu.be/1xu1MBE1orU
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 7:44 pm
by Soniqfreq
jazzmasterjunkie wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 7:01 pm
Thanks!! If you have any audio clips of you playing that'd be great too!
Here you go. I think it helps hear the dynamics of the JM-V and the spectra of the JM-Fat pretty well. Recorded into Ableton (which explains the latency) using the NeuralDSP Fortin Cali plugin on a clean setting with verb. I have a clean boost pedal on in front of the interface that I use to prevent clipping (it adds a touch of compression). It's a single guitar track with a drum loop except on the JM-Fat track where I also added a lead tone using a Mythos Mjolnir so you can hear a little OD on that. Hope this helps.
JM-V
JM-FAT
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 9:47 pm
by jazzmasterjunkie
Whoa thanks!!
Sounds great, I'm surprised by how bright the neck sounds there, I usually don't use the neck position too much but I might have to with this set.
Fat sounded great too, just hope I can get some more sublime cleans out of it as well.
Thank you very much!
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 10:01 pm
by jazzmasterjunkie
soundslikework wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2023 5:59 am
Just curious - what is it about the Lollars that you're thinking you'd like to swap them out?
They're really good pickups but I just feel like theyre a little too hot for my taste and the bridge pup has a very forward/present high mids bump. Which is cool in certain situations, but I don't always want it. I like a pickup with "room to go somewhere," y'know? I can always add a tube screamer or something if I want a mid bump but it's harder to take it away. And I don't like to have to eq the hell out of something to get my base tone
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2023 6:19 am
by Soniqfreq
jazzmasterjunkie wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2023 9:47 pm
Whoa thanks!!
Sounds great, I'm surprised by how bright the neck sounds there, I usually don't use the neck position too much but I might have to with this set.
Fat sounded great too, just hope I can get some more sublime cleans out of it as well.
Thank you very much!
…and that is with the volume and tone rolled back to 7.5ish. Fully open I get even more overtones. I get a lot of range out of mine. A treble bleed isn’t needed here.
Re: Lollar standard jazzmaster vs Novak v+fat
Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:25 pm
by jazzmasterjunkie
pikmin wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2023 3:42 pm
I just made a pickups comparison video .
I never played Lollar but my sunburst Jazzmaster has the Curtis Novak JM-V / JM- Fat combo .
So here you have that Novak set , a Fralin set , 2 Q pickups sets and some Fender Designed wide range ( non Cunife ) .
https://youtu.be/1xu1MBE1orU
Oh thanks!! This is great too! Just wish you did a clean take on the bridge pickups too haha.