The JB has a more mid focused sound and more open with headroom. The distortion is more compressed/tight and less mids more presence sizzle. They both have their purposes if i had to pick I’d probably go with a JB, the JB there is no possible way you will not be heard in a band live mix it definitely cuts through any mix. You can make it sound tighter and put compression in if you want but with the Duncan distortion there’s no way of adding headroom that it lacks .
This might seem a little contrary to what other people have said, but I use the JB mainly for recording and the Distortion for live. The JB is just overall cleaner and very beautiful sounding. GREAT in a mix! Especially for my style of playing. The Distortion is without a doubt my favorite pickup ever though. The way the harmonics sing out sounds just incredible and full of life and energy. The first time I plugged in my Distortion to an EVH head, I knew I had struck tonal gold baby! Happy Playing everybody!🤘
Interesting…. I thought the JB was much more defined. I bounce between a Tone Zone and the JB. But, I’m surprised to hear you say you prefer the Distortion live. I’m the exact opposite. Would love to hear it through that EVH head though 👍
This video is one of best comparison videos for these two pick ups. The Distortion definitely has a brighter sound where the JB is more nasally and less intense. I've bounced between the two for a long time and really now want the Duncan Distortion for my neck pick up
Personally, I love the very pronounced mids of the JB...makes it sound bigger and less like a modern "scooped" sound. You can really hear it in the first two riffs.
This video inspired me to buy and assembled my 2nd guitar pickup 8 years ago. My first pickup was an Alnico-V (JB was an Alnico II magnet) type magnet which was too tight sounding for my liking. After changing to Ceramic-type magnet (similar to Distortion) pickup , the sound was heavy, brutal and spacey. Thank you for this amazing comparison video!
I’m WAY late to the party here, but there’s a spectacular irony to one of the best pup demo’s I’ve seen on YT, is 12yrs-old. As of the past 5yrs, minimum, all we get are kids chugging or beating on one string (of a 7-string guitar, no less) tuned to the key of rotting flesh, using WAY too much gain, or some Yngwie wannabe, spreading throughout the entire demo….neither of which tell you anything about the gear. So, this even at 12yrs-old is a HUGE breath of fresh air. But, I digress!! Maybe it was just my ears, but I thought the JB was MUCH more articulate. Sounded spectacular with that looked like a Peavey. Well done, and thank you for sharing.
Cool man. Great review. I had a hard time finding a review of the DD with music that I'd play. Thank god you're playing some cool music. Anyway, I have been fixing up an old Japanese Ibanez S series with the excellent Edge trem and I found a DD in my parts and I'm getting ready to install the same in my S. Can't wait to hear it. I had some other pickups and wanted to hear the differences and this video helped man. Thanks a bunch. Tim
Thanks for uploading this! I needed to hear a comparison between the 2! I have the JB and 59 in my Charvel and I am waiting for the SH6 to some in at my music store if that ever happens! Been waiting 3 weeks for it now! I am swapping out the Seymour Duncan SHPG1+ Pearly Gates currently in my Strat (came stock with it) for the SH6 Duncan Distortion. The Pearly Gates is a great pickup but it doesn't have enough output for me.
great review man. I've been wanting to change my jb in an alder body michael wilton sig ESP to an sh6 but I'll check out a custom custom instead. thanks for this review, very helpful
I like both these pickups. From what I hear in the differences, both will sound great for soloing. I think if I was in a single guitarist situation I'd want the JB. Sounds fatter. If I was in a dual guitar band, JB for rhythm guitarist and Distortion for lead guitarist. The mid range focus of the Distortion seems to be more toward the high mids so it will cut through better while the JB's low mid focus will give a nice chunky rhythm tone. If the amp settings were set using the JB you probably can get a good chunky rhythm tone from the distortion too, but with the settings left the same you can tell it is a brigher pickup. Which is better depends on what kind of situation you're going to be in. The inherent tone of the guitar you are putting them in can be a factor also. The Distortion would probably work better in darker sounding guitars while the JB would suit a brighter one. But that's just me since tone is subjective after all. 😁
Wow! Great playing... And Thank you for making this video! I've always loved the JB pickups, but now that I've heard the Distortion pickup in side-by-side comparison I am a new believer that the Distortion gives a stronger mid-tone, but can squeel out the harmonics nearly as effectively as the JB. I need to replace my bridge pickup and since I love Seymore Duncans and have spacing only for a single-coil, you have given me greater idea of what to expect.
As i'm about to order a custom Les Paul model, played for vintage rock like Judas Priest...I'll go for SH-4... . Thanks a lot, really good review, with "less (no) talk...do more" type of review :)
awesome video!!! cant belive there is not more comments!! been torn between these two pickups myself.. was leaning towards the distortion, now im sure about the distortion.. great video!!
This is an excellent demo video. It actually helped me make a decision to put a Duncan SH6 in the bridge of my SG Pro. The Distortion pickup is very similar to a Gibson Dirty Fingers in that it's very aggressive, has rich searing highs, decent scoop and retains excellent clarity. In fact the Duncan SH6 might actually sound a bit better than a Dirty Fingers. Certainly a great compliment to my guitar's personality of snarl and growl.
great video I just installed my SH-6 into a LoneStar Strat to replace the Pearly Gates and I am amazed how the sh6 cuts through and is just a blaze of fire.
this totally helped me out. Same style as I play which I've been looking for, seems anyone wants to do in these comparison video's, is tune down as far as possible and muddy up the distortion so you can't really hear what the pickup is really doing.. hate that. That's not music man... Anyway, matter of fact last night started relearning Badlands high wire since it had been a few years since I've played it. Anyway.. I have the Sh2/Sh4 in my LP.. but I'm redoing a jem Jr I got.. and wanted to try something different. I love how the Sh6 responds here. Going w/ that w/ probably a SH-1 in the bridge.. Thanks a million for this.
+William Shapiro you could try the Custom 5 (SH 14 if I'm not mistaken), it's really in between JB and Distortion. The Alnico V magnet, with high output like Distortion. Sh5 is okay, i've tried, but it's still using ceramic, too bright on some clean playing ocassions.
I’ve had both and like them both a lot. The slightly more raunchy-ness of the Distortion has always been my go to, though! Maybe it’s my punk influences.
I’ve had both too, still have my guitar with the distortion but just ordered one with a jb which I hated but that was years ago and this video convinced me to give it a chance lol. Yeah the distortion sounds less focused
thx 4 the vid. ive noticed the smalllest change in string or pickup height gives a very noticable difference. imo i get different pickup sounds just from changing the action, sting tension etc. dont have the cash to keep swapping pups so ive found ways to get similar sounds just from ehat i mentioned
I use JB's in most of my guitars, but I like the tightness of the Dist here. I have a new pair of SD Dist sitting, think I'm gonna slap them in a guitar.
I wish there were more videos of this quality for different pickup combinations.. I'd love to hear the difference between the JB, Tonezone, EMG 85, etc.
@thanosbikos i replaced the stock pups with the matching sh-6 set in my les paul and i usually have my tone and volume knobs set like this: bridge vol: 10 bridge tone: 9 neck vol: 5 neck tone: 10 with this i can go from chunky rythms or palm muted notes to a wailing solo without having to touch any settings
Distortion has more "honk" if that makes any sense. I like it. JB is a also a superb pickup. Prob best comparison vid out there. Thank u for this man. Perfect songs for comparisons too!
Years ago, I had a JB in my Les Paul and it was just too muddy for my taste. I installed an SH 6 and will never change it. Also tried an SH6 in an SG (my favorite) and lacked bottom and too trebly. Maybe the jb would be perfect in an SG?
Thank you for a very helpful demonstration. I have decided the JB belongs in my brightest Jackson King V. It came with the SH-6 and is just too bright. Thanks again!
For straight up,high-gain Metal,get the Distortion. For a pickup,that sounds great in any genre,from Jazz/Fusion to even brutal Thrash and also cleans up nicely,get the JB.There's a reason this thing is S.Duncan's most sold humbucker for almost 35 years.
I like the distortion better overall. I have a JB in my Mockingbird but it seems lackluster. I'm thinking of swapping it out for a Distortion or something with more bite. Thoughts?
Very good demo,and a question I did have in my mind, so - Thanks! If my ears and speakers were working for me, I did agree with Bo's comment below that the JB sound more like classic hard rock. The Distortion I thought was interesting because it produced more vowel-like harmonics. I can indeed see why metal players would like that, especially since you need a voice that's still in there being articulate once you've dropped tuning into the basement.
I've been using both JBs and Distortions since 1986. They're both great, but different. I tend to put the JB in darker guitars and the Distortion in brighter guitars. They balance out very well. Although the Distortion is ceramic, it's not as trebly as the JB. A pickup can be bright and yet not trebly, and vice versa. I use the Distortion in a bright Ash strat and the JB in a basswood Schecter and they both sound absolutely amazing.
man that was a great comparison! I use the JB in my Les Paul's and the Distortion in my Ibanez but have never really done a comparison like that. Great playing too, I really enjoyed it. Both pickups are awesome and have their strengths depending on what you are playing. Neither is a bad choice.
Very very nice comparison, this definitely shows the minor differences between these two pickups. Little known fact A Duncan JB pickup is basically just a hot-rodded paf and a duncan Distortion is basically just a JB with a huge ceramic magnet rather than alnico... Both the JB and Distortion have the same amount of coil winds. I just replaced the stock Bridge pickup in my Jackson DKA with a Duncan distortion trembucker and it really brought new life to the guitar and is a whole different animal now. Prior to this I replaced the stock jackson pup with a Duncan JB but honestly found almost no difference in tone between the two, which I guess shows that the Jackson pups were not bad... the Duncan JB was just not a huge upgrade for my particular guitar ... but the Duncan Distortion is definitely my new favorite.
I have both pups. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, more often than not opposites. The JB has more growly bite with more lows and lower-midrange power. Whilst the DD has less lows and more upper-midrange for a more articulate cut and clarity. I like both but for different styles of music. I reach for the DD for metal and hard rock. The JB OTOH, methinks is the more versatile of the two, which I favor for cleans, rock, blues, jazz and classic metal (pre-2000, especially 70-90s).
On most of the choices I chose the JB for its crunchy warm sound, but the last part I chose the Distortion because it was more breathable and expressive.
+rflessati I think the distortion - needs - a healthy (unhealthy? lol..) amount of gain to soften those upper mids a bit. i.e. gain on 6.5 and a front end boost
i can't really decide between these 2 pickups...i have a all-mahogany and ebony fretboard Schecter C1 and i play mostly hard rock and metal but i also need some versatility! anyone has advice for me? thanks
JB sounds amazing in Drop C through a Maxon OD808 with the 5150 and Mesa cab loaded with celestion V30s. Blessthefall uses that setup. It's heavy and articulate.
The DD literally was Lynchs Dokken tone in this video. That sounded spot on. I have a DD in my Les Paul and it nails that 80s Lynch tone and Ratt as well as Hetfield depending on how I dial my amp and what channel I'm on. DD is a great pickup!
@@jannikvice2413 Lynch used the Duncan Distortion (SH-6) not the JB. The amp he used on the first two Dokken records was a 1972 purple Marshall 100w Super Lead he loaned out from Aspen Pittman at Groove Tubes.
In my opinion, I feel like the Distortions had a lot more punch without losing any of the clarity that the JB had. I feel like the JB's sounded a little flat.
Thanks for putting this up, way more helpful than a lot of other comparisons. I think I actually like the Distortion better, I'm trying to play heavy ratty shit like Violator and it seems like it'll do that pretty well. I plan on getting the set and putting them in my build when I get around to it.
great review man! I had the tb4 in my old Marty Friedman signature ke1 years ago. it sounded pretty good. but I put the sh6 in a cheap boron end Jackson roads and the thing ripped! for a cheap crummy guitar the sh6 brought it right to life!
Same thing I just experienced myself! I'm a lefty and I've had the extreme displeasure of playing a lot of lower-end guitars to my 30 years of playing. I bought a imported Poplar Bodied Jackson Dinky last year and looked to replace the stock Jackson pickups with a Duncan JB and to my avail... there was literally no difference in tone and I was immediately displeased because it lacked the thickness, growl and tightness I was looking for. I took the JB back and swapped it for a Duncan distortion and now I enjoy playing my import Jackson Dinky more than any guitar that I have ever owned including a MIM Alder Stratocaster, Korean mahogany Epiphone Les Paul and a Indonesian Basswood Ibanez. The Duncan Distortion pickup alone in the Jackson Mainstay guitar unbelievably awesome and brought New Life to it.
I just put a set of black winters in a LP style single cut guitar. They are ok. High out put definitely. The high is kind of “nasty” in kind of a good way. I do wish the bottom end was tighter, but there is a decent amount of low end in there. They aren’t what I thought they would be. Maybe I just haven’t dialed my amp (Mesa Mark IV) in right yet. But the cleans are awesome!