Musicman JP6 & Mesa

[orion_21]

Eq eq eq eq eq and..... Eq.

When I had my JP6 an ran it through a DSL100 and mark iv it sounded incredible. Even through a TC Nova System. Had great clarity and punch. Nothing bright or twangy (except in the middle position) and just sounded HUGE! Sound clips with a decent mike would help a lot.

Got a mark IV, DSL100 and X3 Live and both my JP's are amazing. Crunchier and more crisp than my LP.

 

[Tung]

the Liquid fire and Crunch lab are great pick ups. They are certainly not harsh or twangy. Try backing off the treble and bring up more mids on your amp. I know all these suggestions seems moot. Maybe you just don't like these pickups, but don't get discouraged with the guitar.
If you dig SD pups, it sounds to me like a Seymour Duncan Custom in the bridge might do it for you.

 

[GHWelles]

I have the original JP6 style with the modified Dimarzio Steve's Special in the bridge. It sounds incredible distorted. The pickup has scooped mids, which sounds good with my middy Marshall combos, but may give a sound you don't like. Is your set up a scooped mids one?

If I am not mistaken, these JP6 guitars are designed to be very articulate under high gain. Mine is louder and more articulate than my other guitars. For example, a LUKE with its active EMG pickups in contrast sounded quieter and much smoother. It did not cut through as well. This may be more what you want. Or a Dimarzio BREED which is mid-boosted and quite nice. I put one of those in my 20th Silo.

If you like Seymour Duncan pickups I find them generally to be smoother and more blended, where Dimarzios sound more articulate. That may be the sound you are missing. Tung Oil's suggestion of an SD Custom sounds pretty good.

An interesting experiment would be to swap the pickups from your Kelly into the JP6 for a test.

 

[ThatsAgood1jay]

I have been having a similar issue recently. I bought a Mesa Nomad 100 combo and have been wringing its neck to get a good tone out of it. The Nomads are known to have somewhat Muddy bass, and overbearing mids, I have the mids under control, but if i take enough bass out to get it clear, it has no punch or sustain. Recently, I had a massive break through by taking almost all the 60hz out of the mix with the in amp mixer, the bass is not perfect but its no longer a muddled mess.


So anyway my point, you have to sit down and tune and tune and tune. It will eventually come to you.

 

[GHWelles]

Try one of these

America's Pedal: FX40 Equalizer

 

[riffs101]

I am writting this post over a year later.My JP6 still sounds bad.The feedback is horrible. I have been playing for over 30 years and i do not need lessons on how to tweak my amp.I have toured and played in many different room settings for a very long time.Its funny how as soon as you say your guitar sounds bad, everyone thinks you just started playing yesterday. I still love the guitar. I just purchased a 2007 limited edition Blue Dawn JP6.The guitar sounds great.I have a Mesa MKIV, Mesa Rectifier, Marshall TSL60, Mesa 50/50 with the Eleven Rack.I have two Mesa cabs.A rectifier and a Stiletto both with V30s. I also have a Marshall 1960A.The 2010 JP6 is still the only guitar that sounds bad.I took it to a tech and he also noticed the pickups were weak and fed back quite badly.Its a fluke.This is still one of my favorite guitars to play.I am going to put the same pickups as the 2007 has in it.That should do it.

 

[peterd79]

I am writting this post over a year later.My JP6 still sounds bad.The feedback is horrible. I have been playing for over 30 years and i do not need lessons on how to tweak my amp.I have toured and played in many different room settings for a very long time.Its funny how as soon as you say your guitar sounds bad, everyone thinks you just started playing yesterday. I still love the guitar. I just purchased a 2007 limited edition Blue Dawn JP6.The guitar sounds great.I have a Mesa MKIV, Mesa Rectifier, Marshall TSL60, Mesa 50/50 with the Eleven Rack.I have two Mesa cabs.A rectifier and a Stiletto both with V30s. I also have a Marshall 1960A.The 2010 JP6 is still the only guitar that sounds bad.I took it to a tech and he also noticed the pickups were weak and fed back quite badly.Its a fluke.This is still one of my favorite guitars to play.I am going to put the same pickups as the 2007 has in it.That should do it.

Thanks for the update...
It sounds to me like the pickups werent for you... although the guitar fits you just not the pickups...
sometimes it's hard to tell without actually playing it or hearing it... but glad you got it sorted out and you're still playin the EBMM...

 

[Mars Rover]

I recently bought a used JP6, an all-original 2003 model. The output volume was lower than any of my other humbucker equipped guitars and I was not really happy with the tone, especially with distortion. It just sounded anemic. The pickup height was noticeably low, I would guess about 3/8” from the strings. Adjusting the height was a little tricky because they’re screwed down tight to the bottom of the route which meant removing the strings and making shims. I considered that the EBMM screwed them down tight for a reason so I wanted to do the same. With no strings on it and nothing to really measure to or eyeball, I think I nailed the correct height perfectly for both pickups. Volume is now on par and tone has improved greatly.

I have noticed some feedback that may or may not worse than my other guitars. I really need to do some direct comparisons to further judge that. I’ve heard that feedback is one reason that pickups are usually not hard mounted to the body – the springs or foam help to limit some feedback so the JP’s pickups being screwed down tight may promote some feedback at lower volumes than some other guitars.

 

[codasound]

I have the custom neck pickup that came in the older jps. I took it out of my 2007 jp6 bfr and replaced it with the liquifier. PM me if interested.