Seymour Duncan Distortion Vs JB Pickup [Difference Explained]

Seymour Duncan has earned fame for their amazing pickups. The diversity and efficiency of each pickup are really praiseworthy. This brand even surpasses brands like Fender and Gibson. However, in making guitar pickups Seymour Duncan has been improving since 1970.

But controversies are common when you put two great pickups from the same brand. Similarly, there is a competition between Seymour Duncan Distortion Vs JB. This competition will ultimately lead you to a greater conclusion and make you select one.

Primal Differences in Short :

The prominent difference is in the sound. The Distortion sounds more aggressive and has a strong and tighter bottom end. But the JB sounds sweeter compared to the Distortion. While the Seymour Duncan Distortion is suitable for metal genres for its ton of lower mids, the JB is suitable for country music or jazz for its immense upper mids. Besides, these two pickups carry different types of magnetic fields too.

Though the similarities of these two unique pickups are more than the dissimilarities, for a player every fact is a golden piece of information. Besides, they have even more differences which we will talk about later.

For now, have a quick glance at the added comparison table for better comprehension.

Comparison Table:

Seymour Duncan JB pickups & Seymour Duncan Distortion Reviews:

As the two pickups of the same brand come with high-end features, they both are equally reliable. Because of individual distinctiveness, it is important to review them separately. In this way, you can also learn about the features which make them different from each other.

About Seymour Duncan Distortion Pickup –

Seymour Duncan Distortion pickup is largely famous and they are passive humbuckers with great high output. The magnetic field of a Seymour Duncan Distortion pickup is made of ceramic and it is of very high quality.

Even though most players ask for alnico magnets, the ceramic-based magnet is not bad as well. However, the magnetic field does not betray the sound quality of the pickup. With lower mids, this pickup provides the perfect saturated sound.

Therefore, you can play the metal genre easily with this pickup. Besides, you don’t have to think about the high-end because the pickup has the quality to troubleshoot it. With the tighter bottom, the pickup assures sustainability in the tone.

Moreover, the variants of the pickup both come for neck and bridge positions. Attaching this pickup with an amp will bring distorted and harsher sound at a very low volume and you can then experience a new tone with it.

Things We Liked About / Pros:

• Comes with the best sound quality and beefy and chunky texture in the tone for metal players
• The high output enhances the quality of the pickup to a great extent
• The tighter bottom end helps to sustain the distorted tone for a long time
• You will get the saturated tone on a very low volume after attaching it to an amp

Things We Liked About / Cons:

• Its ceramic-based magnetic feature creates controversies

About Seymour Duncan JB Pickup –

The best thing about a Seymour Duncan JB pickup is its alnico 5-based magnetic feature. With upper mid-ranges, this pickup provides sweeter and brighter tones. The sparkling and crustal clearness in the tone makes the pickup perfect for blues and jazz music genres.

This is a bridge humbucker or double coil pickup and has high output. Even though blues and jazz are the perfect genres to play with a Seymour Duncan JB pickup, it is more or less capable of playing metal, hard rock, and many other genres too.

However, in providing natural harmonics, JB lacks to a little extent. Besides, the tone this pickup produces has little sustain because the bottom end is not tighter. Nevertheless, because of the alnico 5 magnets, the JB has a warmer tone.

Seymour Duncan JB for metal does not provide much distortion but it is okay to play. So, you can cover some of the metal or hard rock songs, but for better service use it for genres that require shaper tones. Well, you can already tell how versatile a JB is.

Things We Liked About / Pros:

• Comes with an amazingly sharper and sweeter tone in the sound quality
• Can cover blues and jazz music genres, and also can play hard rock metal with less distortion
• Comes with an alnico 5-based magnetic field to provide strong service
• Provides huge versatility as a passive bridge humbucker

Things We Didn’t Like About / Cons:

• The harmonics seem less natural and cannot sustain the tone

Seymour Duncan Distortion Vs JB Pickups Key Differences:

You already can tell by their individual reviews that they both are passive humbuckers. Also, they both have high output as this is a very common feature of a humbucker. But things do not get settled here. As we have experienced both pickups, we have their dissimilarities to share with you.

1) Sound Quality –

Sound is the ultimate feature that a player looks for most. And both Seymour Duncan Distortion and JB have different sound qualities. The former pickup sounds more aggressive and meaner. It has this chunky and beefy vibe in the sound.

Conversely, the latter sounds sweeter, sharper, and warmer. JB has a crystal clear and sparkling texture in the tone.

2) Magnetic Field –

It is a great difference between a Seymour Duncan Distortion and a JB. The former has a ceramic-based magnetic field and the latter has an alnico 5-based magnetic field. Because the DD comes with ceramic magnets, people do not want to rely on it.

But you can trust us as the ceramic quality is top-notch in the Distortion. Besides, the pole pieces are attached to the magnets properly. On the other hand, alnico 5 magnets work the best in pickups.

3) Mid Ranges –

This characteristic of a pickup determines if your pickup can distort or not. In this case, the DD one comes with much lower mids. So, you will see the Distortion pickup distorts more easily. But JB pickups have much upper and punchy mids, and that’s why the sound of the pickup does not distort easily.

4) Music Genres –

After playing both pickups, I have come to the conclusion that it is better to stick with the Duncan Distortion pickup for playing metal and hard rock music genres. And for JB, blues and jazz are perfect genres as you can get the warmth from its alnico 5 magnets. But JB, much surprisingly, can cope with metals though offers less distortion.

5) Versatility –

I would not deny that both JB and Distortion pickup has their own versatility to impress the players. You can get a Duncan Distortion pickup both for neck and bridge position and by altering the position you can get twisted sound for your new experiments.

Then again, in the case of versatility, a JB offers dynamic responsiveness. This dynamic responsiveness is absent in the Distortion pickup.

6) Harmonics –

In producing harmonics, a Seymour Duncan Distortion seems pretty natural, though some would like to debate this statement. But I found the harmonics much more natural. Conversely, the harmonics of JB sound less natural, but that is good to go.

7) Price –

Because the JB carries alnico 5 magnets, it costs more than a Duncan Distortion. But the Distortion pickup also has a high-quality ceramic magnet, so don’t expect too cheap a price.

So, which Guitar Pickup is better?

Both Seymour Duncan Distortion vs JB pickup has impressive qualities. In the end, it is their sound quality and magnetic feature that a player looks for. So, I would recommend metal, heavy metal, and hard rock players to go for the ceramic-based Distortion pickup for a more saturated and distorted tone.

And those who are more into blues and jazz genres, stay with Seymour Duncan JB pickups. Besides, this way you can get the best magnetic feature in your pickup.

FAQs –

Question 1: Is a JB pickup high output?

Answer: A Seymour Duncan JB is high output humbucker. The great fact about this characteristic is that JB can play blues and jazz music genres very well as a passive pickup.

Question 2: What is the hottest Seymour Duncan Pickup?

Answer: For Seymour Duncan, it is their JB pickups that are the hottest. It’s because this pickup comes with an alnico 5-based strong magnetic field. Therefore, this pickup has a stronger signal output than other pickups of the Seymour brand. Basically, because of the output strength, JB pickups win the race.

Question 3: What is Seymour Duncan JB good for?

Answer: As a passive high-output humbucker, Seymour Duncan JB pickups have great impressive features. Their sweeter melody in the tone and dynamic responsiveness make the pickups efficient and effective. Besides playing jazz and blues, you can make the pickup work for the metal genre to some extent too.

Question 4: Are Seymour Duncan pickups the best?

Answer: Seymour Duncan Pickups are one of the best pickups, to speak the real truth. They have gained versatility and now meeting the desire of famous musicians too.

Last Updated on December 25, 2022 by Perry Garner