Played the JB for about a decade, and now The Breed for years and i definitely prefer The Breed! More focused and punch and better to control in every situation from clean to high gain. My favorite since years.
i played the breed for years, always felt the tone to be a bit too ‘polite’ by lack of a better word .. it always cut through the mix tho, warm tone with just enough highs to keep definition
Thanks for watching :) I think you feel it's too polite since it's Alnico 5 as opposed to Ceramic (think of the Evolutions). As a result it has a lower output vibe and doesn't hit as hard but sounds fantastic in all frequencies. Works great for modern metal in particular
Must be your ears because to me they stand out more thanks to their finer tuned treble :) then again maybe I'm not hearing it right lol. Thanks for watching and best regards to you too!
@@nafis6668 My friend, you have a pre-2000 classic JEM just like me! I've got a 32 year old JEM777 VDY and absolutely adore it :) The video is on my channel if you'd like to see it. These guitars never die. Tuning stability, tone, build quality are all second to none. They're truly amazing instruments :)
@@RolanTHUNDER awesome. good old days guitar :) i really envy the quality and value you guys had back then . I think those JEMs becoming modern vintage , people are really searching for them and they are getting sold quickly.
@@nafis6668 Absolutely. Thing is back then I was a really small kid, haha. My JEM777 and UV7 are almost the same age as me :) Values are on the rise, yes. They are very special and hard to come by especially since Ibanez stopped or changed some of the techniques and specs that they used to make the guitars with. Of course Mr. Vai decides what will be changed or added or removed before signing off on a new guitar of his. The RG's as well went thru a variety of changes but they always were great. Prestige necks feel amazing too.
Hey man, great comparison! I preferred The Breed more here. Since you have these pickups, how well would you say The Breed would work for Modern Metal and Progressive Metal tones in the style of Periphery and Monuments? Would they be a good fit? I'm not looking for something hyper-modern and aggressive like the Bare Knuckle Aftermaths for example, but i do want something that would be somewhat versatile and can hold its own for Modern Metal. Also, since you've done a video on the Duncan Distortion, how would you say it compares to the Breed? Which of these would work better for the styles I mentioned? I was thinking of the Distortion, but have a good deal for the Breed, so I'm curious as to which would work better for my needs. Thanks in advance!
Hey man! Thanks so much for watching and for the detailed comment. The Breed is a great fit for modern metal. It has the chunkiness of a high output pickup but retains some expressive openness thanks to being made from alnico V instead of ceramic. What kind of amp/s do you have and want to play through? High gain amps will like this pickup since u can actually use more of those amps' gain. One thing that stood out to me the most was how articulate it is. It had no problems retaining definition and string to string clarity which is a must for players like us. On the other hand, since it's not that high of an output pickup and not made from ceramic you might need to boost it with a Tubescreamer or equivalent more often than u would, say, an Evolution bridge. For tones like Periphery it will get you pretty close and will be happy to play progressive all day. One thing u might consider as an alternative is the Illuminator bridge in this case though. That being said, if you like Lamb of God then you might know that Mark loved the Breed so much that he modeled his own Dominion off of it. In other words, you'll be well covered for styles like those :) As for the Duncan Distortion - way different beast. It's a lot more of everything but not necessarily in a good way. That pickup is awesome for all out mayhem short of having active pickups. It's pretty close to, if not very close to the X2N in terms of raw power! You'll find it a bit difficult to control when dialing in tones for guitar tracking or even live unless your guitar can accommodate a very chunky and tall pickup by allowing u to lower it from the strings more than most other pickups. The Breed would shine in basswood or mahogany by the way.
@@RolanTHUNDER Thank you so much for the detailed reply! About amps, I actually don't have any tube amps. I mostly play through my POD X3 Live and also through plugins using my interface, so I'm not too concerned about the lower output of these pickups. It's great to know that the pickup has great string definition and clarity. I read that it was supposed to be a "warmer" pickup, so I was worried if it'd be too dark for what I wanted it to do. I'd like to know if you think it has adequate brightness. I did read about it being the basis of the Dominion, which made me consider them in the first place. Also, thanks for your points on the Duncan Distortion. I didn't know it was so high output that it gets difficult to handle. Finally, my guitar is made of basswood, so the Breed might be a great fit indeed. If I get a good deal on it, I think I'll get it. Thanks again for your help!
@@rhitosparsha It is my pleasure to help a fellow guitarist :) If you're playing through the POD then lower output doesn't mean that much. The output of the Breed is more than adequate in pretty much all scenarios you can think of. It's not dark sounding and since you have a Basswood guitar it'll be just right. In my mahogany Ibanez RG2820 it sounds amazing and never once have I felt it was too dark. It gives me enough upper mids and treble definition even in warmer sounding wood like this. The Duncan Distortion is a great metal/extreme metal pickup that's really high up there in terms of sheer output. It's a lot of fun to play! Harder to handle if you can't get it a good amount away from your strings and if you really need to hit the front end of your amp hard. Definitely a modern sounding pickup. Let me know what pickup you get and how you like it. The Dominion is something I'm strongly considering next for the same reasons mentioned above. That, the Pegasus or Black Winter ;)
@@RolanTHUNDER Hi, Thanks.. I only say that because I didn't see it on Dimarzio's website. I looked.. It may still be being made, but I did see someone else on another breed demo also say it wasn't.. I just don't know now.. Thanks again.. Appreciate it.. I want one for the strat I'm building.. Best regards sir..
Wow.. Very interesting.. My type of music.. I think I liked the breed just a little better. It sounded like it had better low mids in the high gain especially which is where I live most of the time playing electric guitar.. Very cool man..
Thanks so much for watching and commenting! That's the same way I perceive the Breed 👌🙌 it's got a very well tuned and balanced midrange response. The JB is a good pickup but it's unbalanced in the mids. There's just too much of it which comes out of the amp as a spike 😬 the golden age JB's from the 80's would probably be better than modern offerings. Unless it just a case of hit or miss...
Nice shootout. I've been using the JB for years so I am likely quite biased, but overall here I prefer the JB over the Breed. Feels like the JB has just a bit more of a fuller tone on the high gain stuff, though I really liked how the Breed sounds on the high gain lead part.
Thank you! It is a close competition for sure with both pickups shining in their respective strengths. The JB had that extra grit on the high gain stuff, i agree. The Breed feels well tuned and sounds more crisp/defined on the high gain stuff to me. That's why i swapped the JB out in favor of it in my red Charvel. As somewhat of a go-between i would pick a Full Shred.
Well done! I noticed that too and I noticed a big improvement when I installed my Breed bridge. Illuminator in the neck also sounds amazing especially with high gain or when using a Tubescreamer in front of the amp. That neck pickup excels at fluid high gain, fast playing. I feel both pickups compliment my alder body San Dimas well.
It's a winner for me too. That's really the reason why I swapped the original JB out of my Charvel San Dimas for the Breed. I'll be doing a video of the Breed vs the Full Shred so please subscribe to not miss it! I'd love to hear your thoughts on which pickup is the winner there :)
Played the JB for about a decade, and now The Breed for years and i definitely prefer The Breed! More focused and punch and better to control in every situation from clean to high gain. My favorite since years.
Thank you for watching and commenting! I agree with your choice of the Breed over the JB for those reasons :)
The Breed for me.
Great choice!
The Breed sounds more compressed, the strings all sound at the same volume and more mellow.
It is more even sounding from string to string, yes. Thanks for watching
Getting a Breed for my neck pickup, to go with the Super Distortion I already have in my bridge position. \m/
Sounds like it will be a killer combo! Heavy metal for life! \m/
i just put the breed pick ups in my prs billy martin & it sound so good
You can't go wrong with them. Well done mate
Breed open all way clear notes chunk is chunk and highest and mids are rock solid
Yeah, it's rock solid :)
i played the breed for years, always felt the tone to be a bit too ‘polite’ by lack of a better word .. it always cut through the mix tho, warm tone with just enough highs to keep definition
Thanks for watching :)
I think you feel it's too polite since it's Alnico 5 as opposed to Ceramic (think of the Evolutions). As a result it has a lower output vibe and doesn't hit as hard but sounds fantastic in all frequencies. Works great for modern metal in particular
The Breed, for high gain
Yeah it sounds great! I really like it 👌😊
Quality stuff. One day I hope 🙏🏻🤘😁
I hope so too!
Breed, although they "seem" to lack a bit of treble. .. or is it my ears? Best Regards!
Must be your ears because to me they stand out more thanks to their finer tuned treble :) then again maybe I'm not hearing it right lol. Thanks for watching and best regards to you too!
its not that the breed lack treble, the jb are too trebly and squealing. The amp or guitar or setting might have been cutting the highs a lot
Had both, definitely prefer the JB.
Fair 🙂👍
@@RolanTHUNDER and I do say that without knocking on the breed lol
The Breed is great
@@DannyKGuitar Indeed :)
breed has nicer midrange and more musical highs. Glad I bought JEM 77DBK that came with them.
Yes indeed :) You got a great JEM!
@@RolanTHUNDER the guitar is 24 years old when i got it. all the frets are still level, the bridge still able to return to zero. I am amazed :)
@@nafis6668 My friend, you have a pre-2000 classic JEM just like me! I've got a 32 year old JEM777 VDY and absolutely adore it :)
The video is on my channel if you'd like to see it. These guitars never die. Tuning stability, tone, build quality are all second to none. They're truly amazing instruments :)
@@RolanTHUNDER awesome. good old days guitar :) i really envy the quality and value you guys had back then . I think those JEMs becoming modern vintage , people are really searching for them and they are getting sold quickly.
@@nafis6668 Absolutely. Thing is back then I was a really small kid, haha. My JEM777 and UV7 are almost the same age as me :)
Values are on the rise, yes. They are very special and hard to come by especially since Ibanez stopped or changed some of the techniques and specs that they used to make the guitars with. Of course Mr. Vai decides what will be changed or added or removed before signing off on a new guitar of his. The RG's as well went thru a variety of changes but they always were great. Prestige necks feel amazing too.
Hey man, great comparison! I preferred The Breed more here.
Since you have these pickups, how well would you say The Breed would work for Modern Metal and Progressive Metal tones in the style of Periphery and Monuments? Would they be a good fit? I'm not looking for something hyper-modern and aggressive like the Bare Knuckle Aftermaths for example, but i do want something that would be somewhat versatile and can hold its own for Modern Metal.
Also, since you've done a video on the Duncan Distortion, how would you say it compares to the Breed? Which of these would work better for the styles I mentioned? I was thinking of the Distortion, but have a good deal for the Breed, so I'm curious as to which would work better for my needs.
Thanks in advance!
Hey man! Thanks so much for watching and for the detailed comment. The Breed is a great fit for modern metal. It has the chunkiness of a high output pickup but retains some expressive openness thanks to being made from alnico V instead of ceramic. What kind of amp/s do you have and want to play through? High gain amps will like this pickup since u can actually use more of those amps' gain. One thing that stood out to me the most was how articulate it is. It had no problems retaining definition and string to string clarity which is a must for players like us. On the other hand, since it's not that high of an output pickup and not made from ceramic you might need to boost it with a Tubescreamer or equivalent more often than u would, say, an Evolution bridge.
For tones like Periphery it will get you pretty close and will be happy to play progressive all day. One thing u might consider as an alternative is the Illuminator bridge in this case though. That being said, if you like Lamb of God then you might know that Mark loved the Breed so much that he modeled his own Dominion off of it. In other words, you'll be well covered for styles like those :)
As for the Duncan Distortion - way different beast. It's a lot more of everything but not necessarily in a good way. That pickup is awesome for all out mayhem short of having active pickups. It's pretty close to, if not very close to the X2N in terms of raw power! You'll find it a bit difficult to control when dialing in tones for guitar tracking or even live unless your guitar can accommodate a very chunky and tall pickup by allowing u to lower it from the strings more than most other pickups. The Breed would shine in basswood or mahogany by the way.
@@RolanTHUNDER Thank you so much for the detailed reply! About amps, I actually don't have any tube amps. I mostly play through my POD X3 Live and also through plugins using my interface, so I'm not too concerned about the lower output of these pickups.
It's great to know that the pickup has great string definition and clarity. I read that it was supposed to be a "warmer" pickup, so I was worried if it'd be too dark for what I wanted it to do. I'd like to know if you think it has adequate brightness.
I did read about it being the basis of the Dominion, which made me consider them in the first place. Also, thanks for your points on the Duncan Distortion. I didn't know it was so high output that it gets difficult to handle.
Finally, my guitar is made of basswood, so the Breed might be a great fit indeed. If I get a good deal on it, I think I'll get it. Thanks again for your help!
@@rhitosparsha It is my pleasure to help a fellow guitarist :)
If you're playing through the POD then lower output doesn't mean that much. The output of the Breed is more than adequate in pretty much all scenarios you can think of. It's not dark sounding and since you have a Basswood guitar it'll be just right. In my mahogany Ibanez RG2820 it sounds amazing and never once have I felt it was too dark. It gives me enough upper mids and treble definition even in warmer sounding wood like this.
The Duncan Distortion is a great metal/extreme metal pickup that's really high up there in terms of sheer output. It's a lot of fun to play! Harder to handle if you can't get it a good amount away from your strings and if you really need to hit the front end of your amp hard. Definitely a modern sounding pickup.
Let me know what pickup you get and how you like it. The Dominion is something I'm strongly considering next for the same reasons mentioned above. That, the Pegasus or Black Winter ;)
I don't think the breed is built anymore is it?
It's still available brand new on eBay so I'm sure it's still made
@@RolanTHUNDER Hi, Thanks.. I only say that because I didn't see it on Dimarzio's website. I looked.. It may still be being made, but I did see someone else on another breed demo also say it wasn't.. I just don't know now.. Thanks again.. Appreciate it.. I want one for the strat I'm building.. Best regards sir..
@@hoosierdaddy2308 all good :) thanks again for watching and man, that Strat of yours is going to be OP once you get a Breed in it 🙌😉
@@hoosierdaddy2308 and yeah, this kind of music is what these pickups were made for 🎸 🙌🤘
@@RolanTHUNDER Thanks man! Appreciat eit.. Very much sir..
Wow.. Very interesting.. My type of music.. I think I liked the breed just a little better. It sounded like it had better low mids in the high gain especially which is where I live most of the time playing electric guitar.. Very cool man..
Thanks so much for watching and commenting! That's the same way I perceive the Breed 👌🙌 it's got a very well tuned and balanced midrange response. The JB is a good pickup but it's unbalanced in the mids. There's just too much of it which comes out of the amp as a spike 😬 the golden age JB's from the 80's would probably be better than modern offerings. Unless it just a case of hit or miss...
Breed in my Ibanez Jem 7Dbk
Great JEM and pickup!
Nice shootout. I've been using the JB for years so I am likely quite biased, but overall here I prefer the JB over the Breed. Feels like the JB has just a bit more of a fuller tone on the high gain stuff, though I really liked how the Breed sounds on the high gain lead part.
Thank you! It is a close competition for sure with both pickups shining in their respective strengths. The JB had that extra grit on the high gain stuff, i agree. The Breed feels well tuned and sounds more crisp/defined on the high gain stuff to me. That's why i swapped the JB out in favor of it in my red Charvel. As somewhat of a go-between i would pick a Full Shred.
I replaced all my Charvel guitars bridge pickups (JB) by Breed. The JB has to much treble for my taste
Well done! I noticed that too and I noticed a big improvement when I installed my Breed bridge. Illuminator in the neck also sounds amazing especially with high gain or when using a Tubescreamer in front of the amp. That neck pickup excels at fluid high gain, fast playing. I feel both pickups compliment my alder body San Dimas well.
The Breed wins
It's a winner for me too. That's really the reason why I swapped the original JB out of my Charvel San Dimas for the Breed. I'll be doing a video of the Breed vs the Full Shred so please subscribe to not miss it! I'd love to hear your thoughts on which pickup is the winner there :)
Breed
My choice too
Jb got more mids
Yip. More aggressive midrange too which is why it's hit or miss
Breed
Can't go wrong with it :)