Lollar “Black bobbin” or Novak JM-fat jm-v

[pocaloc]

I’m getting ready to change my pickups in my Jazzmaster. I keep going back and forth between the Lollar Black Bobbin set and the Novak Jm-fat bridge with JM-V neck. My main objective is to actually enjoy playing in the bridge position. Does anyone have any experience with these sets of pickups?

[rbrcbr]

I've had both, but at separate times - it's been about two years since I owned the parts jazzy that had Novak the JM-V/JM-Fat combo in it. Currently I have a '59 thin skin reissue that has the Lollar Black Bobbins. Hard for me to compare since I don't have em side by side and I'm trying to not just regurgitate whatever marketing lingo I've read. But the Novaks were maybe a bit cleaner? The black bobbins seem to have a bit of grit to them, still super chimey and round sounding but the Novaks were like sparkly clean if I remember right. I also am running the black bobbins on the 280k pot set up, so it's even harder to compare to the set of Novaks I was running with 1meg pots in 2019.

Either way, you can't really go wrong. The bridge sound on these current pickups sounds great, and the JM-Fat is a really nice bridge tone from what I remember. Both are super usable.

Maybe I'll convince myself to snag a Spitfire guard and load it with Novaks to swap in and out and compare sometime. Good luck with your choice!

[pocaloc]

Thanks a lot for the information, I appreciate it. I’ve been thinking the same thing, that I probably can’t go wrong with either. I’ve had Novak’s before and have always wanted to try Lollar so that’s what I’m leaning towards. Plus they’re a little cheaper.

[ek11sx]

I had an issue with string balance on the black bobbins. The pole piece staggering was the culprit. Very pleasant sounding pickup to me though. Ended up moving to Novak to restore some of the sparkle

[Loobster]

I’m getting ready to change my pickups in my Jazzmaster. I keep going back and forth between the Lollar Black Bobbin set and the Novak Jm-fat bridge with JM-V neck. My main objective is to actually enjoy playing in the bridge position. Does anyone have any experience with these sets of pickups?

I currently have the JM-V/Fat neck/bridge combo. Love the neck pickup but find the bridge pickup a bit honky and nasal, such is often the case with overwound bridge pickups. I wish it had more cut, chime and high-end but to my ears, it's very midrangey. That might be what you want. The name is quite accurate, in this case. Definitely sounds infinitely better with overdrive than clean. The neck pickup sounds phenomenal whatever setting.

[Lost In Autumn]

What don't you like about the JM bridge pickup experience?

I generally don't like the bridge pickup position generally and Jazzmaster bridge pickups in particular, but one that I've really enjoyed in the jazzmaster form factor, has been Novak's Wide Range Humbucker. It has a fat, twangy sound, clean and it just flat out rips with overdrive, distortion and fuzz. My only complaint is that its a bit out of balance with the Novak Gold Foil JM that I have in the neck, and lowering the pickup to compensate, thins it out a little and takes away what I love some much about the pickup. Still, I've learned to live with it.

[pocaloc]

I usually like the bridge position best. I don’t like the bridge sound on either a Jaguar or a Jazzmaster. I guess what I don’t like about it could maybe be described as harshness? I usually love sparkle and chime though. I guess I just want it tamed a bit.

[Lost In Autumn]

I usually like the bridge position best. I don’t like the bridge sound on either a Jaguar or a Jazzmaster. I guess what I don’t like about it could maybe be described as harshness? I usually love sparkle and chime though. I guess I just want it tamed a bit.

That sums up my experience as well. The WRHB solved it for me, as did Novak‘s Jag V in my old Jaguar.

[Lost In Autumn]

I usually like the bridge position best. I don’t like the bridge sound on either a Jaguar or a Jazzmaster. I guess what I don’t like about it could maybe be described as harshness? I usually love sparkle and chime though. I guess I just want it tamed a bit.

That sums up my experience as well. The WRHB solved it for me, as did Novak‘s Jag V in my old Jaguar.

[pocaloc]

Thanks for the input. Maybe I'll look into a WRHB.

[redchapterjubilee]

I also find working with a pickup winder to get a +10% bridge overwind to be super beneficial. What I wanted out of a JM-V/JM-FAT setup I actually got from having Pickup Wizard overwind the bridge pickups on a black bobbin style set. 9 years on and I'm still very satisfied. Same goes with his hybrid black bobbin neck/P90 set.

[pocaloc]

So the over winding the bridge helped take that ear piercing treble out of the equation? I see where Lollar notes that he slightly overwinds his bridge.

[RocknRollShakeUp]

I usually like the bridge position best. I don’t like the bridge sound on either a Jaguar or a Jazzmaster. I guess what I don’t like about it could maybe be described as harshness? I usually love sparkle and chime though. I guess I just want it tamed a bit.

You probably know this already, but in case you don’t, if you have the stock 1 meg pots, make sure you experiment with rolling the volume down and also the tone. If you play with the volume on 10 you’ll get a tone that is extremely bright, harsh and overly present.

I typically keep my volume between 7-9’ish, and tone 5-7’ish, depending on my signal chain/amp. I turn up the amp more, or use a boost, to make up for the tiny volume loss.
The bridge tones I get out of a JM are among my most favorites, sort of a more chimey tele’ish tone, to oversimplify the description a bit.
I’m mostly a bridge pick up kinda dude.

[soul1]

I'm curious how the black bobbin compares to the Antiquity I

[rbrcbr]

I had an issue with string balance on the black bobbins. The pole piece staggering was the culprit. Very pleasant sounding pickup to me though. Ended up moving to Novak to restore some of the sparkle

Hmmmm you know I think that I'm experiencing a similar thing with the string balance. Might also switch to Novaks then.