So, I –really- like the Vela. The weight, balance, ergonomics, neck shape, bridge, etc… In stock form, it sounds fabulous for sweet cleans and a mild to medium crunch. But I was often wishing for a bit more bite & growl from the bridge. Since I had a Duncan JB just laying around, I finally got around to swapping it for the stock Starla pup just to see what would happen.
I’ve read mixed reviews about the JB in mahogany guitars, and wasn’t sure how it would sound, along with the D-type neck pup. Much to my surprise, I’m very impressed with the JB on both accounts. My initial impression is it’s actually pretty close to the rock voicing I was hoping for, and it seems to mix with the neck pup much better than I expected. With the tone knob pulled up to the “split” position (***), it sounds very similar to a good, hot Tele bridge pup. Much more than the stock pup did. I might consider trying a different pup after this, but I’m more pleased than I thought I would be with the JB.
It does look different than stock. Better, equal or worse is subjective. But when I’m actually playing the guitar, all that really matters is how it feels, sounds and responds…
I was also thinking about making a custom, ‘full race” version by changing out the neck pup to a full sized humbucker as well, and then buying a second Vela to keep as stock. But, I’ve already got plenty of other 2-bucker guitars. Or I could always just get an S2 standard 22, which would be very close to the same thing, but honestly probably work better than a Vela as a 2-bucker rock machine anyway…
(***) = the push/pull doesn’t actually ‘split’ the bridge pup, but rather shunts the signal through a 2.2k resistor to ground (see pic). This effectively lowers the output and brightens the tone, much like a series/parallel switch (which I usually prefer to coil splits anyways), but with much simpler wiring. I’m definitely going to try this trick with a few other guitars.
Fwiw, IMHO, the S2 series controls and wiring/solder work ‘quality’ is much closer to the SE / Epiphone level of guitars that I’ve seen than the other way (core models, higher end guitars, etc…) It’s not shite by any means, but pretty sloppy none the less. The stock pup wires released way too easy with just a touch of the soldering iron. The tone/push/pull control had sloppy solder on every contact point, before I even touched it… hadn’t seen that before. I suppose they are purchased / installed ‘pre tinned’, ready for any wiring config. I will definitely upgrade these parts once I settle on a long term pickup.