Seymour Duncan has released its new Jason Becker Perpetual Burn Humbucker.
From the company:
The story of the Jason Becker pickup starts decades ago when Jason was catapulted to the top of the guitarist world, thanks to his work with Cacophony, David Lee Roth and as a solo artist.
Becker writes: "I remember Bob Rock bringing in a Les Paul with a Duncan JB in it while I was recording the David Lee Roth song 'A Little Ain't Enough,' and I absolutely loved it.
"After playing with Bob Rock's guitar, I contacted Seymour Duncan to potentially work on a Becker pickup. We talked about what I wanted and over the course of a few months, they sent about six test pickups.”
Becker came to Seymour Duncan looking for a pickup with enough gain for singing leads and the dynamic response for complex chording and ringing clean tones. As the pickup was nearing completion, his ALS was making things increasingly hard and the pickup was never released.
As to how Becker came back to completing the pickup, he writes: "A couple years ago, my buddy Michael Lee Firkins came over to test a possible Becker signature amp. We tried tons of guitars, but didn't find any that sounded very good, or at least that sounded like me. We finally plugged in the guitar with one of my test Duncans in it, and we were all floored! It was like magic.
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"We decided to finalize the pickup and I would say the final tone sounds like me, only way better! It has the thick beef and balls that we metal players and old Van Halen fans like, plus a sweet, clear and crisp, yet warm lead tone.”
With an Alnico 5 bar magnet and a 12.11k DC resistance, this pickup has the clarity and punch for Becker's brand of high-octane shred but is a great choice for rock, blues, and fusion as well. It's a drop-in replacement for any humbucker-equipped guitar and requires no modification to the instrument.
Each Perpetual Burn pickup is hand built in Santa Barbara, California, and is available in standard spacing or trembucker and in black, white or zebra and can be ordered in an assortment of colors as a shop floor custom.
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