Opinion on Gibson Jackson Brown model guitar

[firelakekid2]

Wondering if anyone has experience playing (or listening live) to the Gibson Jackson Brown model. I've been viewing Youtube videos and it seems to sound good--but how accurate can that be. It's a big 12 fret body with a reported high end pick up and it just strikes my fancy. In the rural area where I live they don't have Gibson acoustics at the smaller music stores. I know its all subjective but I'd be interested hearing from anyone that has actually had one in their hands to try out.

[drive-south]

This model is based on his Roy Schmeck stage deluxe. These were originally Hawiaan guitars. JB had his modified for Spanish style. They are 12 fret jumbos with a very deep body and long scale neck. The JB signature model has the Trance Audio Amulet pickup system. Gibson also sells the Stage Deluxe without the JB designation and no Trance system. I played one of these and it sounded impressive. I prefer my Advance Jumbo for overall comfort and the 14 fret neck.

The JB sig model has walnut back & sides. The regular Stage Deluxe model has rosewood. There is also a Radio Grande model of the Roy Schmeck guitar. The originals had 2"+ nut width and were played Hawiaan style laying across the lap with a slide bar. JB had his neck shaved down to a normal width for playing Spanish style. Many other Schmeck owners have followed suit.

[Quake17]

I have the JB Model 1 (the Model A is with the Trance amulet). It was my first walnut guitar and I really enjoy it! It is more of a "squat" body shape, deeper and shorter that a typical twelve fret dred. I think they only made them for a couple of years and I'd heard JB signed the first hundred labels or so. The nut width is about 1.81 inches if memory serves me. It has a pleasing deep sound. Not sure how many they made but the Model A seems to be less common?

[Wade Hampton]

Firelake, in January of 2001 I happened to be at luthier Roy McAlister’s shop in Watsonville, California the evening that Jackson Browne came by with a van full of his favorite and not-so-favorite Gibson Roy Smeck models, including both vintage and modern examples. This was some ten years prior to Gibson coming out with the signature model you’re interested in.

Browne was a very friendly guy, very approachable, and he allowed me and Roy to pass around and play all of the guitars we wanted to play. He had close to a dozen of them, but I know we didn’t test drive every single one, stopping after seven or eight.

He two favorites were both old and original: bare bones mahogany models, nothing fancy, with none of the fancier inlays that the rosewood Roy Smeck Radio Grande models had.

His two favorites sounded magnificent in his hands, and good when Roy played them. But I struggled with getting a good tone out of them, and none of my usual tricks of shifting the edges of the pick or varying my right hand attack seemed to help.

I put it down to basic musical incompetence on my part, even though I’m a more accomplished guitarist than Roy is. But when I talked to Roy about it later he said: “No, you sounded good when you played those guitars, but the Smeck model is really projective: it’s hard to hear what it sounds like from behind, when you’re playing it. Remember, it was designed to be played as a Hawaiian guitar, with a steel, while it sits in your lap.”

That was my one and only encounter with either Jackson Browne or his personal guitars, but years later when the Gibson Jackson Browne signature model came out I arranged some travel in the Midwest so that I could swing by Sweetwater in Indiana so I could play a couple of them.

When those came out Jackson insisted that the Trance Amulet pickup that he prefers be an option, but they’re super expensive pickups, so Gibson made the guitar available with the pickup and without it.

The sales associate who assisted me in the Sweetwater showroom brought out one of each of them to try.

The one without the pickup sounded remarkably close to the original Smeck model that Jackson likes the most. I was impressed. Gibson made that signature model with English walnut backs and sides, which I thought was an interesting choice when I read about it, but once I played that first one I realized it was an excellent choice.

Maybe that walnut was closer to the density of the mahogany Gibson used for making the originals, but mahogany that good is harder to find these days, I don’t know. But that non-pickup version of the guitar that I played at Sweetwater sounded closer to the tone from Jackson’s two favorite Roy Smeck models than any of the other Roy Smecks he’d brought with him that night when I met him.

Sad to say, I wasn’t nearly as impressed with the acoustic sound of the guitar with the factory-installed Trace Amulet pickup. That guitar’s tone was discernibly muted, and its volume and projection diminished in comparison with the first one I played. I sat there for a good twenty minutes playing each in turn, on a quiet weekday morning when I was the only person in that particular room.

Later on that same trip I stopped to visit a longtime guitarist and collector buddy of mine who had excellent ears for discerning tone. He asked me what I had thought of the two played side by side, and when I told him what I’ve just written here he said: “That’s exactly what I heard with the two I tried, as well.” He’d visited a different Gibson dealer than I had, so it wasn’t just those two individual guitars.

What Roy McAlister told me is that the Trance Amulet pickup is an extremely sensitive pickup that changes the sound when the room changes: if you start playing a club gig and the room is half empty when you begin, as more people come in it’ll change how the pickup sounds.

Which is fine if you have someone with good ears sitting out in the room running the sound - they can make the needed adjustments as things start to change.

But it’s really impractical for a performer trying to run sound from the stage.

So if you’re interested in getting one of these instruments, my recommendation is that you look for one without the pickup, and install the electronics of your choice if you need to plug in.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[pickinray]

Great story, Wade. I am a Jackson Browne fan and have always been intrigued by the Gibson JB guitars. I've never had an opportunity to play one, though. Speaking of JB, I hope he is doing well and on the road to recovery.

[Wade Hampton]

What’s wrong with Jackson Browne? What illness is he suffering from?


whm

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

What’s wrong with Jackson Browne? What illness is he suffering from?


whm

Covid-19...

[pickinray]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

What’s wrong with Jackson Browne? What illness is he suffering from?


whm

It was reported last week that JB tested positive for COVID-19. It sounds like he had a relatively mild case so, hopefully, he will make a complete recovery.

[62burst]

The Jackson Browne Model 1 that I had was a real tease- the JB models came out when there was no hope of finding a J-45 12 fret from Gibson. The rosewood Smeck Radio Grande and mahogany Roy Smeck Stage DeLuxe were issued in the early 1990's (in the Centennial '94 series) and once again in the 2000's. They, too, were built on the J-45 silhouette and short scale length, but with an increased body depth and a slight v-neck carve. Although the Jackson Browne model had some great specs, it's fairly flat neck profile did not at all return the feel that one would expect to accompany the 1.812" nut width.

The choice of walnut may very well might have been one out of Jackson's interest in wanting to use a more sustainable species. The J-45 12 fret model of 2017 has the mahogany back and sides combined with the standard body depth, which to my ears, yields better projection with the 12 fret stronger low-mids, the mahogany fundamental tone, and better unplugged volume than the deeper bodied models.

[jseth]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

What’s wrong with Jackson Browne? What illness is he suffering from?


whm

Wade;

Jackson came down with the virus... there's a fairly complete article in Rolling Stone (online) that tells how he called them up to say that he had the COVID-19 virus...

He talks about it (apparently his symptoms were mild) and about how he thinks he got it... and what he's gonna do about it.

Since the article was written, I believe he has recovered and is feeling good again!

As to the JB model from Gibson... I've played a couple of the non-pickup ones and one of the ones with the Trance system in it... I didn't care for them much, as I have smallish hands and fingers and that neck is a handful to play... great spacing between the strings for fingerpicking, that's for sure! As I understand it, the Roy Smeck was built to be played as a Hawaiian lap/slide guitar. Gibson didn't make a version that was set-up for "normal" playing, but somewhere along the way an enterprising player figured out how to do that!

With the modern Gibson re-creations, I don't know if they even made a "lap" version of it...

Be well and feel good!

John

[Dwight]

I would like to mention that the JB Model is HUGE so be sure your comfortable with very large guitars.

[Italuke]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Browne was a very friendly guy, very approachable

Wade, yes, heard the same from some of my West Los Angeles audio friends. Thanks for the beautiful story on one of my favorite artists.

[firelakekid2]

Thanks everyone for responding. Glad to hear JB is okay. I do not have several guitars, but do have my Martin 000-42, which of course is great and I will keep. I also have a Beard R body dobro. Between the two of these I have a lot of playing and music making to keep me busy and content. However, sometimes I do have this restlessness and wanting something different. I was wondering if the JB model might fit the bill. But I'm thinking not. For one the size is too big for me at this point in life. It was good to hear about the peculiarities of the pick up. I have a K&K in my Martin which works just fine. I am thinking that if I do get another guitar, its going to be a small body size. Thanks again, stay safe.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

What Roy McAlister told me is that the Trance Amulet pickup is an extremely sensitive pickup that changes the sound when the room changes: if you start playing a club gig and the room is half empty when you begin, as more people come in it’ll change how the pickup sounds.

Wade, I know you're only repeating what Roy mentioned to you but IMHO it's incorrect when specifically applied to Trance pickups, and it's the first time I've heard it. Every guitar/pickup/preamp/speaker system sounds different in a room as the number of audience members increases or decreases, and the positioning of them varies. A pub that has a hint of feedback at the beginning of an evening can sound marvelous during the third set when the room is filled with more listeners. I know some people, myself included, love Trance systems and some seem to hate them but I just felt I had to speak out on what Roy mentioned to you.

P.S. I wonder what Roy feels about FRAP and Dazzo pickups which are also "three-dimensional" transducers?

[Wade Hampton]

Fair enough, SpruceTop. My information on the Amulet pickup is second hand, perhaps even third hand as I'm not sure whether Roy has witnessed that himself or was telling me what someone else told him.


whm