Muscular leads with the C-5???

[papersoul]

Hey guys,

I re-installed the C-5 in my LP the other night and the only thing I seem to miss is a really thick lead voice. Maybe I need to teak more to bring ou the natural mids from the amp and adjust the p'up higher. Any of you have similar issues? Maybe I am to familiar with the tone of the Rio grande BBQ and similar midrange heavy pickups.

Thanks.

[ranalli]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

scooped mids and thick are two things that have little in common IMO.

[papersoul]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

I understand, but some more fiddling with the EQ seems to be changing that! mayber I spoke too soon.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

The C-5 doesn't sound thick without a midheavy amp, but the note clarity is what you get, and a tight bass. I'm also using the CC/Seth now, for a thicker sound on one paul, but the goldtop always sounds best with C-5/59. I change sounds drastically, from clean to plexi, to raging gain, so the C-5 seems to moderate between the 3, better than thicker sounding pickups. For thicker high notes, the Rio, CC, JB, Seth, Burstbucker are better choices.

[Mac-P]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

The C5 is the least muscular of ANY Duncan I have ever tried. Single notes sounded WAAAAY too thin for my taste. I have never understood the hype......

[papersoul]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

The C-5 doesn't sound thick without a midheavy amp, but the note clarity is what you get, and a tight bass. I'm also using the CC/Seth now, for a thicker sound on one paul, but the goldtop always sounds best with C-5/59. I change sounds drastically, from clean to plexi, to raging gain, so the C-5 seems to moderate between the 3, better than thicker sounding pickups. For thicker high notes, the Rio, CC, JB, Seth, Burstbucker are better choices.

Interesting you find the C-5 moderates better between clean, mid gain, to high gain. Wonder why....

[fab.regnaut]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

I recently discovered that to get a full sound you first need a guitar witch acousticaly sound big and full and precise . After it is a matter of choice if you want lots of mids and creamy highs you cant put a JB , alnico2 or a Distortion but you will have to sacrify the pick attack and precision .
Or you can put a moderate ouput p-u like C5 or Demon , they won't sound hollow if the guitar is good and you cant shape your sound ( like adding mids at around 800 hertz ) with an EQ before the distortion stage and of course after . If you want creamy treebles for exemple push them before the preamp,
same for other frequencies .
I do prefer the second solution .

[papersoul]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

bump.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

With thickness, usually comes less clarity. With more clarity, the upper notes on the fretboard are a bit thinner. That day when Seymour made an appearance on the chatroom, I made a point to ask him his thoughts on the C-5, and what could be done to give that pickup a bit more midrange. He likes the C-5, and his answer was simple.
"Just overwind it a bit." That really got my wheels turning because now I feel that my 'ultimate humbucker' would be an overwound C-5 nickelcovered. Possibly with a resistance equal to a JB, which is why that pickup is TOO midrangey.
If I ever have a pickup custom made for me at Duncan's Custom Shop, I'm gonna request a C-5 nickelcovered with a resistance of 15.5, or similar. The regular C-5 is 14.4 For now, I just use one Paul with a C-5/59 and one with a CC/Seth.

[papersoul]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

With thickness, usually comes less clarity. With more clarity, the upper notes on the fretboard are a bit thinner. That day when Seymour made an appearance on the chatroom, I made a point to ask him his thoughts on the C-5, and what could be done to give that pickup a bit more midrange. He likes the C-5, and his answer was simple.
"Just overwind it a bit." That really got my wheels turning because now I feel that my 'ultimate humbucker' would be an overwound C-5 nickelcovered. Possibly with a resistance equal to a JB, which is why that pickup is TOO midrangey.
If I ever have a pickup custom made for me at Duncan's Custom Shop, I'm gonna request a C-5 nickelcovered with a resistance of 15.5, or similar. The regular C-5 is 14.4 For now, I just use one Paul with a C-5/59 and one with a CC/Seth.

Very interesting Gear! An overwound C-5...that would be my ultimate also and man you have me jonesing for one! You could also contact some custom builders but then they don't really have the C-5 to start. How much are the custom shop pickups? The added thickness from a touch more mids was all I wanted.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Muscular leads with the C-5???

Sometimes I think that the same wind shouldn't be used for the Custom, C-5, and CC.
I have this idea that if Duncan underwound the Custom and CC, and overwound the
C-5 a bit, all the Customs would get better sounding. I could be wrong, but I'd love to see the Custom shop try making those three, only more dialed in, in regards to the winding process. So much is made about getting PAF's to be stunningly perfect, but it'd be nice to see the Custom line get dialed in to perfection.