CC vs. C5 vs. JB

[FretFire]

Re: CC vs. C5 vs. JB

Oh yeah, my cab is loaded with a Celestion V30 and a G12H30, so it will get a bit of middy coloring from the speakers, the V30 especially.

[fenderiarhs]

Re: CC vs. C5 vs. JB

Here are some small reviews of the CC, the C5 and the JB which i used in one of my strats. I have posted these reviews months ago in this forum and I still agree with my descriptions

Duncan Custom Custom(overall 8/10)
Nice pickup.Medium-high output.I liked very much the sweet treble(i never liked the fact that most pickups use more treble than i prefer).The mids are very very prominent.This is the reason that maybe i didn't like so much the sound of the CC when i was practising alone in home but when i used it for rehearsals or the occasional gig......it cuts through the mix like no other pickup.....It's the perfect pickup if you want your guitar to be heard under the most busy mix.The part of this pickup i didn't like is the bass responce.....Not enough bass.....the E and A strings never sounded the way i wanted them to....and that was the reason i changed it for the custom5.
Bass:4.5
Mids:8
treble:5.5

Duncan Custom 5(overall 6.5/10)
Not many things to say about this one.I was certainly expecting something more from this one.While i enjoyed the bass responce(which was the main reason i didn't like the CC)and while i could cope with the more prominent treble i hated the fact that there were no mids to make my guitar be heard in the mix.During rehearsals i always raised the mid controll of the amp to 7-8 and still i found my guitar was lost between the bass and drums.I must say that this is maybe not a bad pickup but not for a strat...i am sure in a les paul will be perfect.
Bass:7.5
low mids:5.5
hi mids:5.5
treble:7.5

Duncan Jeff Beck(overall 8.5/10)
It is a classic.I don't think there is a guitar player that hasn't tried one.Perfect for soloing....a little bit less perfect for chords.One of my favorite pickups.I don't have many bad things to say about this one but i shall point out what i would like it had(maybe a custom shop pickup???)This pickup needs more low mids and just a touch more bass that would compensate for the amount of high mids that this pickup is associated with.That would be the best pickup in the world.
Bass: 6
Low mids:5.5
Hi mids:8
treble:7.5

[FretFire]

Re: CC vs. C5 vs. JB

Thanks fenderiarhs, I'm hoping what you say about the C5 in a Les Paul is true, as my guitar is VERY LP-ish in construction and materials.

[tone?]

Re: CC vs. C5 vs. JB

hey FEnderArhs, you are from greece? i live in athens greece.

so you didnt think much of the Custom5?
i have put a thread out cause i want to get either a JB or custom 5 for my new guitar that i am making.
i guess i will go for the JB again.

[Gearjoneser]

Re: CC vs. C5 vs. JB

Even though I have a C-5/2 Surfers in my H-S-S strat, I'm not sold on the C-5 in a strat. It's good, but not great. In mahogany guitars, the C-5 works great.
After the Holidays, I'm going to yank the Surfers & C-5 out of my HSS strat and put my Fat 50's back in, then audition a bunch of different humbuckers.
I love that particular strat, so I'm going to really split hairs and find out what the absolute best humbucker is for an alder/rosewood strat. My first step is getting the custom shop to make me a C-5 trem with a resistance of 15.5 instead of 14.4.
I asked Seymour how to get the C-5 to have better mids, and he said "just overwind it a bit."

[FretFire]

Re: CC vs. C5 vs. JB

Very cool, thanks again for all the input guys. I snagged a reverse zebra C5 from Blackrose Customs a few moments ago, I'm hoping to have at least the new bridge pickup installed by next weekend. I'm going to try to have both pickups zebra with the black bobbins towards the bridge. After a lot of boredom-influenced "concept sketches" that's what I decided on haha.