Custom 59 - Too Bassy for my tastes. Suggestions?

[AdrianSD]

You mentioned a JVM, what's the other amp, does it have an effects loop as well? Do you have, or perhaps are you able to borrow some 6-7 bandEQ pedal to throw in the loop and cut the bass a wee bit? Maybe bump the 2-3.2Khz mids so you can mimic crossing into Distortion territory before actually buying the pickup?

[H13]

UPDATE:
Contacted SD support. Effectively the Neck of the Duncan Distortion has less winds than the Bridge resulting in a bit less output, and a bit less bass.

Considering my LP is such a thick sounding thing, I don't think a fraction less bass will be a bad thing. It's not quite as hot as the bridge version, so I don't think it will be as huge of a jump from the 59 Hybrid. It sounds pretty much spot on.

As a contrast, in the name of leaving no stone unturned...

I've got an Explorer which has a Bareknuckle Nailbomb in it. I'm a big fan of how that pickup sounds overall, however in that Explorer, the clean-up is pretty terrible (not that I really use the Explorer for that...). I know Nailbombs are fairly hot, but I also know that Bareknuckle's aren't QUITE as hot as they suggest.

Does anybody have any experience with a Nailbomb in comparison to a Duncan Distortion?

[beaubrummels]

FWIW the Distortion neck pickup was originally a production bridge pickup called "The Seymourizer"

[eclecticsynergy]

UPDATE:
Contacted SD support. Effectively the Neck of the Duncan Distortion has less winds than the Bridge resulting in a bit less output, and a bit less bass.

Considering my LP is such a thick sounding thing, I don't think a fraction less bass will be a bad thing. It's not quite as hot as the bridge version, so I don't think it will be as huge of a jump from the 59 Hybrid. It sounds pretty much spot on.

As a contrast, in the name of leaving no stone unturned...

I've got an Explorer which has a Bareknuckle Nailbomb in it. I'm a big fan of how that pickup sounds overall, however in that Explorer, the clean-up is pretty terrible (not that I really use the Explorer for that...). I know Nailbombs are fairly hot, but I also know that Bareknuckle's aren't QUITE as hot as they suggest.

Does anybody have any experience with a Nailbomb in comparison to a Duncan Distortion?

Yah, as beaubrummels said, the Distortion neck wasn't originally designed for the neck; just wound up pairing well with the DD.
Makes a heckuva good medium output bridge pickup. Nice and bright, tight lows, good lead voice all the way up the neck.
And it isn't over-the-top hot - should balance well with your A2P neck.
I have one of the old SH7s and I like it.
Great choice for a guitar that could use some brightening and tightening.

I think there was a saying back in the days of the metal wars: "Loose lows sink shows..."

[GuitarDoc]

So, you're opposed to trying a magnet swap in your 59/C?
An A9 would surely be worth a try to give a brighter tighter sound with less bass. Seems to me that's what you're looking for.
It's a very simple and cheap alternative to buying a new pup. I just swapped an A8 into a Custom 2 days ago...it took me about 2 1/2 minutes.

[Lammchop93]

Duncan 78? The EQ chart shows a lot of bass, but it's not the flubby kind in my experience.

[beaubrummels]

Duncan 78? The EQ chart shows a lot of bass, but it's not the flubby kind in my experience.

The BMT charts are notorious for not accurately representing what a pickup sounds like. IME it's because of 2 problems:

1. Much of what differentiates pickups from each other happens in between the B-M-T that isn't on the chart
2. A pickup could seem bass heavy in one guitar and be very clean and even in another.

[Aceman]

I like your Duncan Distortion Neck idea Idea.

I was gonna call "Distortion" out of the gate.

I think the Custom with flub flub flub more than you like, and I suspect it is the Marshall, more so than the pickups, especially since the A2P works well in the neck.

[Overlord]

UPDATE:
Contacted SD support. Effectively the Neck of the Duncan Distortion has less winds than the Bridge resulting in a bit less output, and a bit less bass.

Considering my LP is such a thick sounding thing, I don't think a fraction less bass will be a bad thing. It's not quite as hot as the bridge version, so I don't think it will be as huge of a jump from the 59 Hybrid. It sounds pretty much spot on.

As a contrast, in the name of leaving no stone unturned...

I've got an Explorer which has a Bareknuckle Nailbomb in it. I'm a big fan of how that pickup sounds overall, however in that Explorer, the clean-up is pretty terrible (not that I really use the Explorer for that...). I know Nailbombs are fairly hot, but I also know that Bareknuckle's aren't QUITE as hot as they suggest.

Does anybody have any experience with a Nailbomb in comparison to a Duncan Distortion?

Yeah the Duncan Distortion neck was originally called the Seymourizer and was a bridge pickup.
That's why I recommended it. Not as hot as the bridge pickup.
If you want something a little tighter with more mids, then the Black Winter neck might be a good choice.
I have a Mahogany B.C. Rich neck thru Beast with a Mahogany neck I was having a similar problem with.
Everything I tried seemed a bit flubby on the low end and not enough bite in the upper mids and highs.
And any pickup I tried with a lot of mids was just too round sounding to my ears and not enough cut and bite.
The Duncan Distortion bridge was on to the right path for me.
Now that guitar has a Dimarzio Evo 2, and that seems to work perfect in that guitar for me.
I have an A-Bomb too, but I haven't had the chance to try it yet.
Try the Nailbomb in your LP. Might be just what you're looking for!!
Or, you can always use a Tubescreamer type pedal to tighten up the low end and add a little saturation and gain!!

[H13]

I'm not skilled enough to do a pickup swap. Especially considering this guitar was custom-built for me, so it doesn't seem like the correct guitar I should be waving a soldering iron over if I don't know what I'm doing...

I've tried the boost pedal and it helped but the issue was that the boost pedal added more gain. My experience with this pickup is that the more gain you add, the flubbier it gets. So while a boost definitely helped, since it added more gain, it didn't quite help enough.

[Demanic]

If you don't want to mess with pickup swaps, get a pedal like one of the many Zip amps. You can cut the bass, give a good clean boost, tweak the highs and use compression, or not. I got one for $20 and it's my new favorite pedal.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

[Securb]

I have a WLH set in two Les Pauls. I have used them for everything from post-Hardcore - Metal - Classic Rock with great results for all applications. The chug is unreal.

[Clint 55]

You gonna go for the pickup swap? The DDn should be a good option. Hybrids can sometimes get a flubby bass caused by the coil mismatch.

[H13]

You gonna go for the pickup swap? The DDn should be a good option. Hybrids can sometimes get a flubby bass caused by the coil mismatch.

Yup. Going to swap it out for a DDn.

The guitar I'm putting it in is very new and still kinda smells of glue and varnish, so I'm letting the guitar "settle' a bit more. At which point I'll take it to my tech to give it a fresh setup\neck tweak and drop the DDn in. So it'll be about a month, but since I'm prone to rabbit-holing...I started my research early

[H13]

UPDATE

Got the DDn in my bridge!

...

IT'S 90% CORRECT.

The EQ is correct, the output is correct...

But it just feels a tad gritty to play. I'm suspecting 'cos of the ceramic magnet.

So with that in mind...now I'm considering a magnet swap.

What impact would swapping out the ceramic magnet for an Alnico have in a DDn?