Seymour Duncans overall bright?

[Archer250]

I find them properly bright. Suhr pickups, too.

Bright =/= thin, and I love bright pickups.

[Masta' C]

...The Custom Custom is different from both of those in that:
- The highs are very fat/round compared to the C or C5. Classic A2 sound
- The CC has significantly more mids than either, enough so that you can say that it sounds mid-boosted, or that the bass/treble is notably reduced
- The bass is definitely more "loose" or less "tight" than the C or C5
- The CC is a different animal in A Flooded Superstrat. Much brighter/tighter, even EQ'd. But still "mid-forward"

If the qualities of the C5 are clean chording because of the light mids, and the presence or top of the C5, I would not say the A2 just "tweaks" those things.

YMMV - Just my current view.

I didn't suggest that an A2 wouldn't increase the mids, just that it can seem more "boosted" than it really is (particularly in the Custom wind) because of the simultaneously reduced highs. That said, you point out in your own description how a Custom Custom can sound loose and fat in one guitar and brighter/tighter in another...I totally get what you're saying, but that doesn't clarify much.

Knowing what the OP is looking for, I still think that a UOA5 or A2 swap into his current Custom 5 is going to at least be a step in the right direction. He *thinks* he wants a lower output, A5-based pickup, but he doesn't quite like any of the ones he has tried from Duncan so far and there aren't too many others in the low-to-medium output range.

I bet he'd LOVE a '78 or something like a PATB-3 or Slash, but swapping mags is typically easier and less expensive than swapping entire pickups, which is the only reason I suggested it.

Beyond your observations about the Custom Custom, Ace, do you have any suggestions/recommendations for the OP?

[freefrog]

As a footnote to my other contributions in this topic, I share a bit more boring and useless data.

Below is a same bridge humbucker played in chords direct to the board, in the same guitar, through a 1M input. The only change was the kind of magnet used in each case.



Obviously, important parms are absent in this comparison: DYNAMICS and time factor (translated by the ADSR envelope). If I shared other data about these magnets, it would recall that AlNi(Co) alloys have a variable impact in these domains, with ONE alloy really different from the others: UOA5, noticeably "slower" than the others.

Reason why I often swap magnets too and have all kinds or AlNi(Co) alloys in my own guitars.


Now... below is another (and more powerful) humbucker played in another guitar, in the same conditions, but through two different cables. The first measured 6 inches only and 34pF. The second, 50fT (which is not that long if we consider that Santana or Buddy Guy plugged their guitars through 100fT of wire. That's what the "sweet switch" emulates in PRS Santana signature guitars). the 50fT cable was measuring 2498pF so it could have been replaced by a 2.2 or 2.7nF capacitor.



Should put things "in perspective". My fellow members will draw their own conclusions accordingly. ;-)

[Aceman]

Sounds like the OP needs a longer cable - not a new pickup - LOL.


In terms of a gross generalization though,

I see Duncan stylistically as a Bass/Treble sound. DiMarzio on the other hand is a Bass/Mids sound. On the whole I'd say more DMZ pickups are less bright than Duncans.
That said - they both have a wide range of pickups with whatever you want.

[freefrog]

Some classic DiMarzio designs clearly take advantage of "eddy currents" for that gritty tone... While Bill Lawrence was doing his best to avoid eddy currents for a super clear tone. LOL. Duncan's are between these two options in most cases, IME/AFAIK.


SIDE NOTE - A longer / more capacitive cable for less treble (or shorter / less capacitive for the contrary) won't replace new pickups but it can certainly help to fine tune the tone of existing ones, exactly like height settings, pots resistance, screw poles / slugs / keeper bar carbon content, covers or not for Foucault / eddy currents, magnet alloy and charge and so on... ;-)

It's not that rare for me to tweak ALL these parms altogether to achieve a desired tone.

And FWIW, I'm not alone to evoke caps as a solution among others against brightness:

https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/swd/can-i-add-capacitors-to-a-coil-to-change-the-tone-of-my-pickup

More food for thought:

https://youtu.be/4BmkaS91NHQ?t=582

http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/table.htm

;-)

[Ascension]

I find Duncan pickups clearer than equivalent competitor pickups.

I find this to be true also. That definition does at times make Duncans feel overall brighter than say Dimarzios as a rule. Are they in reality "brighter"? I feel they are but not overly so it's more a feel and response thing. I find most Duncans to be more articulate and less compressed as a rule than many other brands more so that just "bright".

[Ascension]

Inherently bright guitars certainly need pickups to match to sound 'normal' to me.

Same with a very dark guitar. A pickup that sounds amazing in one guitar may be a total trainreck in another it's all about the right combo in the right place. Sometimes that right combo is unexpected also. Example is my 93 Carvin DC 127 in solid tung oil KOA. That guitar is running a Alt 8 bridge with a Sentient neck and is amazingly versatile. Those pickups in this guitar just work and for things you would not expect it to work well.
Here it is running at lower gains through my PRS MT 15 as a worship rig at my church. Every thing would tell you this rig would be a high gain metal monster but not so great for some thing like this. It's much much more and just works. That's the real key in finding the combinations that just work where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts say it should be. The process in getting that chemistry right is one of the fun parts of this tonal journey. The right pickups in the right guitar are a big part of the process.
Would you expect a Alt 8 bridge with a Sentient neck thorough a PRS MT 15 to pull off these tomes well? They do in this particular set up. Will still melt you face when fully unleashed also.