Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

[greturt]

Hello everybody!

I recently bought SH-6B Duncan Distortion (huge Lynch fan) so I'm very excited. Production year is between 80's-90's so it's even closer (or I wish it is ) to Lynch's legendary sound. I've got full mahogany bolt-on guitar (planning to glue the neck). What would be a good match for the neck? The guitar is HH, no chambers, pickup nests straight in the wood, no pickguard so I prefer humbucker. I need something to brighten up the sound. I heard that SH-2N jazz is a good pair fora SH-6.

Anyone knows some other great match? Doesn't need to be from SD, could be something different.

Cheers!

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

Do you want to brighten up the sound for cleans, specifically?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

SH-6n Distortion Neck.

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

SH-6n Distortion Neck.

The Dimarzio D Activator Neck will be brighter.

The Evolution Neck if you want medium output.

The Humbucker From Hell or Full Shred Neck if you want lower output. The Jazz will work too, but it doesn't have the same kind of push that the others have.

Again, it depends on how you want to use the neck position.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

Full Shred Neck of PAF Pro could be an option too if bright is a priority.

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

PAF Pro could be an option too if bright is a priority

I haven't used either in a while and they weren't in the same guitar, but I'm pretty sure the Evolution Neck is brighter than the PAF Pro.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

Not sure about the Evo neck, but having had both, I'm pretty sure the PAF Pro is brighter than the Jazz.

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

I'm pretty sure the PAF Pro is brighter than the Jazz

Between the two I'd say the Jazz has a much more glassy top end.

I'm talking cleans, mind you.

 

[greturt]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

Do you want to brighten up the sound for cleans, specifically?

Hi. Yes, I like the bright sound coz I play most of the solos on neck pickup but not really necessary. This will be HH coil split wiring so I'll get something close to single coil with brightness.

To be honest, I don't play much high-gain liquid solos so doesn't need to be high output pickup. Only thing I don't like are fat, round magnets like Invader type

I'll take a look at D Activator. I think there's one SH-2N in my hometown on auction, so I'm considering.

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

Hi. Yes, I like the bright sound coz I play most of the solos on neck pickup but not really necessary. This will be HH coil split wiring so I'll get something close to single coil with brightness.

To be honest, I don't play much high-gain liquid solos so doesn't need to be high output pickup. Only thing I don't like are fat, round magnets like Invader type

I'll take a look at D Activator. I think there's one SH-2N in my hometown on auction, so I'm considering.

So you do use the neck for solos, just not high gain and you plan on splitting for clean?

If so, forget the D Activator; I'd look into the Bluesbucker.

 

[greturt]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

Exactly. Neck pickup solos, not really high-gain (but rock hard), coil split for cleans and rhythm quiet parts. And what do you think about Dimarzio Evolution DP158? Bluesbucker will completely not fit to my guitar when it comes to looks

Edit: Oh sorry, there's a ZEBRA one. Thanks!

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

If you want to split I'd go with the Bluesbucker; no question.

You can get it without a cover and there are a plethora of color options.

 

[greturt]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

For now I've got all the previous one second-hand available. PAF Pro, Evolution, Jazz. I'll take a look around and see what comes up

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

If you aren't being so choosy, I'd add the D Activator-X Neck and FRED.

...and yes, the SH-6N.

 

[dave74]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

Just my .02 on the d'activatorXn,,,,,,,,it is typically too bassy in a guitar like that, but it's great in a brighter alder, ash, even basswood since bw usually doesn't inject much lows.

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

d'activatorXn,,,,,,,,it is typically too bassy in a guitar like that

Makes sense!


To widen the net even further:

SH-2B Jazz Bridge

Perpetual Burn

The SH-10B Full Shred Bridge could work too. It will be a scorcher in series, but split (or parallel) will be better than the other two. I'd put a polished A3 in there if it needed taming.​

 

[greturt]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

I'm not that choosy in sound, you're right. When it comes to comparison as I watched on youtube, some of the pickups sounds very similar. I think it all comes from the amp and the way you play. Can be equalized always.

The mahogany is dark sounding, you're right. Plus I've got fixed bridge and string through body so the p-ups catch even more "wood". That's why I'm looking for something bright and Jazz sounded really nice.

Thanks guys, you helped me a lot!

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

You're welcome!

I'm extremely picky about the split sound of a humbucker and depending on the pickup it can be very different. This is why I mentioned the Bluesbucker and got a bit carried away with the D Activator X.

I'm not a fan of the Jazz Neck, but it can work well in mahogany. Its split sound will be the worst of the bunch, however.

 

[Nagisa]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

Exactly. Neck pickup solos, not really high-gain (but rock hard), coil split for cleans and rhythm quiet parts. And what do you think about Dimarzio Evolution DP158? Bluesbucker will completely not fit to my guitar when it comes to looks

Edit: Oh sorry, there's a ZEBRA one. Thanks!

I'd avoid the evolution for cleans. It can do cleans, but not all that well. I recently had a very similar thread that you may want to check out. (Btw I don't recommend the stock Titan neck that I got -though an a5 helped a lot.). If it were me now I'd look more into the jazz or paf pro

 

[gregory]

Re: Best match to SH-6 Duncan Distortion? HH guitar.

Also, the D Activator Neck and D Activator X Neck are quite different in case you didn't catch that.

I wouldn't split the D Activator Neck, but it should probably clean up well with a dedicated volume control that has a carefully chosen treble bleed.

With a treble bleed these will clean up well, too:

Evolution Neck

PAF Pro

Jazz Bridge​

FWIW, I liked the clean tone of the Evolution Neck, but it isn't the same as what you will get with a vintage output humbucker. A treble bleed will fix that. Split is only OK.