Custom 5 mids

[metalmachine1983]

So I've been listening to the keith merrow duncan test and I feel like the custom 5 sounds like it has a touch more middle than the ceramic custom. I know most people say it's more scooped but has anyone else experienced it sound like it has more?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Custom 5 mids

I haven't, unless it is in an extremely mid-heavy guitar. The Custom 5 remains the most scooped pickup I've ever heard.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Custom 5 mids

Nope just the opposite. The Custom 5 is very scooped and can sound HUGE for rhythms but in my experience will flat not cut through for solos. It just vanishes in a full band mix on single note solo work and is why I have abandoned the pickup. Try the Hybrid as it feels hotter than a Custom 5 in a full mix and cuts well.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Custom 5 mids

Nope just the opposite. The Custom 5 is very scooped and can sound HUGE for rhythms but in my experience will flat not cut through for solos. It just vanishes in a full band mix on single note solo work and is why I have abandoned the pickup. Try the Hybrid as it feels hotter than a Custom 5 in a full mix and cuts well.

I agree with this. I do use a C5 in 'an extremely mid-heavy guitar' where it sounds like a more classic PAF profile. But I don't like it in normal, balanced guitars. The Hybrid is the one pickup that does a lot of stuff really well, and excels at all of them.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Custom 5 mids

Yeah, don't forget that Keith is EQ-ing his rig around that pickup, since most of his guitars use them. If he plugged in a regular Custom while he was adjusted for the Custom 5, you'd definitely hear the difference in the midrange. As others stated, the nice thing about the Custom 5 is that the scooped mids stay clear and you can boost them a bit and keep a great deal of articulation, which is why it works so well for Keith. I find the Custom 5 to be the most boring version of the "Custom" myself, but that's just me.

 

[metalmachine1983]

Re: Custom 5 mids

gotcha. I figured for a pickup comparison he would keep all settings the same

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Custom 5 mids

The midrange structure is very different between the two in terms of the frequencies that get emphasized. Some of what you're hearing is also added roundness to the notes in the Custom 5, whereas the regular Custom has more presence/brightness in the mids and a bit more edge and sear on the top end.

The biggest issue with a shootout like this is that you don't know the tonal characteristics of the amp itself (not all pickups play equally well with all amps) or what pickup it was EQ'd to first.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Custom 5 mids

I think that the Custom 5 makes a great metal pickup. I have one with a bad coil that I've been meaning to send in for repair. Just haven't been able to justify spending the cash on it because I really don't have a guitar to put it in.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Custom 5 mids

I think the Custom 5 is pretty much exclusively a metal pickup. I don't hear non-metal use that EQ profile much.

 

[Bowtomecha]

Re: Custom 5 mids

SD has a good video that compares the custom 5, custom, and custom custom all in the same guitar. The custom 5 is very dipped in the mids but it has its charm outside of metal. https://youtu.be/kLfRvjjAwf0

 

[metalmachine1983]

Re: Custom 5 mids

I think this is it. I think it's a mid heavy tone and it's the different mids I am hearing. maybe my ear is more sensitive to those frequencies.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Custom 5 mids

I think the Custom 5 is pretty much exclusively a metal pickup. I don't hear non-metal use that EQ profile much.

i used one in a sg for a while and loved it and i sure dont play metal.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Custom 5 mids

i used one in a sg for a while and loved it and i sure dont play metal.

I use one in a Music Man, and I don't play metal either, but we may be the exception. Almost everyone who talks about this pickup on forums plays metal.

 

[mi_canuck]

Re: Custom 5 mids

Love it for Thrash... Either into a Mark V:25 or Marshall SC20 (mini JCM800). I seems to have a ton of definition.

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Custom 5 mids

I had one for a while in a dbl cut Hamer, I remember liking it. I think that I was mostly using a Hiwatt and a TS for harder edged classic rock sounds.

I do remember a gig where it excelled. I was playing a hard blues type set using a friend's 79 100 watt JMP half stack...oh freaking gawd, did that sound good!

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Custom 5 mids

I think it's a terrible idea to pigeon-hole any pickup into a particular style. You can say what it's good for, but saying what something is "bad" for is not as straightforward in many ways.

The Custom 5 is a clear sounding pickup. It's not as hot as the regular Custom, but still has decent output. The high end is a little less biting than the Custom, but it still has presence. The mids are still there, it's not as "scooped" as we make it sound sometimes, but the mids aren't as aggressive as they are with the regular Custom.

The last time I tried the Custom 5 was in a custom shop Washburn Idol (i.e. LP-style guitar with thick Maple top) I sold a few months ago. It sounded great boosted through a Tube Screamer, but that pickup wasn't particularly inspiring on its own and was pretty much just as I remembered it from the last time I tried one. It's a good all-around medium-high output pickup if that's what you're looking for.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Custom 5 mids

I always found it kinda odd that people are surprised about the Custom sounding more scooped than the C5 in KM's shootout. I mean... it is after all the same wind with a ceramic magnet, what else is to be expected?

In the shootout, I found that to be exactly what's to be expected of a ceramic vs Alnico 5 swap: Edgier highs and upper mids and tighter and bigger low-end without lower mid stuffiness from ceramic, and softer mids focused lower down the spectrum from Alnico.