Custom 59 - Too Bassy for my tastes. Suggestions?

H

H13

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YO!

...

See above!

I've got a Hybrid 59 in the bridge of my Les Paul. I want this Les Paul to cover a lot of ground tonally but for chugs, it's just a bit too flubby down the bottom end. I also keep trying to get a bit more "fizz" and attack out of it. Nickel Covers are required.

Overall the tone is great when not doing chugs and I like how the pickup behaves, but I am after something a bit tighter and more aggressive for a bridge pickup. I don't want to go completely balls-out and having enough dynamic range to clean up well is important to me.

Thinking of dropping in a classic Duncan Distortion? A JB? Or maybe a Custom 5? Thoughts?

EDIT:
I think it might help if I was a bit more specific about my guitar.

It's a big chunky Les Paul. Typical Mahogany\Maple woods, and pretty heavy. Overall, I'd describe the sound as pretty damn thick.

The Neck pickup (A2Pro) is basically spot on in this Les Paul. It's thick sounding, but real liquidy and it's got a nice bite to it. Love the dynamics and how it cleans up, and the best way I can describe it as smooth. I can almost BB King with it. REAL pretty and awesome for leads.

On Low\Medium Gain, I quite like the 59 Hybrid. The overall tone is pretty great, and doing a big upstroke with my Marshall on mid-gain gives off a suitable beefy AC\DC-ish kerraannngg which is very fun. I like the upper half of the response.

But as I increase the gain, the bottom end goes out of control. Instead of going "chug chug chug" it starts sorta going "blug blug blug". Also with my Marshall JVM on high gain, it gets super thuddy, but in a way that when recorded, you'll filter all that thuddyness out and just end up with a murky sorta bottom end. I'm tending to push up the treble\presence a bit as well to try to compensate for the slow\excess bass. That way I get a bit of extra attack. Also bumping up treble\presence always gives an illusion of more drive, which is good 'cos I'm often tempted to reach for an OD pedal to boost the chugs properly.

(Extra note: I'm not exactly playing Death metal here, but I do enjoy Thrashy vibes)

The bass is my main concern 'cos I reckon I can tweak the amp to get everything else I want to happen, but the bass I haven't been able to out-tweak.
 
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Tighter and more aggressive, but with a similar feel using covers? The regular Custom might be a great choice. Full Shred might be another option. The Pegasus Mincer mentioned could be a good choice, as well.

Once you get into the "Distortion" class pickups, it's hard not to recommend the Black Winter and I say that as a fan of both the regular Distortion and the JB.
 
Thanks for all those suggesting that I modify the pickup itself.

I'm not terribly keen on doing that.

From what I can see online, I suspect that the Duncan Distortion will probably give me the chug I'm looking for. However I do a lot of volume pot fuckery with my playing. How well does a Duncan Distortion clean up?

Edit:

Also worth keeping in mind, I've got an A2 Pro in the neck. LOVE that pickup. That's not going anywhere.
 
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The Distortion is a pretty high output pickup, so clean ain't its thing. There is too much compression there, and the voicing isn't great for a great clean sound. But that isn't what people buy it for.
 
When you say Custom 59, do you mean 59/Custom Hybrid? You're saying a 59/Custom Hybrid is too flubby/bassy?

I think that leaves the Full Shred, Screamin' Demon or the 78 Model in my mind. (I haven't tried a Pegasus, so I can't comment on that one.). A Custom, a Custom 5, Distortion, Black Winter all have some bass to them, more than a 59/Custom Hybrid IME. You could put hex screws in a Custom 5, that kind of makes it sound like a Screamin' Demon or Full Shred, maybe a little louder, but still can clean up.
 
HA! Yeah sorry for the stuff up.

I meant a Hybrid 59.

Is a Duncan Distortion THAT much hotter than a Hybrid 59?
 
Custom 5, or if you want even less/tighter bass and more modern sounding, get a Full Shred.
Next steps up would be the Nazgul, Parallel Axis PTB1, Distortion, or Black Winter.
If you want something tight on the low end that is.
 
H13 said:
HA! Yeah sorry for the stuff up.

I meant a Hybrid 59.

Is a Duncan Distortion THAT much hotter than a Hybrid 59?
Click to expand...

In my Les Paul, my Duncan Distortion was thick. It was similar to a Gibson 500T, but nicer, more articulate, but did have some flubby bottom in mine. It didn't really clean up with the volume so much (you could turn it way down and get clean, but it wouldn't be my first choice for that range of sounds).

The 59/Custom Hybrid in the same Les Paul was pretty even and reasonably tight for me and cleaned up well. But to get less flubby/bass than a 59/Custom Hybrid, in my mind it would take a thin bright pickup, like a '78 Model or Full Shred maybe. (There are other choices, I just haven't used them all so I can't say/recommend others.)

It's worth noting, the same Duncan Distortion in my Jackson was tight from bottom to top, very even and a little bright; almost sounded like a different pickup.
 
I think it might help if I was a bit more specific about my guitar...(Note: I'll add this to the first post. Like what a helpful person would have done at the start!)

It's a big chunky Les Paul. Typical Mahogany\Maple woods, and pretty heavy. Overall, I'd describe the sound as pretty damn thick.

The Neck pickup (A2Pro) is basically spot on in this Les Paul. It's thick sounding, but real liquidy and it's got a nice bite to it. Love the dynamics and how it cleans up, and the best way I can describe it as smooth. I can almost BB King with it. REAL pretty and awesome for leads.

On Low\Medium Gain, I quite like the 59 Hybrid. The overall tone is pretty great, and doing a big upstroke with my Marshall on mid-gain gives off a suitable beefy AC\DC-ish kerraannngg which is very fun. I like the upper half of the response.

But as I increase the gain, the bottom end goes out of control. Instead of going "chug chug chug" it starts sorta going "blug blug blug". Also with my Marshall JVM on high gain, it gets super thuddy, but in a way that when recorded, you'll filter all that thuddyness out and just end up with a murky sorta bottom end. I'm tending to push up the treble\presence a bit as well to try to compensate for the slow\excess bass. That way I get a bit of extra attack. Also bumping up treble\presence always gives an illusion of more drive, which is good 'cos I'm often tempted to reach for an OD pedal to boost the chugs properly.

(Extra note: I'm not exactly playing Death metal here, but I do enjoy Thrashy vibes)

The bass is my main concern 'cos I reckon I can tweak the amp to get everything else I want to happen, but the bass I haven't been able to out-tweak.

IN SUMMARY:

I think I like the mids, but need to roll off the bass and boost the top end and add a bit of extra output. That's kinda why I keep looking at the Duncan Distortion. The Full Shred might be the go if I really need something bright to cut above the "thickness" of the guitar, but I don't want to lose the mids just yet. I also don't want to go too far out, which is why something like a Nazgul or Pegasus doesn't seem right. I've also heard some Customs be a bit brash in the upper mids? Which kinda makes things sound "open" but I don't find that helpful when trying to be chuggy and percussive.

I think my plan to try is:
1) Duncan Distortion (Neck)
2) Custom
3) Full Shred

Is there a big tonal difference between the neck Duncan Distortion and the Bridge? They look the same on the SD Website, but the Neck has less output (albeit more than the 59 Hybrid). I mean if the neck pickup sounds and plays the same as the bridge, but with less output, it seems pretty much perfect for what I'm looking for.

Is there any reason why a Neck Duncan Distortion in the Bridge of an LP, paired with an A2-Pro in the neck of said LP would not work?
 
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?
 
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?
 
H13 said:
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?
Click to expand...

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..." :headbang:
 
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.
 
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