Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Blackie13

Blackie13

New member
Hello!

I am looking for a pickup for a HO kramer...
I wannna cover the entire 80's metal and the Hagar era...
The guitar is made of alder body-maple neck-maple fingerboard-5150 graphic...

Custom Custom: It is said that it nails the hagar era and plays great in alder.

PATB-3: I just love the paf sound (I already have a Custom that I love) and as I read it is a fantastic pickup...

Something else: PLEASE no JB+Distortion I don't like any of them...

Thanks a lot!
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

The CC is going to be a bit looser in the lows, darker in the highs, and have a big, big mid hump. The PATB-3, on the other hand, is tight in the lows, has strong, present highs, and has a fairly even response across the board. I've used them both in guitars that need some beef from the bridge without going with a high output 'bucker.
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Benjy_26 said:
The CC is going to be a bit looser in the lows, darker in the highs, and have a big, big mid hump. The PATB-3, on the other hand, is tight in the lows, has strong, present highs, and has a fairly even response across the board. I've used them both in guitars that need some beef from the bridge without going with a high output 'bucker.
Click to expand...

So...
What's your pick?
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Blackie13 said:
Hello!

I am looking for a pickup for a HO kramer...
I wannna cover the entire 80's metal and the Hagar era...
The guitar is made of alder body-maple neck-maple fingerboard-5150 graphic...

Custom Custom: It is said that it nails the hagar era and plays great in alder.

PATB-3: I just love the paf sound (I already have a Custom that I love) and as I read it is a fantastic pickup...

Something else: PLEASE no JB+Distortion I don't like any of them...

Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

Hagar era of what? VH? Thats MM territory so I would suggest a Tone Zone for that specifically.

Like it or not a JB was 80 hair metal.

THat said, based on what you want the PATB-3 is a good balance of everything.

I would loose the digitech and plug straight into the 5150 for the VH stuff
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

AudioWonderland said:
Hagar era of what? VH? Thats MM territory so I would suggest a Tone Zone for that specifically.

Like it or not a JB was 80 hair metal.

THat said, based on what you want the PATB-3 is a good balance of everything.

I would loose the digitech and plug straight into the 5150 for the VH stuff
Click to expand...

JB was just a pickup...
Many guitarists were using the Distortion,Custom,Super Distortion and so on...
To MY ears JB is highly overrated...
Digitech rules mate....
If you have never tried one you should try...
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

MY pick? I use both in different guitars. I suppose if I had to choose, I'd go with the PATB-3, just for the extra high end.
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Tone Zone/Air Norton combo is great for For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge and later, but for late DLR/early Hagar, you're talking Custom Custom.

The PATB-3 is probably the more flexible pickup, but it may have a bit too much bite for Van Halen, it's a great huge but articulate A5 PAF sound, but VH's always tended towards A2 sounds. Sure, his DiMarzio customs (half-aired Tone Zone & half-aired Norton) are A5... but using airbucker techniques to give a sound closer to A2.

PATB-3 is more or less the PATB version of the '59 (louder, emphasized harmonics, but thicker and more articulate).

I have a PATB-1 (PATB take on Custom 5) and love it, I think the PATB series is incredibly underused, they do a lot to improve guitars with floating vibratos in particular.

If you want something in between early & late Hagar sounds, you might look at a Custom (or CC) and swap the A5 (or A2) magnet for an A8. I plan to try that swap in my PATB-1, but won't know for sure how it'll take that magnet until I try it.

You'd have to roll off the bass to get his earlier tones, but it'd also cover his beefier later tones. Highs/upper mids might be a bit harder than the early sound, though.

I keep wondering how a '59 (or PATB-3...) with A8 would do at his early (Super 70 pickup in the Ibanez Destroyer) rhythm tones.
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

I had the super D and the Air zone...
And the Tone Zone in my other guitar...
I didn't like any of them...
They tend to get muddy in the low mids(sounds like too much compression to my).
After all that and when I tried the Custom I said no more Dimarzio for me...
I started looking at the PATB-3 after hearing that it sounds like a "strong" 59'...
After all the sound I like is the VH-Live "without a net" where Eddie uses an overwound 59'....
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Blackie13 said:
I had the super D and the Air zone...
And the Tone Zone in my other guitar...
I didn't like any of them...
They tend to get muddy in the low mids(sounds like too much compression to my).
After all that and when I tried the Custom I said no more Dimarzio for me...
I started looking at the PATB-3 after hearing that it sounds like a "strong" 59'...
After all the sound I like is the VH-Live "without a net" where Eddie uses an overwound 59'....
Click to expand...

The 5150 guitar used on "Live Without a Net" was just a 59. Never heard him claim it was anything else. The original frankie currently has what is essentially a CC
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Blackie13 said:
I started looking at the PATB-3 after hearing that it sounds like a "strong" 59'.
Click to expand...

The Custom 5 is probably closer to a strong 59. But I like the Custom 8 even better. Anyone who owns a Custom owes it to themselves to try the A8 magnet in there.
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Franknfilms said:
The Custom 5 is probably closer to a strong 59. But I like the Custom 8 even better. Anyone who owns a Custom owes it to themselves to try the A8 magnet in there.
Click to expand...

Ι am affraid that the C5 or the Custom 8 will be too Hi-fi...and too modern sounding...
Am I right?
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Blackie13 said:
Ι am affraid that the C5 or the Custom 8 will be too Hi-fi...and too modern sounding...
Am I right?
Click to expand...

I'm not a paf junkie like everyone else on the forum so you're asking the wrong guy. I don't think they are too Hi-fi at all, at least compared to something like the SH-6.
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Right now I have two guitars...
The Metal one has the Custom---->Covers my heavy metal needs perfectly
The other one is more hard-rock----->I wanted a Custom with less output and not so much an in your face sound...
The most equivalent(EQ) was the 59 and the PATB-3...
I have read here that the 59 is not that great with alder bodies and tremolos and the right pickup for these needs is the PATB-3...
 
Last edited:
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

The PATB-3 is a hotter '59, only without the garbled tone you get from overwinding, due to the larger coils & parallel axis polepieces. If you turn the volume down to around 7-8 (depending on pot taper), it sounds exactly like a '59, according to multiple PATB-3 users.

The PATB-1 does the same thing compared to a Custom 5.

Especially if you have a floating vibrato, I'd recommend either over their conventional relatives. Parallel Axis design does wonderful things for making a floating vibrato strat/superstrat sound more like a heavy mahogany guitar.

I find my PATB-1 a touch stiff, but that translates to punchier, so it's not all bad. I find it a little tricky to do Van Halen on it, unless I roll off the volume to around 5-6. Shocking, a punchy higher output pickup doesn't work at full volume for tones that normally start from a squishy lower output pickup. If I was more serious about VH tones, I'd be swapping for rough cast/unaligned A5, or even down to an A2 magnet.

That's with a PATB-1, though. PATB-3 is more in overwound (with standard wire) PAF territory, only balanced by some extra harmonics & articulation.

I'd suggest listening to Blues Saraceno's later stuff, where he started setting up his amps to fill out the mids more, should give you a good feel for what the PATB-3 can do.

Really, though, only way to tell for sure what will work in your guitar is to try it.
 
Re: Custom custom or PATB-3 or something else?

Despair said:
Really, though, only way to tell for sure what will work in your guitar is to try it.
Click to expand...

It's true...
But I live in Europe and the PATB-3 is not the most common pick....(maybe it's not bad).Also the price is much higher than the in the US...
But I definatly wanna try the parallel axis...everybody say that it is great....
 
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