Custom/Distortion Hybrid review!!!!

Luke Duke

PRSlustologist
Alot of you guys know that I bought my PRS to put this pup, that I wound on UGD, in.

Specs
CS42233
Distortion Screw coil
Custom slug coil
Large ceramic magnet from Seymour Duncan Distortion

D.C. Resistance 16.88K ohms
Gauss strength of 46

The goal of this pup was to provide the low end grind of a custom, with the harmonics and aggression of the distortion. That goal was accomplished, here is the excerpt from my PRS review.

Further bastardizing this pup is its use of the wood spacers used in the PAFs. I'll start off saying this pup is THICK!!! When you go from any other positions to the bridge pup you hear an immediate increase in output. The pup isn't dark, but it isn't bright either. I am currently running my tone knob anywhere between 5-8. Dirty, or clean...and yes I can use it clean by playing with the volume, but I didn't really make this pup to do it. But for the sake of a complete, and thorough review I'll talk a bit about the cleans. It is cleaner than a distortion, but not as clean as a custom. It sent my BF Vibrochamp into a slight clip with the guitar volume at 10. By manipulating the volume knob you can do wonders, but any pup is like that really.

The low end has a ton of growl, grit, and grind. The crunch is very present on the low E and A strings. I have seen quite a few folks say the custom has more low end grind than the distortion, so I guess I'm hearing this particular quality of the Custom. For lower mids and lows this guitar/pup delivers in spades. They have an almost primal authority. I can elicit harmonics in a stupidly easy kind of way. The upper mids and highs are very clear, almost too clean I'd say. The percussive quality of the distortion in the upper register is somewhat apparent, but the Custom coil tames it down so it is a bit more fluid sounding. When detuning the pup retains its character and articulation. I was doing some crazy Wylde style tuning and the pup handled it fairly well.


Overall I'd describe the pup as aggressive, but not edgy. I don't hear the ceramic magnet making the pup overly bright, or hard. Primarily aggressive.
Impressions from my friends, and bandmates. Sounds good, sounds thick, sounds clear.

Since that was written I have continued tweaking my EQ achieving some great results. Through the tweaking I have got the highs to sound more akin to what I was looking for, aggresive, but still somewhat smooth.

As an insane experimenter I still want to try it with an A2 and A5 for comparison. :D

Luke
 
Re: Custom/Distortion Hybrid review!!!!

Well..... 3 questions
1 - hows the TIGHTNESS of the bass response?
2 - its mids are somewhat similar to a CC?
3 - how do you compare it´s output?
Hails
J.P
 
Re: Custom/Distortion Hybrid review!!!!

You are officially my hero Luke Duke. You should try a Custom 5/JB hybrid sometime
 
Re: Custom/Distortion Hybrid review!!!!

The pup has very thick low mids with slightly tapered upper mids and a push in the highs. Harmonic jump out all over the place, pinch harmonics sound fantastic!

The low end is fairly tight, tighter than what I hear from a CC. It would probably sound even tighter if the spacing was dead on. I actually wanted a TB, but somehow ended up with regular spacing, but what can you do? It's a free pup!

Being the pup is ceramic it has a little bit of pent up aggression.

Yesterday I ran my PRS through a JCM 800, 900, Single Recto, and Marshall Super Bass. The pup had the power to hit the front end pretty hard. The best tone I heard was from the Super Bass, with my SD-1. But I heard it for only a second or two b/c the volume was SOOO loud.

Flipside, I plan on doing magnet switching here in the not-so-distant future, to hear the differences.

Luke
 
Re: Custom/Distortion Hybrid review!!!!

The Distortion Coil is closest to the bridge.

Lester I was wondering when you were going to wander in! :) It sounded thick but harmonicly rich in the 800, not boxy at all to my ears, of course yours has the 6550's not the EL34's so it's going to sound a bit different. If you were really interested in this pup I recommend you get the large dist. mag, and the regular custom mag. If it sounded boxy through your rig you could tame it down with the smaller mag. This configuration has some bite in the top end, kind of like a distortion, or JB.

Luke
 
Funny that this thread got necro-bumped! Recently picked up a JB/Custom hybrid bridge pickup from an ESP Exhibition series guitar!

Measures 16.5K in series (trembucker spaced). Looking from the top of the pickup, I first thought it had a ceramic mag, but it's actually a partially roughcast A5 (machined on sides that meet the keeper/poles)

Biggest problem...no "free spots" to try it in any of my current guitars!
 
The Distortion/Custom is a really beautiful sounding hybrid. I ran one for a while, coincidentally.
 
I used double thick A5 and A8. I'd try some others such as A2/UOA5 if I were to run it again.
 
It surely didn't sound good with the ceramic,,.(?).

I'm sort of curious why a ceramic couldn't sound good? Technically, both the Custom and the Distortion winds were designed around ceramic mags. Seems odd to expect that a hybrid of the 2 would ultimately sound "bad". The OP used the double-thick mag from the Distortion in his hybrid and said it was aggressive, but not nearly as edgy as you might expect.
 
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