DD's sounds versus a Custom

[lynchaddict]

Guys, just a survey. How would you guys describe the DD's sound distorted and the DD's sounds clean?

How would you guys compare both of those to the cleans of a Custom and the dirty sound of a Custom?

 

[heymcz]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

On the DD:
->Distorted: massive lower-mids, 'Grunty'. Balls all the way! Enough bass and lotsa treble. Has a slightly "brittle" or "fizzy" sound, though, not organic if you listen close.
->Clean: twangy, sharp, artificial, ill-fitting. Makes your hand feel for that pickup selector switch REAL quick.

On the Custom:
->Tell you in a few days! Supposedly it has better cleans, less gruntiness, and more bass. I had both of them in Schecters a few years back, and from what I remember, the Custom sounded similar but thinner and less in-your-face. I used to describe it as a "watered down Distortion", but I've gone back to it because I think it will solve my issues in my Ibanez and balance it out.

 

[RockStarNick]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

I personally think that the Distortion's EQ curve doesnt match well with a vintage style neck pickup. i.e. 59, jazz, etc. The DD has a ton of lower-mids, but not alot of true "bass" frequencies.


The custom, on the other hand, is more well balanced, and meshes better with the two aforementioned neck pickups. More natural huge bass.

 

[Duke of Metal]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

I've owned both of the Custom Sh-5 and Distortion Sh-6 (still own the Distortion).

To my ears, the Duncan Distortion is thicker and tighter sounding.. more aggressive and has more lows/lowmids and highs.. the Custom was more rich in the lows/lowmids type frequency and didnt have as much of the highend on it as the duncan distortion does.

The custom in a lespaul worked good for crunch and cleans.. but when hitting highgain tones, it didnt do very well. It turned a bit muddy and kinda thin sounding. the Distortion in a Lespaul hitting a Highgain sounding distortion kept things tight, clear and punchy.

thats what I personally thought of both. other people may have different opinions.

Let me know if you have any questions. hope that gives you an idea.


Cheers

 

[Travis]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

The Distortion neck cleans are much better than the Distortion bridge cleans. The low mids these guys are talking about is my favorite thing about the DD. The bass does stay tight, and the treble cuts through. But I wouldn't call it an overly bright or shrill pickup. I would have to disagree about the "brittle," "fizzy" and "inorganic" comments about the DD. Pinch harmonics are a breeze to get out of the DD. It's aggressive enough to handle any kind of metal you want, while versatile enough to perform well in many other applications. Just use your volume and tone knobs, that's what they're there for.

The Custom, I can best describe as a "Distortion Lite."

 

[lynchaddict]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

hey. oh okay. i once heard that a custom sounded like anything played on a marshall amp. what's more versatile? i won't exactly be playing death metal or anything. i want something creamier and thicker sounding. the heaviest i'll be playing is progressive metal ala george lynch but i wanted more of a vintage vibe to it. so i thought that the PAF on steroids description sounded perfect.

PAF's are supposed to sound big and open, that's what i heard. is that true?

 

[Travis]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

Either one will work for you in the applications you describe. However, it might interest you to note that Lynch used a Distortion for a lot of his early recordings.

 

[lynchaddict]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

yep, i read that in quite a number of forums but i wanted to put a vintage twist to it. haha. make it sound bassier and more open.

oh. heymcz. please do. haha. your input is much appreciated. just recently saw your other thread on it.

 

[DonP]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

Either one will work for you in the applications you describe. However, it might interest you to note that Lynch used a Distortion for a lot of his early recordings.

+1

I can totally see how a Distortion in a maple bodied axe would sound great. I'm going to do it myself, but I need to paint the body first.

 

[heymcz]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

hey. oh okay. i once heard that a custom sounded like anything played on a marshall amp. what's more versatile? i won't exactly be playing death metal or anything. i want something creamier and thicker sounding. the heaviest i'll be playing is progressive metal ala george lynch but i wanted more of a vintage vibe to it. so i thought that the PAF on steroids description sounded perfect.

PAF's are supposed to sound big and open, that's what i heard. is that true?

PAF's do...but the Custom is not a PAF, just E.Q.'d like one. It has a much thicker, less dynamic feel than a '59 or '78, and so sounds more compressed. A true vintage output pickup will sound more open and alive, but there's a power than you get from high-output pickups that has a vibe all its own.

I put the Custom in my Ibanez, and it's much better than the DD there, lotsa bottom, and it does early Lynch just fine! Also, it screams "rawk" and yep, it does make my already Marshall-sounding amp sound that much more like a Marshall. The old tone chart used to rate this as something like 9/8/9, and yeah, that's what it sounds like to me. It's much more responsive than any other high-output pickups I've played.

 

[FamousForSustain]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

Haven't tried the Custom, but the DD has lower-mids like no other pup I've tried and can get nice and creamy with the tone rolled back. Quite a versatile pup which can cover just about any type of gain-oriented sound you want, from blues OD to Slayer. Also, this thing can make a strat do LP-style palm-mute chugs, albiet not quite as tight or dry.

As for the cleans, they aren't that great, but I usually use the neck for cleans anyway. A lot of guys like the way this pickup sounds when you split it and run it in single-coil mode, I personally find it serviceable but unremarkable. It's nice to have this option on a strat so you can get a reasonable facsimile of the "postion 4 chime"

Brittle? - If you're one of these guys who either has no tone knob or just keeps it pegged like 80% of guys I know, yes, it will be.

Inorganic? - Not even a little

Fizzy? - I do find the highs to have a certain quality one could describe as "fizzy", but I think it sounds cool.

 

[heymcz]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

Brittle? - If you're one of these guys who either has no tone knob or just keeps it pegged like 80% of guys I know, yes, it will be.

Inorganic? - Not even a little

Fizzy? - I do find the highs to have a certain quality one could describe as "fizzy", but I think it sounds cool.

Well, I did say *slightly*. As always, your mileage may vary! The guitar's wood, density, mass, etc will all affect the tone that a pickup puts out. As I think I mentioned, I had a DD in a Schecter, covered, and I loved it, there it was "sparkly" and had a lot of "tonal color"--and it was the only covered version of a Duncan that sounded better than open coil...but not so in my Ibanez.

That said, I always hear ceramics as "inorganic", A5s as "round" and A2s as "flubby". For my money, the Custom is more organic than the DD and less fizzy. I love it, it's loud and British...but it's still ceramic! It's never going to chime like A5 and I'm fine with it...because it kicks butt for rock and metal distorted tones.

 

[FamousForSustain]

Re: DD's sounds versus a Custom

Well, I did say *slightly*. As always, your mileage may vary!

Oh, absolutely. I wasn't trying to shoot down your evaluation, and in fact with the wrong settings the DD can get really harsh, but it can also put out some great sounds under the right conditions which I thought was worth noting.