Dimazrio Humbucker from Hell vs EJ Custom vs Duncan Jazz

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DanielMapleSG

New member
I have a Gibson SG that is all mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard. The tone is too dark and I want to get it as bright as possible away from all the mud. I'm having trouble deciding between 3 sets to put in it. The Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell (same model in the neck and bridge) is supposed to give a single coil sound. The EJ Custom set is supposed to give a faux-Gretsch filtertron sound. The Duncan Jazz Bridge and Neck are supposed to be very clear and bright. I want to know which of these are the best for getting away from the muddy sound of the SG and getting more clarity and brightness. Any advice, experience, and information would be helpful. Thanks.
 
Re: Dimazrio Humbucker from Hell vs EJ Custom vs Duncan Jazz

I have the EJ Custom and Jazz bridge and neck. IMO the Jazz is the more useful of the two. It has a nice voicing that goes beyond just being a brighter PAF sized pickup. I'm interested in the Humbucker from Hell, I can't find a lot of info about that pickup despite it's being twenty plus years old. It's hard to find reviews or comparisons for a lot of DiMarzio's offerings, as a matter of fact. There are backwater boutique pickups that have more online mention than half of DiMarzio's catalog, especially if you 'x' out every review from 'Paul from Guitar World'.

I've since bought actual Filter'tron pickups, so I can compare them to the EJ Custom, and they don't compare at all. The EJ Custom just seems like a very underwound PAF. An actual Filter'tron varies from a PAF form factor in numerous important ways. A real Filter'tron a) has 12 screws, b) has a double tall AlNiCo bar, c) has thin tall coils rather than short wide coils. The number of wraps around a coil mostly determine how thin and bright or how fat and dark a pickup will sound, but the "voice" is largely determined by how the magnet, coil and string relate to each other, so it's more or less impossible to fake a Filter'tron with a PAF form factor, because the two form factors see different things. I think DiMarzio just targetted the resonant peak of a Filter'tron with a PAF form factor pickup and called it a day.
 
Re: Dimazrio Humbucker from Hell vs EJ Custom vs Duncan Jazz

The Jazz neck has plenty of treebles and clarity , but also a lot of bass , and a bit of mid scoop that make the high string a bit thin .
The HFH is a very good pickup with more midrange and less bass and a bit less treebles , worth trying .
If you want the inbetween of those two p-u , the Full Shred neck could be a good candidate .
If your guitar is not boomy in the bass the jazz could be worth trying too , as SGs have a lot of mids usually .
 
Re: Dimazrio Humbucker from Hell vs EJ Custom vs Duncan Jazz

fab described the jazz perfectly,
my main guitar is exactly the same as yours and the jazz works beautifully in it because the guitar is so incredibly mid heavy,
I matched it with a hybrid I made from jazz neck copy and super distortion copy coils over A5 mag, I imagine the 59/c hybrid is similar; again because of the horribly overbearing mids (which made the JB unbearable in it)
 
Re: Dimazrio Humbucker from Hell vs EJ Custom vs Duncan Jazz

The HFH is very transparent and it tends to adopt the character of the fretboard material. I only like it with a maple fretboard, otherwise it's too dark and weak with rosewood.
 
Re: Dimazrio Humbucker from Hell vs EJ Custom vs Duncan Jazz

IM NOT SURE HOW THE MAHOGANY SOUNDS TONE WISE WITH THE JAZZ, BUT, I HAVE THE JB/JAZZ SET IN MY IBANEZ WHICH IS A BASSWOOD BODY WITH A ROSEWOOD FINGERBOARD AND MAPLE BOLT ON NECK, AND IT SOUNDS GREAT TO ME....I HAVE THE JAZZ IN THE NECK POSITION. IT HAS A REALLY NICE LOW END AND MID RANGE FOR WHAT THE STYLE MUSIC I PLAY...
 
Re: Dimazrio Humbucker from Hell vs EJ Custom vs Duncan Jazz

IM NOT SURE HOW THE MAHOGANY SOUNDS TONE WISE WITH THE JAZZ, BUT, I HAVE THE JB/JAZZ SET IN MY IBANEZ WHICH IS A BASSWOOD BODY WITH A ROSEWOOD FINGERBOARD AND MAPLE BOLT ON NECK, AND IT SOUNDS GREAT TO ME....I HAVE THE JAZZ IN THE NECK POSITION. IT HAS A REALLY NICE LOW END AND MID RANGE FOR WHAT THE STYLE MUSIC I PLAY...
 
Re: Dimazrio Humbucker from Hell vs EJ Custom vs Duncan Jazz

I love my Jazz set. I have a Jazz set in a warm sounding chambered black korina LP with a wenge neck and ziricote fretboard. The Jazz set is clear, articulate and still has the warmth of a humbucker. One of the best purchases I ever made was buying a Jazz set.
 
Re: Dimazrio Humbucker from Hell vs EJ Custom vs Duncan Jazz

DanielMapleSG said:
I have a Gibson SG that is all mahogany with a rosewood fingerboard. The tone is too dark and I want to get it as bright as possible away from all the mud. I'm having trouble deciding between 3 sets to put in it. The Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell (same model in the neck and bridge) is supposed to give a single coil sound. The EJ Custom set is supposed to give a faux-Gretsch filtertron sound. The Duncan Jazz Bridge and Neck are supposed to be very clear and bright. I want to know which of these are the best for getting away from the muddy sound of the SG and getting more clarity and brightness. Any advice, experience, and information would be helpful. Thanks.
Click to expand...

When I was narrowing down pickup choices, I used YouTube for ,oat of my research and the Seymour abundant tone charts and audio samples mainly. You tube was my friend for about 3 months as I researched a TON of pickups. So go check what you can find on YouTube.
 
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