Distortion vs Custom

[Aceman]

Can you please mention which albums/songs you mean? IMHO any of those band's sound has changed a lot over the years.

Edit: Every tome I look for a demo comparison on YT it is al about cranked high gain amps with TS infront, it is hard to notice any difference other that the big bass as described by ACE. I don't use overdrive pedals at all and I like to roll the volume for tone versatility so a pickup that can push the amp hard and then back the volume is something I really like.

Not really...just that Custom is softer/classic while th Distortion is harder/harsher....but Hysteria, Number of the Beast vs Screaming, Ride the Lightning. I'm super-generalizing there. Also - I have used both clean, the Distortion quite a bit.

If cleaning up is your thing, I'd go with a 59/Custom Hybrid.

The Custom clean sup better (and without a 50's wiring mod and a little down turn on the volume, you get to that Iron Maiden place). The Distortion is good for like Biddy Guy stinging Chicago Blues actually, from a Humbucker, but really works best swathed in reverb and chorus. It does clean OK at best. When in Reverb/Chorus soup....Neither are great "for Clean" tools IMO. But they will both push!

 

[Leon Of Late]

The Custom is a serious metal pickup. It is often described as a "PAF on steroids" and that is true. I'd say it is way more than steroids though...It has a fundamental PAF character about it. Good bass, scoop-ish mids, and a clear high end. We can debate perception of the the mids as scooped or not as present as the bass and highs. It definitely has mids about it. The bass is tight and has a "Thump" factor. If you need bottom in your sound, this is the pickup you want. The highs scream as any 17k or so ceramic pickup would. They may/may not be juicy enough for your Frankie goals.

I love the Custom, and agree with this, but I didn’t recall the Custom being 17K, so I had to go look it up. It’s sped’d at 14.1, and I have a mid 80’s DCJ that reads 13.3 that I will never part with. It has all of the great crunch of a Custom but just enough taken off the top to sound like a truly thicker 59’. I really like that Aceman described that it definitely has mids about it, because it really does. Too often I hear people say it doesn’t have enough mids, or is too mid scooped, and I don’t think they are hearing it exactly right. The C5 is mid scooped. The Customs mids might get overpowered at times by its highs, or it might be in a bright Alder or Ash Superstrat, or it’s being run through a mid scooped Marshall or Mesa....but that is not the nature of the pickup itself, in my experience, FWIW.

That, and I wanted to mention the 17K thing. I had forgotten mine read 13.3K actually.

I have a Custom/59, I just haven’t had the opportunity to try it yet, but I am looking more forward to it now, based on some descriptions in this thread alone.

 

[Ace Flibble]

9/10 you're not really going to notice the difference between them. It's only when you A:B them directly that you can really hear the difference and even then, once you've got a drummer going, bass, second or third guitar, a singer or two... the differences disappear very quickly.
People will argue for days over the mids and highs, but for me the only reason to pick one of these pickups over the other is the low-end. The Distortion better compensates for thick guitar, shallow amp pre-1985 rigs and the Custom better compensates for thin guitar, deep amp post-1985 set ups. I.E.:
Distortion is for 24.75" set-neck hardtails into a Marshall with a G12M 2x12.
Custom is for 25.5" neck-through Floyd Roses into a Mesa with an oversized V30 4x12.

In any case, OP, if you're trying to build a 'VH1' Frankie copy then you actually need a low-output humbucker. Eddie used a humbucker taken from a Gibson ES-335. It had the long 'legs' so it was quite close to the strings, which gave it a bit more output and also filled out the tone more. Allegedly it was also damaged when it was removed from its original guitar and only one of the coils was actually working, though that's something of an urban legend. In any case, your best bet to replicate that in a new guitar (and without paying out for one-off custom parts) would be a SD Alnico II Pro or, if you want a bit more power, a Pearly Gates. (The PG is a better match for the pickup Seymour rewound for Eddie later, if you can't afford the SD Custom Shop '78 which is a close-as-possible reproduction.) Technically the Seth Lover will be closer to what first came out of an ES-335, but the Seth and the A2P sound 99% the same with distortion and you may as well get the full wax potting (Eddie's pickup was potted).
If you're really set on having something with more-than-vintage output (which, again, is not what the VH1 guitar had) then the Custom Custom is what you want.

 

[Leon Of Late]

As mentioned above, about Ed using a PAF humbucker for the early Frankie, I have heard those early VH tones done to my ear nearly identically, on this board over the years, by some very talented Van Halen fanatics, using the following pickups that I can specifically remember:

59’
Pearly Gates
Jazz
Custom Custom
Custom
PATB-3
and of course the 78’ Model.

I cannot recall anyone posting VH riffs using the A2P specifically, but it would surely work as well.

 

[AllHailDIO]

Custom have bigger, deeper lows, more scooped than the Distortion, and a little bit of hair in the highs (well, I guess that depends on your amp etc).

Distortion has tighter, punchier low ends, much more upper mids & zingy treble than the Custom, and good cut for leads.

IME... Custom is better for rhythm if you're in E-standard or Drop-D. For Drop-C, it's depends... Lower than Drop-C, I would suggest Distortion as it is tighter. However, I am only comparing these two pickups since it's the comparison in question. Nazgul and other models may be better for drop-tuning, probably.

 

[AllHailDIO]

For EVH, there's the 78 model, EVH Frankenstein, BKP VHII, maybe Custom Custom or JB

But honestly, the WLH or a Pearly Gates may surprise you.... especially the Pearly Gates with an A8 magnet! :firing:

(And yes, I just recommended the WLH for EVH :smash

 

[LLL]

The SH-5 Custom is the tone of Van Halen 1.

Here's my early 80's Custom:



If you want 1984 album era VH, get an SH-11 Custom Custom

Also, the Custom is ~14KOhm.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Is the Distortion a JB with a different magnet?

A lot of people have speculated that. But to my ears a Dist with an A5 sounds nothing like a JB. And a JB with a ceramic mag sounds nothing like a Dist.

 

[eyesonly]

Hysteria

Super Distortion DP100

 

[Aceman]

Super Distortion DP100

Yes Eyesonly. I am completely aware of that.

However, my comments were referring to the Duncan pickups that get me into that sort of sonic space. I choose the Custom for Def Leppard because while the Invader is the most "tonal curve" similar to a SuperD, it actually doesn't have anywhere near the same vibe for a number of reasons. To me, anyway. So I choose the Custom, for the bass response when it comes to playing things off Hysteria. I'm sure there are clips of me somewhere playing a JB and/or a Distortion from Duncan as well. Additionally, Steve Clark did use Duncan 59's, similar to the Duncan Custom, just not as loud (way not as loud...)

Enough Delay and Chorus in Reverb and one has to ask does it matter?

Again - Restricting ourselves to Duncan, and playing Hysteria, I'll go with a Custom. YMMV.

 

[SFW]

The Distortion is tight and focused. If you have a lot of bass to your amp, it will bring the thump without getting flubby. The Custom is a big hard rock pickup that sounds absolutely killer in a Les Paul. Years ago, I was going through a big P90 phase. I was searching for a humbucker that had the growly mids of a P90. My search ended with the Duncan Custom.

The Custom has a fatter bottom end than the Distortion. I’d you want rock right out of the box... Custom. I also think the Custom cleans up better than the Distortion when you roll the volume knob back.


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