Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

corsara

New member
Hi guys.

I'm thinking about putting a Duncan Custom in the bridge on Ibanez RG321.

My question is, is it good for both soloing and rhythm, or what? I play mostly Metallica songs, both rhythm and solos.

If not, what would you suggest?

Thanks.
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

First off, I hope you're playing '80s Metallica exclusively. J/K
The answer is YES on all counts. Huge rhythms and great dynamics for lead. Throw in a Full Shred in the neck position and you have my favorite passive Duncan set-up.
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

Metallica,used Duncan Distortion up till "and justice for all" I think...and EMG 81,after.

I've got both,and they both sound great.
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

The Sh5 custom will do early Metallica just fine, but I would go with a Distortion instead for that style.
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

Metallica,used Duncan Distortion up till "and justice for all" I think...and EMG 81,after.

I've got both,and they both sound great.
i thought they used invaders in ride the lightening and in master of puppets? i know for sure that they used invaders at one point in time and i really doubt it was kill'em all.
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

Some of you are missing the point. The question was: Can the Custom pup do Metallica tones, not if they used the Custom. The Custom is probably the least compressed sounding of all the high output pups Duncan makes. Once one jumps from the Custom to the Distortion model, one can tell the sound starts getting ever so slightly compressed. That's why I prefer the Custom because it sounds huge and has better cleans than most of the higher gain passive pups I've tried and still has tons of gain for Metal tones!
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

i was gonna say that i use a distortion, and "kill 'em all" was the first thing that came to my head...when we do our "kill 'em all" medley (am i evil into seek and destroy into the bridge of four horseman, back into the last chorus and outro of seek) it sounds dead on man! as far as the custom goes, i would think you could eq your amp with a little tweaking to get that sound. its tight, aggressive and huge! maybe try your amp in "straight line fasion" (b/m/t = 76/7) or something like that ...
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

Some of you are missing the point. The question was: Can the Custom pup do Metallica tones, not if they used the Custom. The Custom is probably the least compressed sounding of all the high output pups Duncan makes. Once one jumps from the Custom to the Distortion model, one can tell the sound starts getting ever so slightly compressed. That's why I prefer the Custom because it sounds huge and has better cleans than most of the higher gain passive pups I've tried and still has tons of gain for Metal tones!

your right, my bad.
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

This is great, thanks to all for the help. But now I really don't know if I want the Custom or the Distortion. Listening to the clips on the SD website doesn't help much, I really can't measure the difference in favor of any of the two. So, could someone post some recorded clip of the Custom and/or the Distortion? Or just tell me the difference between the two. Thanks!!
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

The key to early Metallica is the amp. I plugged an Ibanez SZ into a Marshall JCM800 and nailed Kill Em All. I plugged a Jackson RR-1 into a Marshall Valvestate and naild Master of puppets. It's in the amp setting, but I have no doubt the duncan custom can nail metallicaa with the right amp tweeking
 
Re: Duncan Custom good for soloing ala Metallica?

This is great, thanks to all for the help. But now I really don't know if I want the Custom or the Distortion. Listening to the clips on the SD website doesn't help much, I really can't measure the difference in favor of any of the two. So, could someone post some recorded clip of the Custom and/or the Distortion? Or just tell me the difference between the two. Thanks!!

I can't help ya with the Custom,yet (a buddy of mine is getting the TB-5 this weekend,and we will do a side by side comparison),but the Distortion will nail any song by Metallica(cleans are great too).It sounds a lot like EMG'S 81,but more raw.

I know this doesn't help you with the Custom,but I hope it helps you with the Metallica sound.We will post clips of our comparison of the TB-6 and TB-5 this weekend.........
 
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