Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

They record the clean tones with Roland Jazz Chorus 120s. So through those amps, sure. They have a unique clean tone.

 

[dominus]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

Oh hey Dominus, maybe you can play some cleans with a Custom and enlighten all of us. I can't since I don't have one.

Where's your Youtube channel? I'd really love to subscribe.

The point is that you're giving advice on something you've never had.

I'd never give advice on a Seth Lover, Jazz Bridge, A2P, Stag Mag, Custom/59, EMTY, P-Rails, PATB-1, PATB-3, Zephyr, or any Duncan single coil, as I've never owned one of those.

I've owned every other Duncan humbucker. I've also owned just about every medium and high output Dimarzio. (As well as EMGs, GFS, Entwistles, Kent Armstrongs, and more.) I've swapped A8s, A5s, and Ceramics all around.

I've owned Vs, Explorers, Les Pauls, Beasts, Mockingbirds, Warlocks, Virgins, Rhoads, Soloists, Avengers, 5 string (CB-2000), 6 string, and 7 string guitars, and have experience with all the regular tonewoods.


When I see someone giving advice that most people would disagree with based on experience, I wonder about them. When someone is giving advice on something they've never tried, that just blows my mind.


.

 

[9unslin9er]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

I'd never give advice on a Seth Lover, Jazz Bridge, A2P, Stag Mag, Custom/59, EMTY, P-Rails, PATB-1, PATB-3, Zephyr, or any Duncan single coil, as I've never owned one of those.

I've owned every other Duncan humbucker. I've also owned just about every medium and high output Dimarzio. (As well as EMGs, GFS, Entwistles, Kent Armstrongs, and more.) I've swapped A8s, A5s, and Ceramics all around.
.

I'll make it clear so we don't get any more butt hurt. This is an internet forum where people are free to troll as they please. I'm a troll and you are a huge troll as well. My worthless opinion matters as much as yours in the end.

I never said the Custom was a bad pickup. I just don't think it can do glassy cleans as well as an active pickup can. Unless I hear some samples to prove otherwise, I'll stand by that sentiment. Your use of the search box to bring up quotes just to spite me amuses me to no end. You're not winning any lawsuits here. If it really makes you feel happy being the king of the Duncan Forum playground all the time, I bow to you sir.

You may have owned many DiMarzios, but unlike Duncans I've owned MOST of them at some point or another, and recently the D-Activators have wowed me.

So the question is, do you own a set of D-Activators? Swapped into a similar Asian-made mahogany guitar?

The D-Activators are DiMarzio's answer to active tone. If you like Black Label Society, Metallica, or Megadeth's tone but like it in the hard rock genre, they are the pickup for you. They answer a lot of the problems people have with EMG's, namely sterility AND also eliminates the additional routing to go from passive to active (i.e. Blackouts).

 

[9unslin9er]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

*I'll add a word of caution with D-Activators. They definitely don't work well in every single amp.

They sound phenomenal in high gain amps, particularly Bogners and Marshal JCM/JVMs.

However, they do not do as well in a vintage style amp.

If you plug an EMG or Blackout into a Plexi, you'll hear some awesome overtones because the pickups aren't inherently high output. They have a preamp that does the heavy lifting. They are still articulate, but it's like adding a "high def" stompbox after your amp chain.

D-Activators on the other hand do not have a preamp and are actually strong mother f-ing buckers that "model" the active preamp. They can really punish a good tube sound.

So for example, the D-Activators sound amazing on my Vox Valvetronix with all its processing and compression. However, through my Marshall AFD100, it sounds like absolute rubbish.

 

[dominus]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

I'll make it clear so we don't get any more butt hurt. This is an internet forum where people are free to troll as they please. I'm a troll and you are a huge troll as well. My worthless opinion matters as much as yours in the end.

I never said the Custom was a bad pickup. I just don't think it can do glassy cleans as well as an active pickup can. Unless I hear some samples to prove otherwise, I'll stand by that sentiment. Your use of the search box to bring up quotes just to spite me amuses me to no end. You're not winning any lawsuits here. If it really makes you feel happy being the king of the Duncan Forum playground all the time, I bow to you sir.

You may have owned many DiMarzios, but unlike Duncans I've owned MOST of them at some point or another, and recently the D-Activators have wowed me.

So the question is, do you own a set of D-Activators? Swapped into a similar Asian-made mahogany guitar?

The D-Activators are DiMarzio's answer to active tone. If you like Black Label Society, Metallica, or Megadeth's tone but like it in the hard rock genre, they are the pickup for you. They answer a lot of the problems people have with EMG's, namely sterility AND also eliminates the additional routing to go from passive to active (i.e. Blackouts).

Yes, I've owned D-Activators. (Both regular and X) They were fine pickups. Didn't like them as much as the Evolutions. In fact, I'd recommend a D-Activator for any mystery wood guitar, as it worked for me in a few different types of guitars. (Alder, basswood, mahogany, and plywood.)

For what the original poster here wants though, the Custom is exactly what he needs.

 

[Despair]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

I don't have any links handy for the cleans, but I've got plenty of experience with the JC-120, and I'd say the amp matters more than the pickup for that sort of clean, though a bright, present pickup helps as well.

Active tones aren't that unique, dual resonance gets you similar broad harmonics, though with a lot more midrange due to being hotter wound pickups. Many Bill Lawrence models have a wider spectrum as well. Or Lace alumitones (though concencus on them seems to be curiously good only for cleans & heavy distortion, nothing in between).

As far as what the custom can do, search the forums, Surface54 has a bunch of great samples of the Custom and Custom 8 doing crushing heavy tones.

No shortage of other tests, it's one of the most commonly recommended hotter pickups for short scale mahogany. Good for metal without giving up blues-rock.

As for what Metallica used, what they used live vs in studio was different, and there's a number of problems with that particular site you linked, such as Lace talking in multiple places about only having produced Lace Sensors since '85. Metallica had piles of guitars in all their studio shots.

Digging up the old guitar all-Metallica special with KEM through MOP info would probably be more definitive. I recall it saying they toured a few albums with the EMGs before using them exclusively (for non-acoustic parts) on AJFA. But it's been over 10 years since I looked at the thing...

 

[gatorbait58]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

I own several Schecter C series guitars with the Duncan Design pickups. The only one that has more output is the Hellraiser with EMG active pickups. You may have already made your choice but another option, Bartolini produces an on board preamp that is very compact. (in the form of a chip, small and easy to wire.) This would allow you to utilize your existing pickups if you are pleased with their tone. Wiring options allow boosting certain frequencies as well. Pickups generally vary in output. Higher output pickups don't deter from playing with a cleaner tone. They actually allow you to play with a ballsier cleaner tone. A passive pickup will not necessarily distort without the help of some overdrive on your amplifier. I get awesome clean tone with my EMG actives. Just need to either back off the gain control on my amplifiers clean channel or the guitars volume control a whisker. Electronically the pickup is the weakest link in the amplification chain. An amplifier can be tweaked to make up for differences in the output of a pickup. I like high output pickups especially for a punchier clean tone. Steve Morse uses a significantly lower output pickup in the middle position of his guitars purposely for getting a twangy Tele country tone with the flip of an onboard guitar switch without having to tweak his amp, real quick and convenient onstage tonal change. Much discovery will come from your experimentation. Happy hunting.

 

[The Tone Ranger]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

I have not owned either...so I can NOT speak from experience. All I want to say is this:

- Based on soundclips I've heard, I do not like the D-Activators at all. Way too trebly and don't sound like actives at all (at least to my ears). Come to think of it, I don't care for most Dimarzios. Something about most of them has this trebly nasally thing with a fizziness on top that doesn't appeal to MY EARS.

- That said, and for what you're looking for...check out the Dimarzio Dominion. Along with the AT-1, it's the nicest Dimarzio I've heard. It has a ceramic magnet so it is tight and tracks well. And remember that Mark Morton went from an A5 Duncan 59 to this Dimarzio pickup.

So I would check out and compare the Duncan TB-5 Custom to the Dimarzio Dominion for what tones you're after.

Hope that helps (I'm trying to anyway).

 

[Guitaraxz]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

I have had EMG's and Custom 8 in the same guitar, not a Schecter though. Its a Gibson LP which has also had Skaterbranes and Blackouts. A friend of mine (and damn good player) swears by EMG.
I prefer the C8.
Yeah I have em recorded, and NO I aint gonna open a Youtube channel to settle (impossible) a dumb argument.
Try em both, make your own choice man.

 

[Dark Order Lord]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

Ok. Just to get back to the original topic, and to shut the silly argueing about active vs passive:

1/ Owning both a D Activator and the SH6: the DMZ is much more twangy than the sh6, normally called dynamics, but this bugs the **** out of me cause I play thrash metal. I find dactivator less full of life than the sh6 - less harmonics, but it has more definition cause the twang factor. I found that the only way it could satify my need for fat mids was to max the mids to 10. The Sh6 never needs this, and so in general I find the Sh6 to be superior.
And I play direct into my Marshall TSL100 with no fx.
So you should buy both and give them a try loud at rehearsal.

2/ As for EMG's: the PA TB 2b Distortion absolutely blows away the 81 for tone, size and O/P. Try it and compare, you will **** your self guarenteed.

 

[9unslin9er]

Re: Duncan SH-6 vs Dimarzio D-Activators

Oh hey.
I remember this thread from 5 months ago.
When I got furious at Dominus.

Since then I've had both a TB-6 and a set of D-Activators.
Verdict is...Duncan Distortion wins. For hard rock/metal it's pretty much the best pickup ever. Bout to install another one into my Godin.