In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

[ACG]

My honesty always gets me in trouble, probably will do so again here... I like seymour personally, he is a nice guy, and I know he makes great pickups cause I hear them in the recordings and people talk about em etc..

But I have tried to install Seymours pickups 3 times in my various axes and each time it hasnt worked out.... this last ime It was gonna try some custom shop pickups but I didnt have the time so I just went for a stock set of bridge Trembucker Screaming Demon and neck trembucker Custom...

Here is my experience... ( once again I mean no disrespect to Seymour or anyone I know these are world class pickups but I'm just being honest in an attempt to give in factual data that they can used to help correct the problems)

1. Just like every Seymour I ever installed into my guitars these too "were too noisy". The pickups I installed before (JB and Alinco 2) were also noisy as a matter of fact they actaully squealed. I think this has to do with the fact that in my style I use more distortion and compression than probably anyone else on the planet. I cascade many different tube overdrives and preamps and my tone is very turbo charged and I guess these pickups just werent made for that high an overdrive..

2. I found the volume balance between the 2 pickups ( Trembucker Screaming Demon and neck trembucker Custom) to be very out of proportion.. The neck is about twice as loud as the bridge which sounds weak in comparison.. ( yes I checked the phase they were installed by a good tech who installs many seymours every day and he too said that they were noisy compared to other pickups and out of propostion in volume)

3. I used to use Joe Barden pickups for about 12 years.... then my axe got stolen and Joe Barden stopped making pickups.. so I've been looking for a new replacement... Dimarzio's sound good hot but aint worth a dime when it comes to clean tone.. İn comparison the seymours do offer a very nice "complex" and rich clean tone and sweet semi soft overdrive tone but when fully cranked to to the max squeal like a pig...

I'm sorry please forgive me.... I earge the people at the factory to use better sheilding potting whatever... these are the third set in the last 15 years that "didnt cut it".... and you know what the shame of it all is? The pickups actually had a very sweet and tasty tone.. I enjoyed their responce and warmth... they were musical and changed character nicely when you backed off the volume... and they sounded full of harmonics... actually they werent half bad except for that nasil mid spike , but even that was interestingly musical...

Darn shame.... I am really dissapointed with these Seymour duncan pickups.....

I may have to go the custom shop route ... these pickups showed "tone" potential but are not up to the "high performance" standards of the Joe Bardens...

hey forgive me but if the customers dont complain the manufacturer aint gonna grow.... I am sure that Seymour can make better pickups than these 2 I paid good money for... bought the pair over seas for 3 bills.. I dont think they will take em back... maybe I can send em into the custom shop "plus cash" for a set that dont squeal?

 

[Davey]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

hmm.. what schematic did you use? and how did you install them? what you described is a problem of split coils (singlecoils). i mean no disrespect to the wireing abilities, but that's a common problem.

the neck trembucker custom TB-5 is ment for the bridge position, not for the neck position. it's also hotter in it's base for (14k-ish VS 10k) give to it that it's in the neck position, there you got that huge volume diference.

i use a HUGE amount of gain and neither the JB nor the '59 are overly noisy or microphonic...

i would check the wireing again and talk to a seasoned veteran here on the board (i recomend Artietoo) regarding wireing. if all else fails... i think you should invest in a noise gate if everything squeels like that

 

[Kac]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

as already stated, but simplified:

You put a bridge humbucker in the neck position. that bridge humbucker does have a higher output than the pick-up you put in the bridge position, which would explain why it was so much louder.
if you would have ordered a standard spaced neck position humbucker you would have been in a better situation.

The screamin' demon isn't a very high output humbucker, so for te neck position you should have looked for something that would have complemented it better.

In 15 years of trying Seymour Duncan's I would hope that you could match a set of pick-ups better than that, but no disrespected intended.

Rock On!

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

Yeah, like Davey said, the Custom is definitely NOT a neck pickup. It's WAY louder than the Demon. A qualified tech should've also told you that you don't use trem-spaced pickups in the neck.

 

[ACG]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

The guy in the store sold me the custom trembucker as a "neck" pickup... he said it was a "neck" model..... dont they make custom trembuckers in a neck model?

if not then its the stores fault here the guy was just misinformed...

Befor I bought any pickups I checked out this forum extensively and everyone said that a screamen demon and a custon neck was a good matchup.... so I did the research but maybe got misguided by the store rat trying to sell a pup...

okey for that point..BUT LET ME KNOW Why do they squeal? Why did every set of duncans I ever owned squeal at high gain..?

 

[ACG]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

Hey I got an idea..!!!!

Maybe this is act of destiny? Maybe I should switch them around?

Custom in the bridge and the demon in the neck?

I can handle that in the neck..... as long as it dont squeal...

 

[Davey]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

no trembucker (apart of the paralel axis ones) are for neck.. and also, no an Custom (sh-5, TB-5) is not made in a neck model. you put a bridge pickup in the neck position. some knuckleheads put them like that (a JB in the neck hehe.)
as far as i know, none of the custom series is made in a neck variation.

the cool thing to do would be to put the custom in the bridge and the demon in the neck *edit* LOL, you were faster hehe

maybe they were misinformed, or just outright didnt know. either way, it's in the wrong position.

but to your original query. no, they should not squeal. the only unpotted duncan buckers i know of are the seth lovers (and maybe the antiquities). the others shouldnt squeel...
but we might shed some light on that if you tell us how it's wired and what your rig is

 

[rspst14]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

There is no neck model for the Custom series pickups. As others have stated, you've created a large output mismatch by using a high output neck pickup and a medium output bridge pickup. I would suggest reversing the two pickups, maybe you'll like that better.

As for the squealing, if you're maxing the distortion and compression beyond what would be considered reasonable for even heavy styles of music, then any pickup you try is going to be prone to feedback. I'd be willing to bet that just about any pickup will feed back at those gain levels. Try backing off the gain and compression a bit and see if that solves the problem. If the pickups were truly microphonic, you'd probably begin to notice it at medium volume levels.

Ryan

 

[ACG]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

I used the Bardens at mondo gain levels with no problems..... then when I used them in clean tone they would purr like a gibson 335 and everyone would freak that it was the same guitar doing it all.....

Amazing pups those Bardens....

Tomorrow I will have some one here switch the two pickups I have on around....

You know the tone of the custom in the neck "wasnt bad".... I enjoyed its mass that was huge yet still shape-able with various hand and picking techniques....

I am going try to work this out some how.. thanks for the info...

My rig is very unique... to long to describe here. Lets just say that I use more gain than any one else on the planet.. that would be about correct...

 

[Davey]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

turn it down a bit :laugh2:

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

another little issue you may have is that you bought 2 trem spaced pickups...in the neck of any trem equipped guitar you do not use a trem spaced spaced pickup even if it has a floyd or a fender style trem. as the strings go towards the nut they get closer to eachother thus reducing the string spacing to the point where you don't need a trem spaced pickup for the neck. that's why ducnan doesn't make trem spaced neck pickups b/c there is no need for them. your best bet is to sell or trade in one of your two bridge pickups and get a correct neck pickup IMO. also your feedback issues can be either too much gain and comp to the point of being well, pointless lol (never though i'd say that haha b/c i love gain!!) or an install error on the pickups. i play tons of high gain music with various duncans in all my guitars and not one has feedback issues unless i put the gain and volume on 10 lol. i hope you get it sorted out!!

-Mike

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

What kind of Guitar are you useing the Pickups in?

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

The guy in the store sold me the custom trembucker as a "neck" pickup... he said it was a "neck" model..... dont they make custom trembuckers in a neck model?

The guy in the store is full of sh!t.

There are no trembuckers made for the neck because they accomodate the wider string spacing of trem equipped guitars, and the string spacing tapers to normal by the time it reaches the neck pickup.

The Custom is one of the few Duncan models that is made for the bridge only - there is no neck model custom. And the custom is about twice as hot as the demon, you got it backwards.

Duncans that are neck models, say so on the packaging.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

Yeah I have to say, your tech doesn't really seem to know what he's doing since he doesn't even know the difference between the models and purposes for each.

 

[flank]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

it could be the case that your pickups are rattling a bit, thus squealing....maybe try putting some foam underneath them to keep them stationary? (the foam from the SD pickup box could be perfect)......idk, just a guess on my part

 

[ACG]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

To answer the questions...

1. The guitar is a custom designed hand made beauty.... it worked great with the Bardens now that they are gone I am trying to find a replacment pickup that will offer all the playability of those bardens.... the bardens featured coil tapped double wound humbers that went into single coil mode (and sound remarkably like a sweet single coil) but still were true humbuckers without 60 cycle humm... The Axe is Brazilian Mohogany with a 5A quilted top... a 7 piece through neck of flamed maple , bubinga, and mohogany, its a sweet litte axe.... lots of features... Mike Sherman from Ken Smith basses worked on it when he was at the Washburn custom shop, then Brian Moore worked on it and reshaped the body and redid the paint job, then the great Victor Pedreski rebuilt the fret board with a series radius, Martin Simms put in the leds on the neck, the axe cost me about 6k without the pickups....

2. The guy at the shop led me astray he said that the custom he gave me was a neck pickup... so he gets flogged tomorrow

3. The tech was inocent in that he doesnt speak english...

4. I have been told on this thread that "there are no trembuckers made for the neck position". Well As for trembuckers being made "only" for the bridge position please read the following which I just copied from the products list from this site that proves you are dead wrong. They do make trembuckers calibrated for neck position too.

"Original Parallel Axis Trembucker™
see | hear | specs | dimensions
PA-TB1 -- This humbucker is specially calibrated for either the neck or bridge position. Its spacing is also adjusted to allow for precise string alignment. Its tone is sweet and bluesy. The more gain you add, the more it sings. Available in black only.
Four conductor cable"....


Okey so it was very natural for a person as myself unfamiliar with the Duncan line to buy a trembucker that he was told was for the neck by the store guy and install it there...

Now ... lets take it from here... tomorrow I switch these babies around.... but now I am in Cyprus and I dont think there are any qualified techs here to do the job.. anyway as soon as I can I will swap them around ....

Oh yes and "there is no such thing as too much distortion"

Thanks for all your help..." But I'm sorry they stilll squeal" just like the first 2 sets I owned before.... I may have to get them resheilded with copper tape...

 

[ACG]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

hey Flank you may have a point... I will check that tomorrow thanks..

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

The Parallel Axis Trembucker is a whole different animal. We all should've said "Trem-spaced pickups are not for neck usage."

Anywho, I'm clueless about the squealing, as I've stood in front of a cranked 120 watt amp with a JB, Distortion, Invader, Custom, and Demon, and never had microphonic feedback. Ease off on the compressor maybe?

 

[ACG]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

JB it must the cascading preamps I use for the mondo distortion I prefer..... the Bardens with those blades in there were very silent and seem to handle more compression than your average bear...

I still think some copper tape will shut these babies up so they can concentrate on the song instead on my migrains....

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: In all due respect and honesty I am dissapointed with these Duncan pickups

ummm i'm dead wrong and TC is dead wrong...no, you sir are the one that is how you oh so kindly put it..."dead wrong"...and that was plain rude...

then answer me this...why is that THE ONLY pickup on duncans site that says that it comes in a "trem spaced" neck version lol. it means they make a neck version of that pickup, that's all. there is no trem spaced neck pickups, the poles of the pickup would sit out past the strings...just like yours is now i bet....go look at it...your e and e poles are past the e and e strings and not directly under them are they?

when the strings go to the nut they get narrower thus you do not need a trem spaced neck pickup...out of all my guitars half of them or so have trems of some sort (and each one has duncans)...not one has a trem spaced neck pickup b/c...there is no need for one, nor is there such a thing!

why ask for advice if your going to be rude when given CORRECT adivice?


-Mike