Pierre
Stratologist
Seymour Duncan SH6 Distortion pickup.
Introduction:
The Distortion is one of Seymour Duncan’s best selling pickups. And if you know Mr Duncan’s company’s reputation for top notch costumer service, perfectly built pickups and his desire to cater for every player’s needs, you know this really could be something special.
In fact, the Distortion is a JB with a huge ceramic magnet, the JB being Seymour Duncan’s first pickup that he rewound from an old humbucker to fit into Jeff Beck’s guitar. It soon became a production model and is the world’s best selling aftermarket pickup. The JB is renowned for its cutting lead tone, with a high mid spike to really slice through any mix, as well as being used as a rhythm pickup even by metal players by the likes of Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine.
A ceramic magnet, compared to an Alnico 5 and with all other things remaining constant, will add presence and bite to a pickup, as well as tightening its sound somewhat and obviously increasing its power.
Sounds:
Putting the Distortion in a strat style basswood bodied guitar into a small valve amp, you soon realize exactly what you’re dealing with here: a no compromise powerful pickup. But this does not mean that it can’t do subtle. On the contrary, clean tones are actually quite rewarding, taking on a smooth and thick sound that could very well overdrive your clean tone sooner than expected if you’re not careful. Jazzers obviously won’t like the overly bright and powerful vibe, and country players may prefer a more single like tone: do bear in mind that this is a rock machine! However even with a neutral EQ, the clean tone is lively and beautiful to the ear, with a small emphasis on the bass and mids rather than jangly clear sounds: it clearly is a humbucker and sounds like one. Every note in chords is clearly heard and rings true. Watch for that low E string which can be overwhelming at times though.
Cranking up the Overdrive is grin worthy. With existing settings on less powerful pickups (which are likely to be anything else that’s passive), the Distortion pushes the amp even further. This reviewer had to carefully re EQ all of his sounds in order to find the right balance. The bass is tight but there is more than enough to cater for everyone’s needs. It’s a very powerful pickup for metal rythms where the low strings really stay tight and focused. The pickup has a lot of midrange and very thick low mids: keep that in mind to add some ‘chugging’ power, increasing the mids helps both to cut AND to have powerful mutes! The high mid spike of the JB is therefore shifted lower in the frequency spectrum for a more powerful sound. The treble is clear and ringing. All in all it has a very powerful sound that is never unpleasant to the ear. It cleans up well enough but this would never be the strength of an overwound ceramic pickup of course. Still, for AC/DC style sounds it is more than satisfying.
Conclusion:
This pickup is a beast that can also easily be tamed. It loses the vintage vibe but still isn’t as modern sounding as an EMG. The power is there and so is the string definition, if of course you don’t overdo it with the gain. This is one of the pickups which will sound great no matter what your EQ is, but we feel it’s happier with cutting, mid heavy modern metal tones. It copes very well with downtuning and doesn’t muddy up too soon. It will sound good anything you throw at it, and even better at gain heavy styles, while still retaining versatility and a pleasant tone. If you like to control your amp from the guitar, this pickup will push it into meltdown while keeping a mischievous smirk on your face, while still being subtle enough and not over compressed.
.
Introduction:
The Distortion is one of Seymour Duncan’s best selling pickups. And if you know Mr Duncan’s company’s reputation for top notch costumer service, perfectly built pickups and his desire to cater for every player’s needs, you know this really could be something special.
In fact, the Distortion is a JB with a huge ceramic magnet, the JB being Seymour Duncan’s first pickup that he rewound from an old humbucker to fit into Jeff Beck’s guitar. It soon became a production model and is the world’s best selling aftermarket pickup. The JB is renowned for its cutting lead tone, with a high mid spike to really slice through any mix, as well as being used as a rhythm pickup even by metal players by the likes of Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine.
A ceramic magnet, compared to an Alnico 5 and with all other things remaining constant, will add presence and bite to a pickup, as well as tightening its sound somewhat and obviously increasing its power.
Sounds:
Putting the Distortion in a strat style basswood bodied guitar into a small valve amp, you soon realize exactly what you’re dealing with here: a no compromise powerful pickup. But this does not mean that it can’t do subtle. On the contrary, clean tones are actually quite rewarding, taking on a smooth and thick sound that could very well overdrive your clean tone sooner than expected if you’re not careful. Jazzers obviously won’t like the overly bright and powerful vibe, and country players may prefer a more single like tone: do bear in mind that this is a rock machine! However even with a neutral EQ, the clean tone is lively and beautiful to the ear, with a small emphasis on the bass and mids rather than jangly clear sounds: it clearly is a humbucker and sounds like one. Every note in chords is clearly heard and rings true. Watch for that low E string which can be overwhelming at times though.
Cranking up the Overdrive is grin worthy. With existing settings on less powerful pickups (which are likely to be anything else that’s passive), the Distortion pushes the amp even further. This reviewer had to carefully re EQ all of his sounds in order to find the right balance. The bass is tight but there is more than enough to cater for everyone’s needs. It’s a very powerful pickup for metal rythms where the low strings really stay tight and focused. The pickup has a lot of midrange and very thick low mids: keep that in mind to add some ‘chugging’ power, increasing the mids helps both to cut AND to have powerful mutes! The high mid spike of the JB is therefore shifted lower in the frequency spectrum for a more powerful sound. The treble is clear and ringing. All in all it has a very powerful sound that is never unpleasant to the ear. It cleans up well enough but this would never be the strength of an overwound ceramic pickup of course. Still, for AC/DC style sounds it is more than satisfying.
Conclusion:
This pickup is a beast that can also easily be tamed. It loses the vintage vibe but still isn’t as modern sounding as an EMG. The power is there and so is the string definition, if of course you don’t overdo it with the gain. This is one of the pickups which will sound great no matter what your EQ is, but we feel it’s happier with cutting, mid heavy modern metal tones. It copes very well with downtuning and doesn’t muddy up too soon. It will sound good anything you throw at it, and even better at gain heavy styles, while still retaining versatility and a pleasant tone. If you like to control your amp from the guitar, this pickup will push it into meltdown while keeping a mischievous smirk on your face, while still being subtle enough and not over compressed.
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