My Custom Custom review.

[B2D]

So in my current phase of noodling around with Duncans, I took the A5 magnet out of the C5 I was testing and popped an A2 mag in there to create and test a Custom Custom.

FTR: This was in an alder guitar with a maple neck, rosewood fretboard, and a single 500K volume pot.

Other than the pickup being a lot hotter sounding than I expected due to the concentrated midrange, and the bass being tighter than I expected, it's about like I thought it would be. I had to alter my normal EQ settings a tad to get it to work for my sound. I had to turn up the bass by about two notches and turn the highs up a smidge.

Interesting pickup -- It's very midrange-concentrated like I expected but I didn't expect it to be as tight as it was. Plus, the mids are on a slightly different frequency than say, a JB. I reached for the mid knob to turn them down a hair because they were so strong (I usually keep my mids on 5 or 6) but I discovered that this pickup sounds better and has more character when you let the mids come through more.

Killer harmonics on this one, I had 'em popping out all over the place. It's very much a hot-rodded vintage sound... lots of output and mids but there's a quality to the sound that almost amplifies the subtleties in your technique like pick attack and vibrato. Soloing with this pickup is great fun if you're into classic hard rock. People have said this pickup can help you get some Van Halen-ish tones, and personally I think this pickup is a little hot and middy for that BUT I was able to get some decent Fair-Warning style tones (particularly Sinner's Swing).

I don't think I'll stick with this pickup in the long run but I'll use it for a rehearsal or two just to play around with it.

 

[bryan the rocker]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

Hi B2D

The tightness in the bass of your CC is due to the body and neck woods



Nice review by the way,



Based on your test,

Which is more compressed, The CC or the C5


Also I have a feeling that SD uses a different kind of A2 in there CC, not exactly the same A2 you buy at a guitar shop

 

[B2D]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

Hi B2D

The tightness in the bass of your CC is due to the body and neck woods



Nice review by the way,



Based on your test,

Which is more compressed, The CC or the C5


Also I have a feeling that SD uses a different kind of A2 in there CC, not exactly the same A2 you buy at a guitar shop

At first test, the CC would seem to be the more compressed pickup, but only because there's so much midrange attack. However, I think after playing both of them, I don't think either of them are compressed in the way that, say, a hi-output DiMarzio would be.

Both of them are high-output, very dynamic pickups that respond differently to playing style, and thats a good thing to me. Their frequencies are just centered in different spots.

 

[B2D]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

BTW I should mention the only place I'm really not liking this pickup is in the cleans department. Far too much midrange for the clean tones I want, and it sounds just OK split.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

good, so it isn't just me re the cleans
:beerchug:

bryan, i'd say C5 is but not by much. neither sound ]compressed[ like the SH-5 but the C5 isn't that far behind it IMHO

 

[jhale667]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

I don't mind the cleans of the CC, and I actually like the split tone...

 

[dr. ad]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

I don't mind the cleans of the CC, and I actually like the split tone...

what guitar's that in? i was using an LP?

 

[jhale667]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

what guitar's that in? i was using an LP?

It's in a 1-piece Koa bodied Warmoth Strat with a Maple/Ebony neck. Sounds great!

 

[YHWH]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

... this is definitely a darker-voiced pup. EVH's Fair Warning period... I agree... but only because for that album, Ed was using Gibsons w/ mahogany bodies for some of the tracks... notably "Unchained"... which was done w/ his Les Paul (R.I.P.) guit ...'twas NOT FRANKIE!!

... the CC's compression reminds me of an EMG 85... but only more organic-sounding. Also, like w/ the EMG, there's not much hard "attack" to the CC, but the air-ey "bloom" and swelling sustain more than make up for it.

Overall, I feel this pickup was the sonic blueprint for the "custom" DiMarzio pup that was in the EBMM EVH. Just *IMO*.

 

[eddievanhalen1000]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=172250&highlight=star+fleet

 

[B2D]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=172250&highlight=star+fleet

Please don't spam my threads with links to your own threads asking a completely unrelated questions. It's very rude.

 

[Aceman]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

You picked almost the perfect guitar to put this in. That's a great start.

The way the mids are in that really lets the guitar crunch really well, but it still has the smoooooth a2 top end.

CC in an LP is a way more fickle creature - but worth the time IMO, to get it right.

As for the cleans - I agree somewhat. It does a great stinging yet singing blues clean. But I think where it really shines, is in a mix with a PG neck. Totally different clean beast then!

 

[B2D]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

I'm testing a PG in the neck right now... I had an APH1 in there and didn't like it that much, maybe with a brighter guitar it could have worked. The PG seems to have more personality and punch overall, and killer cleans too. It sounds great split and combined with the CC split or not. The CC cleans I'm still working with, but it's a great combo for a vintage-flavored hard rock setup overall.

I'll be testing it in rehearsal tonight. I may not stay with either pickup but it's cool to just try these out and get used to them.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

At least you do what a lot of other tireless pickup posters DON'T do - you actually audition a lot of pickups in your guitars, and by doing that, you'll actually figure out what works best in everything. At that point, you'll know what to expect from each, and which guitars they should ultimately be placed in. That's the only way to do it.

The trick is in learning when to be satisfied with the way a guitar sounds and leaving it alone after that.

One interesting thing that happens with most players who go through most popular pickups is that they end up realizing that there's a certain output that works best against their pick attack. After that, it's about fitting the right frequency with the right guitar in each position. Most discerning pickup aficionados end up using the common mid output pickups....never the extremes, but the common models like the Customs, 59, Ants, PG's, JB, Jazz, Brobucker etc. Seymour figured out real tone at first, then started trying to cater to the fringe....the tweakers that need something stupid, because they haven't yet realized that the common models are where the real tone is. IMO, of course! hehe

 

[B2D]

Re: My Custom Custom review.

At least you do what a lot of other tireless pickup posters DON'T do - you actually audition a lot of pickups in your guitars, and by doing that, you'll actually figure out what works best in everything. At that point, you'll know what to expect from each, and which guitars they should ultimately be placed in. That's the only way to do it.

Pretty much, eventually you just have to throw down some coin and try 'em out. I never pass final judgement on any pickup unless I've played it - not just heard it - in the flesh. That Duncan sale in Burbank was a great opportunity for me to buy a bunch of different models on the cheap and put them through their paces through my own rig instead of making educated guesses. I'm gaining a lot of cool knowledge this way, especially through the magnet swaps.

Speaking of magnet swaps, I just changed the CC I was trying out into a C8. I'm really digging the C8 through my practice rig... hearing some seriously good things through this pickup. I'll post a full review tomorrow after I rehearse with it tomorrow night.

The trick is in learning when to be satisfied with the way a guitar sounds and leaving it alone after that.

I hear that. There's only so much tweaking on ANY peice of gear you can do, because if you spend all your time tweaking, you'll get caught up in decision paralysis and lose sight of the big picture. But chasing the sounds in your head, when you do it right and learn about the gear instead of just changing stuff, is fun and educational. Most of the time, I can be statisfied by ballparking the tone. But I'm in a phase of redesigning my sound right now, so I'm exploring options again.

One interesting thing that happens with most players who go through most popular pickups is that they end up realizing that there's a certain output that works best against their pick attack. After that, it's about fitting the right frequency with the right guitar in each position. Most discerning pickup aficionados end up using the common mid output pickups....never the extremes, but the common models like the Customs, 59, Ants, PG's, JB, Jazz, Brobucker etc. Seymour figured out real tone at first, then started trying to cater to the fringe....the tweakers that need something stupid, because they haven't yet realized that the common models are where the real tone is. IMO, of course! hehe

True. There's so many options in pickups these days... stuff like the JB8's and A2 Demons (the latter of which I have yet to try) are for niche-market freaks like us. If you couldn't change off-the-shelf pickups, your fingers and amp knobs could probably get most of the way there.