New member and pickup help wanted

T

TheGoldenKid

New member
Hi. I play mostly rock instrumentals. I'm a big Schenker and Rhoads fan. I use Diezel and Soldano amps. I use humbuckers 99% of the time. I almost exclusively use Dimarzios and some D. Allen P51s in my Les Pauls. I have a korina SG that I want to fit with some Duncans, but I haven't been having much luck with Duncans thus far. I have installed the following Duncans and I will do my best to list my experiences with most of them.

JB - kind of plain and spiky. didn't do anything for me.
59 - bassy and sounds like a pretentious PAF clone. my P51s kill it.
Custom - great overall pickup with a nice ceramic tone but not as versatile as my Super Distortion
Custom Custom - noisy, almost like 60's cycle hum. everything about it is perfect from midrange to treble but the low end sounds like a made in China pickup
Custom 5 - Just kind of weird frequencies or something. I don't know why I hate it but I do. Seems to work much better as a neck pickup.
Jazz - nice clarity and high end but sterile and boring.
Full Shred - great for neck but obnoxious at the bridge. would be nice if I could find a Duncan bridge to go with it.
P-Rails - really, really good pickups as long as it's full humbucking mode. useless in P90 or single coil positions. kind of artificial as if there is a pickup preamp in it.
Pearly Gates - great pickup, low output though. neck version is blah.
Alnico II Pro - nice and rich sounding. i like them but they are not punchy like Dimarzios and kind of loose overall. A2 isnt the best magnet for a low end.
Alnico II Pro Slash - never took the time to figure out why but I like the A2 Pros more.

I've probably played almost every Seymour Duncan humbucker out there at one point or another but have not kept up with their stuff for a while. I heard the Whole Lotta is kind of like the Alnico II pro in a way and better than the 59. It sounds interesting but I have not heard good things about the neck version. I'm against mixing pickup brands, and that seems to be my problem with the Duncans because none of the bridge/neck combinations seem to be ideal. Thats a major plus for Dimarzio because their bridge/neck combos always work together like the Breed set or Crunch Lab + Liquifire.

I considered the custom shop offerings and the one that stood out to me, the Demartini, doesn't have a neck pickup to match. I really don't want to pay so much for custom shop when I can get what I want in other brands. There are many things I like about Duncans and probably just need to find the right combination. Thats what I'm hoping you can help me with.

Please allow me to make one request and that is not to get into all of the magnet swapping and electronics hubbub. I use 500k CTS or Bourns pots and Orange Drop caps and so on but am not technical enough to debate it at the electronics level and I don't really care to honestly. My favorite magnets are a4 without a doubt although I know I'm probably going to be blasted about uoa5 being superior etc. Look if I have to modify a pickup then I don't want it at this point because I am getting what I want with Dimarzios right out of the box. If I could make a description of the Seymour Duncans that would be good for me then I would probably say Alnico II pros that are a little tighter, clearer in the neck, more punch, and a little hotter.

While writing this it occurred to me that a4 could possibly tweak my A2 pros to perfection so I might give that a go and see what happens. For the meanwhile your suggestions will be appreciated.
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

If you can get what you want with Dimarzios out of the box, then go with Dimarzios. For me, the JB/Jazz set work best to get the sound I want, and although I too prefer not to mix brands, I might use the JB in conjunction with the PAF36 for a sweeter midrange sound.
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

Welcome, i tried nearly everything you mentioned in one of my Les Pauls and nearly the same complaints. My experience of 'wow' i had with the Alt8, which is a much fuller sounding JB or a less harsh version of the distortion.
Funny thing is that one of my LP works nicely with a vintage JB and is not over the top with a Distortion. I have to add that most of my LPs (i have 6) have Ants with varying magnets.
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

TheGoldenKid said:
Look if I have to modify a pickup then I don't want it at this point because I am getting what I want with Dimarzios right out of the box. If I could make a description of the Seymour Duncans that would be good for me then I would probably say Alnico II pros that are a little tighter, clearer in the neck, more punch, and a little hotter.
Click to expand...

Of course, like others have said, if you are getting what you want with Dimarzios, then stick with them.

However, if you want to try some SD pups, the one you are describing to a tee is the Screamin Demon.
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

Welcome to the forum. Maybe you want to look into the Alternative 8, or the PATB-3 model
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

I think your SG might need the low-mids push that more DiMarzios have. That's allright.

The only Duncans that have it are the Pearly Gator but as you say it is only PAF class wind, and the Brobucker.

The Bro is an option here but it is still PAF-ish.
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

I know you said no magnet swapping, but if the Custom was close to what you're looking for, the Custom 8 is probably what you're looking for.
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

dominus said:
I know you said no magnet swapping, but if the Custom was close to what you're looking for, the Custom 8 is probably what you're looking for.
Click to expand...

THIS...

9unslin9er said:
Stick with DiMarzio.

If it ain't broken...
Click to expand...

...and THIS

If you're going to stick with Seymour Duncan, it sounds like a Custom 8 might be just what you want. Hamerfan's suggestion of an Alternative 8 is also a good one, although I'd try the Custom 8 first, since it's a bit more open sounding.

Otherwise, stick with what you know works!
 
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Re: New member and pickup help wanted

It's true that the C8 is just about as good as you can get for the bridge position of an SG. But for the neck, I still say Demon is what you're asking for.
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

Thanks for your suggestions. The Screamin' Demon neck sounds like a great suggestion. It is not too bassy, ample midrange for a neck pup, high treble for clarity and cut, and what seems to be a hot vintage output. However, I have been down the A8 path before. I like the smooth, thick qualities of A8 for the most part but it has a little too much in some frequencies and easily pushes my amp. I use high gain amps and prefer to use pickups that do not push my amp as hard. Vintage pickups and high gain amps *usually* result in a slightly dyer, more honest attack, and since my technique relies on a lot of legato mixed with alternate and economy picking, it lets legato notes still pop but more clearly. Alinco 8 just can't do that sort of thing. A8 certainly has it's uses, and makes a great alternative to active pickups in my opinion but just not my thing.

Two custom shop models caught my attention, the Warren DeMartini RTM and something called the Bugsey or Bug-sey. They have similar specs and seem to be a match for the Demon neck. Most of my interests in bridge models are in those two at this point. Unfortunately Seymour's website is sparse for descriptions. What are your experiences with these?

An unrelated question came to mind while perusing Seymour's offerings so now I am wondering why none of his pickups use Alnico 4 magnets. I find it interesting in this forum that there has been much discussion in regards to UOA5 though I personally find that A4 has a better output, more clarity, and not as timid in its attack. I have some pickups with UOA5 which I struggle with but mostly because of the quality of their attack though the tone is there. In fact the use of A4 seems like it could be just what the 59 model needs. Given these observations, why is A4 not used?
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

TheGoldenKid said:
An unrelated question came to mind while perusing Seymour's offerings so now I am wondering why none of his pickups use Alnico 4 magnets. I find it interesting in this forum that there has been much discussion in regards to UOA5 though I personally find that A4 has a better output, more clarity, and not as timid in its attack. I have some pickups with UOA5 which I struggle with but mostly because of the quality of their attack though the tone is there. In fact the use of A4 seems like it could be just what the 59 model needs. Given these observations, why is A4 not used?
Click to expand...

To my ears A4 lacks a certain kind of "musical overtones", the best way I can find to describe it. Only A2 and A5 seem to have them.

Of course you might not need them, or might not hear them in the mix, and clarity becoming more important. But I haven't been able to make any Alnico except A2 and A5 "stick" in one of my guitars.
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

A4 is an even push. It relies on the wind much more. Great for something like a real PAF clone, usually not so good for a model which is more regularly wound and symmetrical coils. These often do better with mags that spike up a certain range of the response.
 
Re: New member and pickup help wanted

I have a korina lp with a Floyd. I didn't try as many pups as you, but you nailed the descriptions. I had the same experiences. I ended my search with an RTM. Unfortunately it's custom shop, and for some reason, there aren't many demos.... It's a jb with great clarity, better balance, and just slightly looser low end. I dig it.
 
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