Xeromus
Tone Ninja
I'll start by telling you what my favorites are by category:
Humbuckers: '59 neck, JB or Distortion Bridge
Lil' Humbuckers: Little '59, Cool Rails
Tele pickups: Rio Grande tallboy neck and Muy Grande bridge
Those I've used:
Jazz (neck): sounded great in a 25.5 inch scale tele-gib guitar. Was nice and buttery smooth, not too bassy like most neck pickups and with a top end that cut through. Placed in my Les Paul style ESP I hated it, too much mids and just seemed fuzzy all around to me.
JB (bridge): There's really not much to complain about with this pickup, sounds good in almost every guitar I've tried it. I love how it can get crunchy but still sing and be smooth. Way to go Duncan, this is one hell of a pickup. I love how palm mutes sound with it too.
Distortion (bridge): Can get just as up in your face and nasty as active pickups, maybe even more so, and I prefer the tone. This pickup is great in a floyd rose equipped guitar because it puts back the bass that the bridge can bleed off. It has a nice midrange to it also, solos can sound pretty sick with it and it's a great riffing pickup. I think it's very underrated and can be used well with many other styles aside from metal.
'59 (neck): I was turned off by this pickup at first because I thought it would be too wimpy for me. This pup has mojo-a-plenty! I love the brightness and I don't find it too bassy at all which some people complain about. I think I like a neck pickup to be more trebly and scoop the mid out, gets rid of the mud and fuzz that can occur at the neck. It certainly will rip the blues or anything else for that matter. Bar none IMO the most versatile neck pickup duncan makes.
Screamin Demon (bridge): This is another good all-rounder, output just right, can crunch with the best of 'em and get sweet too. I used it in an Ibanez RG years ago and it worked for a wide variety of stuff I was doing. My first Duncan pickup. I wasn't good enough of a player at the time to comment further on it though, and can't remember a whole lot about it.
Custom (bridge): It does sound like a PAF style pickup with balls added. I tried it in a Les Paul style guitar and didn't do it for me, but I might try it again sometime. I preferred the JB over it. To me it seemed harsh, brittle, too bright. But it definately had good qualities to it. I could see it being used for a variety of styles.
EMG 81: Does what it's made to do and does it will, high gain distortion rules, great for lead work also. Sucks hard clean, sounds flat and lifeless.
EMG 85 (neck): More "alive" than the 81, better cleans, can do some great jazz work on it in the neck position, sounds awesome for distorted neck leads.
Cool Rails (neck): Awesome, awesome pickup, great vintage vibe to it, good single coil feel to it with a little humbucker meat added. Doesn't get muddy at all to me. Sounds excellent clean and even better with a little distortion added.
Little '59 (middle): After debating for a while, I fell in love with this pickup. It doesn't sound quite like a '59 bucker but comes close, I love the unique tone of it. It's warm and open but bites too. Can get pretty nasty when you want it to.
Rio Grande Tele Tallboy (neck): excellent vintage tele pup, best I've ever used, sounds great clean and distorted. SRV tones a plenty in a tele. sweeeeet
Rio Grande Muy Grande (Bridge): Nice and meaty, can sound like a humbucker with a little more bite when you want it to and can get icepicky like a tele pickup if you want also, very versatile. Does rock and roll very well.
Humbuckers: '59 neck, JB or Distortion Bridge
Lil' Humbuckers: Little '59, Cool Rails
Tele pickups: Rio Grande tallboy neck and Muy Grande bridge
Those I've used:
Jazz (neck): sounded great in a 25.5 inch scale tele-gib guitar. Was nice and buttery smooth, not too bassy like most neck pickups and with a top end that cut through. Placed in my Les Paul style ESP I hated it, too much mids and just seemed fuzzy all around to me.
JB (bridge): There's really not much to complain about with this pickup, sounds good in almost every guitar I've tried it. I love how it can get crunchy but still sing and be smooth. Way to go Duncan, this is one hell of a pickup. I love how palm mutes sound with it too.
Distortion (bridge): Can get just as up in your face and nasty as active pickups, maybe even more so, and I prefer the tone. This pickup is great in a floyd rose equipped guitar because it puts back the bass that the bridge can bleed off. It has a nice midrange to it also, solos can sound pretty sick with it and it's a great riffing pickup. I think it's very underrated and can be used well with many other styles aside from metal.
'59 (neck): I was turned off by this pickup at first because I thought it would be too wimpy for me. This pup has mojo-a-plenty! I love the brightness and I don't find it too bassy at all which some people complain about. I think I like a neck pickup to be more trebly and scoop the mid out, gets rid of the mud and fuzz that can occur at the neck. It certainly will rip the blues or anything else for that matter. Bar none IMO the most versatile neck pickup duncan makes.
Screamin Demon (bridge): This is another good all-rounder, output just right, can crunch with the best of 'em and get sweet too. I used it in an Ibanez RG years ago and it worked for a wide variety of stuff I was doing. My first Duncan pickup. I wasn't good enough of a player at the time to comment further on it though, and can't remember a whole lot about it.
Custom (bridge): It does sound like a PAF style pickup with balls added. I tried it in a Les Paul style guitar and didn't do it for me, but I might try it again sometime. I preferred the JB over it. To me it seemed harsh, brittle, too bright. But it definately had good qualities to it. I could see it being used for a variety of styles.
EMG 81: Does what it's made to do and does it will, high gain distortion rules, great for lead work also. Sucks hard clean, sounds flat and lifeless.
EMG 85 (neck): More "alive" than the 81, better cleans, can do some great jazz work on it in the neck position, sounds awesome for distorted neck leads.
Cool Rails (neck): Awesome, awesome pickup, great vintage vibe to it, good single coil feel to it with a little humbucker meat added. Doesn't get muddy at all to me. Sounds excellent clean and even better with a little distortion added.
Little '59 (middle): After debating for a while, I fell in love with this pickup. It doesn't sound quite like a '59 bucker but comes close, I love the unique tone of it. It's warm and open but bites too. Can get pretty nasty when you want it to.
Rio Grande Tele Tallboy (neck): excellent vintage tele pup, best I've ever used, sounds great clean and distorted. SRV tones a plenty in a tele. sweeeeet
Rio Grande Muy Grande (Bridge): Nice and meaty, can sound like a humbucker with a little more bite when you want it to and can get icepicky like a tele pickup if you want also, very versatile. Does rock and roll very well.
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