Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

M

metsfan84

New member
I'm looking to change the pickups in my Schecter C-1 Plus.

The guitar has mahogany body with a quilted maple top.

The stock bridge pickup handles heavy distortion well, but I'm not crazy about it otherwise. Not objectionable, but just boring sounding. A little bright on the higher strings. I've seen others call the pickups "flat." Can a pickup sound "harsh" and "flat" at the same time? I'm really not sure the best way to describe it, but I don't like the way it sounds clean or with a little bit of overdrive. The neck pickup isn't awful sounding, but it's really bland. I never use it.

I'm definitely going to go with a 59 at the neck, but I have to decide what I want for the bridge.

I play a little bit of everything... from blues to Metallica and everything in between... Zeppelin, Foo Fighters, Guns N Roses... everything.

From what I understand, the C5 will give me a nice clean tone, like a hotter version of a PAF. But will that be hot enough for heavy, palm-muted riffs ala Metallica? I was also thinking about the JB, but that pickup seems to be really hit or miss, and some call it too bright, so that might not be the best way to go when replacing a pickup that's bright.

Would the C5 suit me, or are there other options that I should consider?
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

I've always loved Mark Tremonti's (Creed) tone... shimmering cleans but great heavy distortion, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDblSmD1D_A

Though something I've just realized through watching a few of these videos is it seems he switches mid-song between the neck and bridge pickups depending on whether or not he's playing clean or distorted. I always thought the cleans were from the bridge.
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

What PU's are in you guitar now? How hot? Ceramic? That harsh tone could be from ceramic magnets.

The C5 is great in mahogany, whereas JB's can be a bit loose in the bottom, and that ice pick spike can appear. the '59N is always good in mahogany.
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

blueman335 said:
What PU's are in you guitar now? How hot? Ceramic? That harsh tone could be from ceramic magnets.

The C5 is great in mahogany, whereas JB's can be a bit loose in the bottom, and that ice pick spike can appear. the '59N is always good in mahogany.
Click to expand...
I have the stock "Duncan Designed" ones. The guitar is 7 years old, so I'm not sure if they used the same pickups then as they use now, but the same guitar now is listed on the Schecter website as having the HB-102 set, which from what I read, is modeled after the JB and Jazz. The HB-102 apparently uses Alnico 5s.

With that in mind, would the C5 be acceptable for metal? If not, what's out there that's hotter that would still sound good clean?
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

Custom 5 is awesome in those mahogany Schecters.......plenty of guts and warm, punchy power chords. Palm muting is huge given the C5's enhanced bass freq.
It's hot enough for Metallica no question. Use it with a Marshall or one of Boss's "orange series" distortion pedals.
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

Ended up going with the Custom.

I was hoping to have them put in today, but I had to do an online order for the nickel covered versions. Surprisingly Guitar Center doesn't carry them, though they can do a special order. Hopefully they'll come soon.
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

metsfan84 said:
Ended up going with the Custom.

I was hoping to have them put in today, but I had to do an online order for the nickel covered versions. Surprisingly Guitar Center doesn't carry them, though they can do a special order. Hopefully they'll come soon.
Click to expand...

The Custom sounds great with other magnets too, FYI. It's particularly good with an A5 (which makes it a Custom 5), or an A8.
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

metsfan84 said:
Ended up going with the Custom.

I was hoping to have them put in today, but I had to do an online order for the nickel covered versions. Surprisingly Guitar Center doesn't carry them, though they can do a special order. Hopefully they'll come soon.
Click to expand...

Hopefully........I waited 5 months for a Pearly Gates w nickel cover that I ordered from GC. You'd be better off trying ebay. Guys on there have every pickup with every concievable cover in stock and ready to ship.
Banjomikez is a good one, but there are several.......
search for "Seymour Duncan Nickel"
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

Guitar Center blows.
The salesman told me I could return pick ups, but when I returned the manager would not even let me exchange them.
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

bagouser said:
Hopefully........I waited 5 months for a Pearly Gates w nickel cover that I ordered from GC. You'd be better off trying ebay. Guys on there have every pickup with every concievable cover in stock and ready to ship.
Banjomikez is a good one, but there are several.......
search for "Seymour Duncan Nickel"
Click to expand...
Yeah, I ended up not ordering through Guitar Center. Bought them on Amazon through Blue Star Music.

Crane said:
Guitar Center blows.
The salesman told me I could return pick ups, but when I returned the manager would not even let me exchange them.
Click to expand...
Yeah. It's really hit or miss. Depends who you're dealing with. I guess that's true whenever you deal with people working on commission. In the past, every time I've bought an instrument there, even if they can't knock anything off the price, they'll give me something along with it... they'll knock some money off the price of a hard case, give me a few sets of strings, whatever. Nothing major, but it at least makes the buyer feel like they're getting a good deal.

Recently, though, I bought a Mexican Tele, and the guy I dealt with there was really arrogant. A bunch of the Teles were marked $460 or $470, but the one I picked up was marked $500. I asked him why, and he said the other ones were marked incorrectly, and he proceeded to take the price tags off the other ones. I told him if he could give me a stand included in the $500, I'd do it. He said "we can't just change the price or give you stuff for free. It doesn't work that way." I ended up not wanting to lose the guitar over $20, so I bought it anyway. Then as I'm checking out, he says "What kind of strings do you use?" I'm thinking he's going to give them to me for nothing, but again, he says "It would be nice if we could just give stuff away for free, but it doesn't work that way."

Maybe I'm being out of line for complaining about paying full price, but like I said, every other time I've made a $500 purchase, they'll include a little something, $20 or so, to make the deal a little better.
 
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Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

I placed my order at Blue Star Music on Tuesday, and the pickups came today. Wow! That was fast.... shipped from California on Tuesday, arrived in NY on Thursday! I don't know if they're a well known site or what, but I'd highly recommend them.

http://www.bluestarmusic.com/

Brought in my guitar for the installation today. I can't wait to hear how it sounds with these pickups installed.
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

metsfan84 said:
Maybe I'm being out of line for complaining about paying full price, but like I said, every other time I've made a $500 purchase, they'll include a little something, $20 or so, to make the deal a little better.
Click to expand...

Once you work in Retail....you'll realize you ran into the "Yang" to everyone else's "Ying". What, do you want a free slurpee with your hot dog everytime!?

"That's not how it works".......
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

I also have the older schecter c-1 plus the pickups that they had in it prior to 05 were hb-103s and they totally had to go.. they were distortion pickups and were scooped.. no mids at all.. the 102s (if you can find any are a logical replacement.. thats why schecter switched... I agree the sound is flat.and also hi pitched.. amazing :banghead:
 
Re: Schecter C-1 Plus--Custom 5 or something else?

blueman335 said:
The Custom sounds great with other magnets too, FYI. It's particularly good with an A5 (which makes it a Custom 5), or an A8.
Click to expand...

I thought the c5 and the uoa5 both sounded really lame.the A8 was really good but
the ceramic custom is the way seymour designed it and in my opinion knew what he was doing. first and best of the customs hands down. you probably just dont like ceramics if you dont care for the custom stock :28:
 
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