SD Custom Custom vs Dimarzio Norton

[Brucifer85]

Hello.


In another thread of mine I posted about not being happy with my Alternative 8 pup in the bridge of my Fender Blacktop Jaguar.

When I emailed SD they recommended the Custom Custom which most of you agreed seems to fit my wants.

I decided to email Dimarzio and see what they would suggest on their side and they came up with the Norton.

I did find a small thread on here from 2012 with one person saying he finds the two pickups similar.

So I'm curious to know now 5 years later if anyone else has tried these two and can give their impressions please.

I see the CC is alnico 2 and the Norton alnico 5.
What major differences would these two magnets make?

Thanks!

 

[thrill74]

Re: SD Custom Custom vs Dimarzio Norton

Having had both I can voice my impressions. The CC is butter smooth and has a wide voicing. Vintage but with power. You don't have to pick hard to get good stuff from it. The Norton is pretty focused in its voicing and doesn't FEEL like it has a lot of power. You have to dig in but it yields overly great harmonics and tone. Both are versatile and useable for any condition. Though, i'd lean towards the Norton if I had to make the choice. On the side though, the Air Norton goes up there as one of my favorite humbuckers to put in the bridge of a Les Paul!

 

[Brucifer85]

Re: SD Custom Custom vs Dimarzio Norton

Having had both I can voice my impressions. The CC is butter smooth and has a wide voicing. Vintage but with power. You don't have to pick hard to get good stuff from it. The Norton is pretty focused in its voicing and doesn't FEEL like it has a lot of power. You have to dig in but it yields overly great harmonics and tone. Both are versatile and useable for any condition. Though, i'd lean towards the Norton if I had to make the choice. On the side though, the Air Norton goes up there as one of my favorite humbuckers to put in the bridge of a Les Paul!

Hey thanks for your input.

If you could expand abit more on why you would choose the Norton?

I'm especially interested in how their cleans compare.

I am wanting one of these for an alder body guitar.

Thanks.

 

[thrill74]

Re: SD Custom Custom vs Dimarzio Norton

The CC is perfect for an alder bodied strat style guitar. It just makes the bridge sound full bodied. Round mids, smooth lows, soft highs. More comparable to the Tone Zone in a strat. The Norton was "ok" in my strat but really came alive in my Les Paul. Most pickups act differently between those two guitars due to their vast differences in construction. Ive had a CC in one of my older LP's and it wasn't vintage or sweet at all. In fact, it was more Eric Peterson tones than anything.

 

[thrill74]

Re: SD Custom Custom vs Dimarzio Norton

For the cleans, the CC in a strat will be everything I said above and can really make great use of your amps eq controls. The Norton would be ok but always has me increasing the gain. It wants to rock.