SD vs Custom + bonus questions!

[CountFunkula]

I never thought I would like ceramic pickups, but after swapping in a ceramic into my custom wind, it turns out that the ceramic is my favorite so far! So what would be the difference if I put in a Dimarzio SD (I'm probably gonna go vintage)? Specwise, they seem similar, but they seem to be pretty different from what I read online. Will it be darker and thicker?

Bonus question 1: I keep hearing that the vintage Super Distortions are better, but what is the cutoff year between the good and bad ones?

Bonus question 2: Are there any other ceramic pickups that I should look at with that bloomy/organic flavor (if you believe in those terms :1?

Thanks a ton, guys and gals!

 

[CTN]

Re: SD vs Custom + bonus questions!

The super distortion is a fantastic pickup, as is the Duncan Custom, but they're pretty different from each other.

The Custom is nice and balanced tonally, with a thumpy low end and an articulate top end. The Super Distortion is all about sledgehammer lows and low mids, with smooth/subdued high end. the SuperD will sound a bit thicker and darker, but depending on the guitar it's in, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I put one in my strat, to combat its natural disposition towards being bright and twangy. Worked wonders, not only for the guitar itself, but for the pickup too! it filled out the high mids and highs in the SuperD, and made the whole pickup sound a lot more balanced through the tonal spectrum. that said, it still has a noticeable kick in the low mids.

They are both equally adept at doing clean/crunch/high gain.

As far as the vintage vs new production thing, I think it's all just snake oil and whale semen, or something. The new prod. ones probably sound about the same as the vintage ones.

 

[xxxplorer]

Re: SD vs Custom + bonus questions!

/\ what he said!

 

[Soulcrusher_X]

Re: SD vs Custom + bonus questions!

I've stayed away from most ceramic pickups because I thought they were usually too sterile in most situations. The Super D and Super 3 are two of my favorite pickups. In my LP, the Super D was great because my LP has an ebony board, which makes it a bit brighter for an LP. The SD has just enough high end rolled off to warm this guitar up without making it feel tubby. The S3 had even MORE high end rolled off and HUGE mids, but was never sloppy or flubby. In fact, I used a Triple Recto at the time, and I was able to run my treble, bass and presence pretty high, and thats usually a no-no for Triples.

The SH5 Custom in this guitar, however, was very bright. I could never dial that ceramic 'grit' out of the tone enough for my taste and sold it. I've since read that 300k pots work wonders for taming the Custom JUST enough, so now I'm thinking about getting another to try. Maybe a Custom with 300s would be close to the Super D. I've also heard that the Custom 8 is kinda like a Super D, with a more 'even' EQ and more dynamic.

The one thing that's making me consider the SH5 more than the Super D is that you can get them with nickel covers. A moot point? Yes. But shiny buckers look damn sexy in this guitar.

 

[RockStarNick]

Re: SD vs Custom + bonus questions!

Duncan Custom with 300K pots is great. That's what I use in my Mahogany bodied Super-Tele guitars.

Rolls off *just* enough of that high end sheen. Still leaves plenty of treble, just gets rid of those uppermost icy, metallic frequencies. Makes it even more PAF like in EQ, to my ears.