Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

KeeperOS

KeeperOS

New member
I just received the latest SD newsletter and what piqued my interest was a video of the Sentient in action and was particularly interested in how they said it was the best of the Jazz and the '59.
The pickup sounded great in that video but, through my speakers, it didn't really stand out from a Jazz and only sounded slightly more open than an APII.

Those that know me know that I am a pretty big fan of the Jazz even if it lacks in warmth and that PAF quality due to its' clarity and great high-end, and that I pretty strongly dislike the '59 and how mushy and undefined it sounds in comparison.

Bearing that in mind, how would you describe the Sentient, either freely or in comparison to those two pickups and how would you say I'd like it based on them two.

I am nowadays pretty exclusively a bedroom player and will try whatever strikes my mood, from Metal to Bluesy licks and I've been looking into spicing things up with my current no.1, a Stinnett with a Jazz in the neck and a Tom Anderson HN3 in the bridge.

Thanks guys!!!
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

The sentient is like a PAF but with a great response to how you throw gain at it. It retains clarity, it never goes mushy but it isn't as hifi and clean as the jazz or boomy as the '59. It's perhaps the finest neck pickup SD makes.
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

I got the same email. Watched all the videos. I honestly couldn't hear a difference between any of them. And I've got a fairly "hi-fi" sound system. (No cheap plastic computer speakers.)

I'm thinking YouTube isn't a great "source".
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

orpheo said:
The sentient is like a PAF but with a great response to how you throw gain at it. It retains clarity, it never goes mushy but it isn't as hifi and clean as the jazz or boomy as the '59. It's perhaps the finest neck pickup SD makes.
Click to expand...

+1 to this... I don't really like full sized humbuckers in the neck position of my guitars? I'll live with them for a while but I've replaced quite a few with Phat Cats over the years? I like some of the stacks & a few of the S.C. sized Bladebuckers but nothing beats a true single in the neck for clean tones! So out of the 14 guitars I currently own only one is setup with two full sized humbuckers @ the moment & the pickup that resides in the neck of that guitar is a Sentient???

I would definitely have to agree that its best neck humbucker Duncan has ever put out & I.M.H.O. its also one of the top 5 pickups that Duncan has EVER designed!!! There's something about it that's a bit hard to put into words but it's just a really beautiful sounding pup! Split or not, with or without gain, it just works! It's not a "Metal Exclusive" pickup either, I think a lot of people shy away from it because it's paired up with Nazgul's and Pegasus all the time but you can use it for so many different genres of music. Whatever magic juju they poured into them should be used much more often!!!
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

I would be interested in the construction of the Sentient : wire gauge , same coils or different ?
 
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Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

fab.regnaut said:
I would be interested in the construction of the Sentient : wire gauge , same coils or different ?
Click to expand...

so do I. I'm not that sure so I won't say a thing till I've opened one up.

That being said, I do love to make my own hybrids. I just 'discovered' the Full Shred neck + '59 hybrid. My oh my, that's sweet. Or with the Seth Lover for even more sparkle in the top end (the '59 makes it more ballsy, the seth makes it more glassy). I even loaded the FSn/SL hybrid with an Alnico V bar plus A5 rods to get an even better split coil tone. So many options, so many epic tones. SD could, without retooling, launch 10 new pickups and not even break a sweat.

Neck Pickups:
Full Shred neck/59 (more articulated sentient with a juicier midrange)
Full Shred neck/ Seth (more glassy)
59B/JazzNeck (superglassy, transparent, clean and very articulated)
59B/A2ProNeck (warmer, smoother with more of a brass-bell top end; yes I know the jazzN and a2proN are the same sans the magnet)
Seth/Pearly (fat, warm, balls-to-the-walls: make a strat a Les Paul)

Bridge Pickups:
JB/FullShred alnico 5 (lots of attack, crunchy tone, superversatile, lots of bite and harmonics and superfluidity with a tight low end)
Alternative 8/Full Shred Alnico 8 (thicker than JB/FS, boosted mids, singing highs and a concrete low end: great for superstrats)
Pearly/Custom Alnico 2 (like a gnarly, nasty 59/Custom, but slightly hotter)
SH6N/FS Ceramic (tighter, lots of 'bark' and growl and a fluid lead tone: like JB/FS but more nasty)
Pearly/Seth Alnico 2 (open, airy, extremely versatile)

So yeah. Hybrids are for me the way to go. Sorry for the detour: it's a lazy sunday and I'm a bit bored ;)
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

I've been watching this p'up for a while, so I wanted to acquire one (I'm in Italy) to test but I couldn't, as all the very few available were 7- and 8-stringers ONLY.

When I've asked for it, my usual Duncan pusher would make fun of me for wanting a DEATH METAL p'up. Say what?????

Which in itself shows how "good" the Marketing people at the Duncan Co. is at doing their jobs, placing the right product to the right customer, or in this case at educating their overseas distributors.

I'm just guessing and speculating here, but what *I* think is that the generational change occurred at the very core of the Duncan Co caused this. People that in their time got new and even revolutionary products on the market and generated a lot of "buzz" either got fired or themselves chose to go. The ones that stayed and the new that got hired made that solely in the last three years, everything that was done, from new p'up models to publicized events to the world to see, everything catered the heavier and heaviest market segment.

I'm sure they have very nice Power Point presentations with data backing up their position... I wonder exactly where and how is the data acquired? The fact that OEMs still to this day would buy the same few models from forty years ago is considered a statistical anomaly? And don't give me the "are cheaper to produce in bulk" BS. Things have in fact changed, in a global sense. And NOT in a good way, mind you.

You need to hire a person with a vision and a strategy for the future, one that understands the industry but with such a strong personality and charisma that allows himself and the Co. to keep dreaming and creating, pushing through their ideas and strategies despite the suits and their all-knowing spreadsheets and fancy graphics of mediocrity.

You need another Seymour at the wheel, not a wage slave, cherry-picked yes-man.

End of rant.
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

@LtKojak: I won't dive into how the company works, but I agree with the Sentient's marketing. But, how can you promote a pickup that's SO WELL DESIGNED as the sentient?! You can't say to the metal-dudes: hey man I've got a pickup that's great, the sentient; does everything you want from a neck pickup, and then go to the blues/rock/funk/soul guys and say oh yeah that pickup that's so well for the metal-dudes, fits YOUR bill too, because it's wound superbly. You need to make a choice and they chose to cater to the metal guys by matching it up with the pegasus and nazgul.

Besides, consider this. The Sentient was at first a 7/8 string pickup. Only when it was released as a 6string version it got traction as being great for music besides metal. I'm inclined to think that it was a lucky shot, a really lucky one at that.
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

Orpheo , I just saw that you have tested all the Duncan line of p-u , that's a budget !
I tend to think that the Full Shred neck is the same p-u than the Jazz neck except
that it has two screws coils and only hex screws ... would you agree ?
( I never tried a FS neck or bridge )
 
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Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

fab.regnaut said:
Orpheo , I just saw that you have tested all the Duncan line of p-u , that a budget !
I tend to think that the Full Shred neck is the same p-u than the Jazz neck except
that it has two screws coils and only hex screws ... would you agree ?
( I never tried a FS neck or bridge )
Click to expand...

Nop, it isn't from my perspective. :)

I work for SD so I can get my pickups fairly cheap. Also, I have a personal collection of 70 guitars that all need a pickup or so ;) So yeah... bit of luck I suppose.
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

Well , this is surprising cause the FS and Jazz have identical dc and res pk , the difference of EQ are those made by the hex screws , to my experience .
Well 70 guitars man that's a passion , I couldn't cope with so many , I only have 3 rs530 , and a nylon that I play the most those days .
 
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Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

orpheo said:
I just 'discovered' the Full Shred neck + '59 hybrid. My oh my, that's sweet. Or with the Seth Lover for even more sparkle in the top end (the '59 makes it more ballsy, the seth makes it more glassy).
Click to expand...
Funny you said that, I've been thinking of doing either a '59n/FSn or a Sethn/FSn for quite some time now, specifically a double screw format. However, never found any FSn for sale; in my neck of woods, the FSn is NOT a popular p'up, and even new there only a few for sale, all at cartel prices. :(
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

orpheo said:
how can you promote a pickup that's SO WELL DESIGNED as the sentient?
Click to expand...
The same way with the Jazz and the APH1. You make some minor change, even only cosmetic, then CALL IT SOMETHING ELSE. The product will stand by its own merit.

It doesn't take a genius to figure something like that out, I reckon. ;)
 
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Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

paging Lt. Kojak... Please pick up the red courtesy phone...

EDIT: ooops I see you were 10 steps ahead of me. Once again I am a day late and a dollar short lol.

fab.regnaut said:
I would be interested in the construction of the Sentient : wire gauge , same coils or different ?
Click to expand...
 
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Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

LtKojak said:
Difficult to get the specs when you haven't even been in the same city with one? ;)
Click to expand...

How is the exchange rate in Italy btw? Are pickups there as you said in another message "cartel prices" in general even for something like a brand new '59? Might be time to bite the bullet and get one from the US even with shipping charges.
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

ArtieToo said:
Watched all the videos. I honestly couldn't hear a difference between any of them.
Click to expand...
Neither could I. The only explanation is that all videos got the same audio track at the editing process... ;)
 
Re: Sentient: Impressions/comparisons to the Jazz and '59?

Who was the player in the demo video? Had some pretty nice chops and licks in all the playing styles.
 
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