SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

[audiocheck]

Can someone list and compare the physical make up of these 3 pickups?

It's been many years since I had a SH-5 Custom, but I do remember not caring for it back then (in a '79 Les Paul Custom). Quickly swapped it out with a PGb, and stayed with that ever since. Recently put a SH-6b in a new LPJ and was thinking it would feel really compressed, which is what I remember of the SH-5, but it actually feels open and closer to what I am used to from more vintage output Duncans. So now I would be interested in someone comparing similarities and differenced in these 3 pickups, because I am getting the itch to try a SH-6n in the bridge of a rather thick sounding Les Paul. I am hoping that the SH-6n has the same feel as the SH-6b with a bit more emphasis on the High-Mid frequencies.

Love the tight percussive low end the SH-6b gives to every note. I did read somewhere that Santana used the Duncan Distortions for years. I certainly can believe it now.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

The SH-6b is a fantastic pup in a LP. However, the highs are a bit too much and kinda brittle sounding, especially in a LP Custom. But with an A8 magnet change it sounds superb. Still bright, but not piercing, lots of thick mids, and a solid tight bass.

I don't particularly care for a Pearly in the bridge, but it's great in the neck (and even better yet is a Screamin Demon for the neck).

The Custom is also a really great pup with a little more bass (and potential boominess) than the Dist. And again, a bright/brittle high-end (from the ceramic magnet). Many people on the forum might recommend the CC rather than the Custom for your guitar.

 

[audiocheck]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

Yes the PGb can be a bit bright as well. I guess you have to learn to tame that so the brightness of the DDb, I think I can deal with. It's funny B. Gibbons plays with .007 and uses the PGb, turns out he turns the treble off on his amp and cranks the bass. He is the master of pinched harmonics and I believe it is the pickup that helps him get what he wants. Once he gets it out of the guitar he just colors it to make it sound fat.

I did not get the brightness you mention from the SH-5 when I had it. Maybe I should have messed with it more. I was young and just swapped it right away under the trial period. I do remember it didn't feel right though. My pickups have to react a certain way to my playing style, or I just don't get what I want out of the guitar. I call that feel. That feel is not there, with all but the Tim Shaw, gibson pickups that I have had in all my les Pauls.

 

[cokekolev]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

I don't find the sh-6b to be brittle or trebly in a Les Paul. It's actually thick, grainy and crunchy and rather dark compared to lower output, vintage pickups.

 

[audiocheck]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

The SH-6b is definitely one pickup that matters how close you put it to the strings. I thought it was thin, then I moved it closer to the strings. It got real fat and I lost a lot of dynamics and articulation. So I moved it back some (not sure if I split the difference or not), but I got it where it sounds and behaves real nice.

I do find it has a nice HONK to it. I would call it character! Roll back the tone a bit, and you get something sweet.

 

[80's_Metal]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

Sh-6b is in my opinion the best pup hands down in the entire world... it will do it all, clean to blues, rock to metal, al the way to death friggin melt your face off metal.

the sh6-N version is a bit quieter, lacks a lot of upper-mid punch imho, but nice for warmth and even tone

the Sh-5 is a great pup and good for a lot of different uses but lacks mid and output squeal/ brightness of the sh6

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

I don't find the sh-6b to be brittle or trebly in a Les Paul. It's actually thick, grainy and crunchy and rather dark compared to lower output, vintage pickups.

Yes it is. Only the highs are piercing/brittle. The overall tone of the SH-6b is thick and crunchy (don't think of it as being "dark" at all).


80's_Metal... "the Sh-5 is a great pup and good for a lot of different uses but lacks mid and output squeal/ brightness of the sh6"

You think the SH-5 lacks mids??!!! You've only tried it in a 1/4" thick stainless steel solid body uke?

 

[Lux84]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

I found the SH-6 Distortion has way too much mids... ice picky mids, and that i hate.. i don't like it, i prefer SH5 Custom, much much better tone to me . i hate SH2 Jazz too... i prefer SH5 Custom & Pearly Gates combo, it's way much better for blues, classic rock.. for metal, to be honest i prefer EMG 81/60 the middle position. they have very strong punch, which can be a bit annoying for lower gain settings, but for metal, the middle position of 81/60 combo just sound brutal, and warm for solos at the same time. but SH6 ? definately no !!!

For Seymour Duncan... the SH5 Custom in the bridge and Pearly Gates on the neck are the best i ever tried. i have them in my Les Paul.. they just rock !

 

[audiocheck]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

So no one has actually answered the question I first posted. Here is what I am looking to get:

Gauge and type of wire used in each of the 3 pickups
Size and type of magnet in each of the 3 pickups

Trying to understand what caused me to not like the Custom, yet like the SH-6b. This goes beyond tone for me and more to do with the feel of the pickup. What I mean is how the pickup reacts, touch sensitivity. For example Gibson 498T and HBL (gibson's Bill Lawrence) pickups feel stiff, like they don't accurately transfer what I do to the string into output. Almost like there is a time lag or something. The custom felt that way too, as I recall. I always thought it was a compression thing with high output pickups, but the Distortion pickup proves that wrong!

 

[Demanic]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

The SH-6n actually used to be called the SH-7 Seymourizer. It might be just what you are looking for in the bridge; a little less hot version of the SH-6.

 

[allstarrme]

SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

The custom & the DDn both use 43 gauge. The DD neck is really just an underwound custom.

The custom uses a single thick ceramic magnet. The DD bridge is double thick ceramic.

 

[JCM900MkIII]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

I don't find the sh-6b to be brittle or trebly in a Les Paul. It's actually thick, grainy and crunchy and rather dark compared to lower output, vintage pickups.

My thoughts exactly.
It's like turning on the chainsaw...
Mine is a TB-6 though (trembucker, for floating trem loaded guitars). It used to be installed in my Fernandes AGP-80.
But now, after installing it in my Les Paul, it seems like the Fernandes P.U. that came original is very very very much like my DD.
So I installed the DD in my LP.


My only issue is in the volume/cleaning up department.
Turning down the volume on the guitar has very little effect, untill you get to 3-4 or lower.

It kicks instant buttttttt

 

[JCM900MkIII]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

oups double post...

 

[audiocheck]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

The custom & the DDn both use 43 gauge. The DD neck is really just an underwound custom.

The custom uses a single thick ceramic magnet. The DD bridge is double thick ceramic.

So then is there a different wire gauge used between the DD neck and Bridge?
And does the DD neck have the double thick or just the thick ceramic magnet?

 

[audiocheck]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

So then is there a different wire gauge used between the DD neck and Bridge?
And does the DD neck have the double thick or just the thick ceramic magnet?

I am still waiting for these answers.

Important because I do not like the Custom or any of its variety. I find, For higher output pups, the DD bridge is more to my liking and the Customs have a lower mid emphasis that doesn't work for me. So if the DD neck is more like a custom and less like the DD bridge, I will not try it in the Bridge of my LP.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

#1. This is a user group. It's not as if people are here to bow to the demands of someone tapping their foot while they wait for someone to uncover the mysteries of life for them

#2. Take a DCR reading. That will give you a rough idea of the gauge or wire used. How do you find out? Do the homework, like others have done.

#3. You can always get one, take it apart, and figure it out for yourself. Or you can try to call Duncan and ask, risking the possibility that they will tell you the information you are asking is proprietary and they are not in business to do the research to give it out in the open (which they have been known to say) unless you count admitting that the Jazz and A2P are the same winds.


Sent from my armored space station via iPad using Tapatalk

 

[p4vl]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

About the DD8: I can't find an oversized A8 magnet, so what do I need to make a standard sized A8 magnet fit?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

About the DD8: I can't find an oversized A8 magnet, so what do I need to make a standard sized A8 magnet fit?

Shorter spacers... sometimes you can get away with flipping them on their sides but not always... You can always steal the keeper bar and spacer from a normal thickness mag pickup... conversely if you got a JB just flip the A8 in there and not worry about the spacer issue.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

About the DD8: I can't find an oversized A8 magnet, so what do I need to make a standard sized A8 magnet fit?

a little personal lubricant.

or check a site like addiction-fx or mojotone.com or whatever other place you prefer that sales flatwork...then get some spacers and so forth.

 

[p4vl]

Re: SH-5, SH-6b & SH-6n

a little personal lubricant.

or check a site like addiction-fx or mojotone.com or whatever other place you prefer that sales flatwork...then get some spacers and so forth.

For some damn reason the A8 fit just fine. Sounds really thick. I'm not going to keep it in my Ibanez but the A8 will definitely keep me from being bored until I sell enough gear to afford a Black Hawk.

Thanks guys!