The Invader

I have one of those. Nice little keepsake. IIRC, Jeremy gave it to me as some sort of Duncan promotional thing. Not for sure. It was a long time ago.

Invader_necklace.jpg
 
Puppets was recorded with the Explorer and stock Dirty Fingers prior to installing EMGs in '87.

He did use the Jackson for some of the recordings, but he said that he mainly used a Gibson, because the King V did not sound as tight as he wanted it. That may be a point towards the Jackson having an Invader, but I've seen that disputed over the internet quite a lot. He also said that he tracked everything with Kirk's guitars too, which already included the RR with EMGs (source: Back to the Front book. You know, justto make it sound like everyone's playing, not just him and Lars...:D

I'll double check the info in the book when I get back home!
 
It's too bad that they quit making the Detonator. It gave people the opportunity to try a quasi-Invader for cheap. I had one once, and it sounded great.

I’d take a Detonator over an Invader any day of the week. They only looked similar. Detonators sound more like a fat Distortion. They’re much tighter and brighter than Invaders. 25373479-AC1E-43E5-A6A1-BB1341DEC534.jpeg
 
I’d take a Detonator over an Invader any day of the week. They only looked similar. Detonators sound more like a fat Distortion. They’re much tighter and brighter than Invaders.

Nice guitar. Yeah I really wish I could had tried this out before the Invader. I haven't got the 7 set yet but soon. I may just install the Invader first in the neck to see how well it mixes with the Nazgul. Then Invader bridge and Sentient neck. And to top it off with set of Invaders. Set the pickups lowest they will go and start from there. Should be fun.
 
Wow.
It's like being afraid to use a hydrogen bomb; "Oh it might not have a tight enough low end..."

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
I've never been more surprised by anything more than the Invader. I avoided it for decades because I expected some over-the-top fuzzy thick sludgefest of a pickup. I was looking for something new to mess around with and saw a Duncan Custom Shop Invader pop up on Ebay. White with chrome pole pieces. Thought it looked cool and got it for an absolute steal, I guess since it was such a one-off oddball.
It isn't anything I expected. If you combined the best quality of the 59 bridge and Screaming Demon, dialed back the highs to a reasonable level, and added a touch more low end and more balanced mids, that is what it sounds like. I know everyone says that the Custom-5 is the big brother to the 59 bridge, but I think my Invader fits that bill much better.
What I can't guarantee is that my custom shop version sounds like the regular Invader, because I have never played one.
 
That should be sweet.

Yeah, can't wait!

My other Viper has a DiMarzio X2N and a D Activator. Perfect match. Both pickups work really well together. I think I've swapped out like 5 different pickups for the neck before keeping the D Activator. This guitar isn't going to be changing. Orginally it had EMG 81/85.
 

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Invader is another of those models that needs to be backed down far away from the strings. Many who have tried it had it too close I bet.
IMO it's better in guitars that are on the tight and bright side,,,,definitely not for dark or mid-stuffy/congested guitars.
Also it's better with smaller or medium strings tuned in the E-D range,,,,,not huge beefy strings tuned very low, although Karl Sanders would disagree on that.
Karl always wired his raw, straight to the output jack to add some clarity and bite back in.

I do believe the custom tb-8 and Gates invaders sound better than the stock sh-8 versions, but I'm not really sure why, nor have I done any controlled comparison.
 
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