Thoughts on this combination? - Full Shred neck w/ Black Winter bridge

[Meanderthal]

Greetings. Need some advice from people a little more versed in the Seymour Duncan lineup than myself.

I have a guitar that I'm searching for pickups for, currently it has a Duality active set in it but that's the 3rd variety of active pickups I've tried in this guitar and I've decided it's time to rewire and go back to passive. I'm just not getting the sound from actives that I'm looking for. Guitar is a Schecter C-1 Platinum (Mahogany body, ebony fretboard, set neck) and the musical style I play is a mixture of classic doom metal and progressive rock. So I need a set that can do an authentic vintage crunch tone, while also having enough output for some really slow, heavy overdriven riffage. Clean sound is really important. This guitar is very dark and prone to being bass-heavy, so it needs a neck pickup that's really crystalline on the high end, but hopefully not incredibly thin in the process, needs to sound good playing jazz chords.

My idea:

Neck: Full Shred - neck - The description of this pickup on the website has peaked my curiosity as it sounds like it has the high-end I need. Whatever neck pickup I go with also needs to be able to handle some gain.

Bridge: Black Winter (or something else with a good boosted mid-range focus). My other guitar has a Full Shred trembucker bridge pickup and I love it dearly, but it's seriously mid-scooped, so I want this C-1 to fill in the midrange hole when I combine them together in a mix. I've watched a ton of those bridge comparison videos on youtube. Based solely on those I most liked the sound of these: Black Winter, Duncan Custom, Duncan Distortion, but I'm open to any and all suggestions!

Thanks!

 

[Mincer]

Welcome to the forum!

The Full Shred isn't just mid-scooped, it is bass-scooped as well. It doesn't really have the body for jazz chords. I'd suggest a full Black Winter set instead, as that pickup in the neck sounds great clean and does the doom thing really well.

 

[Meanderthal]

Welcome to the forum!

The Full Shred isn't just mid-scooped, it is bass-scooped as well. It doesn't really have the body for jazz chords. I'd suggest a full Black Winter set instead, as that pickup in the neck sounds great clean and does the doom thing really well.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will most likely order a Black Winter set and give them a test drive. I just wish there were more sound samples of the various neck pickups online, it's slim pickings for decent shootout comparisons of the various ones available.

 

[Adieu]

Duncan actually has very limited variety in neck pups. Most paired sets have a distinct bridge pup and one of just several basic formulas for the neck (most sets are pretty much the same PAF-style neck, with minor balance-oriented variations or different mags... and a few are underwound versions of the paired bridge, like Distortion/BW)

That's probably why they don't emphasize them in promo materials.

 

[Chistopher]

Duncan actually has very limited variety in neck pups. Most paired sets have a distinct bridge pup and one of just several basic formulas for the neck (most sets are pretty much the same PAF-style neck, with minor balance-oriented variations or different mags... and a few are underwound versions of the paired bridge, like Distortion/BW)

Or maybe it's just because it's harder to make a wider variety of neck pickups because the inherently bass heavy location as well as natural lack of treble detail in that position. It's considerably harder to make a distinctly different neck pickup, especially a humbucker.

Also consider the number of guitars that have humbuckers in the bridge is considerably higher than the number with humbuckers in the neck, there's a lot less inclination to make a large different types.

Finally consider that most artist-series pickups are based off of famous bridge tone. Not much to explain there.


Wow... I did not expect to write that much...

 

[Mincer]

I'd like more variety in neck pickups, although I tend to favor the Alnico II Pro, which does a lot more than Slash tone. I'd bet that the tone most guitarists chase is in the bridge.

 

[AdrianSD]

I have both BW bridge+neck set and FS neck, paired with a TB-5 and, if I think about the combination, using BW bridge with FS neck might actually work quite well. I find that on the clean channel, regardless of the pickup height (within reason!) the BW neck humbucker is slightly louder than its bridge pair, but under high gain the level between the 2 evens out. FS is lower output than the BW neck, it has less of everything, but I find it friendlier sounding.
I also think a lot of the end product has to do with the choice of speaker/cab and EQ-ing the amp. I'm a mid+bass, no treble & low to moderate resonance guy, if I want brightness I bump the presence and this approach seems to compensate for the lack of bass & low mids of FS neck pickup and seems to be the sweet spot for my other pickup choices.

 

[Meanderthal]

I have both BW bridge+neck set and FS neck, paired with a TB-5 and, if I think about the combination, using BW bridge with FS neck might actually work quite well. I find that on the clean channel, regardless of the pickup height (within reason!) the BW neck humbucker is slightly louder than its bridge pair, but under high gain the level between the 2 evens out. FS is lower output than the BW neck, it has less of everything, but I find it friendlier sounding.
I also think a lot of the end product has to do with the choice of speaker/cab and EQ-ing the amp. I'm a mid+bass, no treble & low to moderate resonance guy, if I want brightness I bump the presence and this approach seems to compensate for the lack of bass & low mids of FS neck pickup and seems to be the sweet spot for my other pickup choices.

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. Maybe I just need to buy another guitar and purchase the Full Shred set for it. But not something I need to rewire this time, I'm doing the active to passive swap this weekend for the Black Winter set (which I ordered this afternoon) and I try to avoid that whenever possible.

One of my other guitars (Schecter Blackjack SLS) has a Full Shred bridge pickup paired with a Sustainiac neck. When the effect is turned off, it's basically an active single coil and no matter how you adjust, it's always louder than the Full Shred, especially clean. Not that I'm complaining, it's actually a beautiful sounding combo which works brilliantly for Hendrix and Robin Trower kind of tones when played through the right kind of rig. It would have been a better volume match with a hotter bridge pickup, but I think they were going for the tonal match instead.

 

[Sirion]

Welcome to the forum!

The Full Shred isn't just mid-scooped, it is bass-scooped as well. It doesn't really have the body for jazz chords. I'd suggest a full Black Winter set instead, as that pickup in the neck sounds great clean and does the doom thing really well.

I might have to try a FS out in the neck position. I am the polar opposite of you: I love classic neck PU tones when other people play them, but I just can't get the boominess and, dare I say it, lack of detail in the treble work for me. For the guitars where I have a neck humbucker positioned for a 22-fret neck, they just might be worth the attempt.

(Ironically, I won a pink FS neck humbucker years ago, but it is on semi-permanent loan to a friend who, ironically, uses it for stoner rock.)

 

[Mincer]

I might have to try a FS out in the neck position. I am the polar opposite of you: I love classic neck PU tones when other people play them, but I just can't get the boominess and, dare I say it, lack of detail in the treble work for me. For the guitars where I have a neck humbucker positioned for a 22-fret neck, they just might be worth the attempt.

(Ironically, I won a pink FS neck humbucker years ago, but it is on semi-permanent loan to a friend who, ironically, uses it for stoner rock.)

Yeah, they work well for people like you. "People who want neck pickups to sound like bridge pickups"...haha, but yeah, that's what they are.

 

[ToneFiddler]

the last posts sounds like the omega neck might be something for you (sirion).
never tried it myself though

 

[Sirion]

Yeah, they work well for people like you. "People who want neck pickups to sound like bridge pickups"...haha, but yeah, that's what they are.

That's basically it, though Neck p/u tones are great, just not in my hands.

 

[Clint 55]

It's all about Full shred screws or Demon screws for neck position. Then I use UOA5 if I want it vintage (still bright), or A9 if I want max cut out of it.

 

[Demanic]

It's all about Full shred screws or Demon screws for neck position. Then I use UOA5 if I want it vintage (still bright), or A9 if I want max cut out of it.

I love UOA5 in the bridge. In the neck not so much. A4 or A3 would be my choice.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[chadd]

Yeah, they work well for people like you. "People who want neck pickups to sound like bridge pickups"...haha, but yeah, that's what they are.

For the folks that dial in a thick bridge tone, it might be the only pickup that will give them usable neck tones. I'm actually a fan of it, but I'd definitely like to try an A2 or A3 in there too.

 

[Demanic]

I have a 59n in the neck of my Blackjack. It's wired to split and has an polished A4 in it and it's perfect. No loss of output from the A5. Nice even tone, lots of harmonics. In humbucker it will easily get Neil Schon neck tones. Split it is very neck Strat like. In the middle with the bridge pickup, which is an RCUOA5 JB, it gives a full but defined tone. No mud.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[AdrianSD]

It's all about Full shred screws or Demon screws for neck position. Then I use UOA5 if I want it vintage (still bright), or A9 if I want max cut out of it.

Yeah, exactly My favourite neck pickup now, on par with the Full Shred, is 59/Jazz hybrid with short hex screws replacing the filister screws for low E, A and D.

 

[Bowtomecha]

The Charvel DK24 with the a2pro in the neck is very interesting in that this particular a2pro has hex poles like the full shred. I think it’s a literally full shred neck with an alnico 2 magnet. It has a lean warmth to it where it’s not boomy but has a sweetness to its high end. The full shred neck is essentially a jazz neck with hexes right? And an a2pro is a jazz neck with an alnico 2 magnet? I think it’s a very tweakable platform, being able to swap the magnet and one or both rows of hexes with fillister poles. I think that’s what lends the screamin demon it’s ability to sit well in the neck position.

 

[Bowtomecha]

I went to guitar center today to play the dk24 model and my thoughts on the neck humbucker still holds. I can roll off with the tone control to get a good tubby or wooly neck sound if needed. The bridge full shred is too bright and snappy for my tastes though. I think a regular custom five or Duncan custom would be just fine in the bridge of that guitar.

 

[Meanderthal]

My first impression with the Black Winter set has been very pleasant. The comments about the neck pickup being the stronger of the two is accurate, it took some taming, including lowering the pickup height quite a bit to balance the volume. But once balanced with the bridge it's a formidable sound especially played with gain (the more the merrier).

The real hidden gem of that neck pickup though is how it responds to a coil-split, it's a lovely clean sound. The bridge split isn't a drastic tonal difference, but the neck really shines, I really like the combination of the neck split with the full bridge humbucker together.

Anyway, just the early stages of testing it out, but so far it has responded well with every amp and plugin I've tried it with.

The only slight caveat is that with a guitar with only a single volume control, it does make it a little challenging to have two pickups that are equally hot. I still think pairing it with a neck pickup like a Full Shred (lower output) would balance a little better in a single-volume configuration.