Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

charlemetallica

New member
Guys Just to share with who are looking to the ultimate metal bridge pickup,

It took from me a lot of search to find it,

It is the Duncan Distortion With A8 Magnets, Simply DD has an oversized magnet and A8 is standard sized magnet, simply to fill the space , demagnetize any magnet you have ( it is easy, I did demagnetize an A5 by rubbing it with A8, the A8 Took all the magnet charge and the A5 is just a piece of steel)stick them together for sure the A8 is in the upper position and the demagnetized one is in the lower position just to fill the oversized space.

what are the results?

The tightest 3D full sound bottom end I have ever heard from a pickup without being compressed or undefined in any way,

Mids, and here is the magic part in the DD, All pickups i have heard that have A8 in it has a defect of being tamed in the mid range and the high frequencies , but with the DD it is not like all others I have heard like Custom8 , Alternative8 , JB8 , or any other pickup.

the mids are so clear as a JB, without being harsh sounding, but also not tamed like ALT8 , Custom8 , JB8.

the highs are also very clear and smooth, but very present.

Well, I have tried this pickup in 2 guitars and it sounded the best in Alder Body with Ebony fretboard , the other guitar was mahogany with ebony fretboard , but it was boomy and not clear with the mids tamed a bit, but in alder , every frequency is clear like a bell.

Guys, I tried this in a duncan designed DD replica , and it was clearer and sustained more than the real ALT8 or JB I had in the same guitar, So when A8 will be placed in a real DD , I think that will be the most earth shaking clear metal pickup, as it is tighter than ALT8 , Duncan Custom, i have tried myself a day ago.

I used an ENGL fireball 100 head, even I could not dial the bass more than 12 o clock, not because it will be unclear , but it will be earth shaking to a point that could move the cabinet out of its place.

My next order is a DD TB-6, and will see how a ducan designed pickup will sound compared to a real duncan. Probably Much Better sustain without uncontrolled feedbacks.

Cheer Metal Guys, please Do me a favor , All DD users , give the DD A8 a try, it is not a jb8 in any way as many others said before. And I think who said that JB and DD are similar pickups with different magnets are probably wrong, I am sure that DD has more coil winding than JB, so how could they be the same pickup. they may share the same wire used , but they sound totally different.

Keep It Metal \m/
 
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Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

I agree!

Kind of funny, because I just got back from posting a Duncan Designed HB-112 (the single-thick ceramic version of the Distortion with hex head pole pieces) in the Trading Post with the option to buy an Alnico 8 for $5 more!

Nice thing about the HB-112 is that you get the Distortion wind, but don't have to fill the space that the regular Distortion's double-thick ceramic mag leaves behind, so the A8 is an easy swap!

These pickups are already awesome, but the higher output design makes it a great for an A8 mag, as well!

Glad to see someone else likes the combo!
 
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Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

So you killed an A5 and used it as your spacer under the A8? Interesting.

The JB and DD may be minimally different, but sound very much alike with the same megnets, as does the Invader, but less so. They are all 3 very similar winds, my old DDJ had more presence and slightly sharper attack than a newer JB I had at the time with the same magnet installed, just to clear that up.
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

So you killed an A5 and used it as your spacer under the A8? Interesting.

The JB and DD may be minimally different, but sound very much alike with the same megnets, as does the Invader, but less so. They are all 3 very similar winds, my old DDJ had more presence and slightly sharper attack than a newer JB I had at the time with the same magnet installed, just to clear that up.

yes that what i will do with the real DD , the duncan designed has a normal sized magnet , so i swabbed it directly and sounded much more agressive and sustained more than a alt8 even.

DD A8 is the ultimate metal pickup , If any opinions please share guys.
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

I had the DD8 in my Les Paul for in the neighborhood of six months, then I tried the Custom with A8. A real cool forum bro loaned me his Custom 8, and that convinced me. For all-out metal, DD8 is fantastic. For something more in the hard rock vibe and with a much, much greater amount of versatility, Custom 8 is the pickup for me.
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

I wanna try just a regular ceramic in my dd to try to take the output a bit
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

The unmagnetized A5 under the A8 probably warmed it up a little & darkened the tone
Id try some sort of spacer instead of the A5 & compare
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

Interesting thread! The uncharged A5 is acting as a magnetic shunt, dramatically altering the return path on the underside of the A8. It may sound fantastic but for the rest of the forum members, it's not the same as the A8 alone.
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

I think an unmagnetized A5 under A8 will do some magic in the A8, giving it a bit of high mid range, with the smooth mid range of the A8 itself, That will be a great combo.
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

I thinking it will be similar to a steel under the magnet .its effects will be something like what a tele bridge baseplate does to the pickup
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

Interesting thread! The uncharged A5 is acting as a magnetic shunt, dramatically altering the return path on the underside of the A8. It may sound fantastic but for the rest of the forum members, it's not the same as the A8 alone.

Magnetic shunt? Would that be something somewhat similar to Dimarzio's virtual vintage technology?

Now, the VV is supposed to soften up the treble, correct? Would the uncharged magnet under the "source" magnet do something similar?
 
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Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

Sounds alot like what Gibson does with the Iommi. It has the ceramic with an A2 under or above it.
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

I would love to hear the difference between the DD with tha A8/uncharged A5 and the same DD with an A8/wood spacer.

Anyone willing to do some sound clips?

Please, please, please. You'll be my best friend.
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

demagnetize any magnet you have ( it is easy, I did demagnetize an A5 by rubbing it with A8, the A8 Took all the magnet charge and the A5 is just a piece of steel)

I don't exactly understand how that worked. How did your know it would not also demagnetize your A8??
 
Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

Im curious how the demagnetizing effect works to...

Where does one acquire wood spacers for the magnets?

And how does one cram a huge oversized magnet into a pickup that was made with a smaller alnico? ive never done a swap with an oversized mag. Ive got a DD and an A8.. I might just try this?
 
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Re: Tightest,Clearest Bridge Pickup I have played till now.

Hey charlemetallica, could you elaborate on how you demagnetize a mag? How do you tell which one has been demagnetized? Never done this before just curious. I really want to try this mod. This sounds like a great pickup. For those who dont want to waste a magnet, where does one get wood spacers? other options...
 
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