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Duncan Distortion sh6 vs. Duncan Custom SH5


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If you have played both, what is your opinion? I would be putting it in an epi les paul custom to play fairly heavy hardcore, tuned down a step, think heavier kinda weird stuff like blacklisted, soul control, and Akimbo meets straight heavy hardcore like terror and hatebreed. I am currently leaning towards the distortion but want opinions.

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i actually prefer the sh5 custom over the distortion. the distortion is a bit more aggressive sounding with more mids. the custom has a very open sounding to it with a very tight and bigger bottom end and more relaxed mids. the custom also sounds bigger with more body to it. the distortion was a bit too aggressive, particularly in the upper mids/highs for me. but keep in mind i'm playing through amps with a lot of pronounced mids to begin with.

 

i have an sh-5 in my gibson les paul custom and in my esp horizon nt-ii. love that pickup. 99% of my recordings with done with this pickup if you're interested.

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i have the SH-5 Custom in an Alder body/maple top PRS.

Its a ceramice magnet which a lot of people seem to not like but i find that its description on the SD site is quite true...a PAF (my fav type of pup) but beefed up. Its great for rhythm chunk (great for drop/downtuning if you are into that).

 

i havent played the SH-6 thou, but i compared it to a JB and it doesnt have that piercing Top/midrange sizzle (but it still has plenty of highs). The JB IMO sounded better for playing leads but the Custom was better for chunky rhythms (dont get me wrong the leads sound good too...just not as good as the JB).

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i actually prefer the sh5 custom over the distortion. the distortion is a bit more aggressive sounding with more mids. the custom has a very open sounding to it with a very tight and bigger bottom end and more relaxed mids. the custom also sounds bigger with more body to it. the distortion was a bit too aggressive, particularly in the upper mids/highs for me. but keep in mind i'm playing through amps with a lot of pronounced mids to begin with.


i have an sh-5 in my gibson les paul custom and in my esp horizon nt-ii. love that pickup. 99% of my recordings with done with this pickup if you're interested.

 

 

those clips are awesome

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The Duncan Distortion SH6 and Duncan Custom SH5 couldn't be more different (and I'm not a fan of either).

 

The Distortion, while it has a lot of output, doesn't have much top end, while the Custom has too much high mids.

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The Duncan Distortion SH6 and Duncan Custom SH5 couldn't be more different (and I'm not a fan of either).


The Distortion, while it has a lot of output, doesn't have much top end, while the Custom has too much high mids.

 

 

I think you are a little confused, the distortion has TONS of high mids, and is rated so on their website. The custom is more neutral.

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That's what they show, and that's why I installed a Distortion yesterday... (I've got over 70s guitars here... but no Duncan Distortion), so I put one in. Much like how they claim the Screaming Demon is a bright pickup, but it also doesn't have the highs. I've got a couple guitars with Duncan Customs, and the Alnico 5 give it tons of high mids.

 

I wish they showed what frequency their B/M/T were at. CLearly not the same as DiMarzio. The DiMarzio Super Distortion has way more top then the Duncan but shows it as a much warmer pickup.

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That's what they show, and that's why I installed a Distortion yesterday... (I've got over 70s guitars here... but no Duncan Distortion), so I put one in. Much like how they claim the Screaming Demon is a bright pickup, but it also doesn't have the highs. I've got a couple guitars with Duncan Customs, and the Alnico 5 give it tons of high mids.


I wish they showed what frequency their B/M/T were at. CLearly not the same as DiMarzio. The DiMarzio Super Distortion has way more top then the Duncan but shows it as a much warmer pickup.

 

 

You are missing a huge part of the equation though. The Guitar. Not the model of the guitar, but the specific guitar. Every single guitar will have a different sound. I'm betting that this would become even more clear to you if you just swapped the SuperD to the guitar with the Distortion, and the Distortion to the guitar with the SuperD. Then post those results.

 

It's quite difficult to accurately describe a pickup, without hearing another pickup, or three, in that same exact guitar.

 

The actual guitar plays a much bigger role than people want to believe.

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...I've got a couple guitars with Duncan Customs, and the Alnico 5 give it tons of high mids.

 

 

Also, this is incorrect. The Duncan Custom has a Ceramic Magnet. If you exchanged that Ceramic magnet for an Alnico 5 magnet,....you would turn it into a Custom 5 (SH-14/TB-14). Coincidentally, the Custom 5 is more of a scooped mid-range pickup. So one could argue that the Alnico 5 magnet actually gives it less mids. It really depends on the pickup though.

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the sh-5 is way better, imo

the sh-6 has its qualities, but it's very muddy for my ears

if you want aggressive mids and huge output, try the gibson 500t

 

 

Gibson 500T is a win... I thought that was kinda what the SH-6 distortion was based on though... :?

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Gibson 500T is a win... I thought that was kinda what the SH-6 distortion was based on though... :?

 

the sh-6 is a jb with an oversized ceramic magnet and it's a very old model

 

the 500t is from 1990, so I believe it was based on the sh-6, but it has extra magnets, and it's more balanced and less muddy

it has some similarities with the sh-5 too

 

I still prefer the sh-5 over both, but looking for something between sh-5 and sh-6, the 500t is a great affordable option

 

but if you truly love your guitar, try this -> http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?p=29205041 :love:

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i love my distortion, i can crank my 5150 up to 6 and its still tight and very clear sounding, without needing a graphic eq to clean things up. Its a very bright pickup, some say it sounds thin, but once ur cranked its not one bit thin, its very clear and well defined. The attack feels faster than any other pickup ive played. I normally leave the resonance knob on my 5150 very low to maintain tightness, but i can bring it up without muddying anything.

 

sadly ill have to change out the SH-6 in my jag for a TB-6 becuase i bought the wrong one to begin with, though it works fine, the TB-6 has the proper spacing though. I'll probably end up putting my SH-6 into my strat.

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