chris b
08-10-2008, 05:22 PM
First a little history...
For 15 years I used a custom made alder body strat with no pickgaurd and rosewood board with a Duncan Custom in the bridge and 59 in the neck. A little over a year ago I bought a used Gibson Les Paul Classic and after gigging with the original pups for a few gigs I decided to go with the same pup combo as my strat.
There was an huge improvement in clarity and tone from the super hot gibson pups but there was still this bright razors edge aggresiveness that could'nt be dialed out. My setup is a Marshall DSL50 (svetlana EL34s and JJ pre's) and an Avatar Oversized Vintage 2x12 with V30s, so there's plenty of brightness and upper mids there. I always seemed to be turning down the bass and the highs but could'nt find the tone I was looking for.
I had read in the past that the Duncan Custom Custom is just a Duncan Custom with an Alnico 2 magnet instead of a ceramic magnet and should only be used for bright guitars. I never thought that a LP would be considered bright but on a whim I bought an alnicon 2 mag online and had my tech put it in my Duncan Custom.
The difference was incredible! The top end was slightly rounded off without the sharp edge but was still clear. The bottom end was still there but not as overwhelming as with the ceramic mag. But the best improvement was the buttery lower midrange growl that alnico 2 mag added that I had been missing with the ceramic mag.
The Duncan Custom Custom is a ballsy, moderate to high output pup that will cut through without the icepicky harshness of some high output ceramic mag pups and would sound great in all but the warmest sounding guitars, especially if you're using a bright amp.
I read alot of people complain about trying to dial out the brightness of their rig and sometimes amps and speakers are to blame, but I hope this helps give players another option to try before replacing their whole rig. It really opened up my eyes...and ears!
Chris
For 15 years I used a custom made alder body strat with no pickgaurd and rosewood board with a Duncan Custom in the bridge and 59 in the neck. A little over a year ago I bought a used Gibson Les Paul Classic and after gigging with the original pups for a few gigs I decided to go with the same pup combo as my strat.
There was an huge improvement in clarity and tone from the super hot gibson pups but there was still this bright razors edge aggresiveness that could'nt be dialed out. My setup is a Marshall DSL50 (svetlana EL34s and JJ pre's) and an Avatar Oversized Vintage 2x12 with V30s, so there's plenty of brightness and upper mids there. I always seemed to be turning down the bass and the highs but could'nt find the tone I was looking for.
I had read in the past that the Duncan Custom Custom is just a Duncan Custom with an Alnico 2 magnet instead of a ceramic magnet and should only be used for bright guitars. I never thought that a LP would be considered bright but on a whim I bought an alnicon 2 mag online and had my tech put it in my Duncan Custom.
The difference was incredible! The top end was slightly rounded off without the sharp edge but was still clear. The bottom end was still there but not as overwhelming as with the ceramic mag. But the best improvement was the buttery lower midrange growl that alnico 2 mag added that I had been missing with the ceramic mag.
The Duncan Custom Custom is a ballsy, moderate to high output pup that will cut through without the icepicky harshness of some high output ceramic mag pups and would sound great in all but the warmest sounding guitars, especially if you're using a bright amp.
I read alot of people complain about trying to dial out the brightness of their rig and sometimes amps and speakers are to blame, but I hope this helps give players another option to try before replacing their whole rig. It really opened up my eyes...and ears!
Chris