Duncan Distortion or Nazgul?

Shask said:
I always thought the 500T sounded like a mix of the Duncan Custom and Duncan Distortion.
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Interesting take, I can see that. I really don't like the DD, I've tried that pickup numerous times thinking it's going to be different but for a ceramic pup it's just kinda high gain blah to me. Whereas the DC is basically a hot rodded PAF with the tone. The 500 has that over the top grind but it's still got some dynamics unlike the DD. At least to my ear.
 
jabps said:
Interesting take, I can see that. I really don't like the DD, I've tried that pickup numerous times thinking it's going to be different but for a ceramic pup it's just kinda high gain blah to me. Whereas the DC is basically a hot rodded PAF with the tone. The 500 has that over the top grind but it's still got some dynamics unlike the DD. At least to my ear.
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Yeah, I think the 500T is closer to the Custom in tone, but with output closer to the Distortion. It is like a Custom, but less refined and more wild like it has some Distortion characteristics added.
 
I’ve been curious about the Nazgûl for a while now, particularly for my Solar. Just ordered one that’ll be here tomorrow. I generally go after med-output pickups but for this particular live rig I’m going for balls-out 100% of the time, so fuck it.
 
Shask said:
Yeah, I think the 500T is closer to the Custom in tone, but with output closer to the Distortion. It is like a Custom, but less refined and more wild like it has some Distortion characteristics added.
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On the money. I love it with a high gain amp in my Pauls because it just has so much to it but still retains some tone and harmonics. Whereas I dropped one into one of my Tremonti's and it was just a little too much.

Tremonti Pup is a great alternative because it's a more refined 500T. Plenty aggressive but a little sweeter sounding than the 500T. Both my Tremonti's have the stock pups, love them.
 
VonBonfire said:
Those pickup comparisons are utterly useless.
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They are useless if you are wanting to know specifically how a pickup sounds, because a pickup on it's own has no sound.

But;
The Stamper videos are very useful to reference the EQ-curve of a pickup compared to another model that a person already has.

I've found his videos very accurate to hear which of the two has more treble, more bass, more mids, ect,,,

Output does not come through the comparisons very well, or at least not as well as it would through a tube amp because that first gain stage of a good tube amp is very sensitive to output.

On the other hand, if one is going to be running boost/od pedals before their amp anyways, then the output differences and the way they affect that first 12ax7 are somewhat reduced.
 
Nazgul all day long. Ive tried every duncan i could get my hands on over the years, and for metal and rock it just kills. Broad mids and a pretty tight low end, and the highs are present and wild but not shrill imo. Just has a nasty kerrang to it. My favorite pup is the bkp painkiller but twice the price.
 
dave74 said:
They are useless if you are wanting to know specifically how a pickup sounds, because a pickup on it's own has no sound.

But;
The Stamper videos are very useful to reference the EQ-curve of a pickup compared to another model that a person already has.

I've found his videos very accurate to hear which of the two has more treble, more bass, more mids, ect,,,

Output does not come through the comparisons very well, or at least not as well as it would through a tube amp because that first gain stage of a good tube amp is very sensitive to output.

On the other hand, if one is going to be running boost/od pedals before their amp anyways, then the output differences and the way they affect that first 12ax7 are somewhat reduced.
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You make a great point Dave. I listened to some of those videos to get as much info on the pickups I was hunting at the time but I find just fining someone on youtube with a remotely similar guitar and amp (if you can find it) gave me a better overall picture of how the real world tone would play out, which for me was better than just listening to different pickup EQs, which many times can be compensated for at the amp.

Those videos really seem to me to lack any picture of how the pickup compresses in a playing situation. When choosing a humbucker that would be a deciding factor for me. That's probably my best nuanced criticism of the vids. Half the time pickup selection is a crapshoot anyhow. Thanks for your thoughts.
 
Yeah, you certainly won't get the dynamic feel of a pickup through a YouTube comparison.

But I don't really care, TBH. Especially not from a Duncan Distortion, a Nazgul, or a 500T. It's not like I intend to to play a bluesy soulful lead through one of those. That's just me. It's fortissimo chuggs for me all day from a hot Ceramic bridge pickup. There are other pickups that do dynamic expressiveness way better than those, I'm sure.

I care more about output levels, personally. I hate to have to completely redo my settings every time I plug a different guitar in because one pickup is too hot or too low output compared to the other (which is a slight part of the issue I'm having right now with the D Activator).
 
napalmdeath said:
Actually it sounds like a Fluence Modern might be a good choice.
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I prefer the Modern Alnico or the KSE's. I have both lying around, but both are too active-sounding compared to what I'm in the mood for right now, which is a hot Ceramic passive with some aggressive mids.
 
Rex Rocker said:
I don't think the SD is going to be as hot as I'd want it to. Maybe if the Invader was a bit brighter, though.
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I have a Lollar DB that doesn't read super hot on the ohmeter but has pretty high output. I lowered it way down so I could get those soulful bluesy leads, lol. Alnico 5. It's like a magnet brick. My experiment was aiming for a soulful bluesy tone using higher output pickups. It was a success as a bridge pickup though most of my work is on the neck. It really sounds sick in the bridge through through my rig. Bite, honk if you want it, just RAW.
 
I also think the Nazgul is probably a good choice. I have pretty much every high output Duncan in different guitars. The Nazgul has the grinding upper mids and cut lower mids which make it great for Pantera and Fear Factory style playing. The Distortion is more old school with more of a chainsaw top end. The Invader is great, but can be too much. The Black Winter is nice, but kind of more compressed and squishy feeling. The Custom is aggressive, but really needs a boost.
 
Shask said:
I also think the Nazgul is probably a good choice. I have pretty much every high output Duncan in different guitars. The Nazgul has the grinding upper mids and cut lower mids which make it great for Pantera and Fear Factory style playing. The Distortion is more old school with more of a chainsaw top end. The Invader is great, but can be too much. The Black Winter is nice, but kind of more compressed and squishy feeling. The Custom is aggressive, but really needs a boost.
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Man, I've tried the BW several times and can't get on with it. I was so pumped for that pup, but to me it has this inherent fuzz, or over distortion built into it. I know that's not a good way to describe it, but it was like there was just this layer of gain or something over my tone no matter what, it was weird to me.
 
MetalHeadMike said:
Man, I've tried the BW several times and can't get on with it. I was so pumped for that pup, but to me it has this inherent fuzz, or over distortion built into it. I know that's not a good way to describe it, but it was like there was just this layer of gain or something over my tone no matter what, it was weird to me.
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I really liked the BW for awhile, but I have started to like pickups with a little less output. They seem to ca-chunk better, and the BW almost seems over saturated to me now. It is like it squishes so much that it seems less aggressive. The Nazgul is a little lower output than the Distortion for example, almost more like a modern JB. I do like the BW neck a lot though.
 
I actually had the Black Winter in this guitar for a bit. The problem with this guitar is the bridge pickup is kinda far away from the bridge itself, so the attacky nature of the bridge pickup gets a bit lost. I usually swear by the Black Winter. It's probably my favorite passive pickup alongside the 500T. But in this guitar it was not sizzly enough for my taste, and slightly too hot.

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I remember the DIstortion being more sizzly than the 'Winter. Hence why I thought the DIstortion would be better. But if the Nazgul is sizzlier than the Distortion and not lower outoput, then I think I'd prefer that one.
 
isn't the Voice2 of the Fluence Modern Bridge supposed to be like your generic high output passive ceramic?
From video comparisons i've seen it seems it is less sizzly than the SH-6 though.
To me that's a good thing, but i can see how this might be boring to others.

In this vids the SH-6 has the most sizzle of all of them (JB, Nazgul, Distortion, EMG81, Fishman Fluence Modern:)




Anyway, over the Top: Dimebucker! as already mentioned!
 
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I've only really played/heard the Nazgul in a 7 string Schecter that my singer has at our practice spot. It sounds great for high gain stuff, really brought that guitar to life.
 
VonBonfire said:
Those pickup comparisons are utterly useless.
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They are not.
One the better ones he did is to show the JB vs a Super D. A JB, when played clean, is quite dark/middy. Only with high gain does it seem to come alive with all the harmonics and top-end.
The Super D OTOH -a pickup with a thick and dark reputation, mind you- actuall beats the JB when played clean, because of the additional clarity.
And his pickup comparison really showed this.
I'm listening through great headphones (Beyer DT 990 Pro) so that helps in picking up nuances that could otherwise be lost with small PC speakers for instance.
 
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