Duncan Distortion or Nazgul?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rex Rocker
  • Start date Start date
As long as there’s one pickup I’m familiar with in a shootout, I can generally get a pretty good idea of how things are translating to the others. @Guitarjon’s vids were perfect for me, I’m keenly familiar with EMG’s, Dual Recs and 5150’s, once you hear them and recognize the ‘identifiers’ it’s pretty easy to point out what’s happening with the other pickups.

I’m leaving work early today just so I can install that Nazgûl sooner!
 
Rex Rocker said:
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.
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I think the Distortion would have more sizzle and output than the Nazgul.

The Distortion has more of that fizzy high end, where the Nazgul is more of an upper mid kerrang/clank. The Nazgul is also slightly lower output, so it will have more natural chug, where the Distortion is more of a wall of sound.
 
valve said:
isn't the Voice2 of the Fluence Modern Bridge supposed to be like your generic high output passive ceramic?
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Supposedly. But I have a set here. It's not very high-output, really, and every high-output Ceramic along the lines of the 500T, Black Winter, etc. runs circles around the Fishmans in any voicing as far as output goes.

Don't get me wrong, the Active voicing is more or less the same output/hotness/saturartion as the EMG 81. But that's not saying much, as the 81 is not as hot as the higher-end of the passive high output spectrum. I'd say the 81 is just slightly hotter than the JB.
 
Shask said:
I think the Distortion would have more sizzle and output than the Nazgul.

The Distortion has more of that fizzy high end, where the Nazgul is more of an upper mid kerrang/clank. The Nazgul is also slightly lower output, so it will have more natural chug, where the Distortion is more of a wall of sound.
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I think I'd like the Distortion better, then.
 
I put the Nazgul in today, EXACTLY what I wanted from that pickup.

It’s high output but the way it’s balanced it’s not slamming the front end as much as I expected. It’s TIGHT AS FUCK! I can definitely see why it’s a hit with the djent/modern metal kiddos.
 
RevDrucifer said:
I put the Nazgul in today, EXACTLY what I wanted from that pickup.

It’s high output but the way it’s balanced it’s not slamming the front end as much as I expected. It’s TIGHT AS FUCK! I can definitely see why it’s a hit with the djent/modern metal kiddos.
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Yeah, the Nazgul is one reason why I have been looking more at 12k - 14k pickups lately, instead of ~16k like the JB, DIstortion, and Black Winter. That range seems to have more clarity to ca-chunk, but still enough output to not feel weak and underpowered.
 
I love the Nazguls for drop tuning and ERGs, but feel like there are better options if those don't apply. They really tighten up in those circumstances like going from a four stroke to a two stroke thumper, but become overkill when mixed with standard tuning and/or modern tight amps. It's just my opinion based on what I'm rocking, of course.
 
NowYou'rePlayingWithPower said:
I love the Nazguls for drop tuning and ERGs, but feel like there are better options if those don't apply. They really tighten up in those circumstances like going from a four stroke to a two stroke thumper, but become overkill when mixed with standard tuning and/or modern tight amps. It's just my opinion based on what I'm rocking, of course.
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I can definitely see that. I've got this in my drop-C guitar and the song I'm working on is actually in drop-B, it's part of the reason I jumped on this pickup now, I'm being anal about how tight I get everything for this particular song. The way I normally dial in tones I was just getting flub and fizz, I don't like cranking noise gates, this pickup solved that really quick.

I think it'd be really player-dependent in standard tuning and how they dialed in their rig. I can hear this easily in a boosted JCM800 doing thrash stuff, but this ain't the pickup for AC/DC tones unless it were on a Bogner with the Treble knob on 3. I was surprised to hear it split really well for clean stuff, far better than the Duncan Solar it replaced.
 
RevDrucifer said:
I can definitely see that. I've got this in my drop-C guitar and the song I'm working on is actually in drop-B, it's part of the reason I jumped on this pickup now, I'm being anal about how tight I get everything for this particular song. The way I normally dial in tones I was just getting flub and fizz, I don't like cranking noise gates, this pickup solved that really quick.

I think it'd be really player-dependent in standard tuning and how they dialed in their rig. I can hear this easily in a boosted JCM800 doing thrash stuff, but this ain't the pickup for AC/DC tones unless it were on a Bogner with the Treble knob on 3. I was surprised to hear it split really well for clean stuff, far better than the Duncan Solar it replaced.
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I actually wasn't going to bring up the coil split because I really like it, which is probably taboo :ROFLMAO:
 
OK... wanted to throw another option that I'd like your opinion on.

How about the BK Painkiller? Or the Aftermath?
 
RevDrucifer said:
I put the Nazgul in today, EXACTLY what I wanted from that pickup.

It’s high output but the way it’s balanced it’s not slamming the front end as much as I expected. It’s TIGHT AS FUCK! I can definitely see why it’s a hit with the djent/modern metal kiddos.
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I was messing with mine last night and it was a little bassier than I remembered. I started measuring all my pickup heights, and I think they are a little high. I set them back at 3/32" as Duncan recommends, so I will need to play with them some more like that.
 
Rex Rocker said:
OK... wanted to throw another option that I'd like your opinion on.

How about the BK Painkiller? Or the Aftermath?
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I don’t care for either and don’t think they’ll be what you’re looking for. The PK IME is nasal/kinda bloated/boxy in the mids and I remember the AM’s being similar in the same guitar, but not as bad. Both are tight with good uppermid presence. The problem is all BK’s IME just sound and feel kinda flat/sterile/2D and a bit dry vs other boutique pickups and often come off a bit less hot than they are

For a similar price to BKP’s (some less), you can just get so many vintage pickups that would humiliate any pickup mentioned in this thread: Bill Lawrence 500L’s, 510L’s, L90’s, L100’s, Mighty Mite 1400’s, Schaller’s, Dirty Fingers

For something modern you might like a Lundgren M6
 
Rex Rocker said:
Supposedly. But I have a set here. It's not very high-output, really, and every high-output Ceramic along the lines of the 500T, Black Winter, etc. runs circles around the Fishmans in any voicing as far as output goes.

Don't get me wrong, the Active voicing is more or less the same output/hotness/saturartion as the EMG 81. But that's not saying much, as the 81 is not as hot as the higher-end of the passive high output spectrum. I'd say the 81 is just slightly hotter than the JB.
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Yes the EMG 81 is not that hot compared to high output ceramics, I am familiar with them.
I was under the impression that the fluence moderns are higher output than the EMG 81.
Actually it‘s good to know they are about the same level.
I am more keen to check them out now.
The modern passive voicing sound in between a JB and the Nazgûl in comparison guitarjon. I prefer the passive to the active in all the clips I heard so far, but I always want to keep the classical EMG/ active voicing around. So I might really be 2 guitars in one and could reduce my collection
 
valve said:
Yes the EMG 81 is not that hot compared to high output ceramics, I am familiar with them.
I was under the impression that the fluence moderns are higher output than the EMG 81.
Actually it‘s good to know they are about the same level.
I am more keen to check them out now.
The modern passive voicing sound in between a JB and the Nazgûl in comparison guitarjon. I prefer the passive to the active in all the clips I heard so far, but I always want to keep the classical EMG/ active voicing around. So I might really be 2 guitars in one and could reduce my collection
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Yeah, they're like 95% the same level. The Fluence is very slightly more headroom-y, though. But not by much. I think the "OMG much moar dynamicz!" is an exaggeration. Sometimes people just follow the hype without actually taking the time to analize. You can really tell when recording DI's. I will say, though, when you strum hard on an EMG 81, you can hear it crunch up a bit. You don't on a Fluence. I don't know how their clipping works, honestly. Because the waveforms look as clipped/limited as each other, almost.

I like the Fluence Modern, but the passive voicing is definitely not the star of the show. It's kinda weak mid-output, and not very interesting tonally. Kinda bland/flat. The Adlers have a much more interesting passive voicing.
 
braintheory said:
I don’t care for either and don’t think they’ll be what you’re looking for. The PK IME is nasal/kinda bloated/boxy in the mids and I remember the AM’s being similar in the same guitar, but not as bad. Both are tight with good uppermid presence. The problem is all BK’s IME just sound and feel kinda flat/sterile/2D and a bit dry vs other boutique pickups and often come off a bit less hot than they are

For a similar price to BKP’s (some less), you can just get so many vintage pickups that would humiliate any pickup mentioned in this thread: Bill Lawrence 500L’s, 510L’s, L90’s, L100’s, Mighty Mite 1400’s, Schaller’s, Dirty Fingers

For something modern you might like a Lundgren M6
Click to expand...
Dirty Fingers sound interesting... but I've always been under the impression those are a little Duncan Invader-y dark and bassy? Those are unpotted also, right? I don't know how usable that would make them.
 
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