Thoughts on the Nazgûl for lower tuned metal?
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Shask
Well-known member
Tonight I was comparing my Nazgul, Black Winter, Distortion, Custom, and also an EMG 81TW and a Fishman Modern.
I still think the Nazgul is the most modern out of the bunch. Tighter and more aggressive, but not so much it is over the top. To be honest, I think it has a lot in common with the EMG 81. Kinda like an EMG 81 with more low end chunk bass, and a more alive tone overall. The scooped lower mid / aggressive upper mid spike is sort of similar in both.
I still think the Nazgul is the most modern out of the bunch. Tighter and more aggressive, but not so much it is over the top. To be honest, I think it has a lot in common with the EMG 81. Kinda like an EMG 81 with more low end chunk bass, and a more alive tone overall. The scooped lower mid / aggressive upper mid spike is sort of similar in both.
Rex Rocker
Well-known member
I finally got my hands on a Nazgul, and I tried it on my Fender Strat.
FWIW, in this Strat I've also had the Black Winter, Super 2, D Activator, Duncan Distortion, 500T, and now the Nazgul.
In this guitar, the Nazgul has been my favorite.
Black Winter is usually one of my favorites, but it's easy for it to be too much. It's really hot, and on this guitar, it was just slightly muddy and uninteresting. The Black Winter has a low-end rolloff, though, so it was tight. That was its good quality.
The Super 2 was thin, wiry, and harsh. It was the worst of them all. I removed it pretty fast.
The D Activator was the tightest, but it was also kinda dry. With a 500K pot, it had a bit of that DiMarzio low-mid cloudiness going on. With a 1M pot, it lost focus on the low mids, but the high-end got kinda harsh and dirty. But the dryness always remained. It was tight, though.
The Duncan Distortion was a bit too fat. The Duncan Distortion is usually tight, but this guitar is naturally smooth and fat, so the Duncan Distortion brought that out too much. Out of them all, the Duncan Distortion is the fattest, even if in the grand scheme of things, the Duncan Distortion is generally a tight pickup compared to others.
The 500T has the long legs, so that meant that in the shallow routes and the low profile bridge of a Strat, it has very limited adjustability.
The Nazgul is perfect. I'd say it has a similar vibe to the Black Winter, except the Black Winter is over the top and nasty, and the Nazgul is more modern and polished. The Black Winter tends to bring out a certain scratchiness to the attack that you either love or hate. The Nazgul is more modern and clanky. It's also lower output (than the Black Winter), so it comes out a bit drier, but not as dry as the D Activator. It also has a similar low-end rolloff like the Black Winter, so together with the 'Winter, it's one of the tightest. It's actually surprisingly hot, and I don't think it's much lower output than the Duncan Distortion which is like wound like 2 or 3K higher. Such a great pickup.
FWIW, in this Strat I've also had the Black Winter, Super 2, D Activator, Duncan Distortion, 500T, and now the Nazgul.
In this guitar, the Nazgul has been my favorite.
Black Winter is usually one of my favorites, but it's easy for it to be too much. It's really hot, and on this guitar, it was just slightly muddy and uninteresting. The Black Winter has a low-end rolloff, though, so it was tight. That was its good quality.
The Super 2 was thin, wiry, and harsh. It was the worst of them all. I removed it pretty fast.
The D Activator was the tightest, but it was also kinda dry. With a 500K pot, it had a bit of that DiMarzio low-mid cloudiness going on. With a 1M pot, it lost focus on the low mids, but the high-end got kinda harsh and dirty. But the dryness always remained. It was tight, though.
The Duncan Distortion was a bit too fat. The Duncan Distortion is usually tight, but this guitar is naturally smooth and fat, so the Duncan Distortion brought that out too much. Out of them all, the Duncan Distortion is the fattest, even if in the grand scheme of things, the Duncan Distortion is generally a tight pickup compared to others.
The 500T has the long legs, so that meant that in the shallow routes and the low profile bridge of a Strat, it has very limited adjustability.
The Nazgul is perfect. I'd say it has a similar vibe to the Black Winter, except the Black Winter is over the top and nasty, and the Nazgul is more modern and polished. The Black Winter tends to bring out a certain scratchiness to the attack that you either love or hate. The Nazgul is more modern and clanky. It's also lower output (than the Black Winter), so it comes out a bit drier, but not as dry as the D Activator. It also has a similar low-end rolloff like the Black Winter, so together with the 'Winter, it's one of the tightest. It's actually surprisingly hot, and I don't think it's much lower output than the Duncan Distortion which is like wound like 2 or 3K higher. Such a great pickup.
Rex Rocker
Well-known member
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NowYou'rePlayingWithPower
Well-known member
I have a spare Nazgul with F spacing if you want to try it without spending $ on a gamble @Soundstorm. I bought a set to put into my SG Black model, but was finally able to tame the Dirty Finger+ pickups that came in it, so I never ended up using it. It's one of the limited production red/black zebra set, so the aesthetics may not work for you. I also have the sentient neck one to go with it if you want to try. They are regular tab six string pickups and not soapbar/active size though. Not sure what Strandberg you have. Let me know if you want to check them out.
Soundstorm
Well-known member
A passive EMG81 is pretty much what I'm going for
Soundstorm
Well-known member
I really appreciate that! But I already bought one and should have it in another day or two, I'll report back
Soundstorm
Well-known member
Hardcore, death, sludge, thrash, punk, in B standard. I'm going for a tight response over anything else. I played in C standard for years and had no issues, but it's like once I dropped my guitars that half step I started fighting the mud all across the board. No matter what amp, pickup, plugin, speaker, it's been a constant battle to have a tight sound. Now the ESP baritone with EMG 81/85 I just bought has been great, but I still need a boost on my Diezel and Marshall to tighten those up, though it's much less of a battle than before.
RedB4Black
Well-known member
I liked the Nazgûl in my Mayones Duvell, but swapped it for a bare knuckle ceramic nail bomb. Everything that the Nazgûl offers but with better clarity and less nasal sounding.
Techdeth
RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
If you want tight for that the Lundgred M. series will do it . I got them because of the clarity meshugah gets . The M series is made for 6 ,7,and 8 strings
Soundstorm
Well-known member
I went for the Nazgul this time around, but the Lundgren will be next for sure if that one doesn't get me the response I'm after. That clip you posted with the Wizard and Herbert was gnarly sounding!
Techdeth
RESIDENT ROCK PROFESSOR
Thanks man ! You never know if it’s good or not to other people
Shask
Well-known member
When I was comparing last night, I was careful to set them all at 3/32" as Duncan recommends to make it fair. As I was playing the Black Winter, it hit me that I think it is the most Dimarzio sounding Duncan of the bunch. It has that low end roll off so it doesn't quite chug as much as it thuds. Then it has that smoother lower mid range you hear in many Dimarzios.
I have not tried a Super 2, but I have a Super Distortion that I removed in like a day. It has that plinky, almost single coil like treble attack I hear in many Dimarzios, and I hate that sound. It has been years since I tried a DActivator, but that is what I remember. The bass sounded like a neck pickup, and the treble sounded like a single coil. Those mixer together just sounded awful.
Yeah, the Distortion is fatter. I almost always like it, but it is never as good as something else. The fattness almost causes it to be too blurry. I think that is why I like the Nazgul, and the Custom. It is like if you took the Distortion and turned it down a bit until the sound comes into focus.
Of course, all of mine are in different guitars also, so that matters. I do think I prefer the Nazgul out of them though. I am thinking about grabbing another Nazgul / Sentinent set for other guitars.
NowYou'rePlayingWithPower
Well-known member
I absolutely love them, but I try not to shill things. So, that's why I offered them up. Money where mouth is and all...
I have no experience with some of the BKPs being spoken about here, but Nazguls give me orgasms for drop tuning and my ergs.
So the BKPs would probably lobotomize me, if the comments are true.
Rex Rocker
Well-known member
I guess very loosely. I don't think there is such a thing as a passive EMG 81, but the average upper-mid-focused Ceramic overwound pickup gets you in the ballpark. So I don't think the Nazgul is far off, but it's got its own thing going on. I don't think it's more of a passive 81 than other Ceramic pickups with a low-end rolloff like the Black Winter or the DiMarzio Dominion. But the Nazgul has more low-end and high-end than the 81. Every passive does.
Rex Rocker
Well-known member
I personally don't think the Winter sounds very DiMarzio. This is just my opinion, of course, not saying you're wrong, but I associate the DiMarzio midrange with a slightly vocal "Aw" sound. The Dominion I'd say is the closest DiMarzio to the Black Winter EQ-wise (although the Dominion is not nearly as hot), but the Dominion's midrange is really vocal/nasal. The Black Winter, while being very mid focused, is never nasal, IMO.
That being said, the Winter is certainly more wooly than the Nazgul. I'd say, however, the Distortion is more wooly than either. And that's just comparing them all, because in the grand scheme of things, none of them are nearly as wooly as, say, a Tone Zone.
If anything, I'd say the 'Winter's woolyness is easily fixed by just lowering the gain on the amp. It is, after all, higher output than both the Nazgul and the Distortion. It's REALLY hot. I had it in a guitar that also had an X2N, and it wasn't any less hot than the X2N.
JMO, of course.
And also, the D-Activator is an asymetric wind. So it matters which orientation you install it at. With the hotter coil towards the neck, it does take on more (loosely speaking) neck-y characteristics, which is exactly what you're describing it like. Quite honestly, the D Activator is one of the only DiMarzios I've ever really liked, just not in this guitar. I think its biggetst downfall is it sounds nothing like an EMG 81, LOL. But as a standalone balanced-ish medium-hot Ceramic pickup with a slightly nasty attack, it's pretty solid. It just doesn't sound like an active pickup whatsoever.
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acceptance
Well-known member
What about the emg HZs? I get the sense they aren’t taken seriously but not sure why.
NowYou'rePlayingWithPower
Well-known member
I have a set of those laying around from my Jackson SLSMG. They're okay, nothing to write home about.
IIRC, they started life in the 80s as a set for Washburn, maybe? I think they were called the selects at first or something along those lines.