Seymour Duncan SH-5 Custom

[Crunchity]

Thanks man! Love the tone in your clips too (but always have, lol).

 

[AmpliFIRE]

Thanks man! Love the tone in your clips too (but always have, lol).

FYI, the Custom 5 SH-14 is different than the Custom SH-5. The Custom 5 has an Alnico 5 magnet and the regular Custom SH-5 has a ceramic magnet.

 

[Crunchity]

Oh shit, lol, ^^^ did not even catch that!! Good call, thanks. Makes my previous post kinda useless here. Oops.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

Oh shit, lol, ^^^ did not even catch that!! Good call, thanks. Makes my previous post kinda useless here. Oops.

Now worries...it's a common mistake . Killer vid BTW!!!

 

[Sick Michael]

I like it. I used to experiment a lot with bridge humbuckers, and I basically stopped with the Custom. There may be better ones out there, but Im pleased enough with mine to leave it in. A reasonable amount of presence, medium output, strong mids, fairly tight. EMGs are tighter, but are way less natural sounding.

Great for Rock, hard rock and metal. Leads really cut, without sounding hardsh.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

Just to expand a bit one what I said (which was hardly anything) the reason I liked it were for a lot of the reasons mentioned here but the reason i also didn't think it was the be all end all is that you really have to know your guitar. Even if a Les Paul or Strat, it is either goign to be darker- balanced- or brighter. My Les Paul copy is a brighter guitar. I really liked the SH-5 for rythms, was awesome in that spot.. but for leads? Cut a tad too much. So if your guitar is balanced or dark, you will really like this pup. I suspect people who found it a tad harsh or to have to much bite were using it in an axe similar to mine. I had also had it in a brighter strat and found the same thing. I've since settled on a Dimarzio Air Zone, another great hot rod paf type. It is not that good in darker guitars though.

 

[Mudder]

One nice things is they are solid pickups and not $150 each.

 

[JerEvil]

The Duncan Custom is one of my favorite pickups from Seymour Duncan.

I run the Custom in the bridge on 3 of my guitars. Love it.

 

[Anonymous]

thing is too, you can EASILY change magnets in a pickup or orientation of a mag and get different sounds. just mark the stock magnet so you know how it goes and you can go back to stock. it's fun, easy and quick to do....and not really a splitting hairs ordeal that you'd think...i think you just as different sounds experimenting with magnets in pickups as you do with pre tubes in amps.

 

[jsp]

If you like EMG 85's, I would recommend the Custom 5 (SH-14) instead.

 

[kiff]

Another Custom 5 fan here, the only Ducan I actually own at the moment. It happened to come stock with my Charvel custom shop but I never once considered swapping it out because it tracks really well with that specific (alder) guitar. It reminds me a lot of the Super Distortion, especially when recorded, they A/B closely when you listen back, just the SD just sounds a little more aggressive IMO.

This little jam I'm working on is with the Custom 5 and Super Distortion doing the doubled rhythm (basswood Nez w/D-Activator and Air Norton for the lead).

Yea, that tone reminds me a lot of what I experienced. Nice playing!

thing is too, you can EASILY change magnets in a pickup or orientation of a mag and get different sounds. just mark the stock magnet so you know how it goes and you can go back to stock. it's fun, easy and quick to do....and not really a splitting hairs ordeal that you'd think...i think you just as different sounds experimenting with magnets in pickups as you do with pre tubes in amps.

Man... as cool as that is I'd probably go insane going down that path

If you like EMG 85's, I would recommend the Custom 5 (SH-14) instead.

Cool. I've looked into those and seem them described as medium output. hmm...


Thanks for all the input guys!

 

[Sick Michael]

Just to expand a bit one what I said (which was hardly anything) the reason I liked it were for a lot of the reasons mentioned here but the reason i also didn't think it was the be all end all is that you really have to know your guitar. Even if a Les Paul or Strat, it is either goign to be darker- balanced- or brighter. My Les Paul copy is a brighter guitar. I really liked the SH-5 for rythms, was awesome in that spot.. but for leads? Cut a tad too much. So if your guitar is balanced or dark, you will really like this pup. I suspect people who found it a tad harsh or to have to much bite were using it in an axe similar to mine. I had also had it in a brighter strat and found the same thing. I've since settled on a Dimarzio Air Zone, another great hot rod paf type. It is not that good in darker guitars though.

Good points, The Custom seems to me to be the kind of pickup that works really well in guitars with a fairly even response - like basswood Jacksons or Ibanez superstrats...makes them sound better and bigger than the dimarzios that often gets put in them. Certainly breathed life into my Ibanez...

 

[jsp]

If you like EMG 85's, I would recommend the Custom 5 (SH-14) instead.

Cool. I've looked into those and seem them described as medium output. hmm...

They pull off metal tones just fine for me. Here's one clip. I don't have the gain cranked at all.

The Dimarzio Breed is another good passive alternative to the 85.