Vicious_Turtle

ok, ive had it!!!! ive had this Duncan custom (I swapped the ceramic magnet with a alnico 5) for a while now and I cant get it to sound how I want. ive tried lowering it from the strings, ive tried eq'ing the crap outta it. its just to damn bright and thin sounding. it is honestly the thinnest and brightest ive ever heard, and ive played emgs, dimebuckers you name it.maybe I just got a fu**ed model. idk but what are some good alternatives if im looking for tones like. metallica(MOP), alice in chains(Facelift) guns n roses(afd) megadeth(endgame, thirteen)
I really like mustaines tone on endgame and thirteen. I know he uses Seymour livewire active. but what could I get that sounds like these and has decent cleans? price range. 150$ max

JesusCrisp

Was it the same while you had the stock ceramic magnet?
What guitar do you have it in?
What amp and pedals are you playing it through?
Are you sure you didn't just f*** up the wiring and got it wired in parallel or split?

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Vicious_Turtle

I didn't wire it, my dad did, hes a guitar player as well and hes done it to tons of other pickups for me that sounded fine.; im playing It through a egnater vengeance head, Gibson explorer guitar

Vicious_Turtle

and yes when it was the same with the ceramic magnet, it was worse, even after I changed it. the change was incredibly small

cdr_salamander

I'll put money on the fact that it's a wiring problem. Post pics of your control cavity in detail if you can.

JesusCrisp

Did it sound right with the stock pickups?

No idea what's wrong, I have a Duncan Custom in my HSS Strat and I'm playing through an Egnater Rebel 30. It is more on the bright side, but it's not unpleasant at all. And it sure isn't weak or thin.

There either is something messed up with the wiring or the pickup is damaged.

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LaidBack

could be a phase issue

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mmolteratx

Pickup is probably wired out of phase or in parallel. I'm 99.9% sure it's user error.

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Vicious_Turtle

I checked the wiring, everything is correct. I think im probably exaggerating a little. but it sounds really bright, not thin maybe. but definantly not a huge paf sound to me.im aslo thinking it could be my setup for this pickup config. im using it through egnater vengeance head with stock tubes. I have new jj's but im kind lazy when it comes to putting them in. or I thought it could be my cab. peavey valve king cab with 2 swamp thangs and 2 texas heats. a odd thing is my sound is super bass heavy, its really boomy on the low strings, I even eq'ed the lows to -10 and it was still boomy (for both pickups) so im not sure if this would be the pickups or maybe just a shit cab

ragingkitty

The Custom 5 pup mod maybe a little bright compared to a number of other pickups... but what you are suggesting is definitely weird. I'd suggest posting a picture of your wiring.

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Cathbard

If it was wired out of phase it would only affect it when running both pickups together - just sayin.


Edit: unless of course it's a four wire and that's what's been wired out of phase. Check the wiring diagrams on the Seymour Duncan site. There's no real convention. It's quite possible that he's mixed it up because he's used to say, DiMarzzios. Check the colour coding.

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steven_ferns84

If your wiring is all but correct then instead of spending $150 on a new pickup, just swap the magnet for an unoriented A5 or A8. Might as well give the A2 a try too, if the sound is way thin sounding. You'll be able to save a lot of bucks and technically have all the SD custom designs at your disposal to try out

gregs1020

it could be that the pick up just doesn't sound the way you want it to sound.

Vicious_Turtle

so for what im looking for, should I try the A8 or A2 magnet first