Seymour Duncan Nazgul vs Custom 5, what say you?

littlebadboy

New Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2017
Messages
722
I'm thinking of swapping out my PRS S2 pickups. I know I want the SD Jazz on the neck, but for the bridge, I'm torn between the SD Nazgul and Custom 5. I usually play heavy rock and metal (newer, not classic) but I also want it to be versatile.

What do you guys think?

This was an awesome comparo video, but I am still undecided.

 
I have more experience with the Custom Custom, but both it and the Custom 5 have a tone more pronounced in the low mids, but are overall somewhat scooped sounding (nothing amp EQ can't fix). I found it easy to get a very 80s style metal tone on to stuff like Pantera, I'm sure it would be fine for In Flames/At the Gates style tones as well.

The Nazgul is quite a bit more aggressive and tight without being straight up "djenty". Definitely modern sounding. I did find that in a swamp ash guitar, it really did not have a lot of lows at all, however. Might be better in the S2 with the darker timbre of the mahogany.

I'd also look into the Black Winter (surprisingly versatile and great for modern heavy music) and Alternative 8 (less versatile for cleans due to high output, but the has the aggression of a ceramic pickup without the icepickiness, one of my favorites).
 
That’s a killer riff in that video. Based on the video I would go Nazgûl, then Black Winter, then Full Shred. I think these 3 have more mids that help them cut through the mix than some of the others that are very scooped, which I personally don’t really care for, although your preference may obviously vary. The Nazgûl is largely more aggressive than the rest due to more highs and quality of the distortion. I particularly like the grinding chug sound of the Nazgûl, which seems fairly unique to that pickup, and is the main reason I’ve kept my original run KM-7. AdenM may be right on the lack of bass response with the Nazgûl in ash. It does seem a little thin in the KM-7, but it gets overshadowed by the 7th string in that case. It’s been a while, but as I recall there was some versatility in the Nazgûl at lower gain, but I can’t be sure. If you really want a lot of versatility, it may not be the best choice, but again it may be hard to duplicate that particular high gain sound elsewhere. I guess it depends what’s most important to you. If still unsure, you may need to venture outside Seymour Duncan.
 
Back
Top