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Seymour Duncan SH-13 Dimebucker Pickup
Searched Seymour Duncan SH-13 Dimebucker Pickup in Reviews
An L500XL for everyone 
| Comments |
I have this pickup in a custom built Paduak RG type guitar. The original intention was to put in a Bill Lawrence L500XL to try and match Nuno Bettencourt's "tone of the gods", if not is playing :). Being in the UK and understanding that there is some confusion between the "Bill and Becky" units and the Bill Lawrence USA it was difficult to decide which way to go, until my guitar tech told me that this SH-13 was built for Dimebag with the intention of aping the L500XL as closely as possible. Obviously I did as I was told.
This pickup did not disappoint. It can achieve a variety of pretty aggressive tones, and you really do get a great tonal difference as you roll back the volume. This is pretty unusual in such a high output unit. The general feel if the sound is slightly compressed but with very good harmonics and good dymanics. In short if you hit it hard it bites back harder, and if you want to pretend to be Zakk Wylde, this will get your guitar screaming easier than a Bare Knuckle or an EMG. It also allows the sound of the guitar to come through, although perhaps not with the same clarity of an EVO. It is one of the few bridge pickups in fact that can sit comfortably with an EVO neck. The EVO is really voiced to work with a valve amp and the SH-13 does that very well, but since Dimebag used transistor amps (I think) it also works very well with a variety of digital equipment such as modellers.
The real suprise is the clean tone. It really is useable, even in the neck postion. It is quite a thick tone, so don't expect a strat vibe, but it has the right combination of warmth and bite to allow you to push an amp on the clean channel or roll back and get a noce rounded tone.
It is really rare to come across a pickup that actually stands apart from the crowd whilst being versatile enough to be a good all rounder.
If you have only one pickup slot in your guitar, use one of these.
It is probably important to point out that I have it wired with no tone control, so not really a standard installation.
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| Liked about it |
Distorted and Clean Tones are really good
Really versatile, copes with a variety of amps
A real alternative to the L500XL if you are having trouble sourcing one
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| Didn't like |
Difficult to match other pickups to get a balanced output
Individual string clarity note the best, particularly when distorted
Some smearing of the notes when tapping/sweeping, although that was in the bridge position.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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The Overlord of Overdrive
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based on the bill lawrence xl-500 dual blade ceramic pickup, this is one of the hottest pickups on Earth!
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| Liked about it |
Everything!
-Sounds good in alder, maple, mahogany, and even ash guitars! I've had Dimebuckers in Ibanez Radius 540 and sz series guitars, A les paul studio, A Sg, A prs ce, A light ash Tele, A hwy 1 strat.... just5 about everything and it brings the fury out in each one.
-You can feel the bass and treble of this pickup 3x as much as a sd jb or a dimarzio distortion, harmonics are a breeze and it provides a startling clean tone as well.
-Think of the dryiest bass drum sounding riffage imaginable....it's right here.
-More affordable than the custom shop el-diablo's i was using before.
-No tone loss due to bending strings.
-No batteries.
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| Didn't like |
I can't find three things i don't like about this pickup but some people may not go for the higher output and charged tones, and perceive them as a lack of clarity... but you cant please everyone.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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internal use: spec68 spec374 spec573
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