Diabolus in Musica

Seymour Duncan's El Diablo humbucker has a single appeal; it feeds on distortion, the more the better. Is it worth buying? Well, considering it's made with a very narrow objective in mind & it's a custom shop model, the immediate answer here is no. However, if you've been through several high output pickups & love distortion more than anything else, the El Diablo would offer a good variation to a certain extent. Unlike the Dimebucker, this one has more bottom end on board but do not raise it too close to the strings as notes get muffled at high gain/ high distortion settings. That's right, it suffers from poor single note separation. I had to lower mine more than the default Ibanez pickup height recommendation. Thereafter, the El Diablo is a beast as the name implies.

The El Diablo is paired up with a Hot Stack & the latter simply could not match the beast in terms of output & distortion.  Anyway, I require less aggression & more clarity in the neck to prevent my tapped notes from sounding like trash. Thanks to Davis GMC for their continuous commitment when it comes to having Custom Shop / Custom Floor models available every once in a while. 

Devil's Monday

I'm taking every opportunity to remind everyone that some of your guitar's default mounting ring is unable to frame Seymour Duncan pickups, especially the TB models. Just a gentle reminder that SD widened the pickup's dimension (length) in addition to the pole pieces spacing to accommodate the F-space.

This version you see above, was provided by the manufacturer to specifically fit the TB pickups. The entire pickup passes through easily.

Re-string Saturday

 

Indoor Saturday night. It's raining. I'm just glad that this Schecter KR came my way. It's not as appealing as the C models but it holds its own in terms of playability & tone. This guitar was made a little brighter by the Duncan El Diablo & Distortion pairing which let me dial in more bass at the amp. Brand names like Schecter, Fernandes & Yamaha, among others, offer some quirky models this side of Japan which are worth getting our hands on if they were made available here. It's totally a business thing when it comes to availability; not brought in if it's not selling. 

KR

Had been playing my Schecter KR. Glad to have gotten hold of a Japanese Schecter as not many of these make their way here. This is one of those guitars with a ready coil tap switch so no push-pull option needed to be installed. I simply love how the Seymour Duncan El Diablo reacts to a tremendous amount of distortion, it just keeps growling without falling into muddy territory. That quilt top is a plus for me, I'm not the type who would fall over for exquisite tops. This kind of attraction is not important to me.

Hope you folks are staying home & staying safe. 👍

Devil's throat (2)

Seymour Duncan's El Diablo is a custom shop unit, the chances of one offered in stores as a regular production unit is slim. This one here is a special offering to SD's distributors & it costs $100 more than a standard production model. Despite being touted as a distortion monster, the El Diablo features an Alnico II magnet which is the highlight of the pickup itself- a monster based on tamed essentials. Jumping right into the driven territory, the El Diablo has no issues delivering impact; all manner of drive/ distortion is supplemented by a very crunchy voicing, meaning, it has a treble highlight but nothing repulsive. Imagine your tone being supplemented by a treble boost unit but not set to stun. Moving over to the opposite end, the El Diablo pomises some of the best & tightest bass notes delivery especially for those of us who palm mute our notes. With these in mind, expect a scooped overall response but it's made rather undetectable due to the top end emphasis somewhat. 

Where does the Alnico II advantage come in? It's for those of us who further trim our tones via the volume pot or we have a tone control which is aptly supplemented by a named capacitor. This is where the the El Diablo shines, subtle dialing in of tones but not one that relents when distortion is concerned. 

From a personal perspective, the El Diablo is a little differentiated because of the afforementioned magnet in use, otherwise, we would be hard pressed to recognize its subtleties considering what the Nazgul, Black Winter & Distortion could do in this turf.

Amps used:

• Marshall JCM800 Anniversary 1W
• EVH 5150III
• Randall LX20R

The devil's throat

Was at Beez's...

To have my Seymour Duncans fixed into my Schecter KR-24-2H-FXD:

• Neck: Distortion
• Bridge: El Diablo

I'm about done hearing them in action in driven mode, time for some cleans... (to be cont'd).