# Duncan nazgul vs duncan distortion



## vejichan (Jan 8, 2017)

Any experience with these two? I have nazgul but was wondering if switching to distrion might give me more versatility? But the eq on the Duncan sight shows they are very similar with distortion have higher output?


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## Zhysick (Jan 8, 2017)

I would say output wise they are very similar but the Distortion is a more "old style" (so not that djenty) sound. Less "quacky", less harsh, a bit better balanced but tight and a bit "highs hard" as the Nazgul.

Unless you go Djent I think the Distortion will always be a better option.

PS: Yes, I have had both of them.


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## pearl_07 (Jan 8, 2017)

I could not jive with the Nazgul when I had a KM-7, but I love the Distortion in my Ibanez 6 string. Not sure what it was, but the Nazgul just sounded "off" to me. Is there anything about the Nazgul that makes you think it's a non-versatile pickup?


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## Electric Wizard (Jan 8, 2017)

I agree with what has been said so far. The nazgul accentuates some frequencies that don't always sound great, although some people make it sound amazing. I found it to have harsh highs and kind of boomy mids. I think it does glassy cleans fairly well, maybe a bit better than the distortion.

The distortion is a more traditionally voiced pickup which is nice if you want it to do anything in between clean and high gain. I find it to be higher output than the nazgul, and if you don't adjust the volume it will still break up on a clean channel.

Personally for versatility I have never tried anything that I liked better than the Suhr SSH+.


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## vejichan (Jan 9, 2017)

Thanks for responding to my post.

i looked on duncan website and it has both distortion and nazgul with the same eq type. Only the distortion has more output. Is it worth changing the nazgul for a distortion? can i adjust the pickup height for the nazgul to be more versatile?

thanks


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## Zoobiedood (Jan 9, 2017)

To my ears, the Distortion has more high highs, and the Nazgul's highs are eq'd just under that. The Distortion is better for old school thrash, while the Nazgul sounds more modern to me.


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## Shask (Jan 9, 2017)

The Nazgul is much more modern sounding. It is much tighter, and has that upper mid spike which gives it that metallic clank sound.

The Distortion is more old-school sounding. Bigger, not as tight, the whole thing sounds more fuzzy and less tight, more big and chunky instead of tight and clanky.

I don't know if I would say the Distortion is more versatile. You probably want lower output if you want more versatility.... something like a JB or Custom.


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## CapnForsaggio (Jan 9, 2017)

In 10 years, you won't even be able to buy a Nazgul... They are annoyingly unique in their "clank."

The Duncan Distortion was the ORIGINAL aftermarket pickup.

I used to think that as the "first" they might not be the best. I was wrong, it is the best.


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## KailM (Jan 9, 2017)

^^^Except for the Black Winter, which is an even BETTER Duncan Distortion on steroids.


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## FourT6and2 (Jan 11, 2017)

I have both in two identical guitars (Mayones Duvell Elites).

The Distortion is quite literally a JB with a ceramic magnet. It is fairly high output, tight lows and a nice mid-range. But the highs are greasy and fizzy and the pickup sort of smears notes out. If that makes sense. Not my favorite pickup. Probably my least favorite.

The Nazgul is much tighter. Bigger low end. More aggressive, angry mid range, highs are not as fizzy. But they are still pronounced. Pickup has a bit of a quack to it. I like it. Easy to play. Lots of saturation. Cleans up surprisingly well. Probably up there in my top picks. But not my fav.

Pegasus is crap. I don't like it at all. Weak. Loose. Dark. No aggression. Horrible.

Omega = yes. Best pickup I've ever played. It has the tightness, aggression, and saturation of the Nazgul. But the clarity and air of a Bareknuckle. And it is versatile like how the Pegasus is supposed to be.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jan 11, 2017)

depending on how ballsy you are, you could pick up a pegasus and change the magnet to a ceramic. there was a thread on here a while ago from a user who did that. he was quite happy with the results and said it really made the pickup wayyy better. cheaper than buying an omega from the custom shop fwiw.


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## FourT6and2 (Jan 11, 2017)

KnightBrolaire said:


> depending on how ballsy you are, you could pick up a pegasus and change the magnet to a ceramic. there was a thread on here a while ago from a user who did that. he was quite happy with the results and said it really made the pickup wayyy better. cheaper than buying an omega from the custom shop fwiw.



Oh yeah I remember that thread. I wonder how close the two would be...


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## elkoki (Jan 20, 2017)

vejichan said:


> Any experience with these two? I have nazgul but was wondering if switching to distrion might give me more versatility? But the eq on the Duncan sight shows they are very similar with distortion have higher output?



Did you end up swapping the nazgul ? I was actually thinking of swapping mine out too for a sd distortion . Kinda why I signed up here .. is there anything you don't like about the nazgul ? 

Maybe it's my amp but I find it to be pretty dark sounding and harsh in my schecter. 

It does have qualities to it that I kinda of like , but overall it feels too dark and mid heavy for me . thought about using the black winter as well .


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## Nick (Jan 20, 2017)

I own both and while I can see how the Nazgul could be 'djenty' I have no interest in djent at all. I play death and black metal and i love it for both I'd choose it over a distortion especially when paired with the sentient.

That said, I have to agree with this:



Electric Wizard said:


> Personally for versatility I have never tried anything that I liked better than the Suhr SSH+.



I also own one of them and it is awesome in any application.


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## KailM (Jan 20, 2017)

Nick said:


> I own both and while I can see how the Nazgul could be 'djenty' I have no interest in djent at all. I play death and black metal and i love it for both I'd choose it over a distortion especially when paired with the sentient.



Not to derail the thread, but Nick, if I'm understanding you right, sounds like you're pretty happy with your Nazgul for death and black metal?

I've been planning to go passive in my C# Standard/Drop B guitar and was going to throw a Black Winter set in there because I like them so much in my D Standard guitar -- but always been curious about the Nazgul since I think it might handle lower tunings a bit better. Like you, I've no interest in getting a djent sound whatsoever -- but 99.9% of all clips of the Nazgul are that twangy/quacky/clank-tone. I've kind of come to the conclusion that "that" tone comes from amp dialing and playing style just as much as it comes from the pickups -- but I could be wrong.

I heard one clip of a guy playing genuine death metal riffs with a Nazgul and it sounded pretty damned good -- nice clarity but sounded good for the genre. Is that your findings as well? I tend to go for more of an old-school death metal tone where there is still some bass allowed to come from the guitar...


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## Vrollin (Jan 20, 2017)

Get a JB and an A8 magnet, slip it in, bam, a "distortion" with alnico highs....


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## Shask (Jan 20, 2017)

KailM said:


> I heard one clip of a guy playing genuine death metal riffs with a Nazgul and it sounded pretty damned good -- nice clarity but sounded good for the genre. Is that your findings as well? I tend to go for more of an old-school death metal tone where there is still some bass allowed to come from the guitar...



It does have that upper mid spike which can bring the clank, but you can dial in other things than Djent. I dont go for that tone either, but love the Nazgul. (I love the Black Winter, Custom, Invader, and Distortion also though.... for various reasons ).

I love it for playing Pantera style stuff. Chunky on the low end with enough upper mids to hit mean harmonics and string scrapes. I also love it for older Fear Factory style playing. Very tight and percussive, but again, enough upper mid definition to really sound aggressive.


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## FourT6and2 (Jan 20, 2017)

I play prog rock and metal (Tool, Muse, Karnivool...) and the Nazgul does just fine for that. Gotta dial your amp for the sound you want, though.


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## Triple-J (Jan 20, 2017)

I've been going back and forth a lot between my KM7(nazgul) and Jackson JS32-7(Duncan Distortion) and they're both pickups with a great percussive quality to them but apart from that the similarity is minor as I'm really having to tweak my settings when I change guitars and I definitely haven't found that sweet spot with the Nazgul yet.

Out of the two I prefer the DD as it's cleans are surprisingly warm and snappy(crazy as it sounds I play a lot of rockabilly/funk/country stuff on 7 string) and the Nazgul just doesn't seem able to do that.


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## SwanWings (Jan 22, 2017)

Personally, I love the Nazgul. I have... 4 guitars with one in em. The first guitar I bought with a set in it was a schecter, and I immediately thought "ah, this is my pickup". Might not happen for you all, or maybe you set your eq's and equipment differently, but they just work for me and my playing style.


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## pablometal (Jun 19, 2019)

i had the duncan distortion and it couldn't handle drop B, it sounded like shit so i bought an emg 85 which sounds really similar and problem solved. And it's true, it has a classic sound..really agressive but not enough for drop tunings!!


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## LeviathanKiller (Jun 19, 2019)

I hated the Nazgul. I'm not sure if I've used the Distortion any but just about anything would be better imo


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## littlebadboy (Jun 20, 2019)

I know this is a necro'd thread, but I am liking the Custom 5.


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## skmanga (Jun 22, 2019)

I replaced the nazgul in my km7 mk2 for a distortion 7.
And i 100% prefer it to the shrill highs and quack of the nazgul. Maybe its not so great in swamp ash?

But for some reason while the duncan distortion works fine i bet theres a pickup better suited for the guitar and my style of playing.
I use a 5153 6l6 which is a high gain monster already, so im not really sure if such a high output pickup like the distortion is the best option for me.

It works fine though, and i could just be projecting my latest curiosity with lower or more medium output pickups.

I was very surprised hearing my buddies rg752 with the stock pafs compared to my higher output pickup equipped gutars like the duncan distortion and a kiesel lithium when going into a ds1 thru the clean channel of my 5153.
With his guitar the ds1 sounded thick and warm, with mine it was shrill and spikey.
Deff opened up my mind to lower output pickups.


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## KnightBrolaire (Jun 22, 2019)

skmanga said:


> I replaced the nazgul in my km7 mk2 for a distortion 7.
> And i 100% prefer it to the shrill highs and quack of the nazgul. Maybe its not so great in swamp ash?
> 
> But for some reason while the duncan distortion works fine i bet theres a pickup better suited for the guitar and my style of playing.
> ...


You just have to find a pickup with a voicing that counters what you dislike about the distortion in that guitar. There are big thick warm high output pickups out there, like the parallel axis distortion (6 string only sadly), invader, elysian hellfire, bkp warpig, avedissian scythe, etc. So many people waste time worrying about output/other minutia around pickups instead of treating them like they are: a chunk of wire/magnet that imparts a fixed eq/voicing onto your signal. If a guitar is too bright, put a warmer pickup in. Too dark, do the opposite.


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## skmanga (Jun 22, 2019)

KnightBrolaire said:


> You just have to find a pickup with a voicing that counters what you dislike about the distortion in that guitar. There are big thick warm high output pickups out there, like the parallel axis distortion (6 string only sadly), invader, elysian hellfire, bkp warpig, avedissian scythe, etc. So many people waste time worrying about output/other minutia around pickups instead of treating them like they are: a chunk of wire/magnet that imparts a fixed eq/voicing onto your signal. If a guitar is too bright, put a warmer pickup in. Too dark, do the opposite.



That does sound like the proper method to land onto the right pickup.
It is more or less the method I used to narrow down my options down to the Distortion over the Nazgul.
One thing that limited my selection back then was that I was convinced I needed high output pickups for the kind of guitarist that I am, but now I know that's not the case!

Thanks for the tip.


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