Duncan Iommi

[Karmadog777]

Ok so I bought yet another SZ (intending to sell after I scavenge the pickups)this one had what the seller said was a duncan Iommi pup, after carefully examining the picture and info from the SD site I came to the conclusion that the seller was mistaken and the pup was a El Diablo
I was wrong! Its a SH-TI 1b


I found that the Jackson Kevin Bond signature model has this pup,its described as a "twin hot rails" somewhere else I read its the same as the el diablo, but I know the El Diablo has a A2 mag, this Iommi sounds ceramic anyone know the scoop?
Incedentally,I also scored a real EL Diablo brand new un used, if I loved them I was going to maybe put em in 2 guitars, but the Iommi hasnt really floored me,alittle too much high end for my tastes. Oh yeh thats a Jazz in the neck

[JB_From_Hell]

Cool score. My SZ is the same one, with the faux binding. Just for poops and giggles, how much are you gonna ask for it?

[JB_From_Hell]

Oh yeah, what does the Iommi sound like?

[Karmadog777]

the Iommi is LOUD and rude, its really powerful sounding and punchy,palm mutes really well and the highs sound like Iommi's leads on the Born again album, razor sharp and ice picky.
Not sure exactly what Im gunna do with it yet,just got it this afternoon.

[idsnowdog]

I had one like that but I believe the model number was HB-104. I didn't like it much. It nailed the rhythm tone on Eternal Idol and the leads as described sound like the leads on Born Again. The EQ curve was pretty much BB_________________________TTT. It was heavy but with so much of the EQ spectrum attenuated it got lost in the mix really easily.

[JB_From_Hell]

The HB-104 is the DD version of the Iommi. It's really that scooped? Oh well, so much for that.

[Karmadog777]

this dont really sound so scooped to me ,it has alot of punch that supposedly comes from mids....but the highs will hurt you!
havent even played with a drum machine yet,but it seems like it would cut thru granite wall

[idsnowdog]

The HB-104 is the DD version of the Iommi. It's really that scooped? Oh well, so much for that.

Unless what Karma has and what I had are different? I really wish SD would come clean about these pickups and their various guises. There seems to be a lack of coherent information. About the only kind of music where I would see it working well is ambient drone. Otherwise I don't think its a great riffer.

[Karmadog777]

what I wanna know... is the Iommi the same as the El Diablo
it seems the HB104 is a version of the Iommi
my impression so far is on less than a half hour of playing
I guess I have a swap to do this weekend

[Karmadog777]

?bump?

[WGTP]

Wasn't there a story about a guy in England making Iommi guitars, but then he endorsed a Gibson and they couldn't call the pickup the Iommi, so it ended up being El Diablo? That may not be correct, I don't remember. Don't quoate me.

[Karmadog777]

I knew there was a Gibson Iommi and I didnt see a Iommi in the custom shop listings,thats why I thought the pup was a Diablo when I bought the guitar
but to answer your question ,
yeh this guy http://www.seymourduncan.com/dealers...ickEggle.shtml

here is the Tony Iommi model http://www.patrickeggleguitars.com/artist.html

this model has the pickups in question http://www.patrickeggleguitars.com/berlinwall.html
notice the Artist (formerly Iommi model) states it has JD pickups ??
I just cant Imagine Scott Ian comming to Seymour Duncan for a custom pickup, one to become a signature model...and Seymoure says hey the Iommi model is available you can have that one.. The reviews I have read on the El Diablo do not sound like the discription of the Iommi I have.... Like I said though, I have a brand new El Diablo in the box, I will have to install in in my other SZ and A/B them then I will know, I was just hoping some forum bro in the Know would answer the question for me before I install it.
The Iommi is growing on me some...generally I like a warmer tone, but its nice to have something with some bite for a change

[D-EJ915]

Those pickups are pretty *****in' I've used it before in the Kevin Bond and it was pretty insane.

[Karmadog777]

UPDATE, the El Diablo is still in the box HOWEVER ...this Iommi pup is winning me over more and more I play it, The SZ it is in has a LP style 3way so the middle position is both buckers...well playing this high gain I discovered that if I put it in the middle and just add a tad of the Jazz pup to the bridge it sounds....well ...perfect! the tone I usually look for in a bridge pup is there! I never had a guitar that sounded Great with 2 buckers in the middle position before unless it was a clean sound. The jazz neck pup adds everything the Iommi bridge was missing.
I may have to keep the El Diablo for my custom Warmoth project
but i want to hear it sooo bad.............

[WGTP]

This is from the section about Duncan Design Pickups. I thought I read something about it there.

The HB-104 is a high-output blade humbucker that's based on a design we created for England's Patrick Eggle Guitars. The guitar was short-lived, but the pickup lives on in some recent guitar designs from Schecter and Jackson.

[JOLLY]

here ya go

The Seymour Duncan Iommi debuted in the mid-90s as an exclusive for Patrick Eggle Guitars' Tony Iommi model (both Tony and Patrick Eggle were from Birmingham). The guitar and the pickup were short-lived. When Gibson found out about it, they offered Tony a better deal for a guitar and pickup as long as he terminated the Patrick Eggle and Seymour Duncan deals. Which he did. (BTW, he was a complete gentleman about it).

One of the things that makes this pickup unique is that the blades are the actual magnets. So in this sense, it's quite a bit different from the Dimebucker and the rails pickups. Also, the bobbin that's used on this pickup is the same as the STK-S2 Hot Stack for Strat. That means it's quite a bit wider than a traditional humbucker, and it won't fit easily into a traditional mounting ring.

One of the first people to use this pickup after Mr. Iommi, was Mike Tempesta, who was Scott Ian's tech, and then went on to play guitar in Human Waste Project and Powerman 5000. (Nowadays, he's head of artist relations for Yamaha guitars).

There was a Duncan Designed pickup, the HB-104, that also had blades, but it was based on an HB-103 and (IIRC) it used a single ceramic magnet mounted traditionally and the blades were not magnets. It was used by a few Duncan Designed customers, including Schecter in the 5-string Mike Tempesta model.

Nowadays, you can find the pickup, re-dubed as the Scott Ian model, in Scott's new Washburn signature guitar.



And, you can get it from the custom shop as the Scott Ian Signature Model, blade-version. Also, we've tooled up a custom-made mounting ring that fits the wider bobbins.

I hope that helps.

[MrHeavyMetal]

I think there might be subtle differences between the Diablo and 21K SHTI-1 Iommi. I believe the Iommi is ceramic and the rails ARE part of the magnet structure. Evan might be able to clarify.

[WGTP]

Yes, Evan should help us out here with some spec.s and other info.

[Karmadog777]

Thanks Jolly, for digging up that post,thats the most information I have found to date, I am still wondering about like what Mr.HeavyMetal said about subtle differences. But Evan did say"Nowadays, you can find the pickup, re-dubed as the Scott Ian model,"
that makes it sound as if its the exact same pup with a different name.
I just dont want to believe it.

[Karmadog777]

is the Iommi ceramic and the El Diablo a A2 ?
I guess that is all I need to know at this point