Dialtone Pickups = Interest pique'd.

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

http://www.dialtonepickups.com/ 

 

[vikingred]

http://www.dialtonepickups.com/

I want.

I need.

Dat gold one!  With dat Schaller Hannes black/gold hardtail bridge, on a chambered koa body, single pick up, single gold knurled volume knob!  3A Flame maple neck/fretboard one solid piece with GOLD 6100 frets.  Sick!

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I just exchanged emails with Tori, and they're also working on a Single Coil sized/voiced design.

 

[vikingred]

I just exchanged emails with Tori, and they're also working on a Single Coil sized/voiced design.

I'd love to hear a side-by-side comparison with EMG, particularly the EMG 57 (bridge).
I think I'm in.  Dammit, I was gonna hold off for a while. Tony, you see what you did?

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I just exchanged emails with Tori, and they're also working on a Single Coil sized/voiced design.

I'd love to hear a side-by-side comparison with EMG, particularly the EMG 57 (bridge).
I think I'm in.  Dammit, I was gonna hold off for a while. Tony, you see what you did?

Just happened to see the add in the back of Premier Guitar this month, went on their site at started watching the Demo Vids.  Real Time adjusting during the demo is what caught my attention, and the little set screw if you want to keep it set once dialed in. 

I would recommend taking the time to watch most of their demo videos in their entirety.  It'll give a larger perspective of their perceived value.  I don't know that I could necessarily A/B them up against other pickups because you'd be hard pressed to duplicate a Dimarzio or EMG exactly.

What you do have is a pickup that can be "tuned" to your guitar or amp, or even dial it in as you're trying to record & get it to where it just cuts in the mix using your current amp settings. 

Also, you can finally get the voicing you want with matched volumes/gains between neck/bridge, which in my experience is always a challenge.  I love the voicing of a lower output neck pickup, but I just want the overall volume loud enough to match that of the bridge pickup.

 

[BigSteve22]

I'm usually not much for active set ups, but these might just change my mind. I like the "tune in" by changing frequency response concept.

I have '83, two conductor, DiMarzio PAFs in my Hagstrom. Love the mellow, full sound, but wish it had a touch more twang up top. On the other hand, the Duncan STKs in my Strat are clear and bright, but I sometime wish I could get just take a little of the edge off the upper range without killing the mid range with the tone pot. (I plan on changing the .022uf's for .015uf's, see if it helps.)

Thanks for posting Tony, more food for thought and another place to spend my $!

 

[vikingred]

Order placed.  I got the black one, with the black ring, high output, and the wiring kit, and short and long pots.  Damn, here I go.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

I'm really interested to hear what you think. There was some chatter about these on TDPRI a few months ago and they are certainly intriguing. I've yet to hear any "real life" reviews. I have my own thoughts about some of their claims, but by any standards it's a very cool set of tonal options to have at your fingertips. Yes, I'm really interested to hear what you think. Do you have a guitar to plop them in to or will this be spawning another build?

 

[vikingred]

I'm really interested to hear what you think. There was some chatter about these on TDPRI a few months ago and they are certainly intriguing. I've yet to hear any "real life" reviews. I have my own thoughts about some of their claims, but by any standards it's a very cool set of tonal options to have at your fingertips. Yes, I'm really interested to hear what you think. Do you have a guitar to plop them in to or will this be spawning another build?

I'm afraid it will be quite a ways off, at least a month or two, as I have other things in the pipe (Canary Strat).  I am very interested to see how they compare to the EMGs, particularly the EMG 57, which is a great bridge pickup.  I have a sort of "concept" body I'm thinking of:

 

[TBurst Std]

Let us know. The demos didn't do it for me. Other than the high gain, they sounded choked/muffled.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I'm really interested to hear what you think. There was some chatter about these on TDPRI a few months ago and they are certainly intriguing. I've yet to hear any "real life" reviews. I have my own thoughts about some of their claims, but by any standards it's a very cool set of tonal options to have at your fingertips. Yes, I'm really interested to hear what you think. Do you have a guitar to plop them in to or will this be spawning another build?

You have to realize that in the vids, they're just referencing different sounds, not a definitive "dial in" of your tone like I mentioned one could above.

I think they did ok with the demo on the high gain as well, and perhaps the more jazzy of tones, but I would also like to see a blues application explored as that can be a widely varied interpretation from low gain like Robert Cray up to high gain like Gary Moore.

This is where the single coil that they're working on will be highly interesting to me as I love the vintage voicing, but when thrown into a high gain application to be used with a bridge pickup, it warms up far more than I want it to.  I like my Cantrell-ish bridge tone, but would like the Yngwie neck chime when I flick over to the neck p/u.  Hard to achieve in one guitar using the same amp tone for both pickups.  You end up going for a higher output neck pickup just to match the volume of the bridge p/u, only to compress more than you wanted, which makes you lose the "bloom" and the "quack".  Lowering the bridge p/u just cuts off the testicular fortitude.

I envision Dialtone's offerings to get far closer to that than anything else that I've seen out there.

 

[vikingred]

I'm really interested to hear what you think. There was some chatter about these on TDPRI a few months ago and they are certainly intriguing. I've yet to hear any "real life" reviews. I have my own thoughts about some of their claims, but by any standards it's a very cool set of tonal options to have at your fingertips. Yes, I'm really interested to hear what you think. Do you have a guitar to plop them in to or will this be spawning another build?

You have to realize that in the vids, they're just referencing different sounds, not a definitive "dial in" of your tone like I mentioned one could above.

I think they did ok with the demo on the high gain as well, and perhaps the more jazzy of tones, but I would also like to see a blues application explored as that can be a widely varied interpretation from low gain like Robert Cray up to high gain like Gary Moore.

This is where the single coil that they're working on will be highly interesting to me as I love the vintage voicing, but when thrown into a high gain application to be used with a bridge pickup, it warms up far more than I want it to.  I like my Cantrell-ish bridge tone, but would like the Yngwie neck chime when I flick over to the neck p/u.  Hard to achieve in one guitar using the same amp tone for both pickups.  You end up going for a higher output neck pickup just to match the volume of the bridge p/u, only to compress more than you wanted, which makes you lose the "bloom" and the "quack".  Lowering the bridge p/u just cuts off the testicular fortitude.

I envision Dialtone's offerings to get far closer to that than anything else that I've seen out there.

^^This.  If they had a set of single coils I'd be all over them, too.  I E-mailed the dude (Tory) about lead time on the one I ordered, and I'm waiting to hear back but I think it's going to be a while.  My order was order #00043.  Heh.  You can get the pickup with or without detents.  It's 11 detents I believe.  I got the one without.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Tory is actually the wife of the inventor, but she winds each and every single pickup by hand from their home.

Below is my actual exchange with Tory.

"Good morning.
Any plans on a single coil sized/voiced pickup, perhaps for the neck position?

Tony Flying Squirrel,
<><~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<<<<
U-Ne Tluh Nuh-Hi
"God Bless You"

Her response:

support@dialtonepickups.com
"Tony,
Thank you for your email.
Yes, we are currently developing a single coil design, and we plan to introduce it sometime next year. Our single coil design will most likely offer digital potentiometers (still an analog signal), which means added versatility and potentially another effect or two built into the pickup and accessible by pushing one of the knobs down to change the mode. Please keep an eye on our Facebook page and website for updates.
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Best,
Tory
Dialtone Pickups
www.dialtonepickups.com
support@dialtonepickups.com"

Under "About" on their website: http://www.dialtonepickups.com/about

"John holds a PhD in Applied Plasma Physics from the Nuclear Engineering Department at MIT"

This is what I think is remarkable, because he saw this as something to address from a non-conventional guitar part manufacturing history.  He addressed the science behind it at the source.  Pretty cool stuff.  Reminds me of the origin of the wah pedal.  That was invented specifically for trumpet players, it never was intended for use by guitar players.

 

[fdesalvo]

Can't do it.  Sold all my rack stuff and Mark series Boogies for the same reason - Tweakus Infinitum.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Can't do it.  Sold all my rack stuff and Mark series Boogies for the same reason - Tweakus Infinitum.

I can relate, but I do think the set screw or indent options are nice so that you can lock it in once you get there.

 

[vikingred]

Can't do it.  Sold all my rack stuff and Mark series Boogies for the same reason - Tweakus Infinitum.

y u no like to tweak, bro?

 

[mayfly]

You know, isn't this just an active pickup with an active EQ?  Couldn't you just do the same thing with a parametric setup in the guitar's controls?

 

[bagman67]

 

[Verne Bunsen]

You know, isn't this just an active pickup with an active EQ?  Couldn't you just do the same thing with a parametric setup in the guitar's controls?

In a nutshell, that was what I took from the demos. When he turned the dials, I didn't hear "different pickups", I heard "different settings on a couple of filters". It strikes me more as a new approach to on-board effects than a revolution in guitar pickups. I think there's some cool sounds in there and I have no doubt that people will do interesting things with them, but what I perceive is a little different from what's described.

 

[vikingred]

You know, isn't this just an active pickup with an active EQ?  Couldn't you just do the same thing with a parametric setup in the guitar's controls?

Yeah, Mayfly, that's all it is.  You run get busy and hook it up real nice like they did MMmmmmk?