Dimarzio "Injector"...

[Strat Avenger]

A few days ago, I installed a set of Dimarzio pickups in a friend's Jackson Adrian Smith model; a Super Distortion at the bridge, Area 67 in the middle, and Injector at the neck.

While familiar with the SD and Area 67, I'd never played a guitar with the Injector pickup before. I was pleasantly surprised. I expected it to lack high-end, but it had plenty, but more output and low-end punch than the Area 67.

I'm glad I got to experience this, because I am now going to install one in the neck position of my current Strat build.
I still like the 67 in the middle for the 2 & 4 position "quack" tones.

I highly recommend the "Injector" neck pickup to anyone who's looking for a true single-coil tone with more output and no hum.

 

[HartzogGuitar89]

I will vouch for them all day long, i had one in a mexi start but did recently change it out for a lollar special. One of my favorite guitarists plays a Clapton start with the mid boost that has the area 61 and the injector in it and his tone is amazing. IMO

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I've been using a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge of my 6 & 7, looking for a single coil stack for the neck of my sixer than can match up well with the Evo as far as volume is concerned.  It can be a challenge finding one that isn't drastically lower in output since I like to solo on the neck just as much as on the bridge p/u.

I still want the single coil character to come out too.  I pulled my Chopper out of the neck & tried a GFS Neo-Vin NAL9. 
It sounds great, it's just the output is too low and I wouldn't mind it being a tad brighter, but Alnico's are warmer in general anyway. 
Has anyone done a comparision between most of these?  In particular, between the NAL9 and the NEO9?  I would presume the Neo magnets are a tad brighter.

I have a True Coil 10K on the way, gonna give that a shot & see if that lil bit of difference in output will do the trick. 

I don't dislike the Chopper at all, just looking for some single coil character in particular.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I've been using a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge of my 6 & 7, looking for a single coil stack for the neck of my sixer than can match up well with the Evo as far as volume is concerned.  It can be a challenge finding one that isn't drastically lower in output since I like to solo on the neck just as much as on the bridge p/u.

I still want the single coil character to come out too.  I pulled my Chopper out of the neck & tried a GFS Neo-Vin NAL9. 
It sounds great, it's just the output is too low and I wouldn't mind it being a tad brighter, but Alnico's are warmer in general anyway. 
Has anyone done a comparision between most of these?  In particular, between the NAL9 and the NEO9?  I would presume the Neo magnets are a tad brighter.

I have a True Coil 10K on the way, gonna give that a shot & see if that lil bit of difference in output will do the trick. 

I don't dislike the Chopper at all, just looking for some single coil character in particular.

I've tried the Chopper in both neck and bridge positions, and to me, it always sounded muddy, and never had enough power for the bridge position.

For a neck single-coil with good output, I'd suggest the Injector OR the Virtual Solo.

 

[Cagey]

I have a True Coil 10K on the way, gonna give that a shot & see if that lil bit of difference in output will do the trick. 

I don't know if that True Coil will have as much output as you want, but I suspect you'll really like the way it sounds. Those are some nice parts. They're not completely silent like the Neovins, but they certainly don't hum like regular single coils. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say they still make about 10% of the noise a single coil makes. But, they make up for it in authentic tone.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Just got it in the mail today, just installed it, found it was CW/CP on the bottom, which I'm just taking a wild guess and assuming it was reverse phase wiring, 'cause in the center position it was out of phase with the bridge p/u.  Quick fix, reverse the leads, voila, nice & even all the way.

It does indeed have the volume to stand up with the Evolution bridge as a soloing pickup in the neck position.  Character is even and balanced, certainly brighter than the NEOVIN9, but not the least bit harsh.  If you want traditional single coil character with more clarity for a high gain usage neck pickup, this is a great option, and you can't beat the price, in fact, mine was in clearance as a blem, and I can't figure out what the blem was other than the leads look like they've been soldered before, so it may have been a demo or something.  No big deal, can't see it anyways and it performs wonderfully.

It also sounds great for my stock clean settings on just the neck alone, or a blend of the neck/bridge.  Very balanced & clear.

I'll hang on to the NEOVIN9 in case I have use for it in a 24x24.75 Strat project down the road.  In the meantime, I'm digging this Tru-Coil 10K.

 

[Cagey]

I'm glad you like it. They don't advertise like some manufacturers do, which is part of the reason their prices are so reasonable. so they rely on word-of-mouth for promotion.

The 10K part is probably more often used in the bridge position, but I understand you need some balance with what you have. Still - nice little unit, eh? I've used a lot of GFS parts, and consider them to be one of the best kept secrets in the guitar world. Low cost, yet high quality. Gotta love 'em.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I'm glad you like it. They don't advertise like some manufacturers do, which is part of the reason their prices are so reasonable. so they rely on word-of-mouth for promotion.

The 10K part is probably more often used in the bridge position, but I understand you need some balance with what you have. Still - nice little unit, eh? I've used a lot of GFS parts, and consider them to be one of the best kept secrets in the guitar world. Low cost, yet high quality. Gotta love 'em.

I concur, my baritone tele body is a GFS, was a birthday present a few years ago.  I got introduced to them some years back when I worked at Warmoth,  Juanito Burrito (Johnny Cochran) gave me a Power Rails pickup, & then I just looked into them more & more.  I love the NeoVin T7 Neck pickup in my Bari-Tele.  Good stuff that GFS.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, a lotta people don't trust them because their prices are so low. But, once you use a few you learn that DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, Kinman, Lollar, et al are just ripping people off. It's just a coil of wire around some magnetized pole pieces. There's no reason for them to cost so much, especially from major manufacturers that you know are winding the things on automated machinery. Somebody winding them by hand you can sorta understand - there's a time issue and time is money. But, the big guys? Phbbt. They're just raping everybody with fancy market-speak.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Most of those manufactures have a reasonably large staff and increased overhead.
Lollar is a loner up here on Vashon Island, a hand winder, and I imagine the bulk of his overhead is in advertising, but he's still a small shop with a couple of staff people at the most.

 

[Cagey]

Ok. Perhaps he's just greedy. Check out Bill Lawrence's parts. They're all hand wound super high-quality parts, but they don't charge a bazillion bucks for them. They're not as inexpensive as GFS stuff, but they're not abusive, either.