Favorite dimarzio humbucker?
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rgand
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I put a 36th Anniv PAF neck pickup in the bridge position paired with a Bill Lawrence L-500R. Crisp to warm depending on the tone setting. Can't say how it is with distortion since I don't do much. There are hotter Bill Lawrence L-500 pickups depending on your preferences. Dimebag Darrel used hot L-500XLs so those would probably do what you like.
Rick
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For humbuckers, I always stick with Duncan's. For single coils, Bill Lawrence (the real one) or Dimarzio. For the Dimarzio's I stick with the area series. I like putting a hot humbucker in the bridge, and a more vintage humbucker in the neck. I think that the SD and the PAF is probably an excellent combo.
Rick
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Honestly don't know what he used, but he was a real tweaker. You could probably write a book on all the things that went into his tone. Probably your best bet is to find out what his son is (was) using on the Zappa plays Zappa tour, I bet there's some info on the interweb.
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Rig_Rundown_Dweezil_Zappa
I remember Zappa senior using a pignose and an SG, but when and what album ... :dontknow:
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Rig_Rundown_Dweezil_Zappa
I remember Zappa senior using a pignose and an SG, but when and what album ... :dontknow:
S
ss396
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For a high output humbucker I love the EVO2. It is so good I have no pickup gas ever. I play mostly rock and instumental stuff, no metal past a Judas Priest tone, no clean on bridge, I have middle single coil for that.
The AT1 is a very nice medium-gain pickup. It’s power is concentrated in the bass, low mids, and mids, and Dimarzio says it’s similar to he PAF 36th anniversary in construction. I’ve also heard that it’s a tweaked EVO.
This is the opposite of what you asked for but I absolutely hated the Tone Zone.
This is the opposite of what you asked for but I absolutely hated the Tone Zone.
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C-Dub said:
I like the idea of the AT-1, but after trying it three times - three different pickups in three different guitars - I've found that in each case it did something weird to the D string. A weird tonality that was different from the other strings.
Weird, I know...but that's my experience.
Too bad, because I really want to like it!
My personal favorite DiMarzios are the ones that are in my ESP E-II ST2. I freakin' LOVE those pickups...but they are a proprietary model designed for those guitars, and I can't get DiMarzio to tell me what production model they are closest to. I would buy a set immediately!
fdesalvo
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Right now, I'm stuck between the Transition and Gravity Storm bridges, if we are sticking to the Dimarzio brand. The Transition Bridge is quite a bit hotter than I was expecting and probably not the right fit for the guitar it's sitting in at present. Either one is very organic and great when split. Really big accomplishment for Dimarzio lately - organic and powerful.
I'm having a hard time putting the guitar with the BK Rebel Yell down at the moment, truth be told. It's about a medium + output pickup, but it's so clear and delivers harmonics and soaring leads like none other. But, back on point - I'm still curious about the classic Dimarzio SD! So many iconic tracks cut with that one, it's undeniable in the right guitar.
In the past I've used the PAF Pro (FAT and rich!), Evolution (holy treble!), Tone Zone (meh in everything I've had it in), HFH (excellent neck for single coil tones), and a handful of others. They do make some fun pickups.
I'm having a hard time putting the guitar with the BK Rebel Yell down at the moment, truth be told. It's about a medium + output pickup, but it's so clear and delivers harmonics and soaring leads like none other. But, back on point - I'm still curious about the classic Dimarzio SD! So many iconic tracks cut with that one, it's undeniable in the right guitar.
In the past I've used the PAF Pro (FAT and rich!), Evolution (holy treble!), Tone Zone (meh in everything I've had it in), HFH (excellent neck for single coil tones), and a handful of others. They do make some fun pickups.
Strat Avenger
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The guy was asking about a neck pickup and you guys are recommending bridge pickups.
Not sure why it needs to be a Dimarzio, but for the neck position, the PAF Pro, the Fred, the Air Norton, and the Evolution are nice. I'm actually running a Air Norton wired in parallel for the neck position and it sounds nice & single coil-ish.
Not sure why it needs to be a Dimarzio, but for the neck position, the PAF Pro, the Fred, the Air Norton, and the Evolution are nice. I'm actually running a Air Norton wired in parallel for the neck position and it sounds nice & single coil-ish.
Bob Hoover Ross
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Rgand said:
...if this was 1978
:icon_biggrin:
Just kidding. Sort of.
I honestly haven't used any DiMarzio guitar pickups since probably 1981 or '82. But at that time I owned a couple of guitars with SDHPs and I was beginning to realize that they were completely antithetical to what I was looking for in a guitar pickup 99% of the time.
The thing is, for that remaining 1% they were perfect!
My holy grail back then would've been a Les Paul or a 335 with a PAF in the neck position and a SDHP in the bridge position (and one of the DiMarzio-equipped guitars I owned was basically an Aria Les Paul copy thusly equipped). But as things like "clean" and "chime" and "sparkle" and "detail" and "warmth" and yadda-yadda-yadda became more important to my guitar sound, I moved away from DiMarzios.
In the intervening years I gravitated towards Bill Lawrence (when it was Bill's company) or Seymour Duncan, and they're probably the first guys I'd turn to if I were building a new guitar today. Although I'm really digging what I hear (2nd hand) from Lindy Fralin, so maybe I'd give his pickups a good hard look.
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