Semour Duncan Dimebucker

[Wampa_One]

Have any of you guys had experience with this pickup? I am thinking about putting one of these in the bridge position for a future build. I'm either gonna use alder or basswood for the body

 

[CD]

I know a guy that has one in an epiphone les paul that sounds pretty killer. It's actually pretty quiet too. I've never used one myself though. I thought about getting a Bill Lawrence 500XL but I didn't want to wait forever on the pickup.

 

[incense]

I ordered a bill lawrence 500xl from bill lawrence website - it was there within 3-4 days.

 

[CD]

I emailed Bill's wife Becky(I think?), which this was a couple years ago, and I got the reply I would have a wait time of a few months for a pickup. I thought it was a bit weird so I just went with Dimarzio instead.

 

[Wampa_One]

Thanks for the help guys. I was wonderiing if the 500XL is any good for Heavy metal. That was the main reason why I was intrigued by the dimebucker

 

[Shmoopie]

yeah go with it, it was used by the best metal guitarist ever  arty07:  it has a high dc resistance, and a high resonance peak. so lots of tone.

my first warmoth guitar will have one and a sd distortion, with a black ice capacitor wired to the tone knobs.

 

[Wampa_One]

Oh... I see. So I can tell that the dimebucker is at least based on the 500xl. But is it like an exact copy? If not, which one would you recommend? 

 

[incense]

The person who referred me to bill lawrence pickups is a big dime fan.  He would tell you that the 500xl is the way to go - but, he hasn't been particularly happy doing his own installations.  He has an ML with the dimebucker - and says it is, in fact, very similar.  But, he still prefers the bill lawrence.  I'm running a "bill lawrence usa" copy in my ibanez which is the stew mac version of bill lawrence's pup.  Similarly, he (or I) would prefer the bill lawrence 500xl.

Typically, the 500xl is a hotter output pickup with good tonal interpretation.  It's a fairly "live" pup which interprets chirp and such (like pinch harmonics) extremely well.  Dimebag expressed it by saying he had 3 types of gain in his signal chain - 1st being that he used a "hot" pickup - the bill lawrence 500xl.

 

[Wampa_One]

THanks alot for your help. I am also a huge dime fan. At my highschool I have to do a culminating project that is due in my senior year. I am planning to make a sort of Dime tribute guitar. I will try to carve out an ML out of a piece of alder or basswood. I was originally planning to put a dimebucker in the bridge. But now I'm leaning toward putting the 500xl in the bridge. Any tips on what I should put in the neck?

 

[CD]

I'm pretty sure Dime used a Seymour Duncan '59 in the neck most of the time, but I've seen a Dimarzio in the neck of one his guitars.

 

[allium_sativum]

This is what Seymour Duncan has about the development of the Dimebucker. 

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/faqdescr.shtml#dime

Here is a press interview with Dimebag Darrell that was released when the Dimebuckers where introduced. 

http://www.seymourduncan.com/artists/interview_archive.shtml#dime

This may help in what the differences are.

 

[Wampa_One]

Thanks for all the help guys. I've decided that I want somethin different in the neck pos then what dimebag had.
I'm intrigued by dimarzio's d activator pickups. I will post another thread asking about them

 

[ELECTRIC FUNERAL]

yeah go with it, it was used by the best metal guitarist ever  arty07:  it has a high dc resistance, and a high resonance peak. so lots of tone.

my first warmoth guitar will have one and a sd distortion, with a black ice capacitor wired to the tone knobs.

what's a blck ice cap do tone wise? thanks :icon_biggrin:

 

[allium_sativum]

The black ice overdrive is not a capacitor, it is a passive clipping circuit sold by Stewart Mac.  If you have high output pickups it adds distortion to you sound with out a batteries or other effects.  Although using a Schottky Diode like a STMicroelectronics BAT46 will do the same thing and it is much cheaper. 

I tried this on the strat I just built.  I will post sound clips and other information about what I learned when I get time. 

 

[ELECTRIC FUNERAL]

The black ice overdrive is not a capacitor, it is a passive clipping circuit sold by Stewart Mac.   If you have high output pickups it adds distortion to you sound with out a batteries or other effects.  Although using a Schottky Diode like a STMicroelectronics BAT46 will do the same thing and it is much cheaper.   

I tried this on the strat I just built.  I will post sound clips and other information about what I learned when I get time. 

so would you say it's kinda like a preamp boost. something like what EMG/ Kerri king uses?

So maybe when your having one those gigs to where your just not getting the gain or boost you would just flip a switch? possibly? :headbang1:

 

[allium_sativum]

The black ice overdrive is not a capacitor, it is a passive clipping circuit sold by Stewart Mac.   If you have high output pickups it adds distortion to you sound with out a batteries or other effects.  Although using a Schottky Diode like a STMicroelectronics BAT46 will do the same thing and it is much cheaper.   

I tried this on the strat I just built.  I will post sound clips and other information about what I learned when I get time. 

so would you say it's kinda like a preamp boost. something like what EMG/ Kerri king uses?

So maybe when your having one those gigs to where your just not getting the gain or boost you would just flip a switch? possibly? :headbang1:

I don't like that Stewart Mac called them an overdrive, they don't work like most overdrives do.  The Black Ice or a Schottky Diode is closer to a Fuzz Face then an overdrive.  Because it is passive it does not make your signal any hotter, it actually lowers it. It just clips off part of the wave to make it sound like an amp that is being overdriven. 

I am sitting down to record some sound clips now.  I will start a thread in the electronics section soon with more information. 

 

[Shmoopie]

what's a blck ice cap do tone wise? thanks :icon_biggrin:
[/quote]

its a battery free passive overdrive that replaces your cap.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Components:_Black_Ice_overdrive.html

 

[Patrick from Davis]

This is a story that has a lot or quirks to it.  OK, Dime originally got the Bill Lawrence 500XL from Stewart MacDonald.  It is the same as the Bill Lawrence 500XL from the billlawrenceusa.com website by that company, owned by Jzchak Wajcman.  The actual person Bill Lawrence, owner of billlawrence.com still produces pickups with his family, but is not affiliated with the Bill Lawrence company.  His pickups are hand made and take quite a long time to produce.  The Seymour Duncan pickup was produced under Dimes supervision, but it is essentially a knock off of the 500XL.  Finally, in an article about how he would set up guitars that I cannot locate, Dime said he would, and I am paraphrasing here, "Throw a Floyd in the thing first and then put a 500XL in the bridge pickup.  Also I would wire the pickup in upside down because it gives me a sound I like."  I hope that relieves any confusion.  Good luck tracking down all of the story, I was really curious about it and only got that far.
Patrick from Davis

 

[Shmoopie]

dime gave sd his bl to work off of, they were out of production at the time.
any way, sd gave him 3 prototypes  and ended up changing the magenet and copper wire, and maybe some other stuff,
but i think i'd go with the dime, cheaper, ships faster. and sounds kick ass. and dime even said it was the exact tone he was looking for, so if its good enough for him, its good enough for me. plus i really like the ceramic/steel pickups in the bridge position.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/artists/interview_archive.shtml#dime