Dimarzio humbuckers

[Kapo_Polenton]

Let's be honest , what you want is an Aldrich. The at-1 I sight but tame because the highs are risked out. It literally is a JB with tighter bottom but not as much bite. The Aldrich is much better. Screams all around I love it. The SD is a wicked pickup too but I also am not a fan of the bottom end. It isn't that it is tubby, it is just thick. The pup is thick all across the spectrum. If you like low end that cuts, get the Aldrich. If you want to be raunchy, get a jb. If you want some chewiness, play a jb with an A2 magnet. You could try a 36 anniversary which is super crunchy and tight but I dislike the high end. Too thin for me.

 

[thunda]

maybe he needs to go the other direction and go with lower output pickups and adjust the gain on the amp accordingly

 

[bish0p34]

I wish pickup makers would cut some of the marketing BS and try to relate their pickup designs to each other. For example, it's well known that several Duncan pickups use the same coils but different magnets (Jazz/Alnico Pro II; all the different Customs) and poles (Custom/Full Shred). So if you'd played one if those, you can actually understand how the others might sound. I suspect that other designs are similarly derivative.

And that's not a bad thing. How many times have we wished for "something like X but with more/less of Y". Just be upfront about these things, and we'd be able to actually figure it out instead if sorting out whether a pickup with "smooth mids" or "high-mid crunch" is what we actually want relative to what we're tried.

Dimarzio's site is very useful for picking what pickup you want, I wish the others followed them.

 

[shredhead7]

I have many different Dimarzios, mostly in alder body super shredders. I have the Super D (which is by far my fav, but I know you didn't care for it). I have a tone zone, it's hot, but sounds a little too scooped (darker) to me, but might be better for you. It's articulate, just not enough air for me. I have the Blaze that came in my Universe, but I thought they were rather lifeless, just a flat response, blah. I switched those out to an Evo and a PAF combo. The Evo sounds pretty good, tight, with a little more air. The PAF in the neck sounds really good, not too thick, like some hb's can be in the neck, but chunky enough to get that Petrucci solo sound. I also have an Evo in a RG760, which sounds good; pretty much like Vai (which is what I was going for with this guitar).

I bought the Petrucci crunch lab set that he was using a few years back. I was really disappointed with it. I was hoping for a higher output full sound. It isn't as hot as the Tone Zone or the SD, and sonically falls somewhere in between. I suppose I can dial the amp in to work better with them, but that guitar became a back up to a backup, mostly because of the pickups, so they don't get much use.

As others have probably said, what are your amp settings, whose sound are you going for as a starting point, and are you boosting? For me, without knowing that the SD was one of the hottest pickups, I bought an Ibanez USA Custom in 94 that was my favorite for years, that came loaded with the SD. I didn't even know, I just knew I loved the way it played and sounded. As I bought more guitars and started swapping pickups, I always compared it to my #1. All of the other pickups lacked the air (and output) that the SD had. I never put 2+2 together, I just thought that I needed to raise or lower the height of the new ones. Nope. Eventually, I bought a Charvel USA San Dimas, that I put a SD in and it was night and day from the previous pickup, and it sounded just like my number #1. This guitar has now become my #1, so you never really know what your sound might be, until you try.

 

[cardinal]

Well, he knows what pickup he likes: the Aldrich. He just wants one with two creme bobbins.

EDIT: OP, you should just buy a zebra Aldrich and a reverse zebra Aldrich, then taken them apart and combine to two creme bobbins and sell off the remaining all-black Aldrich. That's probably cheaper and easier than going on a wild goose chase for something like the Aldrich.

 

[metalmaniac93]

Love the SD. My favorite DiMarzio. No flub there!!! I also have a Manlius SD Clone that is awesome too!!

 

[paulyc]

You can buy a double crème Aldrich, I've seen them at Matt's Music... which is why I said Suhr gets a pass because he has (or had) DiMarzio make them...

 

[sytharnia1560]

You can buy a double crème Aldrich, I've seen them at Matt's Music... which is why I said Suhr gets a pass because he has (or had) DiMarzio make them...

yep I have seen a few double creme aldrichs around...not super common but they are out there

 

[BrentSSL]

I really like the X2n if that helps lol

 

[Jimbo72]

You can buy a double crème Aldrich, I've seen them at Matt's Music... which is why I said Suhr gets a pass because he has (or had) DiMarzio make them...

I think Suhr calls it "parchment"... not quite creme color, they're in between white & creme.

 

[paulyc]

^ That's true...it's kind of off white...

 

[thiswaythatway]

The Bare Knuckle Rebel Yell pickup had a ton of mids but I had one in an LP and it did sound killer. Not sure how it would translate into a Charvel or other superstrat. I also tried a Holy Diver in a Fender Strat and my impression was....Egh.

 

[Halikus]

I really like the Super2 though I'm not sure if its a custom order these days.

 

[Speeddemon]

On Ebay some seller has these colored stickers for humbuckers; you could make a black HB cream that way. Might be a fun, cheap experiment.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Colored-Humbuck ... 2359ed9f6e

 

[sytharnia1560]

I really like the Super2 though I'm not sure if its a custom order these days.

yeah I love the super I have in my les paul

just as a note I have the super 2 in creme and it is lighter in colour than my creme super D ...so no saying any creme pick up will match anyway