Dimarzio players, Need some advice..

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skoora

skoora

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I want to get some double cream pickups but haven't really found a Dimarzio I love. They seem to have this peaked/pinched midrange quality. My main experience is with the Super Distortion. How about the hot PAF arena. Was thinking about a Norton which may just be a Super D but A5 instead of ceramic. I've heard good things about the 36th Anni models but wouldn't mind trying something a little hotter. Any ideas from the Dimarzio fans. They would go in a LPC and I'm playing 70's hard rock/metal stuff.
 
The Norton is a nice pickup. I've used them in basswood but never mahogany. The Eric Johnson pickup is pretty cool and probably would give you a good sounding pickup.

I had a Super Distortion in my LP for awhile...it was ok, but abit more spongy. JB is much better for me.

Dimarzio has a good exchange policy, should be easy to find something.
 
I have a PAF Pro in the bridge of my Agile LP with an Ebony fretboard. Most people like the PAF Pro in the neck, but I dig it in the bridge position. Covers the hard rock gain stuff well and still cleans up a bit. I have a push/pull on the tone to put it in parallel for a more 'tele like' tone.
 
Anybody notice much of a difference between the regular and "air" versions of their pickups?
 
skoora":3enyizo0 said:
Anybody notice much of a difference between the regular and "air" versions of their pickups?
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I normally use the Air Norton as a neck pickup with the Norton in the bridge. They don't have that "wah" thing happening. Right now the Norton is in an old Kramer. It kinda reminds me of a Duncan Custom.

The Air Norton also is one of the few pickups I've found that when used in the bridge postion will match up with a sc in the neck.
 
I have an air classic bridge in the neck of a fat strat with a jb in the bridge, works nicely and has that proper amount of cut. In most cases I have not been that impressed with dimarzio and find them a tad flat or fake sounding. Not as raw as duncan. I have an old paf pro that is pretty decent as a bridge pup but it doesn't make me blow my load or anything..
 
The Andy Timmons model is what you want. The AT-1 is supposed to be DiMarzios take on Andy's number one that has a JB in it.

Probably my favorite DMZ
 
Check out Wolfetone pickups at www.wolfetone.com. Email Wolfe and he'll hook you up with the tones you're looking for and nobody makes better pickups for Les Pauls. I put a Fenris with alnico 2 magnets in the bridge position of my Les Paul and it rips. It's worth a bit of extra $ to get the tones you want and his customer service is fantastic. The Fenris or Marshallhead would probably do the job for you depending on the kind of output you're going for (Fenris is a bit higher output at 14.5k).
 
For 70's hard rock/metal you want to look at either PAF 36th Bridge if you like the more "classic" sound, or Norton if you like the more modern sound. Depending on what amp you have an how you have EQ or tone settings, there are other good options as well. Breed is like a hopped-up PAF, as is the PAF PRO, although the PAF PRO has a more open, glassy type of tone, where the Breed has more low-end and is punchier. Of late I've been really bonding with the Mo' Joe pickup. I'm finding that you can get more mileage out of a high-gain amp with a lower-output pickup. The neck position is going to be a mixed bag depending what you're looking for out of the tone, anything from Air Norton on the high end, to the Humbucker from Hell if you're looking for a "Strat" type tone, or the Bluesbucker if you want a P-90 tone. All are great, just a function of what you're looking for.
 
I just recently installed a Crunch Lab into my Ibanez rga121 that is similar to a LP in that it has a mahogany body w/a maple cap. I absolutely love it. It's a ceramic magnet, if you like that sort of 'clank' on the high end... the harmonics are great, all the way around; pinch harmonics anywhere on the neck. I believe the "Air" pickups aren't as high gain as the non-Air versions. There is a small gap between the coils and the magnet (or something like that), hence the "Air" stamp. It's supposed to have slightly less string pull as well, I think. I've been through Tone Zones, Paf pros, Evos, Air Nortons, Breeds, I really like this pickup probably about as much (if not a little more) than my Evo (bridge). You should check it out.
 
skoora":1svn6999 said:
I want to get some double cream pickups but haven't really found a Dimarzio I love. They seem to have this peaked/pinched midrange quality. My main experience is with the Super Distortion. How about the hot PAF arena. Was thinking about a Norton which may just be a Super D but A5 instead of ceramic. I've heard good things about the 36th Anni models but wouldn't mind trying something a little hotter. Any ideas from the Dimarzio fans. They would go in a LPC and I'm playing 70's hard rock/metal stuff.
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I've played a lot of dimarzio pickups and the thing with this brand is that their models are all highly specialized. You have to know EXACTLY what you want before you buy one.

Sounds like you don't want a ton of mids so the SD is not for you. I also wouldn't recommend the Andy Timmons model because it's just a lower output take on the SD. So are the tone zone and air zone...to an extent. The norton is also pretty mid heavy but not as bad as some of them. It's sort of like a tone zone with less bass flub. It has some weird overtones in the upper mids.

Dimarzio honestly doesn't make a ton of pickups that are great for Les Pauls. However the 36th anniversary models are AMAZING. If you can live with the slightly lower output then you'll be in heaven.
 
tone zone and p.a.f make my strat my fav. i've had it for 26yrs and it never failed me once.
 
My buddy has a 36th in a Strat. Sounds GREAT!

I'm a Dimarzio guy for 20+ years. Love them. PAF. VV's, Breed, Mojo, Distortion, Tone, Classic. Don't know what it is. Just the way they hit my ear.

I did use a Duncan Distortion for years. Played a load of guitars with Duncan's in them and they never did anything for me. :confused:
 
hawkeye17":jg4f0952 said:
Check out Wolfetone pickups at http://www.wolfetone.com. Email Wolfe and he'll hook you up with the tones you're looking for and nobody makes better pickups for Les Pauls. I put a Fenris with alnico 2 magnets in the bridge position of my Les Paul and it rips. It's worth a bit of extra $ to get the tones you want and his customer service is fantastic. The Fenris or Marshallhead would probably do the job for you depending on the kind of output you're going for (Fenris is a bit higher output at 14.5k).
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I actually live pretty close to Wolfe and have some Marshallhead's in a Flying V. Love 'em. I've been thinking about The Timbre Wolf or Fenris a lot actually. I want double cream though for my 3 pickup LPC and it's not my main guitar by any means so I want to go inexpensive but reasonably toneful if I can ie. under $100 per pickup. I have the Marshallheads and a 57 Classic in my guitars so wouldn't mind something a little different in the LPC ie. not a PAF per se, but I don't bond well with super high output stuff either. I might call Dimarzio tomorrow and see what they say.
 
The only real experience I have with Dimarzios are the stock pickups in my Van Halen signature EBMM, and a Tone Zone. They're not my all-time favorites, but they do sound really nice. I've heard great things about the 36th Anniversary PAF-style Dimarzios as well.
 
I actually decided quite a while ago on 36th anniversary's and they sound fantastic. Actually have a hotter sounding output than my Wolfetone Marshallheads. The Marshallheads are still my favorite but the Dimarzio's are very nice. A bit more raw and unbridled sounding which is good and not so good depending on the application.
 
If you want something thats going to be great for pretty much any style, has enough tightness for metal, but not so much as to be exclusively a metal pickup, and something that sounds really thick but retains clarity, get a breed. If you want all those qualities, except more geared towards metal, get a dominion. To me, they were REALLY similar in tone, aside from the extra tightness the ceramic magnet provided in the dominion. Both are awesome pickups and do a lot of things really fucking well. Im always surprised that more people dont recommend the breed in dimarzio threads.
 
The Breed is great but might be too big on the lows for some guitars. The Norton is probably the most balanced Dimarzio and is a good one to try out or start with.
 
I have a FRED in my mahogany body Warmoth strat, I've tried a Tone Zone in there, too much bass, a D-Activator, too much everything, the FRED is lower output but sounds way better in that guitar than those others.
 
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