Are Dimarzios falling behind?

[TimmyPage]

I really don't mean any ill will with this, but when I started learning about guitar electronics, dimarzio were THE brand. All the coolest progressive players were using them, everyone was excited when they came out with new models and there were thread upon thread on the forums I visited about how they sounded lively and colourful while Duncans sounded dead. I've even noticed when watching Rig Rundowns or looking for the gear of a bunch of artists, everyone seems to be using Duncans, with a bunch of the metal guys using EMGs, and both brands have their artist roster ever increasing. Except for a rare interview I see with Paul Gilbert or Petrucci, I almost never hear anything about Dimarzio these days, and in spite of a signature model being released for the 'other' guy in Periphery I haven't seen anything about them in any big guitar magazines.

So.. what happened? Are they still as good as ever or did SD just win the pickup war?

[SFW]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

I don't think DiMarzio has gone away be any stretch. Go to any forum and you will likely see a thread about their 36th Anni PAFs. Which are quite good. People rave about the AT-1. Different people like different things. I prefer Duncans. Some people like DiMarzio or Suhr or Bareknuckle. I don't see it as any kind of war. It is a great time to be a guitar player. We have so many great choices in gear these days.

[JeffB]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

I think there both Sd and Larry have established their own fan groups over the years, and cover the affordable aftermarket piece of the pie in different areas. The real growth has been with custom/boutique winders in the past 10 years. Fender and Gibson make gazillions of pups each year, and also have a big chunk of the market, obviously. There is not too much untapped customer base I would say.

I think people can get a skewed image of the real world, living on a manufacturers forum such as this one.

[TimmyPage]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

I think people can get a skewed image of the real world, living on a manufacturers forum such as this one.

Very true, though this isn't the only gear forum I go to. I've kind of noticed a trend between TGP, TDPRI and a few other guitar related forums I've seen when I google guitar things towards Duncans or boutique pickups. I think that Dimarzio could have benefitted from having a real, dedicated forum a few years ago, I think that's part of the reason that there seems to be more outright discussion of SD pickups than a lot of other brands.

[Lewguitar]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

I'm definitely in the Seymour Duncan camp and don't own any Dimarzio products...but I'll admit to being very curious about the new Dimarzio Steve Lukather Transition humbuckers and the Area 58 & 61 noiseless Strat pickups. They sound very good in the YouTube videos I've seen.

[Aasinsilta]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

DiMarzio has been putting ad after ad in recent Guitar World magazines, probably looking to attract younger players. I think they are definitely losing market share, how many guitars come with DiMarzios stock? Other than the Ibanez Destroyer, the only guitars that come with DiMarzios stock that I can think of off the top of my head are the Chris Broderick from Jackson, John Petrucci's Music Man and Richie Kotzen's Tele. All of them are signature guitars. Now, how many Jacksons, Schecters, Fenders, come with Duncans? Quite a few, and if they aren't Duncans/Duncan Designed they have EMGs or manufacturer pickups.

Of all my guitar playing buddies, I haven't heard any buzz about DiMarzio pickups, the buzz is always about EMG/BKP/SD. I don't think DiMarzio is going to fade away, but they're not looking as popular as they once were.

[Thurisaz]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

DiMarzio has been putting ad after ad in recent Guitar World magazines, probably looking to attract younger players. I think they are definitely losing market share, how many guitars come with DiMarzios stock? Other than the Ibanez Destroyer, the only guitars that come with DiMarzios stock that I can think of off the top of my head are the Chris Broderick from Jackson, John Petrucci's Music Man and Richie Kotzen's Tele. All of them are signature guitars. Now, how many Jacksons, Schecters, Fenders, come with Duncans? Quite a few, and if they aren't Duncans/Duncan Designed they have EMGs or manufacturer pickups.

Of all my guitar playing buddies, I haven't heard any buzz about DiMarzio pickups, the buzz is always about EMG/BKP/SD. I don't think DiMarzio is going to fade away, but they're not looking as popular as they once were.

I agree with this. I think BKP took a lot of Dimarzio's thunder. They'd benefit from getting manufacturers to use their pickups as stock in some of the midline guitars [$600-900]. The lack of online presence, lack of guitar store presence, and tons of models coming out with little to no guitars to try them in at said guitar stores is really hurting them.

[dvanburen]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

seymour duncan pickups are the best ive ever played. just one man's opinion..

[RipperShred]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

I agree with this. I think BKP took a lot of Dimarzio's thunder. They'd benefit from getting manufacturers to use their pickups as stock in some of the midline guitars [$600-900]. The lack of online presence, lack of guitar store presence, and tons of models coming out with little to no guitars to try them in at said guitar stores is really hurting them.

Up here in Canada, eh (lol couldn't resist using the stereotype. I digress), Long and McQuade ( Canada's answer to Guitar Center) Dimarzio cut ties with its distributor and distributes directly to them, which makes them a good 20-30 bucks cheaper than SDs. I presume they did this to make themselves more attractive, and retake some of that aforementioned lost ground. Thankfully with online dealers I can still get them as cheap, or cheaper (which is sad when I think about it) than the Dimarzio options because I love SD pickups that much!

I do own one pair of Dimarzios; the Petrucci set, and only because at the time I couldn't get black/red zebra SD pickups in trem-spacing for a black Moser Custom Shop Bastard V with red bevels. Still have the guitar with those p'ups in it, but given the choice from here out, Duncans for me all the way.

[Myaccount876]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

The reason I don't own any DiMarzios is because they seem to be mostly marketed towards a modern, bassy, compressed sound, with not a whole lot of gaping variety - mostly slight differences between models.

With Seymour Duncan, you can get very vintage with Antiquities/Seth Lovers and go balls-to-the-wall with the Distortion/Black Winter/Invader and everything inbetween etc. I can't think of any DiMarzio pickups that have accelerated mids and treble with very little bass, but I can think of a few Duncan models that fit the bill (such as the Pearly Gates, Alnico II Pro, Custom Custom etc.). I can even think of a few Duncans that go for a thick modern sound (Invaders, Blackouts, etc.).

I could be dead wrong about DiMarzio, but I'm just giving a honest impression based off of their marketing I've encountered. If my claim is inaccurate, there's a chance their marketing isn't the best.

The whole DiMarzio Intellectual Property trademark that Larry didn't even originally come up with doesn't help my perspective of them either, so I admit to at least some bias in that regard.

[Thurisaz]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

The reason I don't own any DiMarzios is because they seem to be mostly marketed towards a modern, bassy, compressed sound, with not a whole lot of gaping variety - mostly slight differences between models.

With Seymour Duncan, you can get very vintage with Antiquities/Seth Lovers and go balls-to-the-wall with the Distortion/Black Winter/Invader and everything inbetween etc. I can't think of any DiMarzio pickups that have accelerated mids and treble with very little bass, but I can think of a few Duncan models that fit the bill (such as the Pearly Gates, Alnico II Pro, Custom Custom etc.). I can even think of a few Duncans that go for a thick modern sound (Invaders, Blackouts, etc.).

I could be dead wrong about DiMarzio, but I'm just giving a honest impression based off of their marketing I've encountered. If my claim is inaccurate, there's a chance their marketing isn't the best.

The whole DiMarzio Intellectual Property trademark that Larry didn't even originally come up with doesn't help my perspective of them either, so I admit to at least some bias in that regard.

They also have kind of a cocked wah tone to just about everything they sell. And tbh, they go after lead guitar players and the rhythm seems to be an afterthought. I can't think of much rhythm work done with a DiMarzio that I like.

[Aasinsilta]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

The comment about DiMarzio's having higher bass in the EQ is stunningly correct. http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/humbuckers/high-power

To be fair though, when I bought my 8 string the previous owner had upgraded it DiMarzio D-Activators. They don't sound terrible at all and are quite articulate, but I've still mulled over slapping in some Duncans out of principle :P

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

To me, Seymour plays a serious game - new design active pups in the form of BOs; BO preamp for passives; P-Rails, pups with A2, A8 and degaussed A5 magnets (DiM only does ceramic and regular A5 afaik); modern voiced passives; the Zephyrs; custom shop web shop; forumite input resulting in the likes of the Brobucker, Strabro, and Fuglybucker. The SD spectrum is wider - obscure vintage pup repros to the Zephyrs.

DiM operates on a narrower bandwidth in comparison, and perhaps they prefer to be focused in such a way. They have a number of proven/classic designs.

It does seem like more companies offer SDs stock. The only one I can think of offering DiM is Ibanez, on select Prestige level instruments and fully on J-Customs. Even then, they tend to confine themselves to the PAF Pro, Tone Zone and Air Norton, but the same can be said for all the makes that come with a Jazz and JB stock.

As for me, I use whatever sounds good. Dwelling on this forum has probably biased me into getting more SD oriented, but that's telling too - a while back, DiM didn't have a forum, where people could discuss pups, post sound clips and videos, and so become immersed in company's pups in such a way. It's different when you've got just professional players plugging pups - as much as we admire them, those of us who are amateur musicians are equally, if not more, interested in what other people like ourselves get out of aftermarket pups in the amateur musician setting.

[Thurisaz]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

To me, Seymour plays a serious game - new design active pups in the form of BOs; BO preamp for passives; P-Rails, pups with A2, A8 and degaussed A5 magnets (DiM only does ceramic and regular A5 afaik); modern voiced passives; the Zephyrs; custom shop web shop; forumite input resulting in the likes of the Brobucker, Strabro, and Fuglybucker. The SD spectrum is wider - obscure vintage pup repros to the Zephyrs.

DiM operates on a narrower bandwidth in comparison, and perhaps they prefer to be focused in such a way. They have a number of proven/classic designs.

It does seem like more companies offer SDs stock. The only one I can think of offering DiM is Ibanez, on select Prestige level instruments and fully on J-Customs. Even then, they tend to confine themselves to the PAF Pro, Tone Zone and Air Norton, but the same can be said for all the makes that come with a Jazz and JB stock.

As for me, I use whatever sounds good. Dwelling on this forum has probably biased me into getting more SD oriented, but that's telling too - a while back, DiM didn't have a forum, where people could discuss pups, post sound clips and videos, and so become immersed in company's pups to such a way. It's different when you've got just professional players plugging pups - as much as we admire them, those of us who are amateur musicians are equally, if not more, interested in how other people like ourselves use particular pups, and how they are in those (domestic) settings. Being able to discuss things in detail matters.

To be fair and unbiased, the Alt 8 sucks and Seymour could offer MUCH better A8 options, like Custom 8 and JB8. Those two pickups stomp the you know what outta the alt 8.

[RipperShred]

Re: Are Dimarzios falling behind?

To be fair and unbiased, the Alt 8 sucks and Seymour could offer MUCH better A8 options, like Custom 8 and JB8. Those two pickups stomp the you know what outta the alt 8.

What magnet DOESN'T sound good in a Duncan Custom wind? lol