Norton and Air Norton combo

[Guitarmusic]

Has anyone ever used these two in combination with each other? Specifically the Norton in the Bridge and Air Norton in the neck. I was curious how well they match when switching between the two?

[LoveMyIbanez]

I can't help you with a first-hand account, but I see on the DMZ website that the Air Norton is one of the 4 neck pickups they recommend to match with the Norton Bridge. I also checked the Dimarzio pickup forum and found someone saying they liked the combination. If nobody here has personal experience, you could always try there.

[JB_From_Hell]

I would give it a shot. Two identical PAFs ends up with a weak sounding bridge, but two EMG 81s results in a very balanced, useable setup, so I think it works better with hotter pickups. The Nortons aren’t super hot, but they’re closer to hot than PAF.

[zizyphus]

I've tried both, separately and in combination
I've had the AN in the neck / Norton in the bridge of an Epi LP at the same time
I've had the Norton in the bridge of a couple different 25.5," trem-equipped S-types
I've also had the Air norton in the bridge of an LP, as well as a couple different S-types

I love the Air Norton, but couldn't enjoy the Norton.

The norton is a VERY bassy, fat pickup, to the point of sounding muddy to my ears. It's also very high output and VERY compressed. This was a bigger problem in an already fatter sounding LP than it was in an S-type with a trem and a longer scale length, but ultimately it didn't agree with me, and I got rid of my Norton after moving it between few guitars. That said, if you stick to doing modern high-gain stuff, you might like it. I do enjoy chug-a-lugging, but I also like to tone the gain down a little bit and do some dirty electric blues. The norton does the former well, but is too compressed and aggressive for the latter IMO.

The Air Norton, by contrast, but is also much lower output and much less compressed, so it retains articulation that the Norton doesn't have, while keeping the warmth and midrange / low-end that the Norton has. It's output also makes it appropriate for either neck or bridge positions, depending on what you pair it with. Obviously, if you wan't to know what it sounds like in the neck, you can take a listen to Petrucci's beautiful liquid shredding on any Dream Theater track. Additionally though, I've found that the Air Norton, even though its not very high output, gives an absolutely bone-crushing bridge pickup sound. The bass / mid range of it, combined with the softening of the attack that comes with the "air" design, makes it sound SO. HEAVY. with gain, even more so than the Norton or some other higher-output pups. It has a thick, sexy "shug shug" – with what sounds like a little bit of sag? – rather than a more generic "chug chug," if that makes any sense.

When it comes to cleans, I love the warmth of the Air Norton, and it can sound properly bluesy, and again - the output is low enough that its not overly compressed, and stays very articulate. I could be wrong about this, but I think the coils are unbalanced, which can widen the frequency spectrum of a pup a little bit and add back a little bit of treble.

Also, I'll say that the Air Norton takes magnet swaps well. Stock, its an A5. I currently have an Alnico 9 in an air norton in the bridge of an S-type, and its pretty amazing. In the neck, I've done A2 and A3, and both sounded great. All in all, its a great pup. (It did not sound good to my ears with an A6 magnet. I LOVE the A6 magnet, because of the #thicc midrange that it delivers, but the air norton already has enough mids that the A6 was just too much)

That's my tree fiddy. Let us know how your experiment goes. We're all happy to help out if we can
__PRESENT

[devastone]

That sounds more like a Tone Zone than a Norton, but everyone's experience is different. I personally like the Norton in the bridge of 25.5" scale guitars, especially with trems, it's like a lower output TZ with less lows, kinda fixes everything people complain about on the TZ. But, a lot of it depends on the guitar as well. I've used the AN in the neck of many guitars, it's a great neck pickup unless you are going for really glassy tones, it is a very warm neck pickup.

As usual, read all the input, apparently I've had different experiences than others, at some point it comes down to jumping in and trying it.

[idsnowdog]

The Air Norton makes a good neck pickup for a JB.

[Top-L]

Norton in the bridge is magic. Works in many different types of guitar. Its fat, but has a ton of presence and harmonics. Not like a JB, it doesnt cut the same way, it has a broad top.

Air Norton in the neck... I didn't like it that much. Felt it has too much bass and mids, not really a shredders neck pickup, even though it was an old Petrucci fav. However, I had it in a 22 fret guitar.. if its pushed back towards the bridge in a 24 fret guitar, it might be more balanced.

I much prefer the PAF pro which is more focused and trebly. Glassy in the neck. If you want a really great neck pickup, try the Evo Neck. Its everything the Air Norton wasn't for me. Evo Neck is my favorite Dimarzio neck.

[Guitarmusic]

Norton in the bridge is magic. Works in many different types of guitar. Its fat, but has a ton of presence and harmonics. Not like a JB, it doesnt cut the same way, it has a broad top.

Air Norton in the neck... I didn't like it that much. Felt it has too much bass and mids, not really a shredders neck pickup, even though it was an old Petrucci fav. However, I had it in a 22 fret guitar.. if its pushed back towards the bridge in a 24 fret guitar, it might be more balanced.

I much prefer the PAF pro which is more focused and trebly. Glassy in the neck. If you want a really great neck pickup, try the Evo Neck. Its everything the Air Norton wasn't for me. Evo Neck is my favorite Dimarzio neck.

Do you think a Tone Zone and a Evo Neck would match very well? I have both and I really like the Evo neck. The Evo Bridge is a little thin to my tastes and I Wonder if the Tone Zone would match volume wise and if the Tone Zone would be too dark in comparison with the Evo Neck? It seems the Air Norton may be a little dark in the neck for Me and the Norton might not be the best fit. I have used the Norton before in a 24 3/4 scale guitar(the guitar I am asking about is a 25 1/2' with a Floyd Rose).

[Guitarmusic]

I've tried both, separately and in combination
I've had the AN in the neck / Norton in the bridge of an Epi LP at the same time
I've had the Norton in the bridge of a couple different 25.5," trem-equipped S-types
I've also had the Air norton in the bridge of an LP, as well as a couple different S-types

I love the Air Norton, but couldn't enjoy the Norton.

The norton is a VERY bassy, fat pickup, to the point of sounding muddy to my ears. It's also very high output and VERY compressed. This was a bigger problem in an already fatter sounding LP than it was in an S-type with a trem and a longer scale length, but ultimately it didn't agree with me, and I got rid of my Norton after moving it between few guitars. That said, if you stick to doing modern high-gain stuff, you might like it. I do enjoy chug-a-lugging, but I also like to tone the gain down a little bit and do some dirty electric blues. The norton does the former well, but is too compressed and aggressive for the latter IMO.

The Air Norton, by contrast, but is also much lower output and much less compressed, so it retains articulation that the Norton doesn't have, while keeping the warmth and midrange / low-end that the Norton has. It's output also makes it appropriate for either neck or bridge positions, depending on what you pair it with. Obviously, if you wan't to know what it sounds like in the neck, you can take a listen to Petrucci's beautiful liquid shredding on any Dream Theater track. Additionally though, I've found that the Air Norton, even though its not very high output, gives an absolutely bone-crushing bridge pickup sound. The bass / mid range of it, combined with the softening of the attack that comes with the "air" design, makes it sound SO. HEAVY. with gain, even more so than the Norton or some other higher-output pups. It has a thick, sexy "shug shug" – with what sounds like a little bit of sag? – rather than a more generic "chug chug," if that makes any sense.

When it comes to cleans, I love the warmth of the Air Norton, and it can sound properly bluesy, and again - the output is low enough that its not overly compressed, and stays very articulate. I could be wrong about this, but I think the coils are unbalanced, which can widen the frequency spectrum of a pup a little bit and add back a little bit of treble.

Also, I'll say that the Air Norton takes magnet swaps well. Stock, its an A5. I currently have an Alnico 9 in an air norton in the bridge of an S-type, and its pretty amazing. In the neck, I've done A2 and A3, and both sounded great. All in all, its a great pup. (It did not sound good to my ears with an A6 magnet. I LOVE the A6 magnet, because of the #thicc midrange that it delivers, but the air norton already has enough mids that the A6 was just too much)

That's my tree fiddy. Let us know how your experiment goes. We're all happy to help out if we can
__PRESENT

Thank you for your perspective, it is very helpful and thorough. I kinda felt the Norton was a little congested when I used it but the harmonic response was killer. I might try the Evo Neck with a Tone Zone in a 25 1/2" inch scale.

[Guitarmusic]

I can't help you with a first-hand account, but I see on the DMZ website that the Air Norton is one of the 4 neck pickups they recommend to match with the Norton Bridge. I also checked the Dimarzio pickup forum and found someone saying they liked the combination. If nobody here has personal experience, you could always try there.

Thank you for the your response, it sounds appealing but this forum has actually made me consider another option I was not really aware of until now.

[Juanhanglo]

I ran that set for a while in my rg520qs.

The norton was awesome, but I screwed it up with magnet flipping and just pickup swapping in general. The wires are like 4 inches long now, lol.
at 350mv, it is high medium output at best and blends well with most any neck pickup.

The air norton is nice enough to get a fatter les Paul type neckbsound out of a long scale, tremmed, guitar. It works good clean or under light gain, but I liked it less with more gain added.

I have a super d in the rg now with a stock v7 neck pickup. As soon as funds are available, I am getting a norton/36th anni neck combo for it.

Sort of like a jb/59 set but from dimarzio.

I like the air norton s more than the full sized one.