IanBallard
New member
So I finally finished surgery on my ax, installed a new low-fric pot attached to an Air Zone. 1 5/8" thick Alder Strat, non-floating Floyd, maple neck, etc.
After some experimenting I decided to mount it angled (EVH/normal Strat bridge) and found that made the pickup very well balanced. I was expecting major "onk" mids but that's not the case at all! The bass is tight... tighter than the A5 hybrid I had, the low mids strong and upper mids have singing quality too! The treble is relaxed and the highest notes, regardless of the amp or volume, never gets ice-picky. It's pretty much what I expected. The tone is awesome everywhere on the neck, to where I can't find a "funky" sounding note (thanks partially to the fret job I did.
) and all of them have attitude like only a Tone Zone can have. It's definitely a lower-output Tone Zone, no doubt about it. The dynamics are way better, thanks to the Air design and you can get much nicer cleans than a TZ can. Honestly, it does have a "PAF" quality to it but with more balls and the sustain... wow! Notes decay into some very impressive harmonics that I don't remember from the Tone Zone-equipped axes I've used before.
The FEEL is what blows me away about this pickup. Notes just jump off your fingers and pick dynamics are WIDE. Harmonics come out of every fret. I'm loving this thing. It's almost the ultimate rock humbucker.
After some experimenting I decided to mount it angled (EVH/normal Strat bridge) and found that made the pickup very well balanced. I was expecting major "onk" mids but that's not the case at all! The bass is tight... tighter than the A5 hybrid I had, the low mids strong and upper mids have singing quality too! The treble is relaxed and the highest notes, regardless of the amp or volume, never gets ice-picky. It's pretty much what I expected. The tone is awesome everywhere on the neck, to where I can't find a "funky" sounding note (thanks partially to the fret job I did.
) and all of them have attitude like only a Tone Zone can have. It's definitely a lower-output Tone Zone, no doubt about it. The dynamics are way better, thanks to the Air design and you can get much nicer cleans than a TZ can. Honestly, it does have a "PAF" quality to it but with more balls and the sustain... wow! Notes decay into some very impressive harmonics that I don't remember from the Tone Zone-equipped axes I've used before.The FEEL is what blows me away about this pickup. Notes just jump off your fingers and pick dynamics are WIDE. Harmonics come out of every fret. I'm loving this thing. It's almost the ultimate rock humbucker.
