Air Zone vs AT-1

C

Chad

New member
I have an ESP Eclipse II (Les Paul style) that is on the bright side. Mahogany body and neck, maple top, & ebony fingerboard. It came with a JB in the bridge, which I didn't like. The upper mid spike was too strident even playing around with pots. Plus, I wanted more lower mids. I put in an Air Zone. That pickup is really good except if I had one qualm it would be that the low end/low mids are a bit too much at times. The upgrade-itis part of me wonders if an AT-1 might be a better choice. I play P&W at church and use a range of sounds: clean, grit, high gain, etc. Both rhythm and lead.

Thoughts? Thanks.
 
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Re: Air Zone vs AT-1

BTW, I am running the stock Duncan 59 in the neck and really like it. I do use the middle switch, neck+bridge position a fair amount. The Air Zone works well on that setting. Mainly looking for a pickup like the Air Zone with maybe just a touch less lows and low mids. The Dimarzio pickup finder recommends the AT-1, Super Distortion, and Air Zone for my needs. I guess the Super D is a consideration as well, but not sure I want the increase in output.
 
Re: Air Zone vs AT-1

Duncan Custom would be my best guess.

You said you didn't like the JB and Andy Timmons designed the AT-1 to be rather JB-like.
The Custom matches better with the Duncan 59 than the Super D does, in my opinion.
I like the Gibson 498t in combination with a Duncan 59.
 
Re: Air Zone vs AT-1

^Thanks, man. Per post #2, I'm actually pretty happy with the middle switch position. But you do have me seriously considering a Transition for the bridge position!
 
Re: Air Zone vs AT-1

To me AT-1 is warm and bassy pickup when used with normal Gibson style wiring.
Mr Timmons guitars have a Treble bleed circuit capacitor to accentuate the mids.
That adds a growl to the mids which is good for solos, but I got tired of it after a while.

The Air Zone will have a brighter tone due to the Asymmetric winding / Dual resonance.
If you want a tighter and brighter pickup, maybe consider a Dimarzio Fred which is another dual resonance pickup.
 
Re: Air Zone vs AT-1

Update: as I continued to read and research, I kept being drawn towards a DiMarzio Transition bridge. Ended up buying and installing one, and it worked out great in this particular guitar. :)
 
Re: Air Zone vs AT-1

I really like the AT-1 , I use in two different guitars for highish gain hard rock . I don't find it to be similar to the JB or warm and bassy as noted in earlier posts . It definitely doesn't have the mid spike of JB to my ears
 
Re: Air Zone vs AT-1

You've got to try the Liquifire in bridge position. It sounds a lot like what you are looking for. Do not worry about the output because I have an Air Zone, which is my favorite Dimarzio, and the output is the same. I actually like it better as a bridge pickup than a neck pickup.
 
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