JB_From_Hell
Jomo's Nimions
For the few people here into crazy heavy down tuned riffing, try a Tone Zone with a ceramic magnet. It’s super thick, clear, harmonics like crazy and just sounds brutal.
Ceramic TZ
- Thread starter JB_From_Hell
- Start date
Did you do the swap yourself or order it that way from Dimarzio? I'm not sure if Dimarzio even runs a custom shop. (?)
JB_From_Hell
Jomo's Nimions
Did it myself. It started as an Air Zone, ceramic and de-airing made it louder and a little more bite.
It’s not worlds away from the Norton, but more aggressive, more compressed, and hotter.
It’s not worlds away from the Norton, but more aggressive, more compressed, and hotter.
Mr. Lime
New member
Cool, so in which guitar have you tried it?
Still waiting for my new magnets to arrive but a ceramic Tone Zone is on the to-do list for several weeks.
Interestingly the Tone Zone is a rather unique pickup in the DiMarzio line up. I made a list comparing the specs of the different models and the Tone Zone showed up with no direct variations. The IBZ/USA F2 might be the only exception.
Looking at the Norton, it seems the Satchur8 and IGNO are AlNiCo 8 variations of it.
I can imagine that Virtual Vintage helps taming the sometimes annoying high mids of A8. I wonder if the Tone Zone would benefit from A8 as well but I expect it a little bass heavy..
JB_From_Hell
Jomo's Nimions
It’s in my mahogany body, bolt on maple neck headless Legator Ghost. That guitar’s natural tone is very punchy and thick to begin with, that TZ compliments it well.
Juanhanglo
Active member
Cool, so in which guitar have you tried it?
Still waiting for my new magnets to arrive but a ceramic Tone Zone is on the to-do list for several weeks.
Interestingly the Tone Zone is a rather unique pickup in the DiMarzio line up. I made a list comparing the specs of the different models and the Tone Zone showed up with no direct variations. The IBZ/USA F2 might be the only exception.
Looking at the Norton, it seems the Satchur8 and IGNO are AlNiCo 8 variations of it.
I can imagine that Virtual Vintage helps taming the sometimes annoying high mids of A8. I wonder if the Tone Zone would benefit from A8 as well but I expect it a little bass heavy..
Don't put much faith in those numbers. They are about as accurate as anyone else's, like duncan's.
For instance a tone zone and a norton both have their treble placed at 5. (8.5, 8.5, 5 and 6.5, 7, 5 respectively)
The norton sounds way brighter
Another is the full shred. Duncan's eq says 4, 4, 8.
The neck full shred has more bass than mids and more treble than both of those. Id say 6,5, 7. It is definitely not all screechey highs like their eq suggests.
The bridge full shred bridge is like 4, 7, 7. The bridge has a lot of broad eq'd mids and not as much treble as their chart says.
This is why nobody considers them, IMO. That one is definitely wrong. They are really great pickups, especially the neck version.
when choosing puckups i use that as a guide, but ultimately, i read every forum review and thread that google finds for me, plus what i find doing my own forum searches. There, you get multiple "boots on the ground" reviews from guys with varied instruments and playing styles.
Mr. Lime
New member
I don't put a lot on those EQ numbers since I don't really understand how they were chosen. How would you guys describe the difference between 4, 4, 8 and 2, 2, 6 or 6, 6,10?
These numbers are always relative to each other but don't seem to be related on output.
I wouldn't trust in most reviews either since there are so many variables to the sound. I'm building tube amps and fx pedals as well and even guitars with nearly the same specs can cause a very different tone and feel with the rest of my setup. Most guys don't give insights which amps, fx pedals or guitars they are using, they are often just mentioning one single part of the whole chain, like a pickup.
But I do a lot of research too when deciding for a new pickup - maybe too much. I guess many are simply biased by marketing ads and hear what they have been told to hear.
I haven't found a single comparison between a DiMarizio Transition or Titan although they seem to only differ in their pole pieces:
I recently had changed the magnet and pole pieces of a full shred too to hear what affects what. I wanted to create an alternative to a TB-6.
Thinking of that the Custom (A5, A2, A8, ceramic variants) always have the same winds might help to identify which pickup suits a guitar best.
These numbers are always relative to each other but don't seem to be related on output.
I wouldn't trust in most reviews either since there are so many variables to the sound. I'm building tube amps and fx pedals as well and even guitars with nearly the same specs can cause a very different tone and feel with the rest of my setup. Most guys don't give insights which amps, fx pedals or guitars they are using, they are often just mentioning one single part of the whole chain, like a pickup.
But I do a lot of research too when deciding for a new pickup - maybe too much. I guess many are simply biased by marketing ads and hear what they have been told to hear.
I haven't found a single comparison between a DiMarizio Transition or Titan although they seem to only differ in their pole pieces:
I recently had changed the magnet and pole pieces of a full shred too to hear what affects what. I wanted to create an alternative to a TB-6.
Thinking of that the Custom (A5, A2, A8, ceramic variants) always have the same winds might help to identify which pickup suits a guitar best.
Mr. Lime
New member
I just put a ceramic TZ into my Gibson SG Supreme. I like it much better than the Duncan Alternative 8 I had in there before. I also prefer it compared to a Crunch Lab, which has similar tight lows. The TZ was too bright in my ESP Horizon, so I replaced it with a Dominion with A6 magnet.
The TZ is still very bright in the SG and I think about how I could tame the high end just a tad.
How about a small cap to ground or a smaller volume or tone pot to load down the pickup more?
The TZ is still very bright in the SG and I think about how I could tame the high end just a tad.
How about a small cap to ground or a smaller volume or tone pot to load down the pickup more?
JB_From_Hell
Jomo's Nimions
Have you tried adjusting the height of the pickup? The TZ is extremely responsive to that, and loud enough to be lowered a bit.
If you try the cap or pot, I’m interested to see how that works. Also glad the ceramic DiMarzios are working out for you.
Masta' C
Well-known member
Mr. Lime
New member
I know that the Tone Zone is sensitive to hight adjustment and that it can help to tame the bass frequencies. I had to lower the pole pieces but they are already flat with the bobbins. I‘m currently using hex screws and maybe have to experiment with longer fillister screws.
I might replace the tone pot with a rotary cap switch. Some years ago I had good results with that and I also liked the 3 way cap switch of a Gretsch Country Gentleman I had.
Rest of the test rig consists of a selfmade tube preamp with my own circuit. It‘s very loosly based on a Bogner Sharp channel. Then there‘s a Kitty Hawk Testarossa preamp which is very similiar to a Mesa Mk 4 and a Kitty Hawk Junior Head I modified to an Engl Savage circuit. I switch between the preamps and use the poweramp of the head. A power brake sits between the amp and a 806 Thiele cabinet with Eminence Legend speaker. No effects while testing.
The SG has a Graph Tech Resomax Piezo bridge which might contribute to different sound too. The guitar is bright and thin sounding. Maple top and ebony fingerboard probably cause the major difference to the SG Standard I had before, in which I loved the Alternative 8 in the bridge..
I might replace the tone pot with a rotary cap switch. Some years ago I had good results with that and I also liked the 3 way cap switch of a Gretsch Country Gentleman I had.
Rest of the test rig consists of a selfmade tube preamp with my own circuit. It‘s very loosly based on a Bogner Sharp channel. Then there‘s a Kitty Hawk Testarossa preamp which is very similiar to a Mesa Mk 4 and a Kitty Hawk Junior Head I modified to an Engl Savage circuit. I switch between the preamps and use the poweramp of the head. A power brake sits between the amp and a 806 Thiele cabinet with Eminence Legend speaker. No effects while testing.
The SG has a Graph Tech Resomax Piezo bridge which might contribute to different sound too. The guitar is bright and thin sounding. Maple top and ebony fingerboard probably cause the major difference to the SG Standard I had before, in which I loved the Alternative 8 in the bridge..