Dimarzio SDS-1 as a neck pickup?

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Ventilator

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It says it is on the bassy side, yet those hex screws make me think it cant be too bad. I'm thinking of pulling the trigger and buying one. Are there any other strat sized p90 type pickups I should consider before getting this?
 
Re: Dimarzio SDS-1 as a neck pickup?

It's definitely on the bassy side in the neck. I had them as neck & middle in an HSS strat (Jake E Lee style) and although the sound wasn't bad I just found it too thick for my liking. I liked them much better as bridge & middle in an SSS setup.
 
Re: Dimarzio SDS-1 as a neck pickup?

Jerry Garcia used one in the neck and managed to get fantastic lead tones with it.
 
Re: Dimarzio SDS-1 as a neck pickup?

I had one in the middle postion once and didn't like it at all. Way too thick and bassy.
 
Re: Dimarzio SDS-1 as a neck pickup?

If you are looking for a real P90 vibe from the SDS-1 replace the hex screws with fillister screws. The change of pole pieces turns it from a distortion pickup to a very passable P90 clone.
 
Re: Dimarzio SDS-1 as a neck pickup?

Sorry to necropost....and perhaps silly newb question...

Idsnowdog: where does one get the "fillister" screws you refer to do do this mod to the sds-1? What precise size and material please? Is there any procedure to this or just unscrew on hex screw completely out at a time and then screw in the fillister screw? Sorry, but I have never modded pups before.

Thanks and Peace. Mike
 
Re: Dimarzio SDS-1 as a neck pickup?

what are you putting it in? It doesnt sound overly bassy in my bright strat. It is in the middle position. I plan on moving it to the neck
 
Re: Dimarzio SDS-1 as a neck pickup?

I have a Dimarzio Virtual Solo in the neck of my Strat-ish guitar. It's the hottest singlecoil-stack DM makes and is mid-heavy sounding ON PAPER. It doesn't sound muddy or boomy at all. It gives very fluid sound something you would get from a humbucker but it retains certain sparkle of normal singlecoils. Very cool pickup. It can do Yngwie-like fluid sounding sweeps or ultra-shred.

I think people are too scared about the EQ-curve companies give them and then they don't put warm pickups in the neck or bright pups in the bridge. It might just be what you need.

F.e. DMZ Air Norton is very warm pickup with hot paf output but it's used primarily as a neck pup (because John Petrucci used it) and it's a killer neck pickup very fluid and puchy. Symphony X's Michael J Romeo even uses The Tone Zone in the neck and it's a very hot pup and even warmer than the Air Norton. So i f the pickup is warm sounding it doesn't mean it can't sound awesome in the neck.

And now to pickup in question, SDS-1. I think it would make very neck pickup. I've always liked warm singlecoils. I'd probably be not as harsh as a normal singlecoil because of the warmer sound a but it should retain the quack very good because it's normal singlecoil, not a stack which do lose some of it due to the stacked coils.
 
Re: Dimarzio SDS-1 as a neck pickup?

You may need a 500k or 1 meg pot. ;)
 
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