Dirty Fingers Review

[Christopher Caruana]

So I never wrote a formal review of the DF I dropped into my LP.

2003 Gibson LP classic

(Neck) Alnico II Pro

(Bridge) Alnico II Pro.......changed to.........Dirty Fingers

The first thing I hear is how much more compressed and tighter the sound and feel of the dirty fingers is compaired to the A2P.

The clean tones are very tight, but still very articulate for a ceramic humbucker but not as open and loose as the A2P. It is actually goes very good, paired with the A2P in the neck. It has one of the nicer sounding clean tones I've heard out of a ceramic pickup. With a hard pick attack, the speaker will break up just a tad.

The lead tones out of this thing are amazing! At a low gain setting it does a pretty good AC/DC sound for how hot it is. On a mid to high gain setting, This thing does a great 80's big hair/hard rock tone. The first couple of bands that come to my mind when hearing this pickup are: Scorpions (early years), Whitesnake (John Sykes era), and Firehouse. Again, just like the clean tones, the DF is very tight and compressed, but still highly articulate. The sustain is incredible!! and pinched harmonics just SCREAM!! It is a very aggressive sounding pickup. For being so hot, it still is able to cover a very wide range of musical sounds.

I was going for a John Sykes/Steve Clark type sound from the bridge with the DF, and a Slash type sound from the neck with the A2P and that is just what I got!! :friday:

 

[Iron Horse]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Cool rewiev, I envy that setup you've got!

 

[dave4378]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

The John Sykes Whitesnake era tone is one of my top 5 favourite tones of all time. This is gonna sound completely idiotic, but the one thing that puts me off Dirty Fingers is that the guy from Blink 182 uses them & he sounds like arse. I figure i'm not John Sykes, so i too will probably not sound great using them LOL. I don't have enough money to experiment with different pickups, so i can't really try them out for myself, but John Sykes is a monster & that tone is incredible.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Love me some DF!!!

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

The John Sykes Whitesnake era tone is one of my top 5 favourite tones of all time. This is gonna sound completely idiotic, but the one thing that puts me off Dirty Fingers is that the guy from Blink 182 uses them & he sounds like arse. I figure i'm not John Sykes, so i too will probably not sound great using them LOL. I don't have enough money to experiment with different pickups, so i can't really try them out for myself, but John Sykes is a monster & that tone is incredible.

Well I guess that just proves what Eddie has been saying for these years........."The tone is all in your fingers!"

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

another thing that suprised me was how well it reacts to my attack. It is very responsive to my playing.

I have a question though: why is it called the "Dirty Fingers" anyways?

 

[dave4378]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Well I guess that just proves what Eddie has been saying for these years........."The tone is all in your fingers!"

Yep, pickups, amps & pedals will only get you so far. With that said though there is definitly a massive difference between good pickups & el cheapos though. Using decent ones will make anyone sound noticebly better than say using something like Duncan Designed yikes.
I will get to try the Dirty Fingers for myself one of these days though & i'm sure i'll be impressed.

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Yep, pickups, amps & pedals will only get you so far. With that said though there is definitly a massive difference between good pickups & el cheapos though. Using decent ones will make anyone sound noticebly better than say using something like Duncan Designed yikes.

+1 to the noticeable difference in pickup quality.

I'm not sure but I think it's safe to assume it's called the Dirty Fingers because it was designed as a high gain pickup. Dirty tone... Read here and you'll get the idea.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Pics:

 

[uOpt]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

I approve of this guitar.

 

[playas]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

I can only imagine that they wanted it to call it dirty ....(something) due to the sound, were trying to think of something appropriate & the stones album naturaly came to mind, being an absolute classic and the pickups / fingers thing went from there...although not having heard the pickup I can´t imagine the sounds bear any relation to the stones.

Cool name though...and always great to hear of someone finding their sound.
If the Sykes sound fits in there all the better lol

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

I approve of this guitar.

Thanks :14:

 

[chill]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

How would you compare the Dirty Fingers to the Duncan Custom, Duncan Distortion, JB, and/or DiMarzio Super Distortion?

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

How would you compare the Dirty Fingers to the Duncan Custom, Duncan Distortion, JB, and/or DiMarzio Super Distortion?

Sorry but ive never played any of those other than the Distortion, but its been so long since ive even played that I cant even remember what it sounded like. But I do know that the Dirty Fingers as much hotter than all of those.

Maybe someone else can give you more insight.

 

[chill]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Fair enough, I've never played an APH. Mostly looking for context, as I've wondered about the Dirty Fingers for a while.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Fair enough, I've never played an APH. Mostly looking for context, as I've wondered about the Dirty Fingers for a while.

Ya I had too before I decided to get it. If you really want to know what it sounds like. Listen to Whitesnake's self titled album (I think from '87) The guitar player John Sykes used a DF in his LP custom on most of that album. And listen to all the early Scorpions stuff; most of that was a DF in a gibson explorer. That's what I listened to, and it gives a pretty good demo of what to expect from that pickup.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

And listen to all the early Scorpions stuff; most of that was a DF in a gibson explorer. That's what I listened to, and it gives a pretty good demo of what to expect from that pickup.

Uh? Surely you talk about mid-period Jabs. Neither any of the Schenkers nor Roth used an Explorer, much less a Dirty Fingers.

 

[Christopher Caruana]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Uh? Surely you talk about mid-period Jabs. Neither any of the Schenkers nor Roth used an Explorer, much less a Dirty Fingers.

oops, my bad, yes I was talking about mid period Jabs. Haha I didnt realize just how far back the scorpions went I thought the "Jabs (Rock you like a hurricane) era" was their early days. I stand corrected.

 

[Chas]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

I never get tired of looking at Les Paul Pics. The guitar not the dude.

 

[N_schon]

Re: Dirty Fingers Review

Dirty fingers equals John sykes tone? Nuff said! I am sold! Lol