Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

[STRATDELUXER97]

I've been listening to alot of Satriani again lately and so it made me want to replace the SD I had in my black basswood strat back to another Dimarzio Fred..I had bought this F spaced Fred new about 2 years ago and never used it....This particular strat had another Fred pickup(Now in my SG) in it since the Fred came out and about 2 years ago I switched to the Demon..

This pickup and the SD are kinda close I think,but the Fred has tons of harmonics and it's very very easy to get singing sustain and feedback compared to the SD...I feel that the SD had slightly more lows and a bit less mids....The Fred has a much more complex tone overall and I'm really starting to get a handle on how mis-matched coils effect what we hear..Maybe the added mids makes me think that there's a slight lessening in the lows? It's pretty slight,but I did notice it.

The Fred is tight like the SD and it's very clear and cleans up really well....One thing that I couldn't understand about the Fred pickup after just finishing playing through it for over an hour,is that as you volume down,the pickup actually gets fuller and less toppy but not muddy(Very cool)...I seemed to think that I Liked the transition from clean to crunchy(dirty)with the volume control with the fred better....

The Fred just seems to sound better though in this guitar compared to the SD...It's not that I didn't really like the SD,but the Fred seems to work better? Guessing this is the reason that I had a Fred in this guitar for like 10 years or more...

Maybe this week I'm just on a Dimarzio kick? :laugh2:

It's is very easy to nail some of Satch's overtones and the complex singing sustaining tones he gets by using my old Marshall and a Plexitone pedal with this guitar and pickup...

I guess the only thing that would make the Fred pickup even better,would be if it had just a touch more lowend....I could try one lower row of STD sized nickel screws like I did on my SD and leave the upper coil with it's stock hex screws and I'll bet it'd be even better...

I also wanted to add that I actually hear less string noise while sliding along my strings with the Fred?

Anyway...Maybe this info might guide somebody else?

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

I have a Fred in a custom strat that i made myself... The guitar is not that great..... but it was my first ever guitar i made.... It looks great in photos but up close it is not the best guitar.... I original had the Fred in my Warmoth strat and i had lots of problems with it........ For the life of me i couldn;t figure out what was wrong with it... Back in the mid 90's Dimarzio used some stupid solid bare ground wires... This wire had snapped where the black heat shink had been peeled back for the PU wires..... I guess it also could of broken when the wire cutters i used took the heat shrink off may of nipped it....

That ground issue i hear has been addressed by Dimarzio and they now ship their pickups with a better ground wire... I will buy another Fred anytime! Nice pickup. The Warmoth was a flame maple top on Alder and a Maple/Rosewood neck.... used a Fender American Standard trem and Sperzels! Amazing guitar! Along with the Fred i had a HS2 in the middle and a PAF pro in the neck.... I didn't like the HS2 as it sounded so weak beside the 2 full sized humbuckers.... One day after i had found some Dimarzio pickups for cheap i ended up putting the PAF Pro in the bridge and a Dimarzio covered PAF in the neck... soon after that i bought a Lace Senser for $20 and replaced the HS2...

The only real reason i removed the Fred was to try these other pickups out... That Warmoth is such a nice guitar i could put anything in it and it will sound great! The fred ended up getting moved into my Homemade guitar.... that Fred will get taken out of that guitar and i will add some cheapies to it.... I have a source to buy Yamaha humbuckers for cheap....

Also i removed the Fred as i didn't trust that ground wire issue.... with my luck it would break again just when i needed that guitar the most... For my Fred i have been waiting for a nice Mahogany or Basswood strat to put it in... It does have a neat charater to it! Also i will buy more Freds in the future now that that ground wire issue is settled on the newer models

WhoFan

 

[SoCalSteve]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

Have you guys had any experience with the FRED in a mahogany w/maple cap guitar? I'm toying with the idea of putting the PAF Joe neck/Fred bridge in my LP. That or the VPAF/VHPAF.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

I have a Fred in a custom strat that i made myself... The guitar is not that great..... but it was my first ever guitar i made.... It looks great in photos but up close it is not the best guitar.... I original had the Fred in my Warmoth strat and i had lots of problems with it........ For the life of me i couldn;t figure out what was wrong with it... Back in the mid 90's Dimarzio used some stupid solid bare ground wires... This wire had snapped where the black heat shink had been peeled back for the PU wires..... I guess it also could of broken when the wire cutters i used took the heat shrink off may of nipped it....

That ground issue i hear has been addressed by Dimarzio and they now ship their pickups with a better ground wire... I will buy another Fred anytime! Nice pickup. The Warmoth was a flame maple top on Alder and a Maple/Rosewood neck.... used a Fender American Standard trem and Sperzels! Amazing guitar! Along with the Fred i had a HS2 in the middle and a PAF pro in the neck.... I didn't like the HS2 as it sounded so weak beside the 2 full sized humbuckers.... One day after i had found some Dimarzio pickups for cheap i ended up putting the PAF Pro in the bridge and a Dimarzio covered PAF in the neck... soon after that i bought a Lace Senser for $20 and replaced the HS2...

The only real reason i removed the Fred was to try these other pickups out... That Warmoth is such a nice guitar i could put anything in it and it will sound great! The fred ended up getting moved into my Homemade guitar.... that Fred will get taken out of that guitar and i will add some cheapies to it.... I have a source to buy Yamaha humbuckers for cheap....

Also i removed the Fred as i didn't trust that ground wire issue.... with my luck it would break again just when i needed that guitar the most... For my Fred i have been waiting for a nice Mahogany or Basswood strat to put it in... It does have a neat charater to it! Also i will buy more Freds in the future now that that ground wire issue is settled on the newer models

WhoFan

The Fred that is currently in my Gibson SG I Bought new when the Fred came out and prior to the SG it was in this same black strat for like 13 years or so....Guess I'm lucky cause I've never had a problem with mine...Now I'm into my second Fred and it's every bit as great as my original one and I noticed the colored wires are more rigid and there's this clear coating around those wires....I also notice alot less buzz and I'm thinking that they cured the earlier buzz problems on the newer Freds....The original one is only slightly noisey,just like the Hybrid pickups and normal also...

 

[Fusion1]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

That or the VPAF/VHPAF.

When I see the Vintage Hot PAF being abbreviated as VHPAF, I instantly think Van Halen PAF. I know thats not the idea but the reference is there. Sort of like the EVH78 isn't supposed to refer to Eddie at all.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

When I see the Vintage Hot PAF being abbreviated as VHPAF, I instantly think Van Halen PAF. I know thats not the idea but the reference is there. Sort of like the EVH78 isn't supposed to refer to Eddie at all.

Indeed.....Might just be something to that? Subliminal Eddie message again maybe? :laugh2:

 

[Dave Z]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

I noticed on the new superstrat that the FRED sounded better with the vol on 10 (playing through the Fender clone)...I'm guessing I was overdriving the first tube stage a bit & causing some harmonics that just got amplified in the rest of the (cleanly set) stages. Rolling off the volume cleaned up those harmonics and I was please do get a nice smooth tone out of the amp. Had the same issue with the jazz neck pickup.

The FRED harmonics are pretty wild, the strat is brighter than the SG test axe and with a lot of gain I'm gettins some really wierd stuff. ONe thing I like is that turning down the tone a bit gets a smoother OD sound (like Jeff Beck's approach "get the treble from the amp) but you still get the wierd harmonic structure.

 

[SoCalSteve]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

Would you say Satriani's Always with You...... is representative of the sound of the FRED?

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

I noticed on the new superstrat that the FRED sounded better with the vol on 10 (playing through the Fender clone)...I'm guessing I was overdriving the first tube stage a bit & causing some harmonics that just got amplified in the rest of the (cleanly set) stages. Rolling off the volume cleaned up those harmonics and I was please do get a nice smooth tone out of the amp. Had the same issue with the jazz neck pickup.

The FRED harmonics are pretty wild, the strat is brighter than the SG test axe and with a lot of gain I'm gettins some really wierd stuff. ONe thing I like is that turning down the tone a bit gets a smoother OD sound (like Jeff Beck's approach "get the treble from the amp) but you still get the wierd harmonic structure.

Agreed....You're getting the crazy harmonic sustain and feedback from the mis-matched coils on the Fred but tight and articulate because of the A5 magnet...I Like the fact that the pickup cuts really great,cleans up very very well,and it seems like when you clean it up by rolling the volume back,that the pickup becomes a bit warmer and almost single coil like....

And yes...It reacts very well to the tone control also...Roll the volume and tone control back a bit and you get warmer and cleaner...Crank the volume up and pick hard and you get screaming sustain and singing controllable harmonics and great crunch that stays tight! The pickup lacks just a bit in the lows but it's not real bad if you use your tone control to dial some of the highs away....The Fred is more than likely what the Scremon Demon should be or was meant to be,but it misses the mark by far....

The SD is alot cleaner in it's tone and very bright and seems like it also lacks the rounder lows of a 59 or a PG in the bridge..

The Fred is alot of fun to play through and the sustain is controllable,easy to get and inspiring also...:dance: It's the only Dimarzio I've ever used and I've used it since it came out alot of years ago..

 

[Fusion1]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

I used to love playing that old Satriani stuff on my Kramer through a rockman headphone amp... ahh memories... Always with you, always with me...

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

I used to love playing that old Satriani stuff on my Kramer through a rockman headphone amp... ahh memories... Always with you, always with me...

That's the tune that my wife heard on the radio,told me about,and I've been hooked on Joe's music ever since...I pretty much have every release and dvd,tapes etc...of everything he's ever done! Yet I'm not at all a Steve Vai fan! :laugh2:

 

[Dave Z]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

Hey stratdeluxer I dunno about the lows, the new FRED (Fspaced) has loads of lows...I use a 2x10 cab, it shakes the house. Far more than, say the JB, a bit lower in the spectrum than the '59 bridge PU but about the same volume. Seems to have better low end response than the old FRED I tried in the test axe, I even cranked down the poles on the E string to just under flush on the bobbin. (rest of the poles radiused for the 10" fretboard).

this one measures lower also - 9.8K ohms versus ~9.0 for the old one.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

Hey stratdeluxer I dunno about the lows, the new FRED (Fspaced) has loads of lows...I use a 2x10 cab, it shakes the house. Far more than, say the JB, a bit lower in the spectrum than the '59 bridge PU but about the same volume. Seems to have better low end response than the old FRED I tried in the test axe, I even cranked down the poles on the E string to just under flush on the bobbin. (rest of the poles radiused for the 10" fretboard).

this one measures lower also - 9.8K ohms versus ~9.0 for the old one.

Probably my guitar, setup,volume levels etc.here at home....Mine measured 9.7K....Not sure what the old one in the SG reads,but I Know it's well over 9k...I Love the pickup though and I can turn up the lows on my amp if needed.No problems there!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

Hey stratdeluxer I dunno about the lows, the new FRED (Fspaced) has loads of lows...I use a 2x10 cab, it shakes the house. Far more than, say the JB, a bit lower in the spectrum than the '59 bridge PU but about the same volume. Seems to have better low end response than the old FRED I tried in the test axe, I even cranked down the poles on the E string to just under flush on the bobbin. (rest of the poles radiused for the 10" fretboard).

this one measures lower also - 9.8K ohms versus ~9.0 for the old one.

How close is your Fred to your strings though? I Measured mine and I'm closer to 3/32" as I Normally end up....Closer will give you more lows,brighter,stronger,more in your face,but I feel at a loss of clear note articulation...I hate choking the pickup by having it up too close,but that's only how I do it....I've no problems getting singing sustain and overall great tone from mine though.:dance:

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

The Fred that is currently in my Gibson SG I Bought new when the Fred came out and prior to the SG it was in this same black strat for like 13 years or so....Guess I'm lucky cause I've never had a problem with mine...Now I'm into my second Fred and it's every bit as great as my original one and I noticed the colored wires are more rigid and there's this clear coating around those wires....I also notice alot less buzz and I'm thinking that they cured the earlier buzz problems on the newer Freds....The original one is only slightly noisey,just like the Hybrid pickups and normal also...

even if i had trouble with the one wire the sound that puppy gives out is killer.... since you have a newer Fred as well, can you say for sure if it no longer has the solid bare ground wire anymore? The fred has a lot lot of high freqs to it that i like... Plus it still has the lows to kick ya!

WhoFan

 

[SoCalSteve]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

Do I smell bad or something?:yell:

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

Would you say Satriani's Always with You...... is representative of the sound of the FRED?

Maybe the new live version of Always With Me Always with You has a guitar with the Fred.. On Surfing i'm 99% sure that album was recorded almost in whole on a Kramer with Duncans... Freds came out in the early 90's sometime i think... besides that i'm sure Joe uses the neck PAF pro or Joe pickups for Always With Me these days..


WhoFan

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

even if i had trouble with the one wire the sound that puppy gives out is killer.... since you have a newer Fred as well, can you say for sure if it no longer has the solid bare ground wire anymore? The fred has a lot lot of high freqs to it that i like... Plus it still has the lows to kick ya!

WhoFan

The new Fred has a stranded seperate ground wire just like the 4 conductor Duncan pickup,but I never had a problem with the wiring on the other one?

It's gotta be you Chris? :laugh2: :laugh2: Maybe you're cursed? :laugh2:

 

[ranalli]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

How does the Fred compare to the PAF Pro?? I had the PAF Pro in the bridge and I just never really liked it....it was too "plain" for me....just always felt like something was lacking with that pickup.

I always hear good things about the FRED but from the EQ chart it looks darker than the PAF Pro...and I'm not sure if I'd like that.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Ditched The Demon And Went Back To The Fred Bridge

How does the Fred compare to the PAF Pro?? I had the PAF Pro in the bridge and I just never really liked it....it was too "plain" for me....just always felt like something was lacking with that pickup.

I always hear good things about the FRED but from the EQ chart it looks darker than the PAF Pro...and I'm not sure if I'd like that.

Never really had a desire to use the PAF Pro once the Fred came out? The Fred has more mids,a little bit more output,and more overall "growl"....

"We designed FRED® to bump the mid-range of the PAF Pro® EQ up a notch, but in the process, something unusual happened. Harmonics that humbuckers usually don't reproduce started popping out, particularly with overdriven amps and distortion units. FRED® has about the same power as the PAF Pro®, but the unusual overtones create a sound with more crank and growl. Joe Satriani was the first player to discover and exploit these qualities, and it's been his main bridge pickup ever since. FRED® is really sensitive to changes in pick attack and control settings, and its distinctive tone makes a great recorded sound for both penetrating solos and tight rhythm tracks.
Tech Talk: The Fred® started out as a prototype designed to add a little midrange to the PAF Pro®. When we sent one of the first ones to Joe Satriani, he discovered and exploited a unique tonal characteristic - the Fred®'s ability to emphasize upper midrange and treble harmonics through an overdriven and distorted amp. Many standard humbuckers have a tendency to fatten up with distortion. The Fred® does the opposite; it gets tighter and brighter, much like a single-coil. Joe uses the Fred® strictly as a bridge pickup, but it's also a distinctive neck pickup - works really well with a Norton®, Tone Zone® or Evolution® bridge model".