Duncan distortions or Dimarzio dactivators?

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dreadguard268

New member
In the interest of trying something different with this particular guitar (ESP Horizon maple bolt on neck ash body TOM) I'm curious what you might have to say about these sets in that guitar. Specifically chosen because they are what I have...lol.

Thanks.
 
Re: Duncan distortions or Dimarzio dactivators?

I used to have an Ibanez VBT700 that came stock with a D-Activator set. I wasn't too fond of them because they sounded sterile like some actives do. I would much rather have a Distortion set.
 
Re: Duncan distortions or Dimarzio dactivators?

Well if you have em, just try em! My vote goes to the Distortion, but I am sort of biased. :)
 
Re: Duncan distortions or Dimarzio dactivators?

Gone_Shootin said:
I used to have an Ibanez VBT700 that came stock with a D-Activator set. I wasn't too fond of them because they sounded sterile like some actives do. I would much rather have a Distortion set.
Click to expand...

Sterile as in dull, boring, lifeless, uninteresting, then no. Sterile as in not coloring your ton then maybe. You almost always hear Activators through modeling amps but like EMGs you can get some sweet tones, albeit hi-fi, as long as you have no illusions about what they're best at. Hard to find some tube amp videos but here are two OK vids.



 
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Re: Duncan distortions or Dimarzio dactivators?

Gone_Shootin said:
I used to have an Ibanez VBT700 that came stock with a D-Activator set.
Click to expand...

I still have one of those :). Thought the D-Activators sounded okay, certainly for the heavier stuff although I wasn't really fond of the clean tone myself. Went for the X2N/Paf Pro combo and haven't looked back.
For an ash and maple guitar. I'd probably gravitate more towards the Duncan Distortion (to stay on topic) as it's less bright and adds some meatiness to the mids, whilst staying tigt in the lower regions. I'd personally go for '59 neck for versatility if that's what's needed.
 
Re: Duncan distortions or Dimarzio dactivators?

I had both in my Ibanez RG. The distortion bridge had too much mids. The flatter Dactivators were just perfect for this guitar.
 
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