Butch Snyder
ObsoleteChickenPickingologist
Well, the only DiMarzios I have owned were the Breeds and Twang Kings. With my OLP MM1, I thought I'd do the Joe Satriani setup that he used on "The Extremist". That would be the Fred/PAF Pro combo. I just installed them last night and tested them for connectivity and balance. So far so good. The thing I noticed is that, while both have 2 rows of hex poles, the PAF Pro's poles are black, while the Fred's are chrome. I thought it weird since Satch was using the PAF Pro when DiMarzio designed the Fred for him. Anyway, so far, I see the tone of the PAF Pro being just like a modern PAF but a little more hollow and with more output and character. SRV tones could be had with it as well as Gary Moore "Still Got The Blues" tones. It really depends on your right hand technique. It seems to be very sensetive to your playing style. The Fred is fat and has an upper mid bark to it but it's a more polite bark than the JB. With proper right hand technique, I can make it sound like a nice fat Tele bridge pickup. A good description would be "Friends" from "The Extremist" CD. I think the basswood body plays a big part in this too. I love Satch's tone. He's a bit more woody and not quite as processed-sounding as Vai. His playing is also more musical AFAIC. I will be playing at full volume Sunday morning and evening at a concert I'm performing in. I'll post those results Monday morning.
