Well glad you like it either way. I'm a big fan of most pickup makers, and Dimarzio is one of my favorites, so I'm glad to hear you like it. This forum is cool because even though presumably most of us join the forum because we love Seymour Duncan pickups, a lot of us are just big gear nuts who like to discuss different gear. It's cool that there is always a Bareknuckle, Dimarzio, etc. thread in this forum every day.
I don't know what plans you have for future pickup purchases, but I urge you to try the Dimarzio Dominion. It blows me away every time I play it. In fact, I just got up for sitting around watching TV and noodling on my Dominion strat with my Fender Blues Jr for almost 2 hours. People automatically think Dominion = Mark Morton = Metal Riffing, but it's a fascinating pickup. Yes it's classified as a high output, ceramic pickup that's featured in the signature guitar of a top name metal player, but it's a lot cooler than that.
If you like to play a lot of solos and instrumentals, it's sensational. It's so good for soloing that you can dig in and play blues or rock or shred metal. I remember reading an article in a magazine several years ago in an interview with Mark Morton and I think he said something like that he was a "misplaced blues player." When you play it, you'll find out very quickly that it was designed to do a lot of lead work.
I'd say the Dominion is born out of a hard rock, old school design instead of coming from a foundation of modern metal -- sort of ironically -- but that matters none. First of all, it's a pretty organic and warm pickup. You won't get the kind of presence inherent in the Transition of Illuminator. However, it's equalization is so well designed that it's not going to sit behind a more present pickup in a mix or drown out under a bright Marshall or something. It has an impressive low end, but tight and not like you might think. Even though by description it has a similar low end to the Crunch Lab, the Crunch Lab low end seems to stand out a little more. Looking at your recording software, you can see that the Dominion is right on level with it in the low frequencies, it's just that the midrange is really neat. If you look at the fretboard from the bridge, down the strings, and toward the neck and imagine the EQ shape a pickup would have in an imaginary line above the strings, the Dominion probably takes more of a C shape.
The high end and low end aren't dominant in the Dominion, but they're plentiful. The midrange isn't too over-the-top either. Imagine a Breed that's a little more under control and not so spiky. Maybe you could say it's kind of between a Super Distortion and Breed. Maybe a little PAF Pro in there somewhere too because the harmonic content is glorious. The mids are pretty aggressive, and there's a little grind to the pickup overall, but in way that still gives a nod to the classics.
If you had a Transition and never saw the EQ or description, would would consider it in the medium to medium-high output at best. The Dominion, according to specs, is 30mv lower than the Transition (360 vs 390). In use, it's not a big difference, but you can tell the a little difference. Both pickups are ceramic and rated at high output, but don't really act like it. What both pickups allow you to do is have a pretty good range of pickup height from the strings. A lower from the strings tames the overall bite, makes you get a little more dynamic attack, and shaves a little output. If you put the Transition too close to the strings, it's a little strong and kind of bright. However, the Dominion lets you set it pretty close to the strings. What that does is make the high end a little more responsive and give it a little more touch sensitivity. However, both the Dominion and Transition have very quick pickup tracking.
I don't know if the word just hasn't gotten out or if Dimarzio has failed on the marketing of the Dominion, but it deserves a lot of attention. It's outstanding. If you like Dimarzios, you gotta give it a try.
