Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

[UberMetalDood]

The Dimarzio DP420 Virtual Solo is a single size bridge humbucker that is recommended for the bridge position. Typically, Dimarzio will mention if a pickup is also useful in the neck position, but does not with the Virtual Solo; making it seem as if it probably won't make a good neck pickup.

However, due to the frustration with the Little 59n, I installed the Virtual Solo in the neck of my strat to match my 59/Custom Hybrid. Oh boy let me tell you that it's one of the best neck pickups I have ever tried.

The great thing about it is that it has enough output to keep up with fairly hot bridge pickups. You can hear a lot of detail and it's not too bassy. I know a lot of people like the Little 59 neck, but some of my frustrations are the lack of detail, bassiness, and lack of cut. It sounds bassy and sterile to me. On the other hand, the Virtual Solo has breathed new life into the neck of my strat. Since the 59/Custom is a crisp pickup with a powerful midrange, it matches well with the Virtual Solo.

Something else that I really like in a neck pickup that the Virtual Solo does well is quack with individual picked notes, and because it has beautiful note separation, fast runs and arpeggios sound amazing. It also has a slight bit of twang and actually does kind of an SRV'ish thing if you want.

It can be very distorted and still sound beautiful and defined, but it has a very nice warm sparkle and slightly bouncy feel on a clean amp. It holds together very nicely with distortion and if you want you can get away with some great sounding palm mutes in the neck position. Harmonics are awesome too which is pretty neat for a neck humbucker.

I highly recommend the Virtual Solo as a neck pickup for an HSS configuration. It doesn't have a particular Dimarzio flavor in the neck position so it blends really well with Seymour duncans, and I imagine other brands as well. It's moderately hot for a single size Alnico humbucker, but it probably doesn't have enough power to match a Duncan Distortion in the bridge.

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

I've heard people using it for metal with skinny strings and getting good results. For other things with larger strings, I think it is far too dark for a neck pup.

 

[jhale667]

I've heard people using it for metal with skinny strings and getting good results. For other things with larger strings, I think it is far too dark for a neck pup.

Glad you said that, because I was thinking about trying it with a C8 in the bridge, but I use .10-52s... and if that's true, it's something to consider I guess...:scratchch

So what's a brighter option in a vintage-looking stack that would match up?

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

If you go to their site and check out the specs, you can order them from dark to bright and decide what you want. Depends on how vintagey you want to get. A '67 is bright and quacky, not really low output, but lower than some others. A '58 is warmer, a '61 warmer still, then a '54 pro, then a virtual heavy blues 2, etc. I don't like dark in a neck pickup, a '58 is as dark as I go but I use 13-62 on my strats. If you're using something light like 10-52, you can probably get away with darker since there is a lot less fundamental in the tone with lighter strings.

 

[atreidesheir]

Re: Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

Jazz players discovered the vv solo as a neck pickup about 9 or 10 years ago. They like the way it sounds on single note runs. I installed several of them around that time for jazz-loving college students (recommended by a music professor)and they did sound great, especially in ash strats.
That wood matches wonderfully with that pickup. I l like the vv solo. I had one in an ash strat with a jbjr and lil59 and it was used quite a lot.
I miss that pickup. It would be a great neck pickup for a tele too.

 

[TheLivingDead]

Re: Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

Awesome, I'd love to hear some clips.

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

Jazz players discovered the vv solo as a neck pickup about 9 or 10 years ago.

Except it hasn't been out that long. You are thinking of the older virtual vintage solo, not the same animal, but similar idea.

Back when that was the current offering, I discovered putting the neck/middle or neck/bridge in parallel and turning down one tone pot. Beautiful jazz tone but more versatile in that you could turn that tone pot back up for other things. I used brighter pups back then in the neck. Think I started with VV blues at the end of their beta testing, then went to the V2.1s and V2 necks when those come out, then switch to Kinman Woodstocks after trying a whole lot of his stuff and finding those were the only ones that quacked decently (still use those in some guitars), finally switched to Areas since they really sound like singles, which none of the others did.

Also in the late 90s when the VVs first came out, I got really into Wayne Krantz's early CDs and started using .0022uf tone caps instead of .022uf, never looked back. A .0022uf cap rolled all the way back is still my clean jazz tone.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

Except it hasn't been out that long. You are thinking of the older virtual vintage solo, not the same animal, but similar idea.

Back when that was the current offering, I discovered putting the neck/middle or neck/bridge in parallel and turning down one tone pot. Beautiful jazz tone but more versatile in that you could turn that tone pot back up for other things. I used brighter pups back then in the neck. Think I started with VV blues at the end of their beta testing, then went to the V2.1s and V2 necks when those come out, then switch to Kinman Woodstocks after trying a whole lot of his stuff and finding those were the only ones that quacked decently (still use those in some guitars), finally switched to Areas since they really sound like singles, which none of the others did.

Also in the late 90s when the VVs first came out, I got really into Wayne Krantz's early CDs and started using .0022uf tone caps instead of .022uf, never looked back. A .0022uf cap rolled all the way back is still my clean jazz tone.

The Virtual Vintage Solos were amazing pickups by the way. They sounded spectacular in a slightly dark sounding strat. The new Virtual Solo is a little different. They designed it because some people thought the Virtual Vintage Solo was a little harsh and wanted it hotter.

Probably still my favorite Dimarzio single humbucker is the Virtual Heavy Blues II. I think it has a little more character than the Virtual Solo, but it's also a little darker in the middle and neck position. It uses A2 magnets but has is strong in the bass registers as well. That's one pickup which sounds great clean and distorted, but makes one of the best pickups for soloing.

 

[atreidesheir]

Re: Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

You guys are correct. I guess i have not heard the new solo. The old one was killer.
I thought the original virtual vintage line was very good. The weakest ones were the 2.1, but I guess they came first.
I think there are a lot of really good noise cancelling strat pickups. I always thought it was pointless to compare them to vintage pickups. If you put them against Fender American standard pickups, they are as good or superior in my ear. I have a set of the original vv54 for strat. They sound very good. I still love those. They sound like butter. They have an incredible clean voice.

 

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

You guys are correct. I guess i have not heard the new solo. The old one was killer.
I thought the original virtual vintage line was very good. The weakest ones were the 2.1, but I guess they came first.
I think there are a lot of really good noise cancelling strat pickups. I always thought it was pointless to compare them to vintage pickups. If you put them against Fender American standard pickups, they are as good or superior in my ear. I have a set of the original vv54 for strat. They sound very good. I still love those. They sound like butter. They have an incredible clean voice.

I have an Area 61 (neck) and Area 58 (middle) and virtual Heavy Blues II (bridge) in my new charcoal strat. I haven't tried the 54, but I'm really impressed with the ones I have. The 61 is really something special and goes really well with my VVHB2. The 58 is a great middle pickup because it's kind of polite in the middle but gives me the brightness and output I want in a middle pickup, without the hum. My guitar is dead quiet by the way. It's even quieter than any full size humbucker guitar I have.

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Introducing: Dimarzio Virtual Solo as a neck pickup

some people thought the Virtual Vintage Solo was a little harsh and wanted it hotter.

I would be one of those. I have yet to hear a bridge single coil, noiseless or otherwise, that didn't make me flinch.

Probably still my favorite Dimarzio single humbucker is the Virtual Heavy Blues II. I think it has a little more character than the Virtual Solo, but it's also a little darker in the middle and neck position.

Really? Weird. I'd think it would be brighter. Does it come across darker in the bridge to? Never tried it in any other position.

DiMarzio's tone charts, like anyone else's, are a loose guide at best.

For instance, I've found the Area '67, which they show at 120mv avg output, to be significantly louder than the Cruiser neck or Fast Track 1, even with the '67 in the middle and those in the neck. That is at the same distance from the strings. To make the Cruiser Neck or FT1 as loud, they have to be nearly kissing the strings, and they are rated at 140mv and 190mv respectively. I also dont find the FT1 to be any louder than the Cruiser neck, just darker and more compressed, more of a cross between a humbucker and a single than the Cruiser, which is much more single coil sounding. The FT1 is like a PAF on the high notes, but the lows are never muddy. It is no where near as loud as they claim though.

Either that, or the Area '67 and '58 are a whole lot higher output than they claim.

I've also found the '61 to be MUCH darker sounding in the neck or middle than the '58 or '67, though not really any louder. The '67 is also noticeably brighter than the '58, which their tone chart rather understates as well. The '58 is actually on what I'd call the warm side of a single coil, maybe not as dark as say a lollar blackface, but getting there.