Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

Invader09

Invader09

New member
Hi, as many of you know, i'm a huge Full Shred fan, and use one in my Gibson Les Paul Studio, but recently it's bugged me that it didn't have quite enough bass for my amp/cab set-up (listed in my sig) .... I usually have my bass knob on 10, but it was still not quite thick enough, especially when I multitrack record (one take far left, other take far right) and i'm a 300K linear pot user for Full Shred in LP, and took the tone knob out of the chain... It sounds so much smoother this way for me (and I usually play 1/2 step, or full step downtuned) ! So I sold off the Full Shred, and decided on a Dimebucker.

So, yesterday the Dimebucker arrived. I put it in my LP still with 300K linear pot, and no tone knob in the chain. It's EXACTLY what I wanted !! Has about the same treble as the full shred did, still had the scooped mid style sound (the high-mids were scooped slightly more than the shred, but with the low-mids slightly more present) and had a good "boost" in the bass, which was my whole purpose. Alot of people comments knock the dimebucker for its treble, but with my 300K pot, it was just perfect and creamy, with a combination of nice chug, great definition, and attack. The only problem was the huge Duncan logo, and Dimebags signature in the corner...(Yes, i'm a proud Duncan user, but just perfer no logos). So with some brasso, a cloth, and 5 minutes... wallah ! I'm 100% happy with the turnout, and wont look back.

It also matches well with my SH-9 Silverbird bridge model in the neck. (which apparently has two alnico-5 magnets in it) -- Just wanted to share my experience with you all. Thanks for reading, and comments are welcome !
 
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Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

Thanks for the review! I have a Dimebucker that I'm going to be trying out with oen of my guitars in the near future.

BTW, I've never heard of an SH-9. What exactly is that?
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

I've never used a Dimebucker, but I really dig on the Full Shred, so maybe I will try one some day.
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

Nice to hear. I like how the Dimebucker sounds in my LP baritone.
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

A SH-9 is a pickup built in the late 80's by Duncan, for a short lived Gibson silverbird guitar. It's actually has a high resistance ( around 14.5 to 15.2K) but sounds more like 10K. Works great in the neck. Glad you liked the review.
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

Full shred has scooped mids?

Which full shred are you playing?
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

Yes, to my ear the Shred has scooped mids... I think most people agree... no ?
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

I've only had Full Shreds in an alder superstrat, where they were light on in bass and mids, but I think they could sound scooped in a bassier guitar. As a side note, I think Dimebuckers are pretty under-rated pickups.
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

I want to know how a Dime sounds in an LP tuned to D, in the NECK position!
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

i'd agree that the full shred has more of a 'top and bottom' thing happening than the C5; i tried the C5 in an LP (having read that it sounded scooped) and in my guitar it was too much all the way up and down - really thick but no character

the full shred was cool, i generally don't get along with the custom wind when paired with A5 or ceramic mags though.

how would you guys compare the dimebucker to other duncans, and does it sound anything like an L500XL to you or not? i've heard both but not tried either
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

I heard the dimebucker is based on a Lawrence L500XL, although the wind is alittle hotter. It's even constructed similar to a L500XL, the lead coems out of the middle of the pickups baseplate, and the baseplate, is like a shiny hard plastic-ish material, instead of metal. Very different from all other duncan humbuckers. Also read it has some metal inside the core ?
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

To my ears, based on quite a few different alder superstrats, the Dimebucker is sort of like a more scooped, bassier, Distortion, with less aggressive upper mids/treble. I don't really get why people seem to attribute to it the 'ice-pick' adjective, but maybe it has something to do with amp EQing, tonewoods, or just word of mouth (lots of people bag out the Dimebucker without having tried it).

For my purposes, it's a great high gain rhythm pickup, though it might tend a bit toward "Mesa-itis" (fizzy treble) depending on your rig and EQing. I don't really like it for leads, but then there're relatively few bridge pickups that I do like for leads.
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

I would absolutly agree, that people left and right dis the dimebucker. Now, not to offend anyone or anything, but dimebag was far from the type of music I like, and although I appriciate, and respect him for what he was.... I was a far cry from being his fan. So I was already sceptical of the pickup, but when I looked further into it, I decided it was actually quite possibly a perfect fit, and it did turn out being alot better than what I used to think it would be.... don't judge a book by the cover, I guess...
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

My style is a lot more grunge than metal, but the Dimebucker suits me well. I play more Pearl Jam than Pantera, but I still like a blazing hot ceramic pickup for the bridge position.
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

I can tell you about the seymour silverbird sh-9 humbucker. Here's what Patrick Kirshtner from Seymour Duncan wrote to me:

Wow, now that's a blast from the past!

This is a very obscure and rare pickup that we only made for a short
period of time...it was called the SH-9 SILVERBIRD. It has tele bobbins,
alnico II Exposed Blade magnets and is high output. This pickup is very
hard to fit into most guitars because it is bigger than a regular
humbucker (or even a trembucker). You would most likely have to route
whatever guitar you have to be able to fit that and there are no
mounting rings made that will fit that so they would have to be custom
made. They ARE cool looking though and sound great.

I installed the sh-9 in the bridge position of my Ibanez Reb Beach Model RBM1 and it sounds awesome. Truly a rock pickup, warm sounding with plenty of overtones. Hope this could help.

dsc01479hv.jpg
 
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Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

Yeah I had to sand my mouting ring down so it would fit... I put mine in the neck... high output, and it sounds amazing !
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

It was too mid scooped for me. It gave my rig a hollow sound. They should make a version with more mids.
 
Re: Just placed a Dimebucker in my Les Paul ... review

on that, has anyone tried an A2 mag in one yet?
 
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