Gplayerzzz - the Satchur8 has a pretty stiff and snappy bottom end. It's hard to say for sure without playing both Evo's back-to-back with the Satchur8, but, from memory, I'm definitely reminded a lot of the Evo 2's low end response, so if that's not your thing, this pickup may not be to your liking.
Final thoughts: The Satchur8 yields a surprising amount of expressiveness for such a high output design and its lively harmonic character is definitely worthy of the "Satriani" heritage. The bottom end is nice and tight and there are a LOT of very crisp sounding mids on tap, which give way to an interesting chime up top as the highs thin out ever so slightly on the unwound strings. I think the Satchur8 is a great pickup for players who desire tight and punchy rhythms that cut through, but still want to be able to pull off a really expressive solo without changing pickups or amp settings. I think the best way to describe this pickup's character is sort of a DiMarzio FRED meets the DiMarzio Evolution. There's nothing in the Duncan line that it reminds me of at all.
If I had to cite a weakness, it would be that the Satchur8 is still a bit over-the-top in the output department. DiMarzio is doing something really cool with this pickup, which strays a bit from their typical offerings, but a little softer response would go a long way. I love the punchiness, harmonics, articulation and immediacy it delivers, but, even with the volume rolled down, it's a hard pickup to get softer notes out of, which does limit its versatility a bit, at least for the mix of styles I like to play.
As a result, tonight I pulled the Satchur8 and put in the Illuminator...
Upon initial impression, with only a few minutes to play, the Illuminator is a little warmer in its voicing and slightly better behaved in the response department. It's still very high output, but more controllable. The bottom end is a little looser than the Satchur8's and the mid-mids aren't nearly as pushed, but notes on the unwound strings, especially at the higher frets, ring out with added fullness, which benefits this particular guitar. However, the Illuminator does seem to lack a bit of attitude and midrange cut, being a bit smoother overall. I'm actually looking forward to playing it back-to-back with my Axis, as the few minutes I spent with the Illuminator reminded me of the Axis bridge in some ways. Don't read into that too much, though. I'll update after I've had a little more time with the Illuminator.
