Re: Sorry to ask, but any info on Dimarzio Steve Morse pickup?
I guess I'll be the dissenting opinion here. I have the Morse (DP 200) pickup in the bridge of my Grosh Bent Top, which has a maple top over a mahogany body with a maple neck and fingerboard.
The first time I heard the Morse in a guitar other than one of Steve's was in a friend of mine's Grosh Bent Top. My buddy is more of a fusion/jazz-rock kind of guy and I really liked the tones that he got out of it, particularly with a distorted amp. So when I ordered my Grosh, I spec'd the DP 200 for the bridge.
Although the resonant peak of the Morse appears to be moderate at about 9.46K, it's actually got a lot of output capability: 450 mV according to DiMarzio. I know that this pickup drives my amps quite hard and in fact, I've recently lowered the height of the pickup as a result. The pickup makes it ridiculously easy to get pinch harmonics.
Tonally, it is a ceramic magnet pickup, so it's got that quick attack and stiffer feel. DiMarzio's tone chart shows the DP 200 as being stronger in the mids than the lows or the highs and I think that is accurate to my ears. I don't hear booming lows or shrill highs, for instance. But with the ceramic magnet, it doesn't have the squishy feel or more burnished tone of the A2Pro that I have in a different guitar.
I'm not really a metal guy but I do think the DP 200 could work well in that genre. The quick attack, ease of pinch harmonics and higher output level would appeal to a metal player. I have had some EMG pickups in the past (85, 89 and SV's) and as I recall, the Morse has more output level and those all-important pinch harmonics are easier with the DP 200.
