Suggestion for DiMarzio Neck PU

[Mr. Lime]

Hi there,

when I had a Gretsch Country Gentleman with TV Jones Pickups, I fell in love with Filtertron kind of pickups. Dimarzio offers the Humbucker from Hell and the EJ Custom, which are somewhat similar. I like them too in my guitars and also had good experience with the Bluesbucker as I always prefered single coil‘ish sounds in the neck position.

I‘m curious what you guys would recommend as alternative as there are so many other neck pickups from Dimarzio.
A lot of people like the Air Norton for it‘s overtones. I‘m afraid it would be too muddy for my liking. I enjoy the Ibanez Super 58 pickups as well so it doesn‘t have to be a single coil kind of pickup as long it‘s got good split coil sound.

Is there anything like a brighter Air Norton?
What about the Evo neck PU?

Looking forward to suggestions!

Thanks

 

[JB_From_Hell]

I like these pairings a lot:

ceramic Norton/ Air Classic bridge
Crunch Lab/ Liquifire
ceramic Tone Zone/ Virtual Vintage Blues
PG-13 set (with the bridge and middle swapped)
Gibson T-Top/ PG-13 neck
Imperium 7/ PAF7
Ionizer 8 set

 

[pskorz]

A pickup from dimarzio that is overlooked in the neck is the Fred.
I’ve had it in the neck paired with both a D activator and a super distortion in the bridge.

 

[Mr. Lime]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Yeah the Fred indeed is an interesting one!
A PAF Pro had been an option too but the Fred is probably a better choice.
Usually my favored Dimarzio neck PUs have lower output from 178 to 265mV but the Fred's higher output might make it a good candidate for splitting or parallel wiring of the coils.
If the A5 is still too much, I could try swapping it for an A3 magnet I have laying around.

Another one that caught my attention is the Gravity Storm Neck model which seems to have all 3 patents.
Not sure if it fits my need for brightness but it might be a better option than a Air Norton or Liquidfire.
The Air Classic bridge might be worth a try too but I guess coil splitting won't be as good sounding as with the other ones..

 

[Juanhanglo]

Not a dimarzio, but have you thought about the full shred neck?

Dont let the name fool you., it does more than that.

Do some reasearch on it.

i think frank falbo was also a fan of it.

It is one of my favorite neck humbuckers, and i am a huge dimarzio fan. They do not have anything quite like it in their lineup

 

[Mr. Lime]

I have only experience with the Full Shred bridge. Isn't the FS neck in the ballpark of an SH-2 Jazz? The Jazz is okay but not outstanding imo. I tried it in many different guitars but I usually prefer Dimarzio for neck pickup sounds.
Might try it someday with a Duncan equipped guitar. Without covers I don't want to mix different brands of pickups in a guitar.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

It would help to know what the guitar is, and what bridge pickup the new humbucker will be paired with.

For sparkly neck tone, you probably want a vintage output pickup. not something hotter.
You can always use a resistor in the split wiring to keep it stronger when split.

 

[Juanhanglo]

I have only experience with the Full Shred bridge. Isn't the FS neck in the ballpark of an SH-2 Jazz? The Jazz is okay but not outstanding imo. I tried it in many different guitars but I usually prefer Dimarzio for neck pickup sounds.
Might try it someday with a Duncan equipped guitar. Without covers I don't want to mix different brands of pickups in a guitar.

yes, supposedly it is. But the double rows of hex pole pieces change it significantly, IMO.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Air Norton is a nice neck tone. If you're worried about muddiness at gain, wiring so it's normally in parallel cleans it up quite a bit.

I still think what you really want is a vintage output model, though.
See if you maybe can find a NOS or used Virtual PAF neck, they're sweet yet crisp.

 

[Mr. Lime]

Currently I'm tuning 3 similar guitars, basically superstrats . All maple neck through with alder wings and double locking trems. I'm also quite unhappy with my Gibson SG Supreme, which will get new pickups as well.

They all should have different flavors but I tend to like bright neck pickups, especially Filtertrons.
The ESP Horizon currently has a ceramic Tone Zone in it but it will be replaced with a Dominion soon. It's a very bright guitar but the Bluesbucker in series mode sounds awesome in it.

Another one that could fit is the PAF Joe.
It looks good on paper too but I have read mixed reviews about it. Would have VV just like the Virtual PAF.
Not sure about the Air Norton as there are hardly sound samples of it , that I liked.

The neck PU should be capable for legato playing and soloing as well.
Most PAF kind of pickups I tried weren't made for this. I hated the 57 Classics and other Gibson PUs I tried.

 

[Dave Locher]

Are you planning on double cream? If that is the issue I have a left-field option for you: a Wilde L-500C or L-500R. For legato probably the 500R, maybe even 500L.
I have 500Cs in two of my guitars, both with Dimarzios in the bridge, and love them in the neck because they are bright and clear but still have the volume and compression of a humbucker. They take gain like a champ. And they are available in double cream because the Dimarzio patent or trademark or whatever it is only applies to pickups with 12 pole pieces, not rails.
They obviously don't visually match a Dimarzio humbucker, but they are different enough that the mismatch looks interesting and intentional.
https://www.wildepickups.com/products/l500

 

[Mr. Lime]

I have an L-350R in the neck position and L-500L as bridge PU in my Washburn Falcon. Not a bad neck PU but not my favorite neither. The L-500L is quite nice in the bridge.
They are both somehow unique sounding bright but the L-500L (it's a very old one with Bill's singnature on the back and without model label, not sure if it's a L500XL) really helped the Washburn coming to live.

I would highly prefer both pickups in zebra. Another option would be black covers.

 

[chadd]

I have only experience with the Full Shred bridge. Isn't the FS neck in the ballpark of an SH-2 Jazz? The Jazz is okay but not outstanding imo. I tried it in many different guitars but I usually prefer Dimarzio for neck pickup sounds.
Might try it someday with a Duncan equipped guitar. Without covers I don't want to mix different brands of pickups in a guitar.

FS neck is definitely brighter and more articulate than a Jazz neck. You can get very PAF-ish type tones with it, very unlike what you would expect from the name

 

[jeremy]

umm... i dont think the jazz is all that paf like, the fs less so. this always comes down to where you are coming from tonally. if you are a seth/antiquity player then jazz and fs, not so paf like. if you are a paf pro/air norton player, then yeah, more paf like. ive said before the fs is in some ways the most dimarzio sounding duncan pup and thats not a bad thing