The Humbucker Archive: DiMarzio, EMG, BKP, Suhr & Duncan Tested – My Notes & Comparison Samples (Long Read)

[belensky]

First off - legendary post! Thank you so much for sharing all that info. I will absolutely be referencing this many times in the future.

Your comments on the EMG Het Set and Daemonums being noisy are surprising, as EMGs are known for being dead quiet. It's one of the things I've always loved about my 85/81s. Is that a common issue with those signature models? If so, I'm curious as to what part of their design contributes to the noise.

Finally, I would love to hear your thoughts on the Sugar Chakra if you get a chance to try it. I'm very interested in that one.

I think saying EMGs are quieter is a bit of a stretch. In certain situations, passive pickups can definitely be noisy. For example, a couple of years ago I bought a Dean ML. If you look at the construction of that guitar, there’s a lot of wiring going back and forth—from the pickup to the control cavity, from the control cavity to the lower horn where the switch is located, then back again to the control cavity, and finally out through another horn to the output jack.

All that wire, if it’s not properly shielded and if there are ground loops, can act like one large antenna. And in the case of that Dean ML, it really is a pretty large antenna. In that situation, an EMG will be quieter.



However, if you do proper shielding, avoid ground loops, and use separate paths for the signal ground from the shielding ground, passive guitars are often actually quieter. Shielding also doesn’t affect tone—but that only applies if the wiring is done correctly, which many manufacturers don’t prioritize because it’s time-consuming and the average customer usually won’t care because guitarist’s doesn’t know any better.

Long story short, my Dean ML, once properly shielded, is significantly quieter than my Les Paul with EMGs. If it were completely unshielded, I’d probably conclude the opposite. Also, once you introduce active preamp circuits, you always deal with some level of inherent noise from that circuitry.

As for why some signature EMGs seem noisier, it’s not really because they are “signature” models. It’s more that some of them are semi-active or hybrid designs. The 57, for example, is noisier than the EMG 81. The Het Set and JR also sits in that direction of a more hybrid voicing approach. When pickup designers chase a specific sound, they are constrained by magnet type, pole pieces, and coil geometry. Sometimes that results in slightly higher noise compared to a standard high-output EMG like the 81.

It’s not a major issue—often it’s a trade-off between tonal character and absolute noise suppression. In those cases, tone is prioritized.

The same applies to passive pickups. When designers aim for a specific response, you can end up with coils that are not perfectly symmetrical, like in the DiMarzio D Sonic. If the coils differ significantly in EQ or output, they will also respond differently to noise, which can reduce hum cancellation compared to a perfectly balanced humbucker.

 

[belensky]

It’s very unlikely that I’ll try a Sugar Chakra. I don’t have any guitars with a single coil in the bridge position, with the exception of a Strat and tele that I prefer to keep as a true single-coil setup. Rail pickups are always a compromise to me, and full-size humbuckers consistently sound better, which is super critical at bridge position

 

[Juanhanglo]

It’s very unlikely that I’ll try a Sugar Chakra. I don’t have any guitars with a single coil in the bridge position, with the exception of a Strat and tele that I prefer to keep as a true single-coil setup. Rail pickups are always a compromise to me, and full-size humbuckers consistently sound better, which is super critical at bridge position

This is a great excuse for picking up something like a Squier cv strat to use as a test rig

 

[belensky]

This is a great excuse for picking up something like a Squier cv strat to use as a test rig

No, because I’m way too OCD when it comes to guitar tweaking. If I get a new guitar, I immediately start wanting to change the frets, replace the nut, tweak the electronics, and redo the shielding. It turns into a pretty time-consuming endeavor.

Honestly, this whole pickup obsession started because I had a really great-sounding guitar, but I couldn’t find the perfect pickup for it. So I ended up going through almost the entire DiMarzio lineup and learned a lot along the way.

I’d honestly love to do the same kind of videos and in-depth reviews for the entire BKP, Seymour Duncan, EMG, and Fishman lineups, but I really doubt any of those companies would be willing to send me a big box of pickups to experiment with.

 

[RanchManSandy]

Floyd Rose bridge, thin maple neck, basswood body, and thick polyester finish tends to eat a lot of tone

Well, you lost me there, fella, cause that sure sounds like nonsense

 

[Artie]

Looking forward to your take on the Fishmans, I've wondered about those but never *trusted* the reviews I've seen to date

I'm still looking for the proper project. I think I'm going to put these into my Vantage VP795.

 

[belensky]

Well, you lost me there, fella, cause that sure sounds like nonsense

Those are just my observations, so you definitely don’t have to agree with me. What sounds dark and muddy to one person might sound smooth and balanced… that kind of thing — it’s all subjective.

 

[marcello252]

Well, you lost me there, fella, cause that sure sounds like nonsense

After all these years of experiments I personally think that finish is not relevant, body wood and neck construction sometimes, but just in terms of general stability of the instrument, instead I strongly think bridge has a relevance, for sustain and even tone, I clearly hear difference just changing steel for brass in the saddles of my teles for example

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I honestly don't believe thinner necks necessarily have worse tone as a rule. I have two Gibson Les Pauls right now, and out of the two, the one with the 60's neck is louder and fuller acoustically. Dareisay, "better" under most people's standards, I suppose.

 

[belensky]

link for raw uncompressed audio files

So, I finally picked up a DiMarzio Sonic Ecstasy. Turns out, out of all the John Petrucci signature pickups, these are the hardest to track down. They originally came stock on the Music Man JP16 and Majesty Monarchy. But the JP16 deservedly flew under the radar—no surprise, as it cost as much as a premium USA model but had a Korean Floyd Rose instead of a tried-and-true Gotoh or Schaller—and the Majesty models get an overhaul every couple of years. The pickup just went unnoticed; you can't find it in stores, and there are no decent YouTube reviews either.


The official story goes: when designing the Floyd-equipped JP16, Steve Blucher at DiMarzio wound a pickup to compensate for the natural brightness of a Floyd Rose. Petrucci liked it so much that it carried over to the Majesty. This caught my attention because my test guitar has a Floyd and sounds a bit thin on the higher strings. Plus, I like almost all JP pickups, with the Crunch Lab / LiquiFire combo being the sole exception. On paper, it seemed exactly like what I needed—I had to pull the trigger!


The only one I could find was an F-spaced version with a nickel cover. I didn't need a cover for a superstrat, but I figured if I liked the pickup, I could always take it off. It also gave me a good excuse to record an A/B comparison of the same pickup with and without the cover.


So, what are the results? Despite the intimidating EQ chart on DiMarzio's site that makes the Sonic Ecstasy look like some super dark, overly hot pickup, it actually sounds very balanced. It is a richer, juicier version of the DiMarzio Illuminator. They are very similar. At first, I even thought my ears were fatigued after a long workday, so I double-checked and re-listened to the clips the next morning.


The Illuminator is always intentionally dry and bright. The Sonic Ecstasy has more low-end—in the vein of a Tone Zone or Super Distortion—but it’s tighter and cleaner. The high-end on the Illuminators can sometimes feel a bit harsh or abrasive; here, it’s smoother. In the recordings, there isn't a massive difference, and it's not radically different in the room either.


Structurally, they are also very similar: same thick ceramic magnet and nickel-silver baseplate. Inside the bobbins, additional iron slugs increase inductance without changing the DC resistance using DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage tech. Both coils are asymmetrically wound, which you can tell by the amount of wire used for their Dual Resonance design.

Overall, I liked the pickup. It’s essentially an Illuminator without that characteristic dryness, which might not be for everyone. It’s a real shame this pickup went under the radar. It sounds like the perfect version of the Crunch Lab: SE is tight but has the chunk, the body, more lively and dynamic. The Crunch Lab always annoyed me because it felt stiff, sluggish, and quickly turned to mud as soon as the strings started to die.


I think it's a huge mistake for DiMarzio to sell the Sonic Ecstasy on their site with that weird custom grill-cover, as default which jacks up the price. If they marketed it as a standard black humbucker, it would make way more sense.

Bottom line: if you want a juicier Illuminator, grab a Sonic Ecstasy, provided you can manage to buy one.


Seeing where the Sonic Ecstasy fits got me thinking about his broader gear evolution. After testing all the Petrucci pickups, here is how I view the whole lineup:

• Tone Zone + Humbucker from Hell (1992-1995): If you can compensate for any pickup in the studio with the right amp, but you can definitely hear on live bootlegs from that era that this wasn't quite the "right" setup for JP.
• Steve's Special + Air Norton (1995-2000): The SS is a tighter, cleaner-sounding pickup. To my ears, it's a bit hollow in the mix, but at the time, it was one of the few DiMarzios with a tight low-end that wouldn't muddy up a high-gain amp. The Air Norton is an amazing neck pickup for when you don't want a vintage PAF or something overly hot like a DiMarzio Super 2.
• DiMarzio Custom (2000-2004): These came on the first Music Man JP models. Officially, the bridge is very similar to an Evolution, and the neck to an Air Norton. Around this time, JP heavily switched to the Mesa Dual Rectifier instead of the Mark series. Rectos have heavily scooped mids, so the hollow-sounding SS would have been a bad fit. The Evolution, on the other hand, is extremely focused and aggressively cuts through the mix. Overall, it paired perfectly with the Rectifier.
• DiMarzio D Sonic + Air Norton (2005-2009): This is where it gets interesting. The D Sonic is a cool, tight metal pickup, but it’s also really nice for single-note lead lines. JP kinda fixed hollowness of SS by moving to DS. If I'm being critical, compared to modern pickups, it feels a bit "one-dimensional." Good balanced EQ, but not a super rich-sounding pickup.
• Crunch Lab + LiquiFire (2009-2012): Essentially the first true JP signature pickups. To me, the Crunch Lab was an attempt to add depth and richness to the D Sonic. I loved JP's tone from that era, but personally, I could never bond with this pickup over the years. It's just too stiff and sluggish. It pairs decently with amps that have a bright Presence like Mesas, but for me, the CL always "died" the second the strings lost their initial zing. I never liked the LiquiFire either: it's a heavily compressed, middy mess. It's great if you want to make your guitar sound like a keyboard for shredding, but to my ears, it’s too crude and one-dimensional.
• DiMarzio Illuminator (2013-2016): One of my favorites! All the flaws of the CL/LF combo were fixed. They turned out to be very lively, sparkly, modern pickups. I already described them above and in my initial review, so I won't repeat myself.
• DiMarzio Sonic Ecstasy (2017-2019): As I mentioned, they just added some juice to the dry Illuminators. I like both versions depending on the specific guitar.
• DiMarzio Dreamcatcher (2019): I wrote about these a while ago—a very interesting set. They have a distinct, tasty "produced" tone. All the right guitar frequencies are pushed and highlighted, while the unnecessary mud and garbage are swept away. The output is slightly lower than usual for Petrucci pickups, but because the right frequencies are emphasized, it sounds nicely saturated and feels great under the fingers. It’s essentially a hybrid of the Illuminator and Sonic Ecstasy that’s been perfectly mixed and mastered.

After that... well, Petrucci hasn't released any new pickups yet. The Dreamcatcher has been stock on JP guitars for seven years now, which is highly unusual since there is typically a new model every two to four years.


Anyway, back to the Sonic Ecstasy—it's a solid pickup, and I'll be keeping it in my Hamer for now. Like I said, single notes on that guitar can be a bit too bright, and the Sonic Ecstasy cures that a little better than the DiMarzio Air Zone I had in there before. DiMarzio really nailed the balance between a tight low-end and a sweet top-end here.


P.S. Regarding the cover: I recorded two clips of the Sonic Ecstasy with and without it. Specifically with the nickel cover, the difference is minimal. You lose a tiny bit of high-end, but barely noticeable unless you really AB it. I can't say the same about the gold ones, though! Usually, the transparency scale goes like this: Uncovered Nickel (barely noticeable) Chrome (noticeable) Gold (very noticeable, and often it ruins the pickup for me).

 

[Rex_Rocker]

On a ceramic magnet, this probably helps sweeten the top end while keeping the lows tight.

Quite the contrary. The Airbucker thing decreases the inductance because there is less metal within the pickup, so it becomes brighter.

That aside, that was a cool read up on the Petrucci pickups. I never bonded with the Crunch Lab either. I also found it very bloated and stuffy in the low mids without much bite, so I never even considered his other pickups.

In your clips, I definitely liked the Illuminator the most, but the SE wasn't far behind. Definitely liked better than the AZ.

 

[Sam SG]

This is a pretty good library of pickup descriptions.
Shouldn't this be like a sticky thread?

 

[belensky]

Quite the contrary. The Airbucker thing decreases the inductance because there is less metal within the pickup, so it becomes brighter.

That aside, that was a cool read up on the Petrucci pickups. I never bonded with the Crunch Lab either. I also found it very bloated and stuffy in the low mids without much bite, so I never even considered his other pickups.

In your clips, I definitely liked the Illuminator the most, but the SE wasn't far behind. Definitely liked better than the AZ.

to me Crunch Lab is definitely outlier, Illuminator Sonic Ecstasy, Dreamcatcher are a lot more balanced.

 

[soulforger]

I saw the whole youtube video you did on these, it's quite interesting how we keep learning about situations where Dimarzio has implemented different versions or aspects of their patented voodoo on pickups that don't indicate their use. Like the "air" on these. I'd never have guessed, but it seems they still like to keep a few secrets haha. Cool!

 

[belensky]

I’ll have to take another look just to be sure whether that spacer is actually there to keep the magnet away from the pole pieces, or if it’s simply there so the baseplate sits properly in place. Honestly, I saw it and immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was part of the Airbucker design, but a friend of mine pointed out that sometimes those spacers are just there for structural reasons.

 

[belensky]

I saw the whole youtube video you did on these, it's quite interesting how we keep learning about situations where Dimarzio has implemented different versions or aspects of their patented voodoo on pickups that don't indicate their use. Like the "air" on these. I'd never have guessed, but it seems they still like to keep a few secrets haha. Cool!

UPDATE I double-checked my DiMarzio Sonic Ecstasy today, and my previous statement that it features Airbucker technology is incorrect. The spacer is only there to maintain the necessary height for the pickup coils and baseplate; the magnets and pole pieces are actually in direct contact with each other. I used actual feeler gauges, and there is zero gap between the magnet and the pole pieces.