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

[jeremy]

Almost the same color. Yours is the early one; in 87–88 they had an OFR tremolo, and around 89 they switched to a Schaller tremolo. Great guitars.

mine was born red. i had it painted at the same time as my harley with the same paint.

 

[Chistopher]

I was thinking the other day that Harley is Gibson of motorcycles. I will not elaborate further, as that thought is really only half baked

 

[jeremy]

in some ways you are right

 

[marcello252]

Loud but overpriced and with unreliable tuning, it might fit

(just kidding)

 

[Juanhanglo]

Yesterday I bought a DiMarzio Satch Track for the neck position to see whether I would prefer it over the DiMarzio Chopper. So far, I am quite happy with the results. The Satch Track is similar to the Chopper, but more open and less compressed. Rail mini-humbuckers usually have inherent limitations due to their physical dimensions; they can sound more mid-focused, slightly congested, and compressed.

I liked the Chopper because it seem to be least affected by these typical rail characteristics among the ones I have tried.
The Satch Track seem to be even closer in openness to a full-sized humbucker and exhibits less compression. It is a bit brighter, more open, and tighter in the low end than the Chopper, although the two are quite close overall.

I recorded another quick video comparing the Chopper and the Satch Track in the neck position.

Raw, unprocessed files download link

Sorry guys, there are no clean tones, only lead playing—single notes higher up the neck—which is what matters most to me in a neck pickup. On YouTube they may come across as not so different: Satch Track feels more like a refined Chopper rather than a completely different pickup.


1989 Hamer Chaparral Sustainiac
Bridge – DiMarzio Dreamcatcher
Middle – Hamer Slammer (stock Hamer singles made by DiMarzio)
Neck – Satch Track, next to a Sustainiac

I have the satch track in my js2450.

All this talk about 24 fret location and how a single rails pickup is going to sound way different.

I don't hear anything but a really good neck humbucker that has a touch of a single coil vibe to it.

Good job btw.

 

[freefrog]

Small tweaks in your guitar can often make as much difference as immediately buying a new pickup. Check your volume pots: “500k” pots can vary ±10–20%, affecting treble and output. Higher values brighten the tone and emphasize the pickup’s resonance; lower values produce a more mellow sound. I personally prefer 500k or slightly higher. Wire in a tone knob, even if you don’t plan to use it. A tone cap softens harshness and shifts the pickup’s resonant peak, giving a sweeter, more three-dimensional tone. Experiment with different caps—Orange Drops for high-output DiMarzios, oil caps for vintage-style pickups are a good starting point.

Finally, use good cables. About 6 meters (~20 feet) works well for distortion, and shorter 3 meters (~10 feet) for clean tones. Longer cables can subtly tame harsh distortion.

Kudos for the impressive work, thanks a lot for sharing and... +1 to most of the sentences above, whose content "resonate" with many of my posts here.

I'd just add that it's not required to change the length of cable for subtly sweeter tones: as this effect is mainly due to the parasitic capacitance of cables (that Bill Lawrence was describing as "tubular capacitors"), a small cap from hot to ground of a 10' cable does the same than 20' of wire. Count 35 to 45pF per foot of average cable to emulate.

+1 anyway about the presence of a tone control as giving a "more three-dimensional tone": even when the resistive load is the same and the resonant peak therefore identical in frequency and amplitude, the presence of a tone control affects the harmonics in a way varying with the components connected to the pot . It's noticeable when one switches from a Q filter to a regular tone cap on the same pot, for instance. Not only for ears but also on the screen of a scope.

Enough rambling from an old fart a Sunday morning. Keep on rocking! ;-)

 

[belensky]

Well, that’s not always the case. I’ve tried all the rails, and so far I’m only happy with the Satch Track and the Chopper. The others are OK until you compare them to a really good neck humbucker .

Rail mini humbuckers are often too middy and compressed, sounding congested (all mids).

 

[belensky]

I'd just add that it's not required to change the length of cable for subtly sweeter tones: as this effect is mainly due to the parasitic capacitance of cables (that Bill Lawrence was describing as "tubular capacitors"), a small cap from hot to ground of a 10' cable does the same than 20' of wire. Count 35 to 45pF per foot of average cable to emulate.

I think John Suhr mentioned something about the “spread capacitance” of long cables—that it’s different from simply adding extra capacitance. Honestly, I’m not tech-savvy enough to explain it in depth.

From my own experience, I tend to prefer longer cables for distortion and shorter ones for clean Strat tones. That’s why I mention cable length when people complain that their Strats sound too dull. As far as I know, most players tend to use slightly longer cables, around 20 feet.

 

[Chistopher]

I think John Suhr mentioned something about the “spread capacitance” of long cables—that it’s different from simply adding extra capacitance. Honestly, I’m not tech-savvy enough to explain it in depth.

I'm not so sure about that. Thats like saying a dollar bill is different than 4 quarters.

 

[freefrog]

I think John Suhr mentioned something about the “spread capacitance” of long cables—that it’s different from simply adding extra capacitance. Honestly, I’m not tech-savvy enough to explain it in depth.

From my own experience, I tend to prefer longer cables for distortion and shorter ones for clean Strat tones. That’s why I mention cable length when people complain that their Strats sound too dull. As far as I know, most players tend to use slightly longer cables, around 20 feet.

What you say about "Spread capacitance" is a possible reason why PRS didn't use a mere cap for the "sweet switch" of Santana models, but a delay line (equivalent to an array of caps to ground with small inductors in series in between): absolutely speaking, a cable is not "simply adding extra capacitance".
Now, when it comes to guitar signals, there's very little difference if any between a long cable and a shorter one + a cap giving the same stray capacitance. Other parasitic electrical properties are typically too low to really affect the sound of a guitar signal.

But I totally get the 2d paragraph quoted above: Whether I go back and forth between low capacitance cables and mid enhancing coily cables or use my "virtual cable capacitance box" (with an array of capacitors emulating various lengths of wire), I often use capacitive loads to tune the sound of passive pickups, especially Fender style single coils.

 

[belensky]

I'm not so sure about that. Thats like saying a dollar bill is different than 4 quarters.

at 2:15:57

 

[freefrog]

I've much consideration for John Suhr... but I don't think Bill Lawrence was wronger than him when he described cables as "tubular capacitors" in his interview from 2005 (also displayed on Youtube)...


Incidentally, dozens of lab tests have been done here on such questions (and I've the related experimental data at disposal): I confirm that unless it comes to emulate a really long cable (like with the PRS "Sweet switch" supposed to mimic 100' of wire), a low value cap from hot to ground of a shorter cable does the job in the same way than a bit of added wire. ;-)