Why no 'dimarzio' love?

Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

I mean - this place is beyond open to other pups. Obviously we love Duncan....

But do you know how many SuperDistortion lovers and DiMarzio PAF fans there are here?

I think everyone here will try to either a) recommend the Duncan that is closest to what you need or b) half will recommend a DiMarzio if it's what has what you need.

I'd always RATHER recommend a Duncan - but hey...sometime PAF Pro is the right answer....
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

I know this is a sacrilege in pickup forum, but I will always feel that amps are waaaay more important to your overall tone than pickups. The teency-weeeeeency signal that comes out of a guitar can be changed IMMENSELY by the input and output stages an all the doohickeys inside an amp, eventually coming out of the speaker driver and into your ears.

Take a Les Paul with PG's play it through an SLO-100 or a good Plexi for an hour. Swap out the PG's for a set of 36th Anniversary PAF's and play through the same amp(s) for an hour. Now.... do that experiment again, only through a Peavey backstage practice amp.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

I know this is a sacrilege in pickup forum, but I will always feel that amps are waaaay more important to your overall tone than pickups. The teency-weeeeeency signal that comes out of a guitar can be changed IMMENSELY by the input and output stages an all the doohickeys inside an amp, eventually coming out of the speaker driver and into your ears.

Take a Les Paul with PG's play it through an SLO-100 or a good Plexi for an hour. Swap out the PG's for a set of 36th Anniversary PAF's and play through the same amp(s) for an hour. Now.... do that experiment again, only through a Peavey backstage practice amp.

I have to agree with this! After now tryin over 50+ pu's i can honestly say that i now put much more emphasis on my amp than any pu. to me the Pu is the final tone shaper. is a pup important? to answer that get a epi hunbucker and put it in your axe and play for a half hour then take the epi out and put in a duncan antiquity or seth and then you will get your answer.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

I have to agree with this! After now tryin over 50+ pu's i can honestly say that i now put much more emphasis on my amp than any pu. to me the Pu is the final tone shaper. is a pup important? to answer that get a epi hunbucker and put it in your axe and play for a half hour then take the epi out and put in a duncan antiquity or seth and then you will get your answer.


Through a Peavey backstage amp the difference from the Epi to the Antiquity would be minimal. Much more minimal than the difference say through a Matchless. A guitar sound is like anything else its made of a number of parts all interacting together. Now some of those parts will have a much greater influence on tone than the others.

Though I will slightly disagree that a pickups input is insignificant. If your guitar isnt feeding the signal to the amp that you want to hear your amp has nothing to work with. In particular what frequencies are hitting your gain stages will determine the character of the distortion sounds you get. Especially in amps with passive tone controls after the gain stages.

In the example of a plexi vs slo if i take a danelectro with lipstick tube pickups and plug into both those amps ill get a radically different sound than if i swap those out for an Invader.

Now if we are talking pickup differences between say a JB and a Custom now the differences are much smaller. But its more akin to the difference between a plexi and a JMP 1959.

The relative value of the parts of a signal chain can be debated but in the end a guitar tone is made of many parts and anyone part is capable of making the difference between something you dig and something thats bleh.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

Through a Peavey backstage amp the difference from the Epi to the Antiquity would be minimal. Much more minimal than the difference say through a Matchless. A guitar sound is like anything else its made of a number of parts all interacting together. Now some of those parts will have a much greater influence on tone than the others.

Though I will slightly disagree that a pickups input is insignificant. If your guitar isnt feeding the signal to the amp that you want to hear your amp has nothing to work with. In particular what frequencies are hitting your gain stages will determine the character of the distortion sounds you get. Especially in amps with passive tone controls after the gain stages.

In the example of a plexi vs slo if i take a danelectro with lipstick tube pickups and plug into both those amps ill get a radically different sound than if i swap those out for an Invader.

Now if we are talking pickup differences between say a JB and a Custom now the differences are much smaller. But its more akin to the difference between a plexi and a JMP 1959.

The relative value of the parts of a signal chain can be debated but in the end a guitar tone is made of many parts and anyone part is capable of making the difference between something you dig and something thats bleh.
While this is true you also have to take into consideration the players hearing. some would not know good tone if it walked up and bit them in the a$$ and others have gifted ears such as eric johnson who can hear a difference in battery brands!
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

I know this is a sacrilege in pickup forum, but I will always feel that amps are waaaay more important to your overall tone than pickups. The teency-weeeeeency signal that comes out of a guitar can be changed IMMENSELY by the input and output stages an all the doohickeys inside an amp, eventually coming out of the speaker driver and into your ears.

Take a Les Paul with PG's play it through an SLO-100 or a good Plexi for an hour. Swap out the PG's for a set of 36th Anniversary PAF's and play through the same amp(s) for an hour. Now.... do that experiment again, only through a Peavey backstage practice amp.

True that. Tone can easily be shaped from an amp, the pickup can be overridden so to speak. But where pickups really shine is how responsive and/or articulate they are. That's why I go for wild pickups with a unique character like the Tone Zone or the PAF Pro. *That* will always shine through any amp.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

But where pickups really shine is how responsive and/or articulate they are.

Finally someone said it! this is the most important thing to me when choosing a pu. how it feels under the fingers and reacts with the amp:headbang:

livingdead i salute you!:usa2:
 
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Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

Amp = 70% of the tone
Pup = 20%
Guitar = 5%

The rest is you.


A great amp and a great pup = great.

Pearly Gates with an Epi pup and a crate Solid state would be meh...
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

There are some DiMarzios that I really like. The Air Classics have quickly become a favorite set. The Super Distortion is just a great classic pickup. The original PAF is another fav. That's just a few of them. I like Duncans too. It depends on what works in that particular guitar.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

Liquifire, Air Norton, Super D, Super 3, Fred, PAF Pro, Pre B1, Chopper, enough said.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

There are some DiMarzios that I really like. The Air Classics have quickly become a favorite set. The Super Distortion is just a great classic pickup. The original PAF is another fav. That's just a few of them. I like Duncans too. It depends on what works in that particular guitar.

The AC's are extremely underated and most are not even aware of how great they really are.
fortunately that excludes me and you! they are in my top 5 P.A.F type pu's of all time:)
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

Hi guys,

for some years now, I only use seymour duncan pickups in my guitars. Sometimes a little detour, though; wizard, bareknuckle, tonefordays... but 90% of the pickups I use are duncans. I don't use dimarzio's, cause they have a negative association, to me anyway. I associate dimarzio's with a bit nasal in the mids, smooth in the highs and mushy in the lows, and more importantly: flat, dull, unresponsive, and not as dynamically rich as duncans.

It seems that many people find that about dimarzio's (and ofcourse just as many find duncan's thin and screechy). but where does that idea come from?!

I'm asking, because I'm thinking of mixing the x2n and superdistortion together in 1 hybrid pickup (maybe even the super2 for more highs, though I'm not completely sure). I don't want to buy pickups that sound flat and dull. If I wanna do that, I'd rather buy a set of GFS (for instance, not that there's a bad thing about GFS pickups, but I place GFS in the same league as dimarzio).

Ah, a bunch of B.S. Dimarzios are just as good as any other brand. I also like GFS and EMG too.
 
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Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

I love Dimarzio, and I love doughnuts. If offered a Dimarzio or a doughnut I would probably take the doughnut...but the choice would be quite difficult.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

I have a number of PU makes and models, more Duncans than any other brand, but I have some DMz, Gibson, Rio Grande, Zhang, Shaller, Carvin, GFS, etc. Anyone making high quality PU's is bound to have some that each of us likes. I particularly admire Duncan and DMz for offering such wide and innovative selections.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

Don't you have a petrucci with two dimarzio's in it?

I have a whole bunch of Dimarzios. Boycott means I don't give them money directly. I also try many of their pickups to see what they are like without intent to keep them.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

Howdy,

Count me as a DiMarzio fan. Ironic, given thier hard-earned reputation as a maker of "Heavy Metal" P/Us. DiMarzio's Twang Kings are my favorite Tele P/Us, while thier vintage voiced 'buckers (Air Classic & 36th PAF) sound good in my 335.
Now as far as P90s go, DiMarzio isn't even on the radar screen! Duncan's Vintage Soapbars are the industry standard. YMMV.
 
Re: Why no 'dimarzio' love?

I like the Fred and the Super Distortion. My favorite pickup is the JB though.
 
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