stratguy23
New member
I went to NAMM this year for 2 days and wanted to share some of what I saw. I'll be starting threads in the Pickups, Guitars, Amps, and Pedals sections. Please note the following disclaimers:
DISCLAIMER 1: These previews are by no means comprehensive. I was at NAMM for only 2 out of 4 days. There are, like, 10 billion things there. I only checked out what interested me.
DISCLAIMER 2: Guitars and Amp threads will be more substantial because those interest me most. Pedals and Pickups threads will be skimpy because those don't demo well in the NAMM environment.
DISCLAIMER 3: My 5 year-old phone has a terrible camera.
Enjoy!
NAMM 2017 Guitars thread
NAMM 2017 Amps thread
NAMM 2017 Pedals thread
*********************************************
Ironically, this Pickups thread is the skimpiest out of all my NAMM threads. As far as I can tell, there just aren't many pickup manufacturers at NAMM.
I didn't have time to visit the other 2 pickup manufacturers I was interested in, Lace and Mojotone. Boutique outfits like Lollar and Fralin don't seem to bother with the hassle and expense of NAMM, which is understandable.
1. Dimarzio Dark Matter 2, Imperium, Magnetar, PAF 59, Sonic Ecstasy
The "Dark Matter 2" is yet another Steve Vai sig set. This is perhaps the most interesting yet, as it is low to medium output. I tried the Dark Matter 2 set in the Ibanez "Woody" JEM77WDP that comes stock with it, and was mightily impressed. The Dark Matter 2 neck is one of the most articulate pickups I've played. It's responsive, crisp, and lean. The bridge was nice, too, though more generic to my ears, maybe sort of like a lower output JB - very midrangey.
The Imperium is the sig pickup for Dave Davidson of Revocation. I don't know anything else about these pickups. But I do know that Dave is a hell of a player, one of the best in metal today.
Magnetar evidently is an A8 (!) model currently being used by Joe Satriani, though it is not a sig model. This would be Dimarzio's first A8 pickup, I believe.
The 59 PAF offers two firsts for Dimarzio - butyrate bobbins and degaussed A5 magnets. This is interesting after previous marketing downplaying old-school build methods:
2. EMG Retro Active, mini humbuckers, Marty Friedman set
EMG are pushing the Retro Actives hard this year. Their booth had a rather interesting tagline.
The Retro Actives currently come in 2 humbucker flavors, 55 (PAF-like) and 77 (hot rodded 70s-style). Interestingly, the Schecter "Sun Valley Super Shredder FR" coming out this year - it's essentially a Charvel superstrat - comes stock with the "EMG Retro Active Hot 70" set. The EMG rep said that is the 55 neck and the 77 bridge.
New for this year are Retro Actives for Strat, in 2 flavors, A2 and A5. I wonder how these compare to the existing EMG Strat pickups with exposed polepieces - SV/SAV/SAVX. There will also be Retro Active for 7 string.
The Retro Actives have the same 3-prong connectors as other current EMG pickups, so you can swap them in and out with 81s/85s/60s/etc. to taste.
I spied mini humbuckers, which I believe are a new addition to the lineup.
Finally, upcoming Marty Friedman sig set:
3. Seymour Duncan Duality
As far as I could tell, this was the only new SD set at NAMM. (The "new" Alpha/Omega set is the Custom Shop set from 2015 in regular production.) I literally just got a glimpse of the packaging. I am curious how this differs, if at all, from the Blackouts preamp concept from some years ago, as the marketing points are basically the same (best of both passive and active worlds).
DISCLAIMER 1: These previews are by no means comprehensive. I was at NAMM for only 2 out of 4 days. There are, like, 10 billion things there. I only checked out what interested me.
DISCLAIMER 2: Guitars and Amp threads will be more substantial because those interest me most. Pedals and Pickups threads will be skimpy because those don't demo well in the NAMM environment.
DISCLAIMER 3: My 5 year-old phone has a terrible camera.
Enjoy!
NAMM 2017 Guitars thread
NAMM 2017 Amps thread
NAMM 2017 Pedals thread
*********************************************
Ironically, this Pickups thread is the skimpiest out of all my NAMM threads. As far as I can tell, there just aren't many pickup manufacturers at NAMM.
I didn't have time to visit the other 2 pickup manufacturers I was interested in, Lace and Mojotone. Boutique outfits like Lollar and Fralin don't seem to bother with the hassle and expense of NAMM, which is understandable.
1. Dimarzio Dark Matter 2, Imperium, Magnetar, PAF 59, Sonic Ecstasy
The "Dark Matter 2" is yet another Steve Vai sig set. This is perhaps the most interesting yet, as it is low to medium output. I tried the Dark Matter 2 set in the Ibanez "Woody" JEM77WDP that comes stock with it, and was mightily impressed. The Dark Matter 2 neck is one of the most articulate pickups I've played. It's responsive, crisp, and lean. The bridge was nice, too, though more generic to my ears, maybe sort of like a lower output JB - very midrangey.
The Imperium is the sig pickup for Dave Davidson of Revocation. I don't know anything else about these pickups. But I do know that Dave is a hell of a player, one of the best in metal today.
Magnetar evidently is an A8 (!) model currently being used by Joe Satriani, though it is not a sig model. This would be Dimarzio's first A8 pickup, I believe.
The 59 PAF offers two firsts for Dimarzio - butyrate bobbins and degaussed A5 magnets. This is interesting after previous marketing downplaying old-school build methods:
- "We've done the research and seen all the mythology around pickups made with NOS wire, unoriented magnets, butyrate bobbins, vintage alloys, unbalanced coils, et al. We prefer to focus on results rather than on replicas." - PAF Master marketing
- "There's no doubt that a weak magnetic field allows a vibrating string to ring longer, but the standard Alnico II/weakened Alnico 5 method also muddies the tone the longer the string sustains." - Air Classic marketing
2. EMG Retro Active, mini humbuckers, Marty Friedman set
EMG are pushing the Retro Actives hard this year. Their booth had a rather interesting tagline.
The Retro Actives currently come in 2 humbucker flavors, 55 (PAF-like) and 77 (hot rodded 70s-style). Interestingly, the Schecter "Sun Valley Super Shredder FR" coming out this year - it's essentially a Charvel superstrat - comes stock with the "EMG Retro Active Hot 70" set. The EMG rep said that is the 55 neck and the 77 bridge.
New for this year are Retro Actives for Strat, in 2 flavors, A2 and A5. I wonder how these compare to the existing EMG Strat pickups with exposed polepieces - SV/SAV/SAVX. There will also be Retro Active for 7 string.
The Retro Actives have the same 3-prong connectors as other current EMG pickups, so you can swap them in and out with 81s/85s/60s/etc. to taste.
I spied mini humbuckers, which I believe are a new addition to the lineup.
Finally, upcoming Marty Friedman sig set:
3. Seymour Duncan Duality
As far as I could tell, this was the only new SD set at NAMM. (The "new" Alpha/Omega set is the Custom Shop set from 2015 in regular production.) I literally just got a glimpse of the packaging. I am curious how this differs, if at all, from the Blackouts preamp concept from some years ago, as the marketing points are basically the same (best of both passive and active worlds).
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