Dimarzio Love?

[GregWV]

Is there any Dimarzio love in this forum?

[e-merlin]

Yes! When people think DiMarzio, they usually think severely overwound pickups. I think diMarzio winds up some of the best vintage style, as well as some of the best mild overwound pickups available.

The TDS-1 is a great pickup that walks the line between Strat and P-90.
The PAF Pro is one of the great vintage style humbuckers of all time.
The PRE-B1 is the greatest overwound Tele bridge pickup of all time.
The Twang King set is the best Tele set available at its price point, and you'd have to spend twice as much to get a marginally better set.

Larry rocks! Plus, his company does boutique customer service at mass-production prices.

[WaylonFan76]

My problem with that brand is I've seen so many magazine ads with Yingwie, Steve Vai and the like that in my mind it's a shredder/heavy metal brand. The dangers of branding, I guess. When I think Dimarzio, the last thing I think of is vintage style pups. You gotta admit they've been mostly catering to the heavy metal crowd. JM $.02 YMMV

[JohnS]

I really love the Virtual Vintage P-90 I have in my PRS SE One. Humbucking AND sounds like a true P-90.

[e-merlin]

Yeah, but you can't dismiss your own ears. There's a reason the "Shredders" beat a path to Larry's door!

[ludashoeless]

twang kings!

[tele_bob]

Tele Chopper T bridge. I'll be installing a Twang King neck this weekend. I love the T.

[63dot]

I was first introduced to the Super Distortion and for high gain distorted rock and roll, this was the only game in town for years. It's still a great pickup.

The first time I saw DiMarzios stock was on a Joe Satriani JS-1000 and the DiMarzio PAF Pro (dual black with 12 allen wrench screws) and DiMarzio Fred (dual creme with 12 allen wrench screws) were amazing being able to sound like the famous Super Distortion but still pull out some great vintage PAF tones, too.

I have had some interest in the Air Classic (zebra with 6 flathead screws) for my guitar and swapping out the one trick pony, high gain, dark sounding EMG HZ H1s. I didn't think one pickup could do it all, but those later DiMarzios have a huge range.

[KellyCaster71]

Originally Posted by tele_bob

Tele Chopper T bridge. I'll be installing a Twang King neck this weekend. I love the T.

I have the Chopper T in the bridge too. With a SD '59 in the neck. Very good overall.

[GregWV]

I put a Chopper T in my Hwy 1. Nice upgrade and dead quiet. It seems to pairs well with the Hwy 1 neck pickup.

[gitold]

Paf pro in my PRS neck position. Great pickup. Eric Johnson EJ custom neck on a SG neck position. They are both giving me the sounds I was looking for and are incredably affordable. Yea Larry.

[Che_Guitarra]

Oh yeah, Twang Kings rule the world

[rokdog49]

615 Bridge, Twang King neck.
Di Marzio winds great single coils too!

[Teleterr]

Originally Posted by GregWV

Is there any Dimarzio love in this forum?

NO! I've hated Dimarzio since day one.(I do like Tom's tone on the Boston hits , buts hes thru lots of effects) Theres a quality that I can't stand in every model regardless of its number of coils, pole pieces shape or magnets. Whether Super Distortion, vintage HB or Strat single coil. So... I must not like the wire type, or the amount of tension they use, or the winding pattern.Or some of the above since those are the remaining variables. To my ears its sort of like the "sterile" vibe EMGs get labeled with.

[Lee Harvey]

Another Twang King fan..

I've tried all kinds of telephone pups.. hands down these are the best.

[wmsimpson]

I LOVE Twang Kings!

[63dot]

Originally Posted by Teleterr

NO! I've hated Dimarzio since day one.(I do like Tom's tone on the Boston hits , buts hes thru lots of effects) Theres a quality that I can't stand in every model regardless of its number of coils, pole pieces shape or magnets. Whether Super Distortion, vintage HB or Strat single coil. So... I must not like the wire type, or the amount of tension they use, or the winding pattern.Or some of the above since those are the remaining variables. To my ears its sort of like the "sterile" vibe EMGs get labeled with.

I hear you there. While I don't think others or the audience cares, and certainly not any sound engineer I have recorded with, there is a sterile vibe with major pickup makers. That being said, most new Gibson and Fender stock pickups sounded as if there was a blanket on them. But something seems to often open up with them when they are really old. I don't know about the big name replacement pups like the SDs, DiMarzios, and EMGs, but I am willing to keep an open mind. What I think I hear instead of a sterile is just consistency. Hand wound boutique pickups are a lot of fun, especially in their ever-changing specs and too often changing companies. If you like a certain boutique pup, buy more than one because there's no guarantee they will still be around ten years later.

Great pups that I don't think will be around forever (new or used) that I have heard are first gen PRS humbuckers, Dean Markley woody, Sunrise acoustic pickups, Squier ProTone OEM pickups, Shaw era humbuckers, and TV Jones replacement FilterTrons. There will always be the EMG 81, Duncan JB, and DiMarzio Super Distortion so I am in no hurry to get one and their consistency will make a new unboxed one ten years from now sound like the one in the store today.

[iamfasteddie]

Originally Posted by tele_bob

Tele Chopper T bridge. I'll be installing a Twang King neck this weekend. I love the T.

The Richie Kotzen set. I modded one of my Teles to this and I love it.

[montanatanner]

I have a feeling I might like some of their single coil pickups, but I've tried 3 of their humbuckers and have been disappointed each time. They were all either sterile, muddy, and/or way too midrangy for me. I believe I've tried about 7 SD buckers over the years, 4 of which I love, 2 of which probably needed to be in different guitars, and 1 of which I never liked (the Custom Custom).

So it's Duncans for me. I've given up on Dimarzios.

[twangjeff]

I wasn't aware that anyone actually played their single coil pickups! I had a strat that had a PAF Pro in the bridge a while back and it sounded fine.