Using this in the bridge of an MIA Tele with an HH pickup configuration. Neck pickup is a DiMarzio PAF Pro. Three way Tele switch (whatever came in American teles in 2013, I’m guessing CRL?) and a single Bourns Audio taper 500k pot. Cause I don’t need no stinking tone knobs. 
The Bluesbucker is an asymmetrically wound humbucker pickup that is supposed to cop the tone and feel of a P90. Most of the winds are on the screw coil. The slug coil is basically just there to kill hum. At least that’s how I understand it. It also uses a ceramic magnet. Generally I prefer alnico for regular buckers, but I do really like a lot of the single coil sized buckers from DiMarzio and SD, and most if not all of those are ceramic, so I decided to give it a shot.
It replaced a DiMarzio Air Norton. I love the AN for a lot of things. But for country, blues, and a lot of the Dead/Jam stuff I do it was just too dark. I wanted something with a little more top end and clarity. It was pretty great under heavy drive, but was lacking for clean tones. At least for what I like.
I installed the pickup last week, but then got sick for a week. I finally got to test drive it at a gig Wednesday night.
The verdict? I’m digging it. I’m not 100% sold yet, but I think I will be. It sounds great clean. Not exactly like a P90, but definitely way inside the ballpark.
It’s advertised as being low output, and DiMarzio’s tech numbers back that up. I gotta say though, it’s not weak at all. It’s hard to describe. It’s not powerful in a way that it overdrives the amp like the Air Norton did. It’s stays clearer and crispier for sure. But one of the things I was worried about was that the PAF Pro at the neck would totally overpower it, and it doesn’t. I actually had to raise it up a little to get the balance I had with the Air Norton, which is a “hotter” pickup on paper. The Bluesbucker is somehow loud, without being hot. It’s hurting mah wee brain a might, but I’ve decided to just accept it and move on. Because it works.
Low strings have good clarity. High strings are fatter than a single coil for sure, but not close to soupy standard bucker territory. Pronounced mids, but not honky or glaring. It added a TON of clarity to the middle switch position, which I didn’t use much before because it was just so “meh”. I used it a ton on Wednesday.
The only thing still giving me reservations about it, is that for some reason it sounds a little thin to me with my drive pedals, but I may just need to tweak and make some adjustments to either the pickup, the pedals, or both. Nobody else noticed, and I got a lot of compliments. Even the singer, who knows less than nothing about guitars or guitar gear asked if I’d done something different, and said it sounded great.
That’s the initial gig report on the Bluesbucker. I have a Dead gig and a classic/Alt country gig coming up next week. That’ll be the real test.
The Bluesbucker is an asymmetrically wound humbucker pickup that is supposed to cop the tone and feel of a P90. Most of the winds are on the screw coil. The slug coil is basically just there to kill hum. At least that’s how I understand it. It also uses a ceramic magnet. Generally I prefer alnico for regular buckers, but I do really like a lot of the single coil sized buckers from DiMarzio and SD, and most if not all of those are ceramic, so I decided to give it a shot.
It replaced a DiMarzio Air Norton. I love the AN for a lot of things. But for country, blues, and a lot of the Dead/Jam stuff I do it was just too dark. I wanted something with a little more top end and clarity. It was pretty great under heavy drive, but was lacking for clean tones. At least for what I like.
I installed the pickup last week, but then got sick for a week. I finally got to test drive it at a gig Wednesday night.
The verdict? I’m digging it. I’m not 100% sold yet, but I think I will be. It sounds great clean. Not exactly like a P90, but definitely way inside the ballpark.
It’s advertised as being low output, and DiMarzio’s tech numbers back that up. I gotta say though, it’s not weak at all. It’s hard to describe. It’s not powerful in a way that it overdrives the amp like the Air Norton did. It’s stays clearer and crispier for sure. But one of the things I was worried about was that the PAF Pro at the neck would totally overpower it, and it doesn’t. I actually had to raise it up a little to get the balance I had with the Air Norton, which is a “hotter” pickup on paper. The Bluesbucker is somehow loud, without being hot. It’s hurting mah wee brain a might, but I’ve decided to just accept it and move on. Because it works.
Low strings have good clarity. High strings are fatter than a single coil for sure, but not close to soupy standard bucker territory. Pronounced mids, but not honky or glaring. It added a TON of clarity to the middle switch position, which I didn’t use much before because it was just so “meh”. I used it a ton on Wednesday.
The only thing still giving me reservations about it, is that for some reason it sounds a little thin to me with my drive pedals, but I may just need to tweak and make some adjustments to either the pickup, the pedals, or both. Nobody else noticed, and I got a lot of compliments. Even the singer, who knows less than nothing about guitars or guitar gear asked if I’d done something different, and said it sounded great.
That’s the initial gig report on the Bluesbucker. I have a Dead gig and a classic/Alt country gig coming up next week. That’ll be the real test.
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