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Hatsubai « Not like a normal ToneZone »
Published on 03/28/11 at 13:46The DiMarzio Tone Zone 7 is the seven string version of the famous Tone Zone. Unlike the original version, this sounds quite different. It has slugs on one coil and adjustable pole pieces on the other, comes with a ceramic magnet inside of it and has four conductor wiring.
DiMarzio really dropped the ball with this pickup. The original Tone Zone had some awesome midrange, was kinda bass heavy but was pretty much a great pickup for RGs. This one, however, is just really muddy. There’s still some real cool midrange going on, but there’s simply too much bass. It doesn’t sound like the original at all, in my opinion.
The low end on this thing kinda farts out or something. I could never get it to get a real tight, yet organic sound like the original Tone Zone did. The midrange is still decent, but it didn’t lead itself to sound like the original. The high end is still fairly pushed back like the original. Normally, I would think it’s because of the ceramic magnet inside of this, but it should be tighter with the ceramic magnet, not looser. At least split coil and parallel tones are decent, but that’s really not saying much. I tried this with bad results in both basswood and mahogany. I don’t think it’ll really match up with any wood out there. Pickup height adjustments didn’t seem to help, either.
If you’re looking for a seven string version of the original Tone Zone, you’re pretty much out of luck. You’re better off looking at something else like the Blaze Custom. It’ll have a somewhat similar vibe to the original Tone Zone, but it’ll be much better sounding. I really wish DiMarzio would redesign this pickup as I’m sure most people would really like a true sounding copy of the Tone Zone in seven string format.
DiMarzio really dropped the ball with this pickup. The original Tone Zone had some awesome midrange, was kinda bass heavy but was pretty much a great pickup for RGs. This one, however, is just really muddy. There’s still some real cool midrange going on, but there’s simply too much bass. It doesn’t sound like the original at all, in my opinion.
The low end on this thing kinda farts out or something. I could never get it to get a real tight, yet organic sound like the original Tone Zone did. The midrange is still decent, but it didn’t lead itself to sound like the original. The high end is still fairly pushed back like the original. Normally, I would think it’s because of the ceramic magnet inside of this, but it should be tighter with the ceramic magnet, not looser. At least split coil and parallel tones are decent, but that’s really not saying much. I tried this with bad results in both basswood and mahogany. I don’t think it’ll really match up with any wood out there. Pickup height adjustments didn’t seem to help, either.
If you’re looking for a seven string version of the original Tone Zone, you’re pretty much out of luck. You’re better off looking at something else like the Blaze Custom. It’ll have a somewhat similar vibe to the original Tone Zone, but it’ll be much better sounding. I really wish DiMarzio would redesign this pickup as I’m sure most people would really like a true sounding copy of the Tone Zone in seven string format.