DiMarzio Guitar Pickups

Installed in the bridge position of a Carvin dc127 with and Alder and maple body matched with a maple neck and ebony board. Typically running into a Framus Cobra head and sometimes A Peavey 5150 or Hughes and Kettner triamp. This pickup was recommended to me by a couple guitar playing friends of mine when I was looking to get out of the EMG active sound. I always check how a pickup sounds clean first to get a general idea of the EQ. I was really impressed with the clean tone of this especially considering I always hate the sound of bridge pickups clean. The pickup is warm and full and sounded kind of similar to my neck pickup which was a stock carvin at the time. I played around with the height for a bit and found I liked it best close to the strings to get a little more bite out of it. Switching over to distortion and I quickly realized it wasn't going to work for what I do with this guitar. Low gain sounds were great and the pickup cleaned up nicely with the volume knob. The problem for me was with higher gain settings and faster chord riffing. Leads were still great sounding with high gain but riffs in the lower register were too muddy and lacked attack. The pickup just has too much fullness (sounds crazy I know) almost like the amp was getting too much signal even though it's not that hot of a pickup. Slow chugging riffs were very fat but any type of typical metal playing just didn't have the cut I need.I played around with the EQ settings for quite a while and got the pickup closer to what I need but after extensive tweaking I just felt it was not a good match. Once you start cutting bass and adding high mids with an EQ pedal the pickup starts to lose it's core sound and sound a little over processed. If you're looking for a pickup versatile in the clean to mid gain styles I'd say give it a shot because it has a great character it just didn't do metal for me

The DiMarzio D Activator-X is kinda like a reinvention of the well known X2N but quite a bi tmore versatile. This pickup has the two huge blades that the original X2N had, four conductor wiring and a ceramic magnet shoved inside it. The X2N is a very well known pickup, and quite a few people have tried it. DiMarzio seems to have wanted to develop a more modern take on the pickup, and I think they did a pretty good job at it. For one, it has a ton less output compared to the original, but it’s still powerful enough for easy legato runs. The pick attack is very focused and has this upper mid thing going on, which is really cool. The bass on this is powerful enough to where it sounds fat but doesn’t get muddy like so many other neck pickups. The treble is also pushed back a touch to help the midrange sing a bit more. This pickup works nicely in any wood combination out there, so there shouldn’t really be an issue when it comes to matching it with specific guitars. It sounds nice split, and the parallel tones are pretty neat too. It looks like it’s suited more towards metal, and I’d agree, but it can actually do some good clean tones if you watch your gain levels. Despite it being more suited towards rock and metal players, the pickup is fairly open sounding but with some sweet touch of compression going on to keep everything nice and tidy. If you’re looking for a neck pickup to go with your X2N, or if you already have the D Activator-X, this is probably one of the pickups you wanna check out. It’s still fairly new, so it might be a bit harder to find on the used market, but that’ll change soon.

Joe Satriani was looking to revise his FRED that he used throughout most of his career. The Mo’ Joe is what came out of his quest to find a new bridge pickup tone. It’s hotter and has a better EQ curve than the last one. It features an Alnico 5 magnet, adjustable pole pieces on both coils and four conductor wiring. The original FRED was a pretty iffy pickup. Some people liked it, but quite a few weren’t huge fans of it. I was one of those people who really didn’t care for the FRED that much. It had some weird overtones going on and just sounded weird. The Mo’ Joe is a much better version of the FRED. It’s hotter, more even sounding and seems to have more touch sensitivity than the last one. The low end on this blooms more than the FRED, the midrange is nice and fairly even, and the treble isn’t piercing. Satch uses this in the bridge, but it can work awesome in the neck as well with a hot humbucker. When you use it in the bridge, it’s like a nicer version of the PAF Pro with a bit more output. It can work great for blues, rock and even metal. In the neck, it delivers a fairly powerful tone but not too powerful. This allows you to do some real sick legato licks without struggling too much, yet it still has some cool touch sensitivity to allow you to express yourself more. Running it in split coil and parallel can deliver some interesting tones, too. If you’re looking for a more modern version of the PAF while still retaining some vintage qualities, I’d say this pickup is worth checking out. It works in most woods, and it should have enough output to work for any situation.

Steve Morse collaborated with DiMarzio to create his own signature pickups way back in the early 80s. The goal was to create a pickup that was balanced but has strong midrange. The pickup features adjustable pole pieces on both coils, four conductor wiring and a ceramic magnet. The Steve Morse Bridge model is a really cool pickup. It’s pretty hot and has this high midrange bite. The low end notes bloom nicely, and the high notes sound crisp without sounding harsh. The real cool thing about this is that it can work nicely in a single pickup guitar body. The pushed midrange is what gives this its unique tone. Steve wanted something with bite, and this pickup delivers. Split coil sounds are pretty cool. I’ve never tried it in parallel, so I can’t comment on that. The pickup works great in nearly any wood you can think of. If you put it in mahogany, there will be a lot of midrange, but it’ll sound fat. If you put it in basswood, everything will sound pretty even. In alder, it delivers a slight bite that many 80s guitarists had back in the day. However, take all of this with a grain of salt as every piece of wood is different. You need to see what your individual guitar needs and choose according to that. Steve Morse and DiMarzio created a really cool pickup. If you’re looking for a fat, bitey pickup that’s still clear and has really cool harmonics going on, this is the pickup for you. Just be aware that this is a fairly high output pickup. If you have a more modern amp that has tons of gain, it might be worth considering some of the lower output models that DiMarzio offers. That, or you could just run a noise gate and everything will be nice and quiet.

The DiMarzio Air Zone is basically a Tone Zone with an air gap. DiMarzio puts a gap between the magnet and pole pieces. This creates these real neat overtones that while knocking down the output a bit. It features slugs on one coil, adjustable pole pieces on the other coil, four conductor wiring and an Alnico 5 magnet. This pickup is really only a bridge pickup, in my opinion. DiMarzio says that it can be used in the neck, but it’ll be very powerful. You’d need a super hot pickup in the bridge to help even everything out. It’ll also be ridiculously bass heavy in the neck, too. This pickup features a very strong bass and midrange. It’s a reincarnation of the Tone Zone, after all. If the Tone Zone was too compressed for you, and you wanted a bit more touch sensitivity, this is the pickup for you. DiMarzio claims that this is great for hot amps. While it can work with hot amps, this is still a pretty powerful pickup. If you’re looking for a completely clean pickup, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. For those that have never used the Tone Zone, it’s got tons of bass and mids. The bass is fat on the wound strings, and it never thins out on the treble strings. The midrange on this is very heavy, almost to the point of having a cocked wah sound. Treble is pushed back a good bit on this pickup, as well. If you have a fat sounding guitar, I don’t recommend this pickup at all. If your guitar is neutral to bright sounding, this’ll most likely fatten things up enough. I find the Tone Zone to be a bit cooler sounding, but if you want a slightly classic take on the Tone Zone, this is the pickup you’re looking for.

The DiMarzio Cruiser Neck was invented for those who were looking for a single coil or P90 kinda vibe but with the benefits of a humbucker. This is like a more modern single coil for today’s world. It features blade rails like so many other DiMarzio pickups, four conductor wiring and a ceramic magnet. The Cruiser Neck has a very strong single coil/P90 vibe going on. Most of those pickups have this “vowely” quality going on, and this does that in spades. However, unlike a normal single coil, this pickup is not overly bright. It does have some pronounced treble, but it’s not piercing like so many other single coils can get. The bass and midrange are just enough to where it would be perfect for the neck. If you’ve ever heard Andy Timmons’ tone, you’ve heard this pickup being used in action. Split tones sound great, as do parallel tones. The noiseless benefits are a welcome addition. So many other single coils have so much noise that they’re almost unusable. The unwound strings have this really fat sound going on that helps make it sound bigger than a normal single coil, but the unwound strings still retain a nice sparkle that many famous single coils deliver. This works in most any wood, but I tend to recommend it with woods like mahogany as they help beef out the low end and midrange. The treble in this is still fairly pronounced, so if you’re looking for a pickup that is super fat, you might want to try something else. This is also a very medium output pickup, so it tends to work best in the neck and/or middle position. It just lacks the oomph needed for most situations in the bridge, which I guess is why they added the word “neck” in the name.

After many years, DiMarzio finally released their Air Norton in a single coil sized housing. It features the standard blade rails like so many other single coil humbuckers and four conductor wiring. However, this pickup has a ceramic magnet instead of the Alnico 5 that the original has. The original pickup has pretty much gained its popularity thanks in part to John Petrucci of Dream Theater and Ibanez’s J-Custom line. The original gave a warm, fat and super smooth tone in the neck position, and this single coil variant delivers pretty much the same signature tones we’ve all grown to love. The treble is pushed back so it never gets harsh, and the midrange and bass are pushed to the forefront to allow for a very fat, liquid sustaining tone. If you always thought your neck pickup was bright, this is the pickup you’re looking for. Split tones are nice, and parallel tones deliver a really neat sound. It’s has the designation of “air” because of the gap between the magnet and polepieces. However, this pickup actually doesn’t have that gap. The differences with the single coil variant are that it doesn’t sound quite the same. For one, it’s not the full sized humbucker. That alone will change the tone a bit. The lack of the air gap and the ceramic magnet also make this pickup a bit different than the original. Whether it’s for the better or worse is up to the user. Personally, I find that it sounds a bit smaller and a little less alive than the original. If you’re looking for a warm, fat humbucker in a single coil sized form, this is pretty much what you’re looking for. If you already know what the DiMarzio Air Norton sounds like, don’t expect this to sound the exact same. It should sound close enough to where it’ll still put a smile on your face, however.

The DiMarzio Breed Neck was designed for Steve Vai when he wanted a different sound than his original Evolution pickups. They’re a lot closer to a normal PAF than the Evolution and not nearly as hot. They feature adjustable allen head bolts on both coils, four conductor wiring and an Alnico 5 magnet. This pickup is more than just a magnet swap of the Evolution. It’s quite a bit different, which I find to be a really good thing. The Breed Neck is modeled after the PAF Pro. It’s a bit hotter with more midrange and less treble. It’s actually pretty close to the Air Norton, except this is a bit more open and has a bit more treble. The lows are warm and round. It resembles that “vowely” old school PAF sound at times. The mids are fairly pronounced and help keep everything compressed but not too over the top. Treble is pushed back a bit to keep everything real fat and smooth in the neck position. Split coil sounds are pretty cool, and running the pickup in parallel is neat as well. This pickup really does work in nearly every guitar out there, and it’s my second or third favorite DiMarzio neck pickup to boot. It doesn’t matter if the guitar is alder, mahogany, basswood, maple, ash or what. This pickup just seems to mate with whatever wood it goes in. Magnus Olsson is a big fan of this pickup, and nearly all of his recordings feature this particular pickup. One cool thing you can try is running it in the bridge. Putting this in the bridge brightens it up a little and opens up the guitar a bit. It’s a real cool alternative to the PAF Pro in the bridge. I highly recommend checking this pickup out.

The Evolution Neck pickup was a humucker created for Steve Vai and his Ibanez Jem guitars. The pickup is aimed towards being a medium to high output, clear and punchy PAF. To be honest, this is somewhat of an evolution (get it :D ) of the PAF Pro. Like nearly all DiMarzio pickups, this comes standard with four conductor wiring, allen head bolts on both coils and a ceramic magnet. The ceramic magnet is part of this pickup’s secret. I’ll get to that later. The DiMarzio Evolution Neck is aimed towards the player that wants a clear, powerful and harmonically rich neck pickup. If you’re a sloppy player, this pickup will definitely show. Note clarity is big thing with this pickup. However, it’s also compressed a bit more than most normal PAFs out there. Imagine taking the PAF Pro, evening it out a little bit and making it more powerful with more mids. Steve Vai and DiMarzio recommend this pickup for guitars with alder bodies. I can’t say I agree as this can get pretty bright. The neck version isn’t as bright as the bridge version is, but it’s still up there. Those with more neutral to darker tone woods like basswood and mahogany will probably prefer this pickup a little more. It all depends on the kind of tone you’re going for. If you’re looking for an open pickup, this probably won’t be the pickup you’re looking for. However, those that want a searing, punchy and harmonically rich sound will love this. I actually recommend the Evo 2 to go with this in the bridge rather than the Evolution Bridge. The Evo 2 tends to be a better match for most people. Other good pickups to pair up with this are the ToneZone, Super Distortion, Breed Bridge, Steve’s Special and so on.

The PAF Pro was one of the first variants of the PAF to ever hit the market. DiMarzio wanted to create a pickup that was geared towards the players of the time, which happened to be the 80s. That means it was created for shredders with huge racks and running tons of effects. The goal was to maintain enough treble and presence to cut through all the tone sucking devices that were abundant due to the lower quality AD/DA converters back then. The PAF Pro features four conductor wiring with tunable allen head bolts instead of regular slugs that most other pickups featured. DiMarzio says it’s a transparent sounding pickup, and it kinda is, but it really hypes the treble compared to other PAFs on the market. This isn’t your daddy’s PAF. Sound wise, this pickup is fairly open. There is some hyped treble that you don’t find on most PAFs, but it helps really cut through and give some clarity to the notes. The low notes have a wonderful “vowely” quality that sounds just like the old school humbuckers from back in the day. Midrange is fairly even and lets the other frequencies do most of the work without making it too boxy or scooped sounding. This pickup sounds pretty cool split, but I tend to prefer running it in series. The beauty of this pickup is that it can be used in either the bridge or the neck. In the bridge, it’s a medium output humbucker that stays open. In the neck, it’s a clear, precise pickup that really sings. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this in the bridge because it doesn’t compress to my liking, but some really adore that aspect of it. If you’re looking for an updated, higher output PAF that’s not over the top, this is definitely a pickup worth trying. There are tons on the market, so you should be able to find them at a good price. If you don’t like it, you can always sell it for roughly what you paid.

The HS-3 was a creation by DiMarzio when they were helping create a signature pickup for Yngwie Malmsteen’s strats. Yngwie wanted a hum-canceling single coil pickup, and DiMarzio achieved that by stacking the coils on top of each other. Outside, it appears to be a normal single coil. Under the hood, however, it’s fairly different from most other single coils out there. The DiMarzio HS-3 is a very low output pickup that is hum-canceling. It’s somewhat smooth, quiet and mostly “even” sounding. It features four conductor wiring to split it, but I can’t really recommend it. If you split it, it sounds pretty thin. On its own, it’s really lacking in most everything, despite that DiMarzio says. The pickup got its notoriety thanks to Yngwie and his clones. The pickup does sound similar to Yngwie’s signature tone, but it doesn’t sound like a single coil. It’s almost like some sort of quasi-hybrid pickup that was created. The aggression and overtones of single coils are lost, and the power of humbuckers is also gone. The cleans on this are fairly dismal, which is surprising considering how low output this pickup actually is. The high gain tones sound somewhat open, and the notes are fairly clear. However, I didn’t feel it brought much to the table in terms of overall tone. If you’re looking for a single coil pickup for metal, I recommend checking out the DiMarzio Virtual Solo or something like that. It has way more character than this pickup, and it actually sounds like a single coil. If you’re looking for a humbucker in a single coil size, check out the Chopper or other single coil sized humbuckers that DiMarzio offers. This is one of the few pickups that DiMarzio offers that I’m just not a fan of, despite being a huge fan of Yngwie.

Awhile back, DiMarzio released these pickups, and they’re still not as popular as they should be, for whatever reason. They’re aimed to appease the boutique pickup crowd and rival the PAF variants that so many people make. These pickups are open, have amazing note clarity and sound like some of the best PAF clones out there … maybe even better. Like nearly every DiMarzio pickup out there, these come with four conductor wiring, so you can wire it in any way you’d like. The pickup also has adjustable screw pieces on one coil with regular slugs on the other. DiMarzio really did an amazing job with this pickup. It’s so good that it’s scary. This is one of those pickups that sounds awesome no matter what guitar you put it in. The neck has this low end that just blooms, and the high end on this warm. It reminds me almost of an Air Norton without the muddiness. It has more clarity than the Air Norton and PAF Pro, too. There’s no nasty compression going on that messes up your tone. Just like the bridge pickup, this is aimed at the more low output pickup crowd. If you’re looking for a pickup more suited for metal, you probably won’t be looking at this pickup as it won’t compress like the other high gain pickups out there. However, it can still do an awesome 80s rock/metal tone going on with the correct guitar. Don’t forget, most of the pickups used back in the early 80s were just regular Seth Lover PAFs in Gibsons. If you’re looking for a low to medium output neck pickup that sounds like a vintage PAF, sounds open and has tons of note clarity, I highly recommend checking this pickup out. It’ll fit with nearly any tone wood, and it’ll work great with both Les Pauls and Strats alike. The best thing is that it doesn’t cost a ton of money like so many other boutique pickup manufacturers out there.