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Hatsubai « Similar to the Evo 7 »
Published on 03/28/11 at 11:11The DiMarzio D Activator 7 Bridge pickup is DiMarzio’s attempt at creating an active sounding pickup using passive techniques. It’s a very powerful pickup with individual adjustable pole pieces, four conductor wiring and a ceramic magnet.
This pickup is kinda like a mix between the EMG 81 and the EMG 85. It’s got the aggression of the EMG 81 with the thump of the EMG 85. I'd normally say it's similar to the EMG707, but that has an almost single coil quality to it at times. It’s very tight and aggressive but blooms more than the actual active counterparts. Harmonics on this jump out nicely and it actually has some decent pick attack going on. Chris Broderick has been using these lately, and he does a great job showing off what they can do.
Given that it’s a bridge pickup, I didn’t bother splitting it. I also didn’t test out the parallel tones, so I can’t comment on that, either. I found it to match well in most woods, so there shouldn’t really be an issue as to what kind of guitar you put this in, unlike the neck pickup. It’s surprising how different the bridge and neck pickup are in terms of EQ. To me, it would make more sense if the EQs were reversed, but that’s just me. You could feel completely different.
Everybody is trying to create these pickups that are better than EMGs. Some manage to do it fairly decently, but I can’t help but think if you want that EMG tone, you should just get EMGs. People try to make out EMGs as if they’re bad pickups or that only beginners use them. That’s not true at all. Just use what you like, and don’t worry about what anybody else says. That said, this is a very cool pickup on its own. If you’re looking for a humbucker that is a little different, check these out.
This pickup is kinda like a mix between the EMG 81 and the EMG 85. It’s got the aggression of the EMG 81 with the thump of the EMG 85. I'd normally say it's similar to the EMG707, but that has an almost single coil quality to it at times. It’s very tight and aggressive but blooms more than the actual active counterparts. Harmonics on this jump out nicely and it actually has some decent pick attack going on. Chris Broderick has been using these lately, and he does a great job showing off what they can do.
Given that it’s a bridge pickup, I didn’t bother splitting it. I also didn’t test out the parallel tones, so I can’t comment on that, either. I found it to match well in most woods, so there shouldn’t really be an issue as to what kind of guitar you put this in, unlike the neck pickup. It’s surprising how different the bridge and neck pickup are in terms of EQ. To me, it would make more sense if the EQs were reversed, but that’s just me. You could feel completely different.
Everybody is trying to create these pickups that are better than EMGs. Some manage to do it fairly decently, but I can’t help but think if you want that EMG tone, you should just get EMGs. People try to make out EMGs as if they’re bad pickups or that only beginners use them. That’s not true at all. Just use what you like, and don’t worry about what anybody else says. That said, this is a very cool pickup on its own. If you’re looking for a humbucker that is a little different, check these out.