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Hatsubai « Harmonically rich and bitey »
Published on 03/23/11 at 16:33The Evolution Bridge pickup was a humbucker created for Steve Vai and his signature Ibanez Jem guitars. Unlike the neck, this is a full on high output pickup that’ll drive nearly any amp into overdrive. Evolution is a big of a misnomer as this pickup doesn’t really sound like an evolution fo the PAF like the neck pickup is. It has its own little vibe going on, and it tends to be a very love/hate pickup. 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 Bridge is a pickup for those wanting very high output, note clarity, insane harmonics and a screaming tone. If you’re a sloppy player, you’ll probably hate this pickup. It has tons of note detail, so it’ll show any little mistake you might make. It’s very compressed and doesn’t clean up that great, so it’s actually probably better suited towards heavy metal players than anything else. The lows are extremely tight, the highs have a strong bite and the mids are very strong. Split coil sounds are pretty good with this, so I recommend trying those out if you have a push/pull pot or some other way of splitting it. A lot of people compare this so an EMG 81, and I can see the similarities, but I think the Evolution Bridge is a bit more organic sounding and actually a touch less compressed.
Steve Vai and DiMarzio tend to recommend this for guitars with alder bodies, and this is where a lot of people get their negativity towards this pickup. Because it’s a bright pickup, putting it in a neutral to bright tone wood will just overhype the frequencies and create a harsh situation. I recommend trying this in basswood or mahogany. Those woods tend to be the best suited for this pickup.
The DiMarzio Evolution Bridge is a pickup for those wanting very high output, note clarity, insane harmonics and a screaming tone. If you’re a sloppy player, you’ll probably hate this pickup. It has tons of note detail, so it’ll show any little mistake you might make. It’s very compressed and doesn’t clean up that great, so it’s actually probably better suited towards heavy metal players than anything else. The lows are extremely tight, the highs have a strong bite and the mids are very strong. Split coil sounds are pretty good with this, so I recommend trying those out if you have a push/pull pot or some other way of splitting it. A lot of people compare this so an EMG 81, and I can see the similarities, but I think the Evolution Bridge is a bit more organic sounding and actually a touch less compressed.
Steve Vai and DiMarzio tend to recommend this for guitars with alder bodies, and this is where a lot of people get their negativity towards this pickup. Because it’s a bright pickup, putting it in a neutral to bright tone wood will just overhype the frequencies and create a harsh situation. I recommend trying this in basswood or mahogany. Those woods tend to be the best suited for this pickup.