« Little better than the bridge »

Dimarzio D Activator X neck, has ceramic magnet with 2 very large rail pole pieces. While I absolutely hated the bridge version this wasn't as bad. I didn't try this in the bridge so can't comment how it sounds there but in the neck it wasn't too awful. Still had the crazy mid bump to it but I guess being lower output and in the neck position if wasn't as prominent. It had a more normal sound to it, nothing extreme and very out of the ordinary like the bridge was. Still wasn't for me but these were much more manageable. They were smooth and deep sounding like a neck pickup should be, but not enough clarity for me. Like most neck pickups this was very bassy so for cleans and bluesy leads it can work wonders. Very smooth so it can make leads creamy, but I like a more cutting neck pickup. I like to be able to play fast leads on the neck pickup while still having clarity and articulation. The rails are good for giving a very even balance in string volume. On some pickups with individual pole pieces when you bend a string it moves out of the magnetic field resulting in slight loss in volume and sustain. Rails are one big pole piece so no matter how much you bend the string it’s still over the rail so there’s no loss in volume or sustain. Along with that these pickups just looked great. Although I wasn’t much of a fan of the sound these sure do look cool. I had them in a red guitar with black hardware so the white bobbins and black rails really made the guitar pop.
But so overall this wasn’t for me but I can definitely see why some people would like them. It has a modern twist on a classic sound.