All user reviews of 4/5 for the DiMarzio DP224 AT-1 Andy Timmons

I never actively sought this pickup out but happened to pick up and Ibanez that had it in already. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised the first time I plugged it in. It wasn't an overly hot pick up, especially compared to the pickups I had to compare it to which at the time were a Motorcity Afwayu and a Tone Zone. With its Alnico 5 magnet, I knew it wasn't going to be as hot as a ceramic pick up but on its own merit, it does pretty well. The initial reaction is to say that you wish it had more guts in comparison. When not comparing the AT-1 to anything but itself, you find that it is a very warm pick up and truly has nice tonal qualities. It is very warm in the mids without giving you the grinding rip of a Tone Zone, but there is something pleasing about the mids it does produce. I think I would have to say the bass response is the same way, not over the top and pounding but I suppose well balanced is the word I'm looking for. I would say this is certainly not a metal pick up although you can get away with it certainly. I would suggest this as a classic to hard rock pick up, leave the metal to something with a bit more teeth. Definitely worth the money I paid and I sure wouldn't hesitate to grab a guitar that already had one in it. With my style of heavier music, I would probably not seek one out but I wouldn't rip one out and replace it either. I would make it work for the songs that it fits as it has pleasing tonal qualities to it. I think the DiMarzio AT-1 is a solid choice and at a fair price.

Andy Timmons is a slightly lesser known guitar player but he is really good. He is one of the more traditional sounding Ibanez players. He first became famous in his 80s glam band Danger Danger. His signature guitars kind of mix traditional tones with modern playability. He mostly uses single coils in his guitar but this is one of his signature humbucker models. Dimarzio is always working with its artists to constantly improve their tone and evolve their sound. This is the AT-1 Dimario. Like most Dimarzio humbuckers it is a modified version of their PAF pro pickup. It has 4 conductor wiring so it can be split and it has an alnico 5 magnet. The pickup is pretty hot. It has an output of 16k. For Andy Timmons sound he wanted to take the PAF but have it with more low end to it. It is designed for strat scale guitars with mahogany bodies. The EQ on this pickup is slanted towards the low end. The mids and the bass are about equal but the high end is cut a bit. This pickup is very sensative to your volume knob inputs. Not many pickups are this dynamic to your inputs on the controls. Because Timmons is such a single coil player the split tones on this pickup are not an afterthought. Usually when you cut a humbucker in half you get a pretty weak single coil tone but on this pickup the single coil tone is pretty nice. Not many people will be using this pickup for metal but you can really do it. It is hot enough and the low end is not flubby so you could get by but I would not recommend it. If you want a more beefy sounding PAF pickup that has some great split tones this is a good pickup to get.

The DiMarzio AT-1 is the signature pickup that Andy Timmons and DiMarzio came up with for his Ibanez guitars. It’s basically a revision of the PAFs that DiMarzio is famous for. It features slugs on one coil, adjustable pole pieces on the other, four conductor wiring and an Alnico 5 magnet.

Andy Timmons wanted a PAF with some good output and a really fat sound. This thing has a lot of bass and midrange, but it still has some nice clarity going on. The treble is pushed back while the bass and mids are moved fairly heavily to the forefront. DiMarzio talks about this being meant for shorter scale guitars, and while I agree it works in them, I actually think this pickup works best in slightly brighter sounding woods. This pickup seems to be a perfect match with alder or even swamp ash.

Split coil tones on this are very nice, and parallel tones sound awesome. The Alnico 5 magnet really shines in this, aiding in making it sound more alive while keeping everything nice and tidy. It can deliver some great tones both full on and rolled down a bit, so you can actually use the volume knob for different tones. It has enough power to sound fat in the bridge but not so much that it’ll start slamming the front of the amp like crazy. The pickup is more suited to rock players, but it can do metal as well. It’s focused enough to where it’ll handle those more staccato notes, but I can’t say I’m a fan of it when down tuning. This pickup seems to work best when in standard tuning.

If you’re looking for a fat humbucker that sounds like an oldschol PAF but is more powerful and has a little more aggression going on, this pickup should work out great. Just listen to any of Andy Timmons’ stuff, and you should get and idea as to how this pickup sounds.