I recently had the opportunity to play this pick-up in a John Sykes Gibson Custom shop. My immediate reaction was "so that's how he gets his thick wall of sound tone!". Seriously, you hear a lot about how Sykes used older Mesa amps and that was the secret. I'm here to tell you, a part of that secret is the Dirty Fingers pick up. This thing is pretty wicked, very hot and has a massive thick tone to it. The bass reaction is really well and it has lots of response to palm mutes and thumnpy thick tones. The high end is also very good with lots of grind, maybe not as much as I normally like but very good. Probably an 8 and a half out of 10 on the grindy mids. The overall balance of the pick-up is very pleasing and you overlook that it isn't absolutely perfect. It is definitely the kind of pick up that makes you not want to put down the guitar. Now that being said, it does have one shortfall and it is one that is hard to pinpoint. I'm not sure if it is the overall tone or elements of it but when I switch between my EVH Wolfgang with the stock EVH Humbucker, the tone is immediately better. Don't get me wrong the Dirty Fingers is thicker and beefier but the overall package loses to the Wolfgang. The DF on its own without comparison is addictive more for the feel than for the perfect tone you might be waiting for. Sometimes feel is more important and if that's the case, this one is for you. I think there are better pick-ups out there if great tone is what you seek. There is no doubt about it if you are looking for chunky and big, this pick up is for you. If you want something a bit tamer, you may want to look at something else. Oh and if you are looking to sound like John Sykes, look no further, the Dirty Fingers is for you.