DiMarzio DP217 HS-4

Dimarzio is a modern pickup maker that many modern guitar players use. I always found it odd that Yngwie Malmsteen used Dimarzio pickups for such a long time. He has now switched to Seymour Duncan which makes more sense but the Yngwie tone most people know was done with these. Later I found out that Yngwie does not care much about the sound of his pickups as long as they sound like Fender single coils and do not have much noise. And that is pretty much what you get with these pickups. They are pretty much old Fender pickups that are noiseless. These pickups are stacked humbuckers. Which mean they are just like two single coils on top of each other to cancel out the noise. This pickups have 4 conductor wiring and an alnico magnet in them with staggered pole pieces for a more vintage look and tone. It has 4 conductor wiring because technically it is a humbucker but the split tones on this pickup are useless because the pickup is so weak even as a humbucker. These pickups being so vintage voice have super low output. These pickups could not punch themselves out of a wet paper bag. When played with a high gain amp you get a real subtle jangly sound. You cant hide with these pickups they will not cover up your mistakes with distortion. You need to be on it when you are playing with these pickups. The eq on this pickup is super flat with the smallest of tilts towards the high end. This pickup is not for everyone. If you are use to super high output pickups you will completely fall on your face when playing this one. This has a super vintage feel to it apart from being noiseless. If you are a strat player who can really play and need a noiseless pickup that that will not add anything new to your sound this is the pickup to you.

(This is sort of a continuation of my DiMarzio HS-3 review...)

After messing around with a project Strat with dual HS-3s and then selling that rig off, I got the itch for that Yngwie tone again. Circa June 2009, I got a DiStefano custom Strat that was loaded with, surprise surprise, the YJM/YJM/HS-3 combo of pickups! I was anxious to give it a whirl, because up to this point I hadn't messed with the YJM pickups as much, moreso the HS-3s.

Well, I can say without question that, for the Yngwie tone, they are the missing piece of the puzzle! As I stated in my HS-3 review, that pickup is great for the bridge position, but I found it to be a bit too bright and harsh in the neck position. The YJM is the answer to this problem. It smooths out the abundant high end and adds more bass and low midrange to act as a balance against the bright and cutting HS-3. This combination works very well for Yngwie esque toggle flicking. The YJM is a great solo voiced pickup for the archetypal Yngwie lead tone (very smooth and even with no jagged edges). It contrasts amazingly with the HS-3 as I've said and the two pickups work very well in tandem.

However, it is my opinion that this is not a pickup that only does Yngwie tones. I have used them for Jimi Hendrix tones, Eric Johnson tones, or many other classic Strat tones. Though they have a bit of a different character to the vintage Strat pickups of yore, they still retain a lot of that glassy shimmer that makes a classic Strat sound so good. What's not known as much about the YJM is that they also work very well in the middle position. I often found myself using the middle YJM in conjunction with the bridge HS-3 for a very Dire Straits type of sound, or rolling the tone back and adding some mild overdrive to get a really nice tone like Jeff Beck uses.

All in all I feel that the YJM is a great pickup that does more than the name implies. Yngwie has now moved on to Seymour Duncan pickups, so the YJM is now called the HS-4, so fear not if you wish to get that same great pickup by DiMarzio!

The YJM is now called the HS-4 since Yngwie left DiMarzio to go to Seymour Duncan. Basically, this is the revision of the HS-3 that Yngwie used for quite awhile in his career. It features an Alnico 5 magnet, four conductor wiring and vintage style magnet staggered pole pieces.

This pickup is not a normal single coil. It’s a stacked single coil which means one coil is stacked on top of another. This helps prevent any hum that you hear from so many normal single coils but also gives a different sound. It’s a little taller than a normal single coil, so you’ll need to buy some special covers if you want to change out the color of this. This thing is EXTREMELY low output. If you’re not used to very low output pickups, you’ll probably hate this. It has a strong treble bite to it, so it’s pretty much always going to sound kinda bright.

I’m not a fan of this pickup, personally. It’s simply too low output for me to use. Every time I try to play with it, I struggle like crazy. Some people get an awesome tone out of this pickup, so I know it’s mostly me and my playing. You just have to know what pickups work best for you. The four conductor allows you to split it, but I don’t recommend that at all. It sounds very weak when you split it due to the way the coils are placed.

The gain tones on this are pretty cool, and it’ll deliver that signature Yngwie tone you hear on so many of his albums. The clean tones are fairly dismal, though. DiMarzio says this is a neck pickup, but there’s no reason why it won’t work in the bridge. It just depends on what tone you’re going for.

Here, we talk about the Dimarzio DP 217, which is a micro trs spcial ...
I've used for 6 months on unr Squier Stratocaster style malmsteen I change
First, this microphone position the handle is a small power, so if you play a guitar 2 I advise you to keep the microphone as a last resort for accompaniment.
But his strong point in its precision RSID!
You want to play the Malmsteen, well it's part!
This microphone is perfect for solos, arpeggios, is fluid, it's good that's what you're looking for leads trs prcis malmsteeniens see ^ ^ (normal c a YJM xD)
Good value for money, it's simple you take a normal fender micro US you would decrease the treble and you have a Dimarzio DP 217, so basically it fattens Malmsteen LOOL.

If you want an exellent configuration for the lead, I take this DiMarzio DP 217 in a sleeve and in Hotrail SH1 bridge and you will rgalez! , moreover, people We love that sound.

So all good solo