Dimarzio pickups / Tone Zone S (in my Duo Sonic)
Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 10:46 am
I've looked at Dimarzio pickups a lot over the years, wondering about the weird names, weird looks, and interesting descriptions. Never tried one!
- I think it's cool that they were the first successful aftermarket pickup company.
- I think it's cool that they offer them in any zany color you want.
- I think it's cool/smart that they build them on PCB bases...and don't talk to me about fiber vs. plastic baseplate tone.
Their most-targeted customers, at least their high-profile endorsers, aren't my type. But I've always been intrigued, and wondered why they're the underdog to Seymour Duncan (and the reason I still think they are: marketing).
I got this Fender Duo Sonic Reissue (thanks, Skullservant!), and the short scale is fun. If you play a 25.5" scale guitar and then jump to this (22.7"), it's like wearing ankle-weights for 30 minutes and then taking them off. It feels like you can fly! But it's got a snap, this attack that easily outdoes a Telecaster!
It has depth, sounds good with distortion, but the attack is like a metal whip.
For me, a bridge pickup is redundant here (the neck has plenty atttack!), so it's neck-only...I wanted something high gain, warm, broad/full, with de-emphasized trebles. I ended up on the Dimarzio site for the hundredth time in the past 12 years, and the Tone Zone description summed up what I was looking for. They don't really recommend it for neck unless you want WARM, so I thought it'd be perfect to tame the Duo-Sonic.
I wired it with a series/parallel switch. MAN! It did what I hoped! It's a meat explosion. Really high gain, but not harsh...not rude or trebly, but articulate and thickulate
...rolls off to some surprisingly nice clean tones. The Duo-Sonic still has a great pop and attack, but it's way tamed, and huge. The most pleasing and worthwhile pickup swap I've ever done.
- I think it's cool that they were the first successful aftermarket pickup company.
- I think it's cool that they offer them in any zany color you want.
- I think it's cool/smart that they build them on PCB bases...and don't talk to me about fiber vs. plastic baseplate tone.
Their most-targeted customers, at least their high-profile endorsers, aren't my type. But I've always been intrigued, and wondered why they're the underdog to Seymour Duncan (and the reason I still think they are: marketing).
I got this Fender Duo Sonic Reissue (thanks, Skullservant!), and the short scale is fun. If you play a 25.5" scale guitar and then jump to this (22.7"), it's like wearing ankle-weights for 30 minutes and then taking them off. It feels like you can fly! But it's got a snap, this attack that easily outdoes a Telecaster!
It has depth, sounds good with distortion, but the attack is like a metal whip. For me, a bridge pickup is redundant here (the neck has plenty atttack!), so it's neck-only...I wanted something high gain, warm, broad/full, with de-emphasized trebles. I ended up on the Dimarzio site for the hundredth time in the past 12 years, and the Tone Zone description summed up what I was looking for. They don't really recommend it for neck unless you want WARM, so I thought it'd be perfect to tame the Duo-Sonic.
I wired it with a series/parallel switch. MAN! It did what I hoped! It's a meat explosion. Really high gain, but not harsh...not rude or trebly, but articulate and thickulate
...rolls off to some surprisingly nice clean tones. The Duo-Sonic still has a great pop and attack, but it's way tamed, and huge. The most pleasing and worthwhile pickup swap I've ever done.- duo-sonic.jpg (111.4 KiB) Viewed 2495 times
I'm surprised there aren't more people doing this on their humbucker guitars. A 2-way on-on DPDT will do standard series/parallel. A 3-way on-on-on DPDT, wired the same way, will do series/parallel/split. It's easy and only costs a $3-5.