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The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio Satch Track Neck and Fast Track 1 comparisson? (neck position, 250K pot

« on: May 31, 2021, 05:24:10 AM »

Satch Track is like a Chopper with slightly less bass.  Chopper is a mid wind PAF sound, with 250k pots pretty dark.  If you don't like traditional humbuckers in the neck, stick with FT1.

Thank you, I was kinda expecting an answer like that.

I'll follow your advice and I'll stick with the Fast Track 1s..

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The Pickup Place / Dimarzio Satch Track Neck and Fast Track 1 comparisson? (neck position, 250K pot

« on: May 23, 2021, 06:51:13 AM »

Hey gang, I was wondering if anyone here has first hand experience with the Satch Track Neck and Fast Track 1 pickups in the neck position with 250K pots.

There's no much info about the Satch Track and it's not easy to get one either...

The thing is, I am getting further from the traditional single coil voicing and I would like to replace the Cruiser Neck of one of my two main guitars with something less single coily. I got the Fast Track 1 installed in the middle and neck positions in my other main guitar and it's a great combination. There is a single coil voicing but nothing thin or very traditional.

I do dislike traditional humbuckers in the neck position (last time I tried an Air Norton S in that position, no way I could use it in any way), I think they are way too dark, muffled and/or boomy for my tastes, so far the Fast Track 1 is my favorite neck pickup but if there was another rail pup with just a bit less treble, a bit more mids and pretty much the same bass, that would be swell.

Obviously I could go the Fast Track 1 in both middle and neck positions route for my 2nd main guitar but I wouldn't like to end up having two acousticaly very similar instuments.

Please keep in mind I am only interested in the 250K pots setup as there is no way I will change that (not easy anyway as I would have to replace the Obsidianwire harness altogether).

Anyway, anyone has a personal experience please do chime in.

Thans in advance!

PS: both my main guitars are alder/maple strats and on the bright side overall.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Air norton S vs. Pro Track vs. Chopper in strat bridge - a comparison

« on: July 09, 2020, 11:37:51 AM »

I've been using the Pro Track and Air Norton S since last December in the bridge position on my two #1 strats and while I can't compare them with the Chopper (as I've never owned one, I can compare them with the Tone Zone S though) it kinda seems we are on the same page.

All these tested on two theoretically identical guitars (same brand, model, specs, setup etc.) but I know for sure that acoustically they are not the exactly the same, one is more alive (or less dead) than the other. Also, nowadays, 95% of the time I play clean, and when I say clean, I mean CLEAN, no blues clean, no semi-clean. All these pups are great with dirty and heavily distorted sounds (a bit different to each other though) so I won't get into any more details on that.

I kinda agree with you on the Air Norton S which has been my favorite for some months now. I would describe it as a very balanced (no excessive mids, no ear piercing highs, good full bass but never overwhelming) and probably kinda dull for most out there but this is exactly what I like most with this pup. Great with 500K pots, I could run it all the time with the tone full on. Great with 250K too but that would make the tone pot kinda obsolete or at least a lot less useful. With my setup is by no means a high output pup regardless Dimarzio's specs, I would classify it as a mid output. This pup is currently on the least "alive" strat of the two. Two Fast Track 1's are a great match for the neck and middle, that's my favorite setup.

Now, the Pro Track. Although it's not a mid-freq monster (personally I hate these pups) it's way more alive and cheerful than the Air Norton S which to the most out there I suppose makes it more musical and singing (for lack of a better word). Certainly more middy but not annoying, sure more highs but again not piercing and the right amount of bass so it sounds big. Great with 500K, I do usually back off the tone a little bit, for my taste I would say (and I agree with the OP here) that it's even better with 250K (less need to roll off the tone) but hey, I kinda like every single Dimarzio SC sized humbucker I own better with 250K especially if I don't want to mess up with the tone pot too much or at all. Pinch harmonics are easier to get with this one. Again, with my setup I would classify it as a mid output too, it sounds more high output than the Air Norton S but that's because of the more flattened ANS's mids. This pup is caurrently on the most "alive" strat of the two. It might sound strange but I found that a Cruiser Neck and Cruiser Bridge in the neck and middle pos respectively is a great sonic match (a little bit more difficult to match the volumes but it's doable).

Both pups (and the Tone Zone S) have been tested on both guitars, the results were similar but significantly "amplified" on the most "alive" strat (in theory I should install those the other way to give a bit character to one guitar and remove some from the other but it was my conscious decision not to).

That's my personal and obviously very subjective experience with those, take it with a big grain of sallt as I spent the last 27 years playing strictly low output SSS strats, never liked or could even use the bridge pups for cleans (now I use them 80% of the time).