1

The Pickup Place / Re: Neck humbucker for clean tones, recommendations please

« on: December 20, 2018, 08:28:51 AM »

Look at transition neck, specifically flipped like Steve uses it, really woody acoustic sounds out of it, I like it for cleans better then even the 36th anny. Alternatively, Paf Joe will do that as well, it's imo underrated DiMarzio. As a third option, already mentioned 36th anniversary on the neck.

As for the medium output bridge, Paf PRO is good but I always felt Norton is better. Give it a go, it has a good bottom end, melodic mids and warm (but not muddy) highs with a slight hint of grit (character) to the sound. I felt it was the closest to a typical Les Paul pickup a Gibson would put in, but cleaner smoother and nicer.

Cool - thanks

2

The Pickup Place / Neck humbucker for clean tones, recommendations please

« on: December 20, 2018, 01:18:11 AM »

I am not settled yet on what the bridge pickup will be, but so far it seems like it will be a medium output A5 humbucker like a PAF Pro, for example.

The candidate for the neck humbucker needs to be able to do super clean tones (i.e. no grit, no breakup), and produce a clean sound with some quack, when its inner coil is combined with a split coil from the bridge.

The guitar is a Les Paul style Ibanez.

Thanks

3

The Pickup Place / Re: Equivalent to Super Distortion but with an A5 mag

« on: December 20, 2018, 12:52:41 AM »

The Air Zone is the closest thing I can think of.

Thanks

4

The Pickup Place / Re: Equivalent to Super Distortion but with an A5 mag

« on: December 20, 2018, 12:50:07 AM »

You can get a new bottom plate and therefore fit a regular size alnico 5 bar underneath it too. I had it for a bit while in Super Dee and found the sound similar to Duncan's Custom 5 albeit not as smooth, you'd want nickel bottom plate to get some more articulation too as brass attenuates some of the pickups presence.

If modifications are off the table and you don't want a Duncan, try out the Norton, it's in the ballpark of A5 S-Dee.

I read up on the Norton and it does seem like a plausible candidate - thanks.  I will keep it mind.  Since starting this thread, i tried a PAF Pro and thought that was closer to the sound that i am looking for vs the Super D (but the PAF Pro was not quite right as a final destination) - so i am going to be trying other pickups going forward with the PAF Pro in mind as the baseline vs the Super D.  However, i will keep the Norton in mind.

 Next up for me to try is a Breed Neck.  Just waiting for it to arrive in the mail.

5

The Pickup Place / Re: Equivalent to Super Distortion but with an A5 mag

« on: December 20, 2018, 12:42:33 AM »

While I can't help you with a pickup suggestion, I can offer some other insights.  Most humbuckers use magnets with a thickness of 1/8th of an inch, regardless of whether that magnet is alnico or ceramic.  The only pickups that use differently thicknessed alnico mag's that I've ever personally seen are filtertron-styled, which use 1/4 inch thick a5's if memory serves me. I've never taken a super d' apart before myself (someone who has, please chime in and help us out), but it likely has either a 3/16ths or 1/4 inch thick ceramic (the Imperium bridge, my favorite humbucker right now, uses a 3/16ths ceramic with a thin pad of foam between the frame and the magnet so the magnet really only affects the coils).  Another example that dimarzio made with a thicker ceramic was the megadrive humbucker from the 80's.  As far as the magnet being glued down, some very gentle persuation with a pocket knife blade or a thin flathead screw driver can easily get past that without damaging the pickup so long as you're careful.  I have found, with a little googling, that there are a couple of places that sell thicker a5 humbucker magnets if you ever wish to try the swap.  Just trying to help a little, have a good one!

Thanks.  Per the posts in the links below, there's more than a few guys that have done the deed, and they report that the ceramic magnet in the Super Distortion is taller than the norm.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?209468-Super-Distortion-w-A5-and-other-Dimarzio-questions

https://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?213241-Super-distortion-to-alnico5

https://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=75146

6

The Pickup Place / Equivalent to Super Distortion but with an A5 mag

« on: December 16, 2018, 12:54:58 PM »

Is there a pickup in the Dimarzio lineup that sounds like what a Super Distortion would sound like if it had an A5 magnet instead of ceramic?

(I briefly considered swapping out the mag in my Super Dist to see for myself but i read that logistically it can be complicated because the Super Dist ceramic magnet is glued down, and also A5 mags are a different height than ceramic mags.)

7

The Pickup Place / Re: Effect on 1 mega ohm volume (maybe tone) pot on sound?

« on: March 22, 2018, 11:55:16 AM »

I want to get more oohmph out of my Super Distortion/PAF Pro combo. I know a 1 mega ohm volume pot would make them scream, but I’m wondering about the effect of a 1 mega ohm tone pot on the sound. Will it be much brighter?. A friend of mine has two 1 mega ohm tone/volume pots for his X2N/Tone Zone pups.

The tone will get brighter; it's just a question of how much, which is dependent on the other specs of your guitar, e.g. body wood, neck & fingerboard wood , single or double-cutaway, 24.75" scale vs 25.5" scale, hard-tail or trem, etc.

8

The Pickup Place / Re: Plastic humbucker covers without holes that fit Dimarzio - confirming

« on: March 22, 2018, 11:48:53 AM »

I've put Mojotone's covers on a couple of my Dimarzio's with no problem whatsoever (the bobbins from both brands have nearly identical length/width).  You can always call Mojotone and ask them as well, super nice people.

Great info., thanks!

That's also good advice about just making a call to the Mojotone folks.

9

The Pickup Place / Re: GC Open Box Dimarzio pups, Dimarzio Return and Exchng eligible?

« on: March 18, 2018, 10:00:47 AM »

It’s sort of understandable.

Then again, you’d be buying from an authorized dealer. Sort of murky waters.

Sounds like the dealers policies have you covered, so they are looking out for your interests as a customer. That’s cool.

Yes, thanks again.

10

The Pickup Place / Re: GC Open Box Dimarzio pups, Dimarzio Return and Exchng eligible?

« on: March 13, 2018, 12:57:47 PM »

Guitar Center online has some Dimarzio pickups for sale whose condition is listed as "open box", so these are pickups that someone bought new and then returned to Guitar Center.

Does anyone know for 100% certain one way or the other, if these Open Box condition pickups qualify for Dimarzio's 30 Day Return and Exchange policy just like a New Condition pickup does?

Thanks

Maybe calling or emailing DiMarzio might help

Yeah, I just didn't want to wait until 11am the following day for Dimarzio phone lines to  re-open for questions.

So, I just called Dimarzio and the woman said, no, those open items are considered second-hand /used and are not eligoble for the Dimarzio's Exchange program.  And that is totally understandable and logical.

However, Guitar Center Shop By Phone did tell me that these open item condition pickups are covered under Guitar Centers normal 45 day return/exchange/refund program.   So that is still a good safety net in case you don't like the tone of one of these open item pickups and want to try something else.

11

The Pickup Place / GC Open Box Dimarzio pups, Dimarzio Return and Exchng eligible?

« on: March 12, 2018, 11:46:27 PM »

Guitar Center online has some Dimarzio pickups for sale whose condition is listed as "open box", so these are pickups that someone bought new and then returned to Guitar Center.

Does anyone know for 100% certain one way or the other, if these Open Box condition pickups qualify for Dimarzio's 30 Day Return and Exchange policy just like a New Condition pickup does?

Thanks

12

The Pickup Place / Plastic humbucker covers without holes that fit Dimarzio - confirming

« on: March 12, 2018, 11:39:08 PM »

I found a few online sellers that offer black plastic humbucker covers without holes but I am concerned that they may not fit correctly.

The Dimarzio humbuckers I have in mind for covers are (yet to be acquired) a Humbucker from Hell, and a Norton.

BTW, this thread is only concerning *black* *plastic* covers *with no holes for screw/hex poles*.  I am not interested in any kind of cover but this.

The following covers seem to be either vague on their exact dimensions or one or more of their dimensions are too short by a couple millimeters when compared to the dimensions listed in the humbucker pickup dimensions PDF that you can download from the Dimarzio main site.  I don't know if a couple millimeters is critical for correct fit or not. Also, some of the online sellers dimension descriptions aren't even clear about whether they are talking about Outer Dimension or Inner Dimension specs.

So, does anyone know if any of these plastic covers will fit a Dimarzio humbucker? 

If not , can you point me to some black plastic covers without holes, available online that will fit?

Allparts.com
 https://www.allparts.com/PC-0303-023-Humbucking-Pickup-Covers-No-Holes-Black-Plastic_p_2397.html


Mojotone:  http://www.mojotone.com/Pickups_x/PickupParts_x/Plastic-Humbucker-Pickup-Cover-Black
(Following are dimensions provided to me by email from one of their customer service reps: It looks like this cover measures : 2-3/4" long x 1-1/2" wide x 3/4" tall. That is just the actualy block part of the cover. The mounting holes from center to center are 3-1/16". From the bottom of the mounts to the top of the block part of the cover, are 15/16")

Thanks for your help

13

Gear Closet / Re: What Speaker is like a Celestion G12T-75 but...

« on: December 15, 2014, 11:40:07 AM »

Why not just get the G12T-75 and just roll back the bottom end of your amp?

I've tried that, but still getting more bass response than I want.  But that is to be expected:  if we could all make our speakers sound exactly how we want by only adjusting amp EQ settings, no one would be making speakers that are voiced differently one from another.

14

Gear Closet / What Speaker is like a Celestion G12T-75 but...

« on: December 04, 2014, 08:35:37 AM »

Is there a 12" speaker that has the highs and scooped mids of a Celestion G12T-75 but doesn't have the boosted Bass frequencies that the G12T-75 has?