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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck Pickup

« on: February 15, 2023, 05:44:46 PM »

Now that was a very thought provoking video! For a start, the 36th Anniversary didn't sound particularly dark at all. I imagine my guitar is a little darker than the one in the video, simply because mine is a set-thru and his is bolt-on, but I wouldn't expect them to be worlds apart. The other thing that stood out to me was that the neck pickup seemed to keep up with the Super Distortion perfectly well and there was no mention that he was using a bridge model. I can only assume that he was using the neck model and that's the one that some people have indicated wouldn't be powerful enough. The tone was certainly smooth and sweet enough for that classic Dave Murray sound, so maybe the normal neck 36th Anniversary pickup would be just fine.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck Pickup

« on: February 15, 2023, 01:36:19 PM »

I reached out to DiMarzio, but their response didn't really clarify things unfortunately:

'The output level of the Master is similar, but the PAF 36th has significantly thicker lows and mids. I don’t think that would present a problem in your guitar, but it’s impossible to be certain in advance which model is the better choice.'

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck Pickup

« on: February 15, 2023, 11:36:32 AM »

It seems like if I want to get that early Dave Murray tone, I need a PAF and if I need a PAF to live with the Super Distortion, it almost has to be a bridge model. Looking at all the possibilities, I would guess the PAF Master and 36th Anniversary are the best for what I'm after. I did find a video online of a bridge PAF Master used in the neck position and it was certainly an articulate option with quite a sweet tone. It actually seemed surprisingly tight for a neck position and one of the comments I saw suggested it wouldn't be a particularly forgiving option. Given my limited ability, that might be a concern. I couldn't find anything about a bridge 36th Anniversary used in the neck position, so I don't really know what to expect from that or how it compares to the PAF Master.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck Pickup

« on: February 14, 2023, 05:17:08 PM »

Thank you, that makes sense. Clearly they're just wanting to increase the power of the pickup as much as possible so that it can live with the Super Distortion. DiMarzio said the output would match a Super 2. This sounds ideal, but they also suggested I might be worrying about a non-issue. For a start, they warned that the output might be more than I want in terms of articulation with gain. They also pointed out that as long as I'm playing with gain, having a lower powered neck pickup won't matter because the clipping tends to even out the output.

If all this is true, it seems to me that I might as well just go for the pickup that best offers the tone I'm after and not worry about power (within reason). That does, of course, confuse matters because it throws a whole range of possibilities into the mix. The PAF Master neck may still be too weak, but the normal bridge may work OK, and both of the PAF 36th Anniversary pickups might be suitable. Could the PAF Joe also be a possibility? Presumably there is also the PAF Pro, though DiMarzio described that pickup as being 'edgy', which didn't sound like the Dave Murray tone.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck Pickup

« on: February 14, 2023, 03:20:12 PM »

It's interesting you say that because when I contacted DiMarzio, they suggested a PAF Master bridge model with F-spacing. I'm unsure why they specified F-spacing when it clearly doesn't need to be F-spaced in the neck position.

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Guitar Lounge / Re: NGD

« on: February 13, 2023, 02:17:57 PM »

Congrats on the guitar! I had a M-1000 years ago and always found them to be great guitars! How much did that set you back?

Most that I saw were knocking around the £1,000 mark or a bit higher, but I found a place selling this one brand new for just £700 so I couldn't pass it up.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck Pickup

« on: February 13, 2023, 02:14:54 PM »

The more I think about it, the more the Super 2 seems like it will just be too  modern for my tastes as I think I'm after a really articulate PAF that's reasonably hot to keep up with the Super Distortion. The Air Classic sounds like an interesting concept but like the PAF Joe, I fear it will struggle to keep up with the bridge. So far the PAF Pro seems the most likely option but I've made no firm decision.

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The Pickup Place / Neck Pickup

« on: February 12, 2023, 09:49:03 AM »

I have an LTD M-1000E, which is an alder body with a set-thru maple neck, ebony fingerboard, 25.5" scale and Floyd bridge. I currently have a Super Distortion in the bridge and I love it, but less happy with the BKP Emerald in the neck, so I'm looking for a DiMarzio alternative.

I usually prefer something PAF in the neck and often gravitate to alnico 2 or 4, but I'm more open to alternatives this time as I also have an Epiphone Explorer with a Gibson 498T/490R set in it that can give me that PAF feel.

It needs to be able to take a healthy amount of gain without turning muddy. I love the Dave Murray neck tone. I don't like a volume drop when moving between pickups.

Looking at the website, the two that leap out are the Super 2 and the PAF Pro. The former is clearly designed to go with a Super Distortion, so that would appear to make it a sensible option, but the PAF Pro sounds like it's more in my comfort zone and the description certainly sounds like what I'm looking for as long as it can live with the Super Distortion.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Air Zone vs Super Distortion?

« on: January 12, 2023, 03:08:56 PM »

The Super Distortion does not fell like a "Stiff Ceramic" pickup to me. The Seymour Duncan Distortion and Custom have that stiff feel to them but not the Dimarzio Super Distortion.

I would have to agree with this. Historically, I've really never been a big fan of ceramic pickups as they can be stiff and cold compared to the richer tone of Alnico 5. I tried a Super Distortion entirely because so many of my favourite guitarists use them. I was really surprised when I finally got to try it because while it has the aggression and tightness I associate with ceramic, its tone is surprisingly organic. It's the most alnico sounding ceramic pickup I've ever tried because it genuinely offers great tone. After a lifetime preferring alnico 5 pickups, the Super Distortion is the best sounding bridge pickup I've ever used and is certainly my favourite.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Question about HSH Pickup combination

« on: September 01, 2021, 04:40:37 AM »

Stephan seems to have dealt with this very well, so I will simply say that your pickup choice is perfect. I'm putting a Super Distortion into an alder bodied guitar myself and I really can't wait for it to arrive. Sadly, due to the current supply problems, it's still a month or two away from being here.

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The Pickup Place / Re: New Guitar Pickup Conundrum

« on: August 19, 2021, 11:05:07 AM »

The UK distributor simply didn't respond to my emails so the price came from various dealers. They presumably had more luck with the distributor, though I did come across one dealer who had recently stopped stocking DiMarzio because their UK distributor was so awful.

The Emerald neck pickup is unusual one. The alnico 4 magnet helps to keep the pickup quite PAF in nature and the tone is really sweet. The 43AWG wire seems to keep things a bit tighter at the bottom end than 42AWG so it retains clarity even under a lot of gain. It's one of the few Bare Knuckle pickups I would have again, if it weren't for the extremely high cost. The Crawler bridge model is the other one. That was an awesome pickup too! Other than price, after trying loads of Bare Knuckles, I just found I could get better elsewhere for less money. The Super Distortion is better than any ceramic pickup I tried from Bare Knuckle and the Classic '83 from The Creamery is miles better than the Holydiver. On top of that, the Creamery '87 set is better than any alnico 2 pickup that BKP do and it's also better than the Seymour Duncan Slash set. Once I discovered that Jaime at The Creamery and Allan at Catswhisker will custom make anything I want for between £60 and £80, there was no point in spending Bare Knuckle money. Jaime has already made me a version of the BKP Abraxas as well as a couple of designs I came up with myself. Allan has made me a tweaked version a Gibson 498T and an Emerald with an alnico 2 magnet before. In every case, the pickups were excellent. I actually received this latest pickup from Allan in just 48 hours so now I just need the Super Distortion to arrive 

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup to pair with Super Distortion

« on: August 19, 2021, 03:36:37 AM »

I found a supplier that has a Super Distortion coming in next month so I ordered that. I was going to get a PAF Pro to go with it but to get silver coloured pole pieces to match the Super Distortion, it was going to have to be a special order that would cost almost twice what the Super Distortion did. Instead, I got a specialist pickup maker to make me a copy of my favourite neck pickup (Bare Knuckle Emerald) that would match the look of the Super Distortion for half the cost of the PAF Pro or an actual Bare Knuckle, and I had the pickup within 48 hours. It's almost indistinguishable in tone from an actual Bare Knuckle Emerald!

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pu to pair with Super Distortion for Maiden tones

« on: August 08, 2021, 04:32:35 AM »

I think your problem is that Adrian is a Blues player at heart and likes his guitars to have variety between positions, so for the neck, you really need something like a PAF. Unfortunately, the PAF Pro is undoubtedly the best choice. If you want to try something that is similar but different, I would suggest taking a look at the Fred pickup.

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The Pickup Place / Re: New Guitar Pickup Conundrum

« on: August 06, 2021, 12:13:50 AM »

I've taken the plunge and ordered a black Super Distortion with the usual silver nickel polepiece screws for the bridge position. I'll have to wait until September/October to receive it, but I'm in no rush and I found it at a good price.

The neck position has proved to be a complete pain in the neck, if you'll excuse the pun. I was all set to get a PAF Pro, but naturally I wanted it with the same silver nickel hex screws as polepieces to match the Super Distortion. This is clearly possible if you look at the DiMarzio website, as are numerous other options. Unfortunately, it seems that the PAF Pro is only made standard with black hex screws and if I wanted the silver nickel colour, it would have to be a special order. I had no objection to the wait, but I did have a serious objection to the £120 price I was quoted when I'd bought the Super Distortion for just £66!!! That's the same price as a Bare Knuckle pickup and I even think they're too expensive. In fairness, a Bare Knuckle 'Emerald' is the best neck pickup I've ever used, and as I know that pickup is alnico 4 with 43AWG wire wound to 9.6DC, I decided to ask Allan at Catswhisker Pickups if he could make me one with flush caphead screws for polepieces to give it a very similar look to the Super Distortion while retaining the tone of the Emerald. I'll have the pickup in just a couple of weeks for just £62 and I've used him before so I know his work is excellent. If DiMarzio are going to offer all these options, they should try making sure you can get them without almost doubling the price.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Single between a Super Distortion and a PAF Pro

« on: August 05, 2021, 11:58:52 PM »

How about a Virtual Solo? It should be hot enough to keep up reasonably well and maintains more of a proper singlecoil tone. I used it in the bridge position of a Strat and I was very impressed. I could see it working well as a middle pickup with those two humbuckers.