[mi2tom]

"tight low end, powerful upper mids, clear top end, awesome harmonics" is totally a description of the Evo2.

[JackGriffiths]

"tight low end, powerful upper mids, clear top end, awesome harmonics" is totally a description of the Evo2.

I am very keen on the Evo 2, but I was concerned that even the Norton would be too hot for what I'm after. Is there any of the organic, dynamic quality of the Norton in the Evo 2? After reading a few more reviews, I think the Norton could be a little too dark.

[mi2tom]

From your description the evo2 fits but its definitely a hot pickup this evo2. Dynamic the evo is but if you're looking for those vintage organic then look elsewhere for this evo2 is definitely a modern tight sounding pickup.

[Speeddemon]

It seems this is a much loved pickup on here - I'm looking to get one for the bridge of a mahogany HH Telecaster to replace an old Dual Sound - just too much output and warmth for what I need - I'm completely in love with the sound of PAF Pros in mahogany but have been keen to try this one out for some time now, for something a little more punchy and powerful, yet still dynamic, responsive and articulate. So far, I've read all the stuff about it I wanted to read; tight low end, powerful upper mids, clear top end, awesome harmonics, etc. How do you think it compares to a PAF Pro, for reference, in the bridge in mahogany, for just that little bit 'more'? The guitar has a single 500k volume pot, no tone.

Jack

It will do just what you asked.
I had a PAF Pro in a mahogany/maple top'd Ibanez bridge a long time ago and I remember it being a bit wimpy and too neutral for my taste. The Norton definitely has more power and oomph going on, but not as much as the Super D/Dual Sound. Also, to me the Norton seems to have more character to its tone than a PAF Pro.

[Butch Snyder]

I wanted to give my opinion of the Norton.  My Norton isn't store-bought.  It's an Un-aired Air Norton; which makes it a Norton.  I can see why folks who like the Duncan JB, love the Norton.  Where the JB has a harsher upper-mid tone, the Norton's is smoother.  It really has that cool 80's tone but is still relevant.  Under gain, notes are still articulate and clear.  The tone is warmer and beefy; but not a huge wall of sound like my Air Zone was.  Clean, it's got a cool sharpness to the tone, but it's still got a sweetness that sustains very nicely.  Now, I use my Norton in my Strat.  So, we have an alder body and maple neck/fretboard.  I use the stock 250k pots with the Norton only connected to the volume pot.

[Speeddemon]

Does the Norton sound different (in the bridge position) when you flip it, so that the screw-pole pieces face the neck?

[mookyshoots]

I just dropped a Norton into my Jackson Adrian Smith SDX and all I can say is WOW!  Such a great sounding pickup. I wish I'd tried it way sooner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RayBarbeeMusic]

My take on it: 

It is really, really bright.  It has absolutely nothing to do with a JB, Custom 5, or other things I've seen it compared to.  I've had a lot of those over the years and still do, the Norton is a humbucker, so are those, that's about the only comparison I'd make.  Norton is a very bright pickup with more upper mids than most PAFs.  In stock form with 500k volume, I find it unbearably bright.  A3 and/or 250k can tame it enough to not make me squint when hitting a high string, and then it becomes a tolerably bright PAF with more upper mids and output. 

[harmonics]

hello
what do you think of this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkQrhhcl6Ac

i think it's a volume problem

i am disappointed that the norton has not a big sound like an evh or sh4
but i bought it to be close to the fred

if you want a fatter sound, you will need an eq or change the pickup

for the harmonics, i really don't know if the fred was the best over the norton
someone said that here
maybe

An evo must be tried too

[mertay]

Last night I also converted an air-norton to a norton to test it in the neck position.

The basic eq is like placing the air-norton extremely close to the strings without dynamics poping. Tighter on the high strings but loser on the low, some change with the screw-pole hights do help. Also, its extremely sensitive to positioning. The pickup must slant to the body a bit to get a reasonable neck character, height adjustment isn't enough.

The tonezone didn't keep up with it. Its not the output but the mid.s, it can be solved by flipping the magnets non-cast side on the tonezone to match the tightness and mids. I still have to experiment with height a bit more but I'm positive then it will work.

This mod. is only for those who play with a lot of gain (shred), don't expect it to sound (actually, react to dynamics) as nice with bluesy overdrive. Looking at the dimarzio site, after this mod. the Breed set got more of my attention before to get a middle-ground between this mod. and standard (alnico with high-out without over the top...).

Update; yeah it worked, I also decreased the norton a bit more than I'd normally do with lower-output pickups and got it to a territory where it can be named "versatile" on the neck position. As dimarzio site says its usable on the neck, but consider something higher-output than the tonezone if you don't want to deal with modifying.

[StevenMikel]

 I've heard some people say that the Norton isn't bright enough and I've heard people say that it is too bright. I think that how bright or dark the Norton sounds depends on the guitar it is in. I have a Norton in the bridge of a Ibanez RGT42FM and wish the Norton was a little brighter and a very tiny bit more open sounding but, I think that lack of brightness is due to the neck thru construction of the guitar. I like everything about the Norton, the output is just right for the music I play(all kinds of rock) and the tone balanced with enough bass to sound full but not muddy. I need to try the Norton in a bolt on neck guitar made of a bright sounding wood like swamp ash before I say for sure that the Norton is bright enough or not.

 I posted a couple of questions in the stickied DiMarzio Mods thread but, I'll ask them here too. Has anybody swapped the A5 magnet for a ceramic magnet ? Has anybody half aired a Norton ? I'm putting a Paf Pro in the neck of the same guitar(RGT42FM) and wondered what would happen if I swapped the hex head pole pieces of the Paf Pro with the screw head pole pieces of the Norton .

[Guitar74]

I think one of the best descriptions of the Norton that I heard was "It sort of keeps everything you love about a Duncan JB and gets rid of the things you hate about a Duncan JB". I would tend to agree with that. It's like a JB with a little less of that upper mid spike that you either love or hate. At least to my ears.

[buddroyce]

I think one of the best descriptions of the Norton that I heard was "It sort of keeps everything you love about a Duncan JB and gets rid of the things you hate about a Duncan JB". I would tend to agree with that. It's like a JB with a little less of that upper mid spike that you either love or hate. At least to my ears.

I love that description of it!

[darkbluemurder]

I've heard some people say that the Norton isn't bright enough and I've heard people say that it is too bright. I think that how bright or dark the Norton sounds depends on the guitar it is in.

Fully agree, and that is basically true for any pickup. Some are more sensitive to this than others, though. I had the Norton in three different guitars - in one it was rather dark, in another it was not really bright but harsh, and in the guitar it is right now it is just right, even with a load of 500k.

I posted a couple of questions in the stickied DiMarzio Mods thread but, I'll ask them here too. Has anybody swapped the A5 magnet for a ceramic magnet ? Has anybody half aired a Norton ?

I know that RayBarbeeMusic has swapped the A5 for A3 and reported about it here in this forum (not necessarily in the stickied thread). Never read a report of swapping it with a ceramic anywhere. Almost certainly somebody has half-aired it or de-half-aired an Air Norton - all are welcome to post the results either here or in the stickied thread.

Cheers Stephan