[teddybear]

any info and spec?

[krak_down69]

Nothing yet man.. You're talking about the new Herman Li Model Dimarzio's right?? They're probably custom pickups, but he used to use Evolutions before (I think) so I'm guessing it's a spinoff on the evolution set with some minor differences.

[tomago]

They're custom spec'd pickups I think. They weren't on the Dimarzio site when they put up the new 2008 pickups so I doubt they're even available for purchase. But Herman Li's got horrible tone, so why would you want to sound like him??

[CityofBlindingLights]

Herman Li uses the Evolutions, even though the new EGEN will have the Herman Li sigs. Or at least taht's as far as my knowledge goes.

[5150]

I don't know what's so special about the pickups he uses. I seriously think it's more just an ego trip than anything and that the pickups are really just the evolution pickup set with a slight modification or some sort.

[damn_yankee]

I don't know what's so special about the pickups he uses. I seriously think it's more just an ego trip than anything and that the pickups are really just the evolution pickup set with a slight modification or some sort.

Ditto on that brother!

[dhodgson]

Alright, time to revive this thread. I've been on a kind of quest to find tone-matching pickup equivalents similar to the EGEN18's HLM pickups, because - and I say this as a current and past owner of over a dozen Sabers they are outstanding, a marvel even.

Secondly, as far as DiMarzio's current pickup line goes, there are no exact equivalents; meaning, the HLM's are indeed a custom wound set and the best you can get is an approximation. Now, I've been zeroing in on what I think the closest matches are, but I'll cut to the chase and tell you what DiMarzio's tech support recommends as being similar-ish (paraphrasing slightly here) :

From: DiMarzio Tech [mailto:[email protected]]
Subject: RE: Trying to match a DiMarzio pickup set

The closest available neck pickup is the Gravity Storm neck model, and the closest bridge pickup is the D Activator bridge model.

No right or wrong answers. It’s a subjective judgement. The Transition bridge model is in the same ballpark, as is the Evo 2.

The closest model to the single-coil is the FS-1.

Also: It's time we re-analyzed the DiMarzio tone descriptions - 6.5 is too bright for the D Ac bridge model, it's darker than that.

DiMarzio Inc.

Having tried the Gravity Storm in the neck position of my S5521 Saber, I will agree that it's a satisfying substitute although a wee bit heavy in the bass department. The EGEN18 humbuckers are dark pickups (about a 4-4.5 on the DiMarzio treble side of things) with strong mids and a flattering bass response that is full, yet tight at the same time with high gain amps.

DC resistance for the set is approximately 13 kOhms for the HLM bridge, 13.42 kOhms for the single coil, and 10.93 kOhms for the neck.

-djh