[gauchosilvertone]

So I've got the HFH in the neck of my main ride, a long-tenon set neck mahogany/maple carved top double cutaway.  The guitar is warm but bright if you can imagine.  Woody, sharp, complex.

I'm here to tell you, the last word I would use for this pickup is "transparent" (and this is not my first go round with the HFH).  Transparent, to me, means the sound of your guitar's wood comes through.  By contrast, HFH makes HFH come through.  It took all my guitar's hard earned harmonic complexity, bound it, gagged it, and shoved it in a closet where no one could hear it cry for escape.

Despite the low resistance (5.89Kohm- single coil range), the effect of the pickup is very compressed.  Notes do not evolve harmonically after the attack- not at ALL.  For some, this might be a good thing. If you want absolute evenness between your notes, and have decent technique, this will be a good pickup for you. But for me, the effect is an extremely focused midrange voice that is absolutely flat, No maturation in the tone as the note sustains, with an extremely loud and again compressed highest frequency range - in other words, your pick attack comes through like a freshly sharpened axe slamming into a steel plate.  Soften your attack? CLANG.  Change pick angle? CLANG.  You follow.  It's extremely consistent in that piercing high end click.

So even in spite of its brightness, it's actually a fairly forgiving pickup if your right hand technique is lacking. I am hating it at the moment because I want my electrics to respond like acoustics - I want my hands in charge, and with this pick up I feel like whatever I put into it comes out exactly the same.

I've been guilty of yanking a pickup impulsively, so I'm going to give it a chance. But I had to chime in not for the sake of bashing it, but because I think there's a shortage of critical listening based feedback on this pickup, and a surplus of opinions based on previous reviews and party line noise. That said, it does what it is described to do. There is something strat like about it, although without the scooped midrange, and sweetness of a strat neck pup.  It is bright as hell. I have no idea how John Petrucci used the Tone Zone / Humbucker from Hell combination live, since EQing one to sound its best yields the worst possible settings for the other.

I'd love more feedback.

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Weird. 

I don't find it bright, nor do I find the attack particularly stands out.  The low notes are too woody as well, lacking the bell-like thwack of a single.  I hear nothing strat like about it in any of the 20 ish guitars I've heard it in.  It's a low-wind PAF sounding pickup.  Which is just fine if you want a low-wind PAF, but not if you expect anything like a single coil.

That's what I DONT like about it, which is kind of the opposite if what you hear in it. 

Did you measure your volume pot?  Unhook the pickup and actually measure the resistance across the outer legs.  Sounds like there may be an issue there.

[gauchosilvertone]

Weird. 

I don't find it bright, nor do I find the attack particularly stands out.  The low notes are too woody as well, lacking the bell-like thwack of a single.  I hear nothing strat like about it in any of the 20 ish guitars I've heard it in.  It's a low-wind PAF sounding pickup.  Which is just fine if you want a low-wind PAF, but not if you expect anything like a single coil.

That's what I DONT like about it, which is kind of the opposite if what you hear in it. 

Did you measure your volume pot?  Unhook the pickup and actually measure the resistance across the outer legs.  Sounds like there may be an issue there.

I haven't, but there's no need to-I've had over a dozen pickups in this spot, same pot.  It's the pickup.

I agree that it doesn't actually sound like a Strat - but when DiMarzio and other reviewers say there is something sort of single coil like about it, I know what they mean, not because it actually sounds like a single coil but because that's the closest thing you can use to describe how different it is from a conventional humbucker. It is not a traditional PAF sound in any way, other than it being low output (even that aspect is not necessarily reflective of a vintage PAF due to wind and resistance differences in early, very unscientific PAFs).

I change pickups in one guitar or another on average 3 times a month.  No, what I hear is just the Humbucker From Hell interacting with my ears.

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[gauchosilvertone]

Weird. 

I don't find it bright, nor do I find the attack particularly stands out.  The low notes are too woody as well, lacking the bell-like thwack of a single.  I hear nothing strat like about it in any of the 20 ish guitars I've heard it in.  It's a low-wind PAF sounding pickup.  Which is just fine if you want a low-wind PAF, but not if you expect anything like a single coil.

That's what I DONT like about it, which is kind of the opposite if what you hear in it. 

Did you measure your volume pot?  Unhook the pickup and actually measure the resistance across the outer legs.  Sounds like there may be an issue there.

I would say your experience is more an anomaly than mine- everyone I've ever heard describe it (including DiMarzio) calls it a very bright pickup with a very prominent pick attack.

Are you using an EL84 amp? 

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[RayBarbeeMusic]

I use 20 or so different amps and I'm an amp and guitar tech, so........

I know how they describe it, maybe with 9s or some other rubber band its that bright but I just do not hear it.  There are other conventional humbuckers that are brighter, tighter, and more single-coil like.

If you really want single-coil like, get a Firebird pickup. 

I've tried it over the years many times in many guitars, it just is not bright enough, tight enough, so qualify for single-coil like to me.  I wish it was, and I wish DiMarzio would make something that was, but they do not. 

It sounds like a low wind paf.  It's not muddy, but it's not tight either, it's woody.  The high end doesn't have enough edge to it to be in any sort of single coil category. 

I honestly like it a lot more with ceramic, but you have to remove one of the spacers to get a normal size magnet in there.   The stock pickup has a spacer on both coils and an under-sized A5.

[DarthPhineas]

I've had over a dozen pickups in this spot, same pot.

What other pickups have you tried in that same guitar?

[gauchosilvertone]

I use 20 or so different amps and I'm an amp and guitar tech, so........

I know how they describe it, maybe with 9s or some other rubber band its that bright but I just do not hear it.  There are other conventional humbuckers that are brighter, tighter, and more single-coil like.

If you really want single-coil like, get a Firebird pickup. 

I've tried it over the years many times in many guitars, it just is not bright enough, tight enough, so qualify for single-coil like to me.  I wish it was, and I wish DiMarzio would make something that was, but they do not. 

It sounds like a low wind paf.  It's not muddy, but it's not tight either, it's woody.  The high end doesn't have enough edge to it to be in any sort of single coil category. 

I honestly like it a lot more with ceramic, but you have to remove one of the spacers to get a normal size magnet in there.   The stock pickup has a spacer on both coils and an under-sized A5.

I heard all that. My complaint isn't that it's not single coilish enough- you pick up a Strat if you want a Strat sound.  My point of contention was that it's not transparent.  It really dictates the sound of the guitar more than many others, and more than most PAFs.

I don't understand how it could sound like a typical low wind PAF when DiMarzio specifically designed it to be unlike a typical PAF.  I've played lower wind older PAFs and they sound nothing like the HFH.

Re: my guitar, jeez...Tone Zone, Crunch Lab/Liquifire, HFH (both positions), Air Norton (both positions), Norton (both positions), PAF Master set (Bridge pickup tried in both positions), Fred (both positions), X2N, D-Activator X or whatever that thing's called, Dimebucker, JB, Jazz, 59 neck, SH-5 Custom, PAF Pro, Steve's Special, AT-1, FS-1...maybe forgetting a few.

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[gauchosilvertone]

I use 20 or so different amps and I'm an amp and guitar tech, so........

I know how they describe it, maybe with 9s or some other rubber band its that bright but I just do not hear it.  There are other conventional humbuckers that are brighter, tighter, and more single-coil like.

If you really want single-coil like, get a Firebird pickup. 

I've tried it over the years many times in many guitars, it just is not bright enough, tight enough, so qualify for single-coil like to me.  I wish it was, and I wish DiMarzio would make something that was, but they do not. 

It sounds like a low wind paf.  It's not muddy, but it's not tight either, it's woody.  The high end doesn't have enough edge to it to be in any sort of single coil category. 

I honestly like it a lot more with ceramic, but you have to remove one of the spacers to get a normal size magnet in there.   The stock pickup has a spacer on both coils and an under-sized A5.

I heard all that. My complaint isn't that it's not single coilish enough- you pick up a Strat if you want a Strat sound.  My point of contention was that it's not transparent.  It really dictates the sound of the guitar more than many others, and more than most PAFs.

I don't understand how it cold sound like a typical low wind PAF when DiMarzio specifically designed it to be unlike a typical PAF.  I've played lower wind older PAFs and they sound nothing like the HFH.

Re: my guitar, jeez...Tone Zone, Crunch Lab/Liquifire, HFH (both positions), Air Norton (both positions), Norton (both positions), PAF Master set (Bridge pickup tried in both positions), Fred (both positions), X2N, D-Activator X or whatever that thing's called, Dimebucker, JB, Jazz, 59 neck, SH-5 Custom, PAF Pro, Steve's Special, AT-1, FS-1...maybe forgetting a few.

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Forgot Schaller Golden 50s, several Japanese Jackson neck pickups, Ibanez V7/V8 w/ magnet swap, SIN pickups Rapture neck, SIN Pickups PAF and one other I can't remember, some Vintage DiMarzio PAF set, Super Distortion, Super 3...

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[DarthPhineas]

Based on some of the pickups you listed, you should definitely know what a compressed pickup sounds like. 

It seems like what you have is what you called it. An alternate view.

And that's Kool and the gang. That's why there are many pickup companies that make many models of pickups. I've found the HFH to work better for my preference in some guitars than others. And the same can be said for many pickups. We just have to keep humming until we find the tune we can dance to.

Descriptors like "transparent" mean different things to different people, based on their experience and what they bring to the table. Some might call the same thing "clarity" and some might call it "open-sounding" and some might call it all sorts of other things that all mean the same thing. And they might apply to the HFH and they may not.

Another brand consider this one model they sell to be really bright. Well, it might be really bright...for their catalog. lol!  But there are many other brighter models out there. And that's the thing with sound being so relative.

It does sound like the HFH isn't working out for you. What pickup do you think you will try next in that guitar?