DiMarzio Tone Zone 7 & Air Norton 7 combo review!

[Allen Garrow]

With some help and good advice I have successfully installed DiMarzio Tone Zone 7 and Air Norton 7 into a new Ibanez 1527CB.

Holy crap Amazing! Body mounted axes rule. What incredible tone. This 1527 just has this amazing tone in bridge position! It's got that old school Growl yet has this essence of harmonically rich overtones. It doesn't loose it's self in the mix. With light palm muting the percussive qualities in the low register are simply huge.

This purchase was a gamble for me, I've tried Evo 7's and found them to bright,,, maybe even a little to clear. I have had old school Blazes that are stock in my old 91 UV777GR. So that machine for me is the axe by which all others and measured. What a combo, the 1527 is a sleeper, a players 7 string for sure. What a value I got with the prestige specs and amazing new pickups.

The Air norton is rich and warm. It doesn't seem to have the percussive qualities I had hoped for,, but then again I have new strings on it which tends to brighten things up a bit. There is that sweet spot that we all know and love with new strings. You know the spot when you have had them on for a few days and the brightness gives way to warmth. Yep that is what I am waiting for with the Air norton. However the air norton has a quality that is just as harmonically rich as the TZ but in it's own way, it very subtle in transition in distortion from bridge to full neck. The sustain is insane. Body mount, new trem all accomodate very well to the sustain I'm sure.

The Clean tones are where is really obvious with this combo. 1st position ( bridge ) TZ,,, whoa! loud, warm and crystal clear, coupled with delay and chorus.... awesome. Harmonically insane! 2nd position! Oh deay! We are talking "EAR-GASM". Warm, balanced just incredible depth. Mid position warm and a little less enhanced just tighter with more mids very nice. 4th position! little more warmth, you can tell the you are approaching the neck pickup,,,it's got an almost twang to it when you pick heavy,,,"ala, Stevie Ray". 5th position,,,powerful warm and clear,,, all the way up and down the neck there is something about it that makes you just giggle.

Speaking of giggles! The TZ7 is just a monster with a Bad horsie! I've been sort of happy with my Bad horsie for years. I loved it when I had Jems,,, Evo's, Breeds and Pafs! Awesome! However with the 7's it sort of seemed to loose mudulation. I couldn't seem to hear all the bad horsie through the entire travel of the pedal. The scooped mids on the Blaze are awesome but seems to hurt in that small zone on the wah pedal that is soooo saught after. Not with the TONEZONE though! BOING! The raised mids and bass work super with the Bad Horsie,,,, it now talks! That sweet spot on the BH somewhere just about at the middle of the pedal brings out these huge harmonics! Whoa! $*@§ man just about fell off my chair. Step on that pedal! There is no doubt that you stepped on it.

I have to agree with DiMarzio on the adds for these 2 pickups. "These are not just copies of the popular 6 string p/u's". They are made for the 7 strings in the vein of what the 6 string versions offered. They are both very well thought out! KUDOS! My only complaint is with all the new offering for the 7s would have to be " I WANT COLORS" Purple, blue, green, pink and everything in between. That's the only thing that would have pushed me over into complete bliss. Color options on these would be sweet. Other than Black, creme or black and creme. Regardless it's about the tone and with that I'm thrilled.

~A

~A

[Sephiroth000]

TZ7 rules all . Sounds better than it 6 string sister....

[Societysucks]

I've found most of the dimarzio 7 string pickups do sound beter than their six string counterparts. In construction they make them slightly different, cutting the mid's slightly to get better B string definition, and this as a result shifts the whole pickups sound a bit.

Seing as how I think 7 strings sound better than 6 strings it's no wonder I absolutley love the sound of them!!

[Dan_H]

Just to throw a contrasting opinion into the mix, I put the TZ/AN combo in my RG7620 a year ago, replacing the stock New7 pickups (not the same as the stock pickups in the 1527).

Personally, I didn't like either the TZ or AN pickup at all. I found them far too middy and not versatile. Whatever settings I changed on my amp, I ended up with the same sound. Sometimes I really enjoyed that sound when playing alone as it beefed up my tone, but especially in a band context I just found them really muddy.

I A/B'd the tone often with my RG8527 which is fitted with the stock New 7s (main other difference being mahogany 8527 vs basswood 7620) and finally decided to put the New 7 bridge back in place and BINGO there is the killer tone again. As for the neck pickup, I've put in a PAF7, which is very nice and mellow in a low-powered vintage way, although I'm still a fan of the original neck New 7.

I'm happy again, and have started picking up the 7620 as often as the 8527.

[7 Dying Trees]

I've just slapped a TZ7 in my 2027, but haven't heard it yet, so reading this is just making me want to hear it even more! And I've always fancied an AN7 as well, all my 6's pretty much have this combo now... glad to her, as i always though the evo7 was a bit too clear as well...