Noise in Tone Zone

morajosyvy · #1 08-24-2007, 12:29 AM

I have air norton on neck and tone zone in bridge, is it normal that the tone zone is more sensible to electromagnetic fields like a tv screen than de air norton?

David McCarroll · #2 08-24-2007, 12:58 AM

No, it's not. If the coils have an equal number of turns, the hum cancelling should be pretty close to 100%. Certainly shouldn't introduce any more noise than the Norton in any case.

morajosyvy · #3 08-24-2007, 10:51 PM

That's weird because my RG3120 makes de same hum noise with the tone zone pickup enabled

morajosyvy · #4 08-24-2007, 10:53 PM

Actually when there are no EM fields near neither of the pickups make noise , but in front of a Tv screen in both guitars the tone zone makes more noise.

-Rhaab · #5 08-25-2007, 10:06 PM

my tone zone also makes as much noise as a single coil, no tv or lights on.

toneboy · #6 06-11-2008, 07:44 AM

I'm resurrecting this thread because I ran across it searching for something else and I have something to add.

Dimarzio uses a method for making some of their pickups called Dual Resonance. This means that some of their humbuckers have 2 coils that are not wound exactly the same. The net results is they can get some pretty cool tones from their pickups and their pickups are more susceptible to noise.

I've got Tone Zones in a few guitars and they are much noisier than a guitar I have with a Duncan or even my Brian May guitar with its single coils in humbucking mode.

Crazy_Guitar · #7 06-11-2008, 10:11 AM

Well... I don't think that is the case regarding the TZ. AFAIK, the TZ is symetrical (both coils are equal).

toneboy · #8 06-11-2008, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy_Guitar

Well... I don't think that is the case regarding the TZ. AFAIK, the TZ is symetrical (both coils are equal).

Check Dimarzio's website. The description of the Tone Zone specifically states that it has dual resonance coils. I've been using the Tone Zone since it first came out in '91 so if there's one pickup I know intimately, it is the Tone Zone.

toneboy · #9 06-11-2008, 11:34 AM

BTW, for further confirmation go to the U.S. Patent Office's website and do a search for patent#4501185. That's the patent for Dual Resonance technology and that patent number is listed in the Tone Zone's description on Dimarzio's website. Quite a few Dimarzio pickups use that technology.

How it works is each coil uses a different gauge of wire but approximately the same number of turns. This results in each coil having a different inductance/output which in turn changes the tone of the pickup. Pretty ingenious.

Crazy_Guitar · #10 06-11-2008, 01:04 PM

Sorry... my bad.

rub_800 · #11 06-14-2008, 03:09 AM

I think that the humbuckers eliminates the hum because the two coils, one coil against the other eliminates the hum.
But if the coils are different they won't have the same "amount of hum" so one of the coils "wins" and some hum scapes.. This tricky :s, I don't know how to explain it..

SAVAGEDISTORTION · #12 06-14-2008, 10:23 AM

if you want a tone zone wthout any noise try the duncan blackout bridge pup
it has a tone zone like sound(real warm,fat, megadriving and wicked harmonics but absolutely NO NOISE

mozfan98 · #13 06-14-2008, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAVAGEDISTORTION

if you want a tone zone wthout any noise try the duncan blackout bridge pup
it has a tone zone like sound(real warm,fat, megadriving and wicked harmonics but absolutely NO NOISE

I think those 2 pickups sound completely different. I don't find the blackouts fat sounding at all unless you're using the neck pickup as a bridge. If you're comparing an active to a passive Tone Zone, I'd say an EMG 85 is the closest sounding to a Tone Zone.

Anyways, I find the following pickups that have the hum..Tone Zone, Breeds Set, PAF Pro, EJ Custom. Coincidently they all have the A 5 Magnets, which I thought had a correlation to the hum. The ones that I find are very quiet are the Steve's Special and the Evolution, coincidently both use ceramic magnets.

SAVAGEDISTORTION · #14 06-14-2008, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mozfan98

I think those 2 pickups sound completely different. I don't find the blackouts fat sounding at all unless you're using the neck pickup as a bridge. If you're comparing an active to a passive Tone Zone, I'd say an EMG 85 is the closest sounding to a Tone Zone.

Anyways, I find the following pickups that have the hum..Tone Zone, Breeds Set, PAF Pro, EJ Custom. Coincidently they all have the A 5 Magnets, which I thought had a correlation to the hum. The ones that I find are very quiet are the Steve's Special and the Evolution, coincidently both use ceramic magnets.

it is true that the cerammics produce less noise
as far as the blackout bridge mine is fat as all hell
it is in a mahogany RG(3120)

mozfan98 · #15 06-15-2008, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAVAGEDISTORTION

it is true that the cerammics produce less noise
as far as the blackout bridge mine is fat as all hell
it is in a mahogany RG(3120)

Interesting, I had blackouts in my all mahogany Jackson COB model and a mahogany BC Rich V and it sounded crunchy without the fatness to it. Reminds me a lot of the EMG 81. Different guitars despite the same species wood sound different.