quick tone zone review

Homebake · #1 07-17-2009, 02:57 AM

so i've just finished playing around with my newly installed dimarzio tone zone in my rg2550z and thought i'd write a quick review for the sake of it. it was my first time installing a pickup. soldering was easy but good lord, getting those height adjustment springs and screws in is a royal pain in the ass.

anyway, i bought the TZ because i know players like gilbert and petrucci have used it and i wanted something a bit more...alive than the stock bridge pup that comes on the guitar. also, i needed a matching green pickup to match my guitar's colour school (black and green lol).

i didn't really know what to expect output wise (i hadn't tried a TZ before but i read a lot) and was wondering if i'd have a problem with the bass-iness/muddiness people always complain about with it.

so anyway, it seems to have slightly less output than the stock dimarzio/IBZ bridge bucker, so i've set it a bit higher. this doesn't worry me. i've fiddled around with the height a fair bit.

in terms of actual tone, well, i'm no expert with pups since this is my first replacement, but i can tell how how it's different to the stock ones.

first thing i noticed was the bassiness. the low E and A strings just have that nice added bit of extra punch and thickness, nice and ballsy. i always thought the stock pups were kind of lacking in that area. the TZ definitely is not muddy, not to my ears. nicely bright and full. also, the higher notes really sounded fuller and...thicker...? EDIT: after playing it more, i've found out that using the bridge pickup now sounds closer to the neck pickup in sound. with the stock IBZ's, i was always annoyed at how bad fast picking stuff sounded up high on the fretboard. way too snappy and "chinky" and thin, but you can do nice sorts of stuff like picking up high with the TZ because the sound is filled out more.

second thing i noticed was the midrange. it really does sound like what gilbert describes as that "aw-wah-wah-half-open" kinda sound. not really enough to sound "quacky" or "honky", just a nice tinge i guess. makes it sound kinda fatter, more like a les paul or something. the midrange-iness works well with high notes, i just really like it.

so final thoughts, it's an awesome pickup, especially in superstrats like RG's and it works very nicely in basswood. definitely up to my expectations. i guess if anyone has some specific questions about it, i'll try answer it.

toneboy · #2 07-17-2009, 08:15 AM

I've been using Tone Zone since they came out in '91 and I agree with everything you said.

The low end "mud" that some people feel the TZ has can be dealt with by adjusting your amp/s EQ and gain. I can get the TZ to be muddy with some amps but by doing the former, it goes away.

The midrange "aw" can make notes blossom and almost sound like they're going to feedback. That's one of my favorite things about the TZ.

It also sounds great in alder as well as basswood.

indeedido · #3 07-17-2009, 12:16 PM

I had a tone zone in my Frankenstrat for years. I thought it had a great tone to it with my 5150 head. I recently changed it out for a Seymour Duncan Custom for something different. Tone Zone is a great pickup. I've read that is really what the pickup is in the Ernie Ball Musicman

Petie · #4 07-17-2009, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by indeedido

Tone Zone is a great pickup. I've read that is really what the pickup is in the Ernie Ball Musicman

Not quite, but it almost was. Here's what DiMarzio's Steve Blucher said when I interviewed him recently: http://www.iheartguitarblog.com/2009...e-blucher.html

Paul Gilbert was featured in an ad for the Tone Zone - did he have any feedback into its development?

Blucher: We sometimes seek opinions from players in different genres, but not when a pickup is being designed for a specific player or style of music. Paul Gilbert didn't provide any input towards the development of the Tone Zone. The only player who did was Eddie Van Halen, in the course of doing the pickups for the MusicMan EVH guitar. My understanding is that the final choice for the bridge pickup was between the TZ and the pickup he actually chose, and it almost literally came down to a coin toss.

TheToneZone · #5 07-18-2009, 04:14 AM

It's great in basswood and thinner guitar bodies... It's much more questionable in mohogany.

Homebake · #6 07-18-2009, 04:15 AM

gave it a run through at a band prac today. man, power chords, double stops and distorted chordy type things just sound awesome.

**jono** · #7 07-18-2009, 07:09 AM

We need details of the amp and setup you're running.

I always find the sound of the Tone Zone to be inherently too muddy

Homebake · #8 07-18-2009, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jono

We need details of the amp and setup you're running.

I always find the sound of the Tone Zone to be inherently too muddy

mesa 5:25 running only through a vox wah wah. i pretty much only use it on the clean channel or the "burn" channel. i have the treble on about 1pm, mid on about 10:30am and bass around the same on clean, almost the same for burn.

for home use, 15 watt fender practice amp with treble and bass on full and mids at halfway

toneboy · #9 07-18-2009, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jono

We need details of the amp and setup you're running.

I always find the sound of the Tone Zone to be inherently too muddy

I've run them through the Mesa Studio Preamp, Mesa Quad Preamp, Mesa DC-5, ADA MP-1 (stock and 3TM) and finally through an Axe-FX w/Mesa Triaxis and Marshall Plexi models. It's worked great with all of them. I've used them in basswood and alder with great success but I wasn't happy with them in maple+mahogany (Les Paul).

**jono** · #10 07-18-2009, 01:15 PM

That actually sounds a lot like the amps I use, and still it's too muddy for me!!!

Still that's why DiMarzio produce so many pickups, what's too shrill for one guy is too muddy for the next so to speak

toneboy · #11 07-18-2009, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jono

That actually sounds a lot like the amps I use, and still it's too muddy for me!!!

Still that's why DiMarzio produce so many pickups, what's too shrill for one guy is too muddy for the next so to speak

Not to mention all the other variables like gain amount, pre-EQ, post-EQ, speakers, speaker cab, pick thickness, pick attack, string gauge, etc., etc.

I've tried the X2N, Dual Sound/Super Distortion, Norton, PAF Pro, Duncan Distortion, and the JB but for rock/metal the Tone Zone works best for me.

That being said, I think I'm going to retro and try a set of 36th Anniversary PAFs in one my PGMs. They sound great clean and dirty which I can't say about the Tone Zone (I only like it with distortion). For anything but rock and metal, the Tone Zone is almost too much. The "awww" sound is a little too pronounced the after using it for so long I can't not get pinched harmonics with it.

Homebake · #12 07-19-2009, 01:43 AM

you guys who think the TZ is muddy must like your bridge pups real sharp and trebly i guess. i can understand why you'd hear it as muddy.

blackspy · #13 07-19-2009, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petie

My understanding is that the final choice for the bridge pickup was between the TZ and the pickup he actually chose, and it almost literally came down to a coin toss.

I read something a story from Eddie about that. He said that it came down to two sets of pickups, Eddie couldn't decide which he preferred, so asked Steve Lukather to tell him which set he liked better, and it went to the set that is in the EVH and Axis guitars from Musicman.

My Axis bridge pickup sounds a bit like a Tonezone, biggest difference I'd say is that lack of the "AW" eq'ing on the Tonezone, and Axis pickup is a bit hotter. It's also a fair bit smoother and less bassy to my ears, but that could be more the guitar than the pickup. I like the Tonezone in an RG I have though.

fretboardpyro · #14 07-19-2009, 07:56 PM

i love my tz in my rg 3120 (mahogony), its a close second to the ss in the jpm i use. I love the thick warm sound and wild harmonic overtones you can muster from them. I actually have a copy of guitarworld that was quite recent where there's an interview with larry dimarzio about the inception of the TZ. It turns out evh didn't want it in the axis but larry liked it so much that he put it into production anyway. If i remember i'll scan the interview and post it if no one has has any objections.
Anyway the point is my drummer always says "your guitars are how i expect an electric guitar to sound" praise indeed! The pinched harms always sound like a extra note and really rich rather than a squeel, something i love them for. I can't heap enough praise on a TZ, if its good enough for buckethead, gilbert and the odd occasion god himself JP (images and words) who am i to argue otherwise?