What Dimarzio's Do You Have In Strats

[vai n maiden]

At the mo I have Norton/Stock/Fast Track 1. I love the FT1's strattiness but strattiness doesn't *quite* suit the lead playing i'm after with it (that single coily "clonk" is there) so I'm considering changing for a Pro Track. I already have series/parallel wired up to miniswitches for the neck and bridge pickups so I could tame the pro track's humbuckeriness if need be. Parallel splitting the really single coil sounding FT1's a bit of a waste in the long run!

[toshiro]

Old thread, but what the hell.

I have 2 "Strats":

The sunburst has a Super Distortion and 2 Virtual Solos.
The Charvel has a Super 3, Pro Track(mid), and Fast Track 2(neck).

Neither are very stratty sounding, but I go for more of a Maiden strat tone.

[Crazy_Guitar]

I have a "Strat", but it has Duncans.
The choice was two STK-S4 and one Pearly Gates Plus.

[JohnSykes]

I have HS-3 in bridge and YJM in neck. They are ok, but id try something else. Had the Fast Track 2 (not bad), the HS-2 (meh) and FS-1 (badass).

[racerevlon]

2 Strats:

1. Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Solo Pro Bridge, VV '54 Middle, Heavy Blues Neck
2. Dimarzio Air Norton S Bridge, True Velvet RWRP Middle, Heavy Blues Neck

Love 'em both!

Cheers,

Race

[vai n maiden]

Originally Posted by toshiro

Old thread, but what the hell.

I have 2 "Strats":

The sunburst has a Super Distortion and 2 Virtual Solos.
The Charvel has a Super 3, Pro Track(mid), and Fast Track 2(neck).

Neither are very stratty sounding, but I go for more of a Maiden strat tone.

That Charvel's a beauty!

[racerevlon]

When I get my Jackson Adrian Smith San Dimas sometime in March, I'll post pics and sound clips--that SHOULD sound like the most Iron Maiden strat around!! Adrian uses a Super Distortion bridge and Fender SCN neck and middle pickups, and that's what comes in his signature guitars.

Cheers,

Race

[Alan0354]

I tried Area 61 DP416, Virtual Solo DP404, Virtual Blues DP402 and I have DP408 on order. I don't like all the ones I have. I like the Air Classic DP191 at the neck. I call those single coil size "stack" in the content below.

I have two American Strats and a Les Paul. I just spent the last three days test different pickups and doing A B comparison. I use a Marshall JCM800...I think is the Slash Dual Super Lead in combo form with and without THD Hot Plate. I did change with different pickguards include the original setup that I took all when I bought the Strat new to serve as the standard for comparison. This is my finding.

1) None and I repeat NONE of the stack Dim pickups sounded remotely close to the standard Strat pickup. I don't have the true vintage Strat, but I don't believe it is going to be that big a difference from the current American Strats. Remember my two is already 10 and 15 years old, give it another 20 years, it would be consider "vintage" also!!!

2) I have the Fender Vintage Noiseless set, they are closer to the standard Strat sound than the Dimarzio stack. The dirty sound just sound more natural and relax. Compare to all the Dimarzio stacks, the Dimarzio all sounded strain. Think of when a person talk, when they get excited and stress, their voice sound higher and strained. I don't like that at all. Compare to the Les Paul and the original Strat, these two sound more relax and natural.

3) The clean sound of the Dimarzios stacks are stronger, a little more towards humbucker side. The Strat pickup has the shimmer sound that make it sound so unique, The Vintage Noiseless has even a little more shimmer than the standard Strat, so it is not exactly the same but it is closer. Only down fall of the Noiseless is the magnetic pull is very strong.

4) I test the Dimarzio Air Classic DP191, Air Zone DP192 and Duncan Custom Custom in the neck position on the Strat also. Air Zone is out, too bassy, flat. Duncan sounds pretty good both as humbucker or split. The Air Classic is the best. Particular when split, it pocess the shimmer of the Strat pickup even though it sounds different. It has a more nasal sound, a little bit like in the 2nd position which combine the neck and mid......Just very little only. I like it so much I even put the original standard Strat middle pickup in the middle. It sounded really good combine with the middle Strat pickup. I set it up as noise cancelling together with the middle pickup like the standard Strat.

My final setup on both of my Strats now are:

1) In my American Hard Tail Strat, I have HSH with Dimarzio Air Classic neck with split option, standard American Strat middle pickup and Dimarzio Tone Zone at bridge.

2) In my other Strat, I have HSS with Fender Vintage Noiseless on neck, Dimarzio Area 61 DP416 in the middle only because of the low magnetic pull and Gibson P94 ( P90 in humbucker dimemsion). The Gibson have very low magnetic pull also. I chose two low magnetic pull pickup counter balance the strong pull of the Noiseless so I can put the Noiseless closer to the strings.

3) And the original Strat pick guard with the original electronics back to storage!!! Hopefully one day, it will worth a lot of money when I put it back onto the original body and sell it. I don't believe in aged vintage type of thing!!! But if I can make money, why not!!!

This is the two very different sound set up. I like the P94 that has the strength and smoothness. It sound fuzzier than the Tone Zone, more like the Les Paul Standard. I like the Air Classic as the single coil mode because I like it even more than any of the single coil or stack humbucker like Dimarzio or even Vintage Noiseless. Then I can get smooth strong sound when I switch it back to true humbucker for solo.

Both the Vintage Noise and Air Classic sound smoother in dirty mode than the Les Paul, they are less fuzzy than the Les Paul and even the original Strat pickups. All of them sound better than the Dimarzio stack. They are not even close, all Dim stacks sound strained in different position when play in dirty mode. Maybe it's my amplifier, but I tried adjusting it and still cannot compare to the smoothness of the Humbuckers and the Fender Noiseless. The stacks are not fuzzy, they just sound strained.

I tried also the Lace Silver in middle and Duncan Quarter Pounder on the bridge, they are not bad, particular the Quarter Pounder, it is quite good. It sound a little like the P94 which is the P90.

I hope this give some useful information. I regret I order the DP408, I think I am going to return it without even opening the box. Three is enough to tell the story.

[Ibanez-Mag]

Originally Posted by Alan0354

I tried Area 61 DP416, Virtual Solo DP404, Virtual Blues DP402 and I have DP408 on order. I don't like all the ones I have. I like the Air Classic DP191 at the neck. I call those single coil size "stack" in the content below.

I have two American Strats and a Les Paul. I just spent the last three days test different pickups and doing A B comparison. I use a Marshall JCM800...I think is the Slash Dual Super Lead in combo form with and without THD Hot Plate. I did change with different pickguards include the original setup that I took all when I bought the Strat new to serve as the standard for comparison. This is my finding.

1) None and I repeat NONE of the stack Dim pickups sounded remotely close to the standard Strat pickup. I don't have the true vintage Strat, but I don't believe it is going to be that big a difference from the current American Strats. Remember my two is already 10 and 15 years old, give it another 20 years, it would be consider "vintage" also!!!

2) I have the Fender Vintage Noiseless set, they are closer to the standard Strat sound than the Dimarzio stack. The dirty sound just sound more natural and relax. Compare to all the Dimarzio stacks, the Dimarzio all sounded strain. Think of when a person talk, when they get excited and stress, their voice sound higher and strained. I don't like that at all. Compare to the Les Paul and the original Strat, these two sound more relax and natural.

3) The clean sound of the Dimarzios stacks are stronger, a little more towards humbucker side. The Strat pickup has the shimmer sound that make it sound so unique, The Vintage Noiseless has even a little more shimmer than the standard Strat, so it is not exactly the same but it is closer. Only down fall of the Noiseless is the magnetic pull is very strong.

4) I test the Dimarzio Air Classic DP191, Air Zone DP192 and Duncan Custom Custom in the neck position on the Strat also. Air Zone is out, too bassy, flat. Duncan sounds pretty good both as humbucker or split. The Air Classic is the best. Particular when split, it pocess the shimmer of the Strat pickup even though it sounds different. It has a more nasal sound, a little bit like in the 2nd position which combine the neck and mid......Just very little only. I like it so much I even put the original standard Strat middle pickup in the middle. It sounded really good combine with the middle Strat pickup. I set it up as noise cancelling together with the middle pickup like the standard Strat.

My final setup on both of my Strats now are:

1) In my American Hard Tail Strat, I have HSH with Dimarzio Air Classic neck with split option, standard American Strat middle pickup and Dimarzio Tone Zone at bridge.

2) In my other Strat, I have HSS with Fender Vintage Noiseless on neck, Dimarzio Area 61 DP416 in the middle only because of the low magnetic pull and Gibson P94 ( P90 in humbucker dimemsion). The Gibson have very low magnetic pull also. I chose two low magnetic pull pickup counter balance the strong pull of the Noiseless so I can put the Noiseless closer to the strings.

3) And the original Strat pick guard with the original electronics back to storage!!! Hopefully one day, it will worth a lot of money when I put it back onto the original body and sell it. I don't believe in aged vintage type of thing!!! But if I can make money, why not!!!

This is the two very different sound set up. I like the P94 that has the strength and smoothness. It sound fuzzier than the Tone Zone, more like the Les Paul Standard. I like the Air Classic as the single coil mode because I like it even more than any of the single coil or stack humbucker like Dimarzio or even Vintage Noiseless. Then I can get smooth strong sound when I switch it back to true humbucker for solo.

Both the Vintage Noise and Air Classic sound smoother in dirty mode than the Les Paul, they are less fuzzy than the Les Paul and even the original Strat pickups. All of them sound better than the Dimarzio stack. They are not even close, all Dim stacks sound strained in different position when play in dirty mode. Maybe it's my amplifier, but I tried adjusting it and still cannot compare to the smoothness of the Humbuckers and the Fender Noiseless. The stacks are not fuzzy, they just sound strained.

I tried also the Lace Silver in middle and Duncan Quarter Pounder on the bridge, they are not bad, particular the Quarter Pounder, it is quite good. It sound a little like the P94 which is the P90.

I hope this give some useful information. I regret I order the DP408, I think I am going to return it without even opening the box. Three is enough to tell the story.

Maybe you should try pickups that are intended to be what you are looking for? You are sort of in the area of “my EMG87 don’t sound remotely close to my 59 PAF, that is seriously bad”. The Virtual Solo is a very hot (compared to a true singlecoil, hot at the level of a medium output humbucker) and very thick sounding pickup, closer to a P90 than a vintage singlecoil. Look at the EQ chart of Virtual Solo and compare it to the EQ of a Area 67 (for example).

Try comparing your pickups to having Area 67 in all positions and you will get a completely different outcome. I mean, comparing something that are intended to be the same type of pickups and not comparing apples to banana like you do now.
With all respect, but what you wrote are very far from useful information since you are comparing completely different type of pickups, pickups that are intended to be completely different too.

I understand that your are unhappy with the result, but it is not the pickups fault, it is that you chose the completely wrong pickups.

/Magnus

[lespauled]

If you're looking for any, check my Dimarzio list in F/S section.

[Alan0354]

Originally Posted by Ibanez-Mag

Maybe you should try pickups that are intended to be what you are looking for? You are sort of in the area of “my EMG87 don’t sound remotely close to my 59 PAF, that is seriously bad”. The Virtual Solo is a very hot (compared to a true singlecoil, hot at the level of a medium output humbucker) and very thick sounding pickup, closer to a P90 than a vintage singlecoil. Look at the EQ chart of Virtual Solo and compare it to the EQ of a Area 67 (for example).

Try comparing your pickups to having Area 67 in all positions and you will get a completely different outcome. I mean, comparing something that are intended to be the same type of pickups and not comparing apples to banana like you do now.
With all respect, but what you wrote are very far from useful information since you are comparing completely different type of pickups, pickups that are intended to be completely different too.

I understand that your are unhappy with the result, but it is not the pickups fault, it is that you chose the completely wrong pickups.

/Magnus

Notice I was also talking about Area 61 and Virtual Blues DP402 also. I understand the DP404 being more the P90. But the other two particular the Area 61 is advertized as capturing the sound of the 60s vintage Strat sound and is nothing like that. You did A B comparison like I did with two of the same guitar and same amp switching back and fore to compare? I did!!!

I am not saying the clean sound of those VV are bad, but they are not the same by any stretch as the advertizing said. The dirty sound all sounded strained, I tried adjusting the height and the amp setting and still no luck.

BTW, I don't think The DP404 sound anything like P90. I have the P94 on my Strat which is the humbucking size version of the P90. P90 is a lot more open sounding. Talk about similiar to P90, the Duncan Quarter Pounder has some characteristic of the P90. The Quarter Pounder sound quite good.

[Jblaze]

I ended up with the Duncan Distortion a while back, for my Strat. Might try a D sonic next.

[reign_of_blood]

If you include my superstrats

Fender Standard Strat-Area '61 bridge,Area '54 middle and neck
Jackson SL3-Breed bridge, Virtual Vintage '54 Pro middle and neck
Ibanez SA260FM-Air Classic bridge, True Velvet middle, True Velvet neck

[supermau]

Just about to install some Dimarzio Injectors into my Melancon. First I gotta figure out the wiring.

[abracadabra]

I've just put these in my new strat:

AT-1
Fast Track 1
Pro Track