I've always been told, can't turn down the mids on an amp if you want definition but a guy at Dimarzio told me less mids=clarity and more mids is muddy. Is this even remotely true? I was asking about it when debating on what to pair with my PAF 7 (D Sonic or Blaze Bridge) and the guy told me that the Blaze would be less muddy because it has less mids (but has more bass). Tis confusing.

That's the first time I ever heard that. I call bullsht, or atleast a misunderstanding somewhere? Muddiness is usually associated with too much bass.

You know what Vai's secret to his tone is? Mids....

Going to agree with above. I've only heard the term muddiness associated with the bass.

yep, same here. Randy Rhoades was another one to use mids extensively.

It also has to do with what the frequency of that bass control on the amp is. Every amp is built differently so that'll vary. There are many other factors to what can make your sound muddy, cab design, speakers, the guitar itself...

That's EXACTLY what I told him but he kept saying no and he WAS the guy who worked there and had more experience with pickups but I still felt weird about it. I really should have kept his name....... idiot.

So the guy is completely contradicting his own company, look what DiMarzio says about the Breed, which is a super mid heavy pickup:

every time i've ever called there it's been steve blucher that picks up the phone and talks my ear off. i'd ask to hear his comments in context. i only bring this up because i feel he's gone WAY out of his way to help me out. this kind of customer service from a company who isn't really sure whether or not you're going to actually buy their product is almost unheard of these days. i appreciate it.

either way, you never know about these things until you pipe them into your rig anyway.

mike

what is important for me to avoid mud is not mids but the pups low end and overall definition/articulation
some pups just have a blurry tone to em no matter what
like the duncan invader or a tone zone if it is set too close(both are bass heavy pups)
also i think that the lower output pups seem to breath a lot more and have a better overall definition(paf pro,fred, etc) but do not have a real big low end.
if you were told that a pup like the blaze will be less muddy it is TRUE
the blaze,steve special,megadrive were al designed with the mids backed off for better string seperation.
i found that true when i tried the SS, it had a big bass ,good trebs but less mids than usual
and tracked real fast 64ths runs real well
i would not go as far to say that a mid heavy pup will be muddy but it can be deppending on your guitar,amp and settings

even Paul Gilbert.. he's more of a mid-range tone.. its more difine sounding, tonal quality, and it balance the high's and lows for his own likings.. thats why he used TZ and SD, these pickups have mid-boost

you gotta love pablo! he has a great sense of humor and can play his a$$ off
check out this he talks about why he loves the TZ and paf pro's
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6VJk6RQE_oY

No mids = can't hear when you're playing. It sounded great when you're playing alone though.

agreed

LOL! I spelt the "hear" wrongly LOL

ok so Dimarzio website says about Blaze Bridge:
"The mids are scooped out, and both treble and bass are boosted. The hot bass response gives the seventh string a lot of impact, while opening up the midrange keeps it from getting muddy"
Treb: 6
Mid: 4.5
Bass: 7

? Do they not know their own pickups?
And what's strange, in my opinion, is that the Blaze Neck has more Mid and less Bass. So it would be less muddy (in the neck and/or bridge), right?