Van halen 1 sounding Dimarzio pickup

[nitro]

Out of all the Dimarzio pickups which would be the closest to the Van halen 1 sound(first album sound).Remember Van halen 1 sound was very aggressive and bright with a midrange swell.I know Ed did use a Mighty Mite distortion pickup(copy of the Dimarzio Super Distortion)in the Ibanez Destroyer guitar.So I thiught about the Dimarzio super distortion and I also thought about the Dimarzio 36th anniversary PAF,your thought please.

[Luijo]

The Norton is very close to that sound, but there are so many variables involved that I think a few other PUs around the "PAF" range can get you in the ballpark with the correct equipment.

[wxs3]

+1 on the Norton

[Jerryman]

.I know Ed did use a Mighty Mite distortion pickup(copy of the Dimarzio Super Distortion)in the Ibanez Destroyer guitar.

No, the Ibanez had the stock Alnico 8 Super 70 pickup./

I recently made basically the same post..you may profit from it;

http://www.dimarzioforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=3260.0

[wxs3]

another very good candidate is a Virtual Hot Paf (if you can find one).  I did an experiment on one by swapping the a5 magnet for an a2 magnet several years ago.  With that mod, it's very simiular to the Duncan 78 (if you don't want spend $150 for the pickup).

[buddroyce]

Out of all the pickups I've tried for the VH 1 sound, the Norton seems to get me in that area the easiest right out of the box with a guitar plugged right into a Marshall.

[ZeroCool]

Out of all the pickups I've tried for the VH 1 sound, the Norton seems to get me in that area the easiest right out of the box with a guitar plugged right into a Marshall.

I wonder if the Norton is similar to the Duncan 59/CC hybrid

[nitro]

How would the Dimarzio 36th anniversary PAF sound for the Van halen 1 sound,im thinking about trying that pickup,also the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates,how would these two pickups work for that sound.

[Luijo]

The Pearly Gates won't get you even close, although it's a good PU for other things.

[wxs3]

The 36th annv might work depending on your effect chain (may require s boost).  The Norton also will require a boost but imho will put you in the ball park.  The Pearly Gates is nowhre near VH vibe, and no the Norton doesn't sound like a 59/cc hybrid.

[zenmindbeginner]

The EVH Frankenstein is the real deal.

But... it is *really* just a SD custom shop Custom Custom??

if you could take an older un-potted Super Distortion and swap out the ceramic magnet for an A2 or UOA5 and then give it a light potting, you'd be really close to Eddie's mod.

The Super 70 pups in the Ibanez are Alnico VIII... a Norton magnet swap with an A8 will get you as close as you'd ever want to be for that one.

Those two pups were his main tone machines for the VHI album if I remember correctly... maybe a Les Paul thrown in there too, I'm not sure.  

[nitro]

Im very happy right now with the Duncan Custom SH-5,it has that Van halen 1 sound plus the pickup is ceramic.I dont hear alnico II magnet on van halen 1.I did try the Duncan Custom Custom(same as the EVH Replica franky pickup) and to me it was more of a later van halen sound not a van halen 1 sounding pickup at all.There wasnt enough cut-edge or brightness using the custom custom due to the soft sounding alnico II magnet.

[wxs3]

from what I remember, the Duncan Custom, Custom is close to the Women and Children First recording.  For the first 2 VH recordings, I "beleive" Eddie used an Ibanez Destroyer with a Super Distortion along with the Frankie guitar with the infamous broken Gibson PAF (one coil was reported not working 100%, which gave it a bright razor cutting tone).  We may never know what the really answer is.  A lot of manufacturers claim to have this pickup but when you listien closely, it's not even close.  Only one person knows and that's Eddie and he is too busy designing $3,000 signature guitars and amplifiers and can't remember that far back.

[nitro]

The Duncan Custom Custom is more like the sammy hager years with van halen not women and children first,women and children first is pretty and edgey also.The Duncan custom custom came out in 1990-91.

[ed hunter]

.The Duncan custom custom came out in 1990-91.

 heres what eddie had to say about seymory duncan trying to sell his pickup

.See, I've rewound my own pickups before, and a guy named Seymour Duncan, I got pissed at him too. He called me up and said, "Can we use your name for a special pickup?" And I said no. Next time I pick up Guitar Player magazine, there's a special Van Halen model customized Duncan pickup. I called him up and said, "What the hell's goin' on?" So he stopped finally. It's just kind of weird you know.