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The Pickup Place / Re: DiMarzio vs Seymour Duncan on microphonic squealing

« on: May 13, 2019, 09:02:40 PM »

Just did an interesting experiment, turned the gain and volume reasonably high (my living room is tiny) and tested all humbucker equipped guitars in the room:

- Chapman with DiMarzio Super Distortion: on the edge of uncontrollable feedback but still useable
- Washburn Parallax (Duncan Distortion): almost the same as the Chapman, but squeals onstage whereas the Chapman doesn't
- Ibanez Universe: a bit harder to control than the Chapman
- Ibanez  Prestige with DiMarzio Fred: much easier to control than any of the others
- Custom shop guitar with JB: squeals like crazy but if I press the pickup against the body it improves considerably.

So I'm thinking part of the problem is that I haven't fiddled with the new guitar yet and padded under the pickup with polyurethane foam, but because it has the same coil configuration as the Duncan Distortion I'm thinking it will squeal at stage volumes with the gain structure I'm using even after I do that.

So in conclusion, I will blame the squealing on the fact that JBs are overwound in comparison to my other pickups, OR another way of looking at the problem would be that lower output pickups are more resistant to squealing, pick your favorite.

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The Pickup Place / Re: DiMarzio vs Seymour Duncan on microphonic squealing

« on: May 11, 2019, 07:33:24 PM »

I'm going to try replacing the pickups in the new guitar with a PAF Pro (bridge) and PAF Joe (neck) and see how that goes.

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The Pickup Place / Re: DiMarzio vs Seymour Duncan on microphonic squealing

« on: May 11, 2019, 03:26:18 PM »

Not a lot of difference, both in different venues and positions. Like I've mentioned DiMarzios do not squeal in the exact same situations the Seymour Duncans squeal like crazy.

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The Pickup Place / DiMarzio vs Seymour Duncan on microphonic squealing

« on: May 11, 2019, 01:01:27 PM »

I have always been a DiMarzio user, and I don't even necessarily like every pickup I've bought from them. So, picky? Maybe.

2 years ago I've got a Washburn Parallax which comes with SDs, Distortion in the bridge and Jazz in the neck (neither have metal covers). The bridge pickup squeals like a pig about to become bacon on moderate-high gain and stage volume (my drummer is REALLY loud). Exact same settings and my Ibanez Prestige equipped with a DiMarzio Fred on the bridge doesn't squeal. I also have a Chapman ML1 handy with a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge, doesn't squeal either. In fact I have yet to find a setting that makes those pickups go microphonic.

I've repotted the SD Distortion bridge pickup to no avail, and was beginning to suspect the culprit was the tremolo springs.

Fast forward to this week when I've got a brand new custom made guitar from what's considered the Suhr custom shop in my country, and it came equipped with Duncans as well (no metal covers either), a JB on the bridge and a 59 on the neck. Guess what? The JB (which I've read somewhere is the exact same pickup as the Distortion with an alnico magnet) ALSO SQUEALS with the settings above!

So I'm not saying the SD JB and Distortion suck, but they probably are (much) more susceptible to microphonic squealing than the DiMarzios I own (Fred, PAF Pro, Blaze, Steve Special, The Breed, Super Distortion), and don't work for my application. Before anyone asks if I'm using a huge amount of gain, I'm not, it's an AX8 and the patch is a plexi with a mild boost in front for some tight hard rock sounds, I play in a Bon Jovi cover band.

Anyone with a similar experience?

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The Pickup Place / Re: Need a chunkier pickup than the Paf Pro

« on: May 11, 2019, 12:58:39 PM »

Have you tried raising the bass side of the pickup?