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Messages - corypheus

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1
Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: Dp200 Morse Bridge
« on: February 24, 2021, 02:54:02 PM »
Thanks,

I guess I'll try and see, sounds like an interesting pickup. If all that's correct I don't really understand the dislikes this pickup gets.

Anyway, thanks.

Corypheus

2
Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: Dp200 Morse Bridge
« on: February 22, 2021, 04:30:04 PM »
Thank you for that!

By your experience, how does it compare to say a classic, super distortion?

Corey

3
Everything you wanted to know about .... / Dp200 Morse Bridge
« on: February 22, 2021, 12:34:46 AM »
Hey all,

I've pretty much played just about every Dimarzio that came out before 2015 and had it in one guitar or another except a few. One of them is the Morse bridge.

I've always hesitated to pull the trigger on this one. Reasons are numerous. Obviously besides Steve himself no one else plays it. Why is that so, what's wrong with it? There's not a lot of YouTube vids of it. No one ever talks about it. You can't ever find one used. Heck finding new one seems to be hard. But why?

What little vids I found and descriptions, seems to point out on a medium output dark sounding humbucker, without a particularly memorable character. Is that true?

Then there's the whole specifications thing. Morse bridge is, according to Dimarzio, 9.7 kohm, 5.5h but somehow is louder than a super 3 with huge mV rating. Eq that seem to make it almost piercingly bright on paper. Yet those little vids I could find on YouTube sound nothing alike what they look on paper.


So I'm asking anyone, with a first hand experience with this pickup, to tell me something about it. I wanna know how it really sounds like, how does it compare to few of the more popular Dimarzio, such as SuperD, Norton, Evo. Tell me your experience with this pickup.

Thanks and cheers.
Corey

4
The Pickup Place / Rip Van Halen
« on: October 07, 2020, 04:12:36 AM »
Hi all,

I don't often do these kinds of threads and you will have to forgive me if this is not the right place to put this but...

You know, the single most defining aspect that made me want to pick a guitar and play it, Eddie, is no longer around...

I can't tell you how I feel about it even though I never met him.
I feel like a part of my childhood is gone forever.


Rest in peace, brother, enjoy playing up with Hendrix, Stevie Ray and all the other brothers and sisters.

Cory

5
The Pickup Place / Re: 2019 new models
« on: March 11, 2019, 04:30:25 PM »
Dream Catcher and Rain Maker are John Pettruci signatures? :D Since they are both in 6 and 7 string , they should be JPs? At least they are super high gain since they are in 7 string.

Yes, they are, from a video of Petrucci, he says they are a refined version of the Illuminators, so probably similar output. I'm really looking forward to those personally.

6
The Pickup Place / Re: 2019 new models
« on: February 24, 2019, 08:26:22 AM »
Lots of new things to look forward to! :D

Indeed!
Banjomikez already has the new pickups in store! Check out his eBay Store!
https://www.ebay.com/str/banjomikez/  :madness:

I couldn't find Dreamcatcher/Rainmaker there, I thought they will be out for purchase by themselves (they do come in MusicMan guitars) by now. Well, there's to some more hoping.

7
I don't think alot of people are aware of SatchTrack sound pretty much like a humbucker but having dynamics of a single coil. Even though it's designed for neck, it sounds equally as good in middle as well as bridge, with lower power middle and neck in a set.

8
Steve Morse also played a Super Dee on the bridge in an alder guitar before, and Morse bridge is, afaik, based on the Super Dee itself, so that's definitely a choice right there - and not a pickup that I'd call bright, either.

9
The Pickup Place / Re: PAF Pro/Air Zone not quite doing it for me
« on: January 30, 2019, 06:28:33 PM »

Here's what I've considered:

Moving the PAF pro to the bridge
Duncan custom or custom 5
Duncan Slash bridge or the set
Duncan Perpetual Burn (maybe too high gain?)
Dimarzio Norton
Dimarzio Air classic
Dimarzio 36th anniversary bridge or set
Steve's Special
Mo Joe
EMG Hot 70s

Thanks all

Howdy,

Welcome to the forums. First off, there's not a lot of people that tried AZ in mahogany guitar and thought "bright", my experience with it was it's pretty undefined in the low register but smooth in the mids. It definitely had less highs then, say, a Norton (which, IMO works wonders for alt/indie rock sound in a mahogany axe), and much less then a Paf PRO on the bridge - which, honestly, is pretty bright. Steve Special is a pretty mid scooped and bright pickup, I personally wouldn't use it for the stuff you want to play, except if you plan on boosting the mids.

In terms of bridge:

36th anniversary will work with anything really, but you're gonna trade some output in the process (or rather, some mids). You'll also have to dig in a bit more to get the same attack/spank out of them, as they're more sensitive to picking differences. They have a very melodic mids, but they don't exhibit the cocked waah sound the many DMZs do (ToneZone perhaps being the most obvious and, in extent, it's aired version). 36's a kind of modern take on PAFs by DMZ, with light picking hand sounds vintage with heavier playing sounds punchier and more authoritative. Would definitely works wonders for alt rock (or rock of any kind).

IMO, it's not worth the added money to go for Slash siggy, when you can get A2Pros cheaper, specially used (Slash siggys are harder to find), when it's essentially the same pickup. By fiddling with the eq, adding some mids, taking some presence and adding a touch gain, the A2Pros sound pretty much like Slash, at least to my ears. They're good pickups, surprisingly versatile, and probably the closest Duncan to 36th anny, or at least to my ears. Having both in a, practicly the same guitar, for few months I sold the Duncans and kept the 36th anniversary.

Custom family pickups are super versatile pickups, but I'd personally steer clear of ceramic custom if you think AZ is bright. A2 or A8 would probably be more up your alley in that case.

I haven't tried perpetual burn from Duncan (well, majority of their custom shop pickups, really) so can't offer you much help there.

I tried EMG Fat 55s and Hot 70s, and while they were pretty good pickups, I didn't personally care that much for them. They have that certain broad frequency curve quality which makes them sound a bit bland, without a character. This is of course my opinion. I liked the Hot 70s more (it's a ceramic bridge from Super 77, a SuperD copy, if you will, and a Fat 55 neck, which is a pretty overwound PAF kind of sound), then the "Fat" 55s, probably because the bridge actually resembled a SuperDee, in a louder, more even, without a fuzzy top kind of way.

In terms of EMGs, I really liked 58 on the bridge (something between a loud p90 and an big paf sound), 60A (very similar to mini humbucker sounding, just bigger) and an 89 which is a splittable 85/SA, however does sound a bit different to 85 as it's tighter and has a touch more upper mids. That said, honestly, if you feel AZ is a "too high output", any EMG will feel way over powered.


Now in terms of the qualities you mentioned... the only "higher output" pickup I'd steer you towards is the Titan, it's open, clear, vocal, modern in voice and warm enough for any kind of rock.

Neck:

I'd stay with Paf Pro on the neck, or if you want a sweeter clean tones, and don't mind a small loss of output, 36th anny, as that thing really delivers and matches nicely to any style of playing, style of music and to pretty much any bridge pickup.

HTH,
Cory

10
The Pickup Place / Re: 2019 new models
« on: January 29, 2019, 10:31:19 AM »
I second the Fantom 90, wanna know if it's dummy-coiled like P100s or real singlecoil.

Also, would be very happy if someone would share any information on the Dreamcatcher and the Rainmaker pickups, like specs and etc, which are supposed to be further refinement of the Illuminators.

Thanks.

11
The Pickup Place / Re: Illuminator
« on: January 29, 2019, 07:17:17 AM »
Oh yeah, I read it, like many of your other reviews. Thanks for that.

I was specifically looking into getting some feedback of putting these bad boys to short scale singlecut all-mahogany guitar, like the Les Paul, because let's face it Petrucci's Music Man fiddles sound a bit different to your average Gibson LP out there.  :)

12
The Pickup Place / Re: Illuminator
« on: January 27, 2019, 11:58:31 AM »
It’s more open sounding that the CL/LF set. I like the set a lot.

That is good to hear, CL was a bit bloated in the low mids, and LF I thought was a bit too compressed for my liking. Of course, imho.

So far so good.

13
The Pickup Place / Illuminator
« on: January 27, 2019, 10:01:37 AM »
Howdy,

Been searching locally for used one for ages since I want to try it but no luck... I'm thinking of pulling the trigger and just ordering new one. I have several questions for you, my tone loving buddies.

Anyone tried the set (specially the bridge) in a singlecut? This would go into LP Special I just picked up, it's a non-maple top, all mahogany.

If someone did, what kind of sound is it? I have tons of Super Dees and Evo2 and two guitars with 36th anny in the bridge positions, and usually either Paf Pros or 36th anny in the necks of those guitars... how would Illuminators compare? Usually, I'm looking for a big modern PAF-inspired kind of sound - crunchy and bold, with a bit of hair in it's presence/treble, but not ear fatigue. If that makes any sense.

Ideally, if someone put it into the Gibson, how did it compare to the stock 498T? Illuminators on paper, sound like a similar thing to 498T and maybe a Duncan Custom.

Lastly, for those that had them, how long did they survive in your guitar before being swapped out?   :P

Thanks and cheers

14
Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: The Bluesbucker
« on: January 26, 2019, 04:58:22 PM »
continuing the vampire thread.....I'm going to put a Bluesbucker in the neck of an SG. I'm interested in any and all reactions to the following bridge possibilities:

1) Super Dist.
2) Fred (very intrigues with this choice, especially because Michael Thompson apparently uses one)
3) Air Norton(had a reg Norton in this guitar once, liked it, but less might be more)
4) Air Zone (Had a tone zone in an 80s brick of an LP year ago...ballsy but very dark, air zone maybe less so? ...dark that is.)

I'm a typical dinosaur, Blues Rock guy....Cream, Beck, Hendrix, Allmans, the usual suspects.  I also dig old school metal and hard rock...Montrose, Hunter/Wagner, Dio, AC/DC etc. Plexis and tweeds thank you. Very intrigued by these pups. May have to try them all. Had Super D's back in the 70s in....gasp...a 335. Worked pretty well as I recall. Never tried the others. But it's been a long time. Your reaction? Any other ideas? Let the fun begin.

Hi,

I won't be much of a help regarding the Bluesbucker (I understand the irony of posting in this thread about it), because I never tried one, but I had all the others mentioned in the bridge, so I'll strictly speak of the choice of bridge pickups here, from my experience. I'm not primarily a blues player, but I do all sorts of covers and I do play in a club regularly (as much as health allows).

Super Dee's been my favorite for years, although I started digging Evo2 last year a bit more. Can't ever go wrong with Super Dee. If you're guy that likes to fiddle with volume and tone, you can get any kind of sounds out of Super Dee. It never has issues cutting through the mix, it's loud and has enough presence - and it has tons of mids so it's actually great for thickening single note solos, bends ring longer - it's compression prolongs sustain (of course, it was one of the reasons it was made the way it was made, back at 70s). If you find it is not expressive enough for you, take some of the mids down, or take it away from the strings, you will find almost a totally different beast of a pickup with it.

With that said, I wouldn't necessarily take Super Dee primarily for blues - not that it can't do it - it certainly can, it just doesn't excel at it as some other pickups in DMZ line up do.

Fred is a very peculiar pickup, in essence it's done as a big modern PAF, it has a very vocal quality to its mids (it also has alot of high mids), and it's low enough output to make it very expressive with different picking techniques. It's great rock pickup, for sure, but it's equally as great blues pickup.

It does have a waah kind of midrange of some other DMZs, a kind of sound you either dig or you don't, so something to have in mind about it.

Air Norton is, obviously, Norton with air technology, you can mod the one to be the other and vice versa. The airing makes the pickup sound weaker, and by proxy - more vintage in character. I love AN in the neck - in the bridge, I feel it can sometimes sounds too squishy, and compressed. It's bass can sometimes sound blurry and lack articulation to my ears, which is why in general I prefer it in neck as solo pickup and never used it as rhythm.

Air Zone is something I tried in both bridge and neck, and could never gel with the pickup. Possible reason is that, unlike Tone Zone that punches with power and presence cut, Air Zone had it's presence lowered thanks to airing technology, which to my ears accentuated some of the negatives of the design (depth of bottom end, flabby bass, really fat lower midrange), while not doing much in terms of highs. It does have a waah vocal quality to it, though, and I can see it working for a certain kind of solos, but again I wouldn't pick it for rhythm.

What I'd also consider is 36th anniversary bridge model, while it's a PAF design it's still more then powerful enough for any kind of metal as well and unlike PAF Master, generally doesn't turn into flabby mush for power chording with a high gain amp. It's an excellent blues and blues rock pickup, it's very expressive and has enough mids and presence to cut through any kind of mix. This pickup will also balance volume wise with Bluesbucker excellently as well.

Mo'Joe is another one of those open-sounding vocal pickups from DMZ, a variation of the Fred, if you will, which makes it a bit more punchier and modern sounding, imho, but doesn't take away anything of it's melodic quality. It's very versatile, and will happily do everything from funk, blues to rock and metal.

AT-1, Andy Timmons has a specific playing style and specific sound, but it's definitely an expressive and warm, pleasant sounding one, and my experience with AT-1 is that it captures that sound very nice, it's warm on the bottom end, have a push in the middle and have open highs. It's a nice sounding pickup, specially for softer playing and it's thick enough for simpler but more expressive solos.


Personally, as a safe bet, I'd take 36th anniversary, or either the Mo'Joe or Fred on the bridge, with a Bluesbucker on the neck. Those combos will do everything you want them do, and more.

HTH

15
The Pickup Place / Re: 2019 new models
« on: January 24, 2019, 06:26:39 PM »
Thanks for the news! Some of these sound lovely as a name, for example Dreamcatcher. I wonder if it's a low to medium output pickup, or a high gainer.

Edit: Following this http://forums.ernieball.com/ernie-ball-music-man-guitars/68550-2019-majesty-goodness-thanks-pete.html#post1043979

It's a high gainer in the vein of Sonic Extasy/Illuminator.

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