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The Pickup Place / Which DiMarzio Area is closest to Duncan APS single?

« on: April 09, 2021, 08:16:13 PM »

Hi guys! I've 60s spec strat that is quite bright sounding. I have tried some pickup sets in it; SSL-1 set, Virtual Vintage 54 Pro (bridge) and Area 58s (mid&neck), Duncan APS-1 set. Tonally speaking, my clear favourite is APS set. I moved to new apartment which has crappy electronics wiring and using APS set when recording is very frustrating.

Before mentioned DiMarzio set takes care of humming problems but won't satisfy my needs tonally. In this guitar 58s are quite bland sounding and won't give me the same aouthorative snarl as the APS set. These DiMarzios are too underpowered and I need something to replace them with similar tonal properties as the APS singles. I'm even considering 54 Pro / APS setup but the 54 might be too low output to match with A2Pros.

I know this is a long shot but does anyone know which DM Area/Virtual Vintage pickup is the closest in output and sound to APS-1? I'm short on cash atm so I just cannot go buy more pickups and test every possible hum cancelling DiMarzio pickup in their lineup.

Thanks a lot in advance!

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The Pickup Place / Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

« on: August 02, 2018, 05:05:57 PM »

Last time I asked about what bridge pickup to go for and finally found a perfect one. Thanks again for recommendations, ideas and comments!

I'm definitely set on Perpetual Burn(bridge) and SSL1 rwrp (middle) but I haven't yet found a perfect neck pickup. The guitar is very bright and punchy basswood bodied PGM301 with stop tail bridge, bolt-on maple neck with maple fretboard and 24 frets. The guitar is so bright acoustically that it made most neck pickups sound like a strat, even though wired as a standard humbucker. The pickup placement appears to be the reason but I'm pretty positive that there is a perfect pickup for this application.

List of neck pickups I've tried:
-Paf Pro
Too mushy and undefined when playing fast solos. Nice cleans and split tones

-Humbucker From Hell
Very focused sound, too bright for my taste

-Paf Joe
Bright and spanky but too bright, nice split tones

-59
Sounded very bland and low power with this guitar. Didn't like the split tones

-Liquifire
Too smooth and compressed for me. Cleans have natural compression which I don't like

-Air Norton
This is what's in currently. Still a bit stratty and twangy but I can just about live with it. Has nice sustain when soloing and notes get nice harmonic feedback. Full clean sound and super nice slit tone.

So, I'm looking for a darker pickup than AN, which is just a bit too bright. The ones I'm looking for are P-Rails, A2P, Breed neck and Air Zone.

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The Pickup Place / Ibanez PGM301 bridge pickup

« on: June 15, 2018, 09:28:24 PM »

Hi guys! Just joined the forum after reading the posts for years. Lots of useful info around and generally nice ppl.

I bought PGM301 model made in '08 couple years ago which I really enjoy to play. It has become my 'desert island' guitar since it's capable to cover a lot of different genres and playing styles. HSH pickup routing obviously helps with the 5-way switch with auto splits for both hums. I haven't found a perfect bridge pup yet though, have tried all sorts of things from Tone Zone, Paf Pro, JB, 59/Custom Hybrid and the Norton which is in it right now. I've settled to SSL-1 in the middle and Paf Joe in the neck with Alnico II magnet.

I usually play all kinds of rock from blues to shreddy metal but need something with medium output to balance with other pickups and to split well with the middle single. Clean tone should be nice as well so I'm not looking for high output or ceramic magnet pickups. The guitar itself is bright sounding with punchy mid range. Looking for pickup that has little more output and less high end than the Norton which sounds a bit too bright. I really liked the 59/Custom Hybrid in humbucker mode but hated it's split tones.

I'm really interested in the Perpetual Burn since it might be what I want in terms of overall tone. Feel free to suggest other Duncan/DiMarzio pups.