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The Pickup Place / Re: My Dimarzio Al DiMeola Neck (DP201) Review
« Last post by buddroyce on December 27, 2023, 01:42:37 PM »That's amazing! Thanks for sharing man!
Recent Posts
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The Pickup Place / My Dimarzio Al DiMeola Neck (DP201) Review
« Last post by nienturi on December 25, 2023, 12:51:05 AM »Hello,
I prepared my humble Dimarzio Al DiMeola Neck review on my new blog.
https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-aldimeola-dp201
Hope you like it?
I prepared my humble Dimarzio Al DiMeola Neck review on my new blog.
https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-aldimeola-dp201
Hope you like it?
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News & New Guys / Happy Holidays 2023!
« Last post by buddroyce on December 24, 2023, 08:03:43 PM »I don't get on here nearly as often but I wanted to make the time to get on and wish you all happy holidays!
Hopefully Santa leaves you some nice new toys!
Hopefully Santa leaves you some nice new toys!
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The Pickup Place / Re: PG-13 Middle in Bridge
« Last post by darkbluemurder on December 15, 2023, 03:17:45 AM »Not irrelevant at all because you gave the context in which you used the pickup. That is always helpful. Many thanks for sharing.
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The Pickup Place / Re: PG-13 Middle in Bridge
« Last post by gregr on December 14, 2023, 12:49:44 PM »I generally find well-produced YouTube videos quite helpful. Even some in-the-room recordings with a cell phone can be good since they can give you an idea about the midrange and top-end. However, demos of a pickup in a mix are vitally important to me, and as such some videos haven’t been very helpful, so it’s been a mixed bag.
The specs on the DP240 looked pretty good so I tried one. I thought I had it sounding pretty good, but after only one rehearsal I pulled it. More on this later.
Apparently Paul Gilbert lowers the pickup in order to clear the way for picking. So in order to boost its output to make up for it, the pickup uses neodymium. With this in mind I don’t think demos will translate well into the bridge position with the pickup higher. My guess is that it might sound sharp in some situations. This can certainly be a good thing as I’m betting it will cut really well. Of course I could be completely off the mark and will defer on the matter.
This leads me back to my anecdotal experience with the DP240. I found the clarity and top end woefully lacking. I found it to be murky in general. I like hearing my pick attack, and as a lead player in a hard rock band I need a neck pickup to be able to cut through. The DP240 could deliver neither, though I only use a mid-gain amp which I boost with an overdrive for solos. The guitar I had it in isn’t particularly dark, though it is full-bodied. I was using it against an Area Hot T which may go to the pairing argument.
It could simply be that minibuckers don’t work for me in general, I don’t know. I will say that the DP241 worked well in the neck with a Chopper T. Perhaps this is because the pickup has enough midrange to push through and may do well with high gain amplifiers. It certainly delivers a nice full clean tone as well as an excellent pushed clean tone. It also splits well, especially if you add in some of the second coil with a partial split in order to help fill the tone out.
Anyhow, I replaced the DP240 with an EJ Custom Neck and haven’t looked back. This might be totally irrelevant but I thought I’d share.
The specs on the DP240 looked pretty good so I tried one. I thought I had it sounding pretty good, but after only one rehearsal I pulled it. More on this later.
Apparently Paul Gilbert lowers the pickup in order to clear the way for picking. So in order to boost its output to make up for it, the pickup uses neodymium. With this in mind I don’t think demos will translate well into the bridge position with the pickup higher. My guess is that it might sound sharp in some situations. This can certainly be a good thing as I’m betting it will cut really well. Of course I could be completely off the mark and will defer on the matter.
This leads me back to my anecdotal experience with the DP240. I found the clarity and top end woefully lacking. I found it to be murky in general. I like hearing my pick attack, and as a lead player in a hard rock band I need a neck pickup to be able to cut through. The DP240 could deliver neither, though I only use a mid-gain amp which I boost with an overdrive for solos. The guitar I had it in isn’t particularly dark, though it is full-bodied. I was using it against an Area Hot T which may go to the pairing argument.
It could simply be that minibuckers don’t work for me in general, I don’t know. I will say that the DP241 worked well in the neck with a Chopper T. Perhaps this is because the pickup has enough midrange to push through and may do well with high gain amplifiers. It certainly delivers a nice full clean tone as well as an excellent pushed clean tone. It also splits well, especially if you add in some of the second coil with a partial split in order to help fill the tone out.
Anyhow, I replaced the DP240 with an EJ Custom Neck and haven’t looked back. This might be totally irrelevant but I thought I’d share.
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The Pickup Place / Re: PG-13 Middle in Bridge
« Last post by darkbluemurder on December 14, 2023, 04:20:53 AM »But as you know some pickup pairings just click, and some just don't,
That is true, and it is also guitar dependent.
and it's hard to tell until one tries.
Indeed. You can read as much as you want about a certain pickup and hear any youtube-demo you come across but at some point you have to take a leap of faith and put the pickup in your guitar, play it through your rig and see whether you like it or not. If you don't then at least you have a baseline.
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: PG-13 Middle in Bridge
« Last post by Ampli_Fuzz on December 14, 2023, 03:57:26 AM »Thanks, DBM 
Yes, in theory it would work. But as you know some pickup pairings just click, and some just don't, and it's hard to tell until one tries. The PG-13 Neck would seem the most obvious choice, but it looks somewhat dark from the chart and from the Gilbert demo videos (which isn't saying a lot, and I've found another video where it sounds pretty great in fact).
It's rare to see Ray so pumped about a pickup, and if they also happen to work great together (both when switching from one to another and used together in the middle position) it could be a pretty killer combo.
Yes, in theory it would work. But as you know some pickup pairings just click, and some just don't, and it's hard to tell until one tries. The PG-13 Neck would seem the most obvious choice, but it looks somewhat dark from the chart and from the Gilbert demo videos (which isn't saying a lot, and I've found another video where it sounds pretty great in fact).
It's rare to see Ray so pumped about a pickup, and if they also happen to work great together (both when switching from one to another and used together in the middle position) it could be a pretty killer combo.
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The Pickup Place / Re: PG-13 Middle in Bridge
« Last post by darkbluemurder on December 11, 2023, 04:03:49 AM »I am not Ray but I have used the DP-240 in several guitars and still do. It is not wimpy by any means and holds up well with any medium output humbucker in the bridge.
Cheers Stephan
Cheers Stephan
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The Pickup Place / Re: PG-13 Middle in Bridge
« Last post by Ampli_Fuzz on December 10, 2023, 08:31:22 PM »Hi Ray, I'm thinking about pickups for my SG. Do you think that the PG-13 Middle would go well with the older DP240 Vintage Minibucker in the neck? I remember you raving about it.
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The Pickup Place / Re: Pickup similar to AT-1
« Last post by darkbluemurder on November 30, 2023, 04:29:04 AM »Coming back to that dual hum tele with the AT-1 in the bridge. I asked the DiMarzio tech support what they would recommend if I wanted something with more bass punch and overall clarity. They suggested the Norton. Found one used, put it in and sure they were right but it slightly overshot to the bright side in that guitar. But then I remembered RayBarbeeMusic's post that the usual load of 500k should be reduced to appr. 380k. That provided the midrange bark that I liked about the AT-1 which the Norton was lacking with the 500k load, but now coupled with the bass punch and the bite of the Norton. About the same output as the AT-1 with a load of 500k. Love the guitar now.
Many thanks to the DiMarzio Tech Support for their assistance and Ray for sharing his knowledge.
Cheers Stephan
Many thanks to the DiMarzio Tech Support for their assistance and Ray for sharing his knowledge.
Cheers Stephan