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The Pickup Place / Re: Which Pickup Features Which Technique

« on: April 17, 2025, 01:53:42 AM »

36th Anniversary PAF Bridge (DP-223) - Airbucker

May i request an update please?
PAF 36th has Virtual Vintage tech, too.

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The Pickup Place / My Dimarzio PAF 36th Anniversary DP223 Review

« on: April 12, 2025, 05:14:38 AM »

Hello,

This is my Dimarzio PAF 36th Anniversary DP223 Review. Hope you like it

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-paf-36th-anniversary-dp223-review

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The Pickup Place / Re: Reply Help me choose next pickup HSH set.

« on: March 27, 2025, 02:09:06 AM »

So so true, and thank you for your fine suggestions.

I will try to feel the guitar in my hands for quite some adequate period and then re-assess !

For my custom guitars, at first i always go with pickups very generic like Jazz/JB or PAF Pro/S.Distortion etc. They are relatively easier to find as used and to be sold. So i put them on the fresh guitar that i'm not very sure about its final tone. When it is complated, i can decide better with the pickups i do know like "there is mud on the neck, i need to go from paf pro to humbucker from hell".

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The Pickup Place / Re: Reply Help me choose next pickup HSH set.

« on: March 26, 2025, 09:52:53 AM »

My standard HSH superstrat with versatility formula is as follows: Neck: A clear PAF with A2 or A4 magnets.  Middle: A 6.5K A5 single-coil. Bridge: A hot PAF-style pickup

If choosing from DiMarzio: Neck: PAF Pro, Middle: True Velvet,  Bridge: Would consider Fortitude, Norton, Super Distortion, Air Zone or Tone Zone

That said, the guitar's own tone plays a major role in my choices. If it's too warm or overly bright, I'd adjust my selections to compensate for the tone.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio Transition Bridge Review

« on: March 19, 2025, 05:24:34 AM »

Hi. This is my review on Transition Bridge that covers tonal specs, comparisons with Al DiMeola Bridge& Norton, and why they deserve more credit. Hope you like it;

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-transition-dp255-review

Thanks for sharing your in-depth impressions with us. I've been considering trying out a Transition set since their original release; and your review reassured me of what I've long suspected, given the specs (it doubly helps that the ADM/202 happens to be my main preference to compare it to).

Thank you so very much for your kind words.

Very nice review, thanks for sharing. I can only comment on the bridge pickup, and I agree to the "balanced" verdict. As regards "dynamic" - my impression is that many people seem to confuse "dynamic" with "punchy". I would rather describe the bridge pickup as punchy.
Cheers Stephan

Thanks, my friend. It's hard not to agree with your observation about the confusion between "dynamic" and "punchy." I’ve been reading some very interesting comments lately, and just as you pointed out, certain terms often get mixed up.

When I talk about "dynamic," I approach it from the perspective of phrasing, meaning touch sensitivity and response to the volume pot.

To sum it up with two extreme examples: the Seymour Duncan Livewire might have been the most unresponsive pickup I've ever played. In fact, that's exactly why I don’t like active pickups — strong pick attack, light picking, or thumb technique — it makes no difference; the sound coming from the amp is always the same. Flat... And from my point of view, the volume pot is pretty much useless with such pickups. Especially under high-gain, it’s more like an on/off switch.

But for example, the Norton, which I recently reviewed, is a relatively dynamic pickup, even though it’s not underwound or low powered like Air Classic.

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The Pickup Place / Dimarzio Transition Bridge Review

« on: March 14, 2025, 06:10:10 AM »

Hi. This is my review on Transition Bridge that covers tonal specs, comparisons with Al DiMeola Bridge& Norton, and why they deserve more credit. Hope you like it;

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-transition-dp255-review

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The Pickup Place / Re: Which Pickup Features Which Technique

« on: March 12, 2025, 06:56:16 AM »

Updated Transition bridge - I bought one new and it had all three patents on the label. However, I did not take it apart to verify airbucker and virtual vintage.

EDIT: edited the update again as the label reads: "This pickup features one or more of the following patents ...". That means that the label in itself does not tell which patents are used.

Cheers Stephan

I havent seen that post. So double post. Anyway, For old pickups, it better use wayback machine since old website reveals the patent(s) that was used for them. And i measured the pickup and Transition does not have dual resonance or airbucker

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The Pickup Place / Re: Which Pickup Features Which Technique

« on: March 12, 2025, 06:53:04 AM »

Transition bridge - Dual Resonance
Transition neck - Dual Resonance

For completeness sake, here are the patent numbers:

Dual Resonance: 4,501,185
-Airbucker: 5,399,802
-Virtual Vintage: 5,908,998

I think there is a slight incorrect info here. Transition set has Virtual Vintage patent, not dual resonance

;From old website;

Wiring: 4 Conductor
Magnet: Ceramic
Output mV: 390
DC Resistance: 11.05 Kohm
Year of Introduction: 2012
Patent: 5908998
Pickup Dimensions

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The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio/IBZ Bridge Review

« on: March 03, 2025, 04:32:33 AM »

...and this is link for the neck version;

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-ibz-neck-review

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The Pickup Place / Re: Accuracy of DCR values

« on: February 24, 2025, 03:02:58 AM »

Still, there’s one thing that really puzzles me. Years ago, Rich from Ibanezrules shared a post on Jemsite, showing the DCR values of some PAF Pros installed in older Ibanez models.

Jem Pickups
I haven't moved things back from storage yet, but this should make an interesting comparrison.
87' LNG
Bridge 11.5
Neck 12.5

92 GMC
Bridge 12.5
Neck 13

00' FP
Bridge 12.5
Neck 12.5

93' Donnie
Neck 12.5

 I found this very strange because the values were extremely high. I have DiMarzios from different decades, and even the oldest one has a very consistent DCR value. Has anyone here ever seen a 12K PAF Pro?

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The Pickup Place / Re: Accuracy of DCR values

« on: February 21, 2025, 06:10:07 AM »

Ambient temperature has a huge effect on the DCR measurements, particularly on higher wind pickups.

https://www.lollarguitars.com/blog/2010/04/temperature-and-guitar-pickup-dc-resistance/

I don't get it too serious. No matter if it is 9 KOhms or 9,5 Kohms (i mean same pickup model).

Generally Dimarzios are pretty consistant. I have some pickups that from late 70s, 80s and 90s and newer ones and most of them are pretty close to the catalog values. Contrastly the DCR values od Duncan is more inconsistant, compared to Dimarzios. Even their catalog values change in time.

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The Pickup Place / Dimarzio/IBZ Bridge Review

« on: February 14, 2025, 08:27:40 AM »

Hi. This is my review on Dimarzio/IBZ bridge that covers tonal specs, comparisons with Super Distortion & Evolution, and why they deserve more credit. Hope you like it;

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-ibz-bridge-review

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The Pickup Place / My NORTON Review

« on: January 24, 2025, 05:13:52 AM »

Hello,

I have new review on Tone Jpurney. This time it is for Norton;

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-norton-review-dp160

Hop you enjoy!

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News & New Guys / Re: Happy New Year 2025

« on: January 08, 2025, 01:17:34 AM »

Thanks Stephan I wish everything great to us all

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The Pickup Place / Re: Gravity Storm bridge, what neck pickup?

« on: December 13, 2024, 08:38:42 AM »

Since i have no idea about your intention/desire/aim for tone, i can only list some of my reviews for you:

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-aldimeola-dp201
https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-air-norton-dp193-at-neck-review
https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-paf-pro-review
https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-air-classic-neck-review-dp190

Next thing you know, i have no experience with GS; on paper it must be somewhat like a Tone Zone. But those catalog data might quite be misleading sometimes