DiMarzio Forum

DimarzioForum.Com => The Pickup Place => Topic started by: capac on October 27, 2020, 06:23:27 PM

Title: Norton vs. Air Norton in bridge position
Post by: capac on October 27, 2020, 06:23:27 PM: Hi,

I have a tone zone/air norton in a guitar (mahogany body, bolt on maple neck). I quite like the tone zone in the bridge, and air norton is fantastic in the neck.

I also tried air norton in the bridge - it was pretty bad. Tight low end, but really weird harmonic overtones that made it sound really messy.

Is norton similar to that? I often read it's an underdog in the dimarzio lineup, but if it's similar to air norton in those ways, I'm not sure I'd bother trying it.

Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: Norton vs. Air Norton in bridge position
Post by: darkbluemurder on October 28, 2020, 03:54:41 AM: I had them both but in two very different guitars. The Air Norton is in the bridge of a "normal bright" strat together with an Area 67 neck and Virtual vintage 54 Pro in the middle - I like this combination. The Norton was in a rather dark strat - there it sounded ... dark. I converted that to SSS and have a Kinman Big Nine O in the bridge spot which is just bright enough in that guitar. The Norton has definitely more output than the Air Norton, and I would guess more low end as well.

Cheers Stephan
Title: Re: Norton vs. Air Norton in bridge position
Post by: RayBarbeeMusic on January 04, 2021, 08:58:18 PM: I like the air norton in the bridge of a Les Paul. It's like a decently hot PAF with more grunt in the lows. Norton has good high end, but the low end can be very bloated in a darker guitar. It can sound ok in a brighter strat style guitar.
Title: Re: Norton vs. Air Norton in bridge position
Post by: darkbluemurder on January 05, 2021, 04:43:25 AM: I forgot to mention in my earlier post that in that strat I use 250k log pots. With a 500k volume pot the Air Norton in the bridge would be very bright and probably excessively so in most guitars.
Title: Re: Norton vs. Air Norton in bridge position
Post by: buddroyce on January 06, 2021, 04:23:54 PM: It's been a while since I last tried the Air Norton in the bridge but I don't remember it sounding a whole lot like the regular Norton which I really like in the bridge of some guitars.
Title: Re: Norton vs. Air Norton in bridge position
Post by: darkbluemurder on January 07, 2021, 05:18:35 AM: They definitely do sound different - the Air Norton is significantly brighter. The tone chart does not reflect this when compared in the same application (i.e. bridge vs. bridge).
Title: Re: Norton vs. Air Norton in bridge position
Post by: RayBarbeeMusic on January 08, 2021, 08:02:27 PM: AN definitely brighter and has a little less of a huge hump in the low mids, though it does have more punch than say a 36th bridge.

Also noticed it can get closer to the strings without creating any weird thuddy issues like most pups can when set very close. That means it can get pretty hot output wise, as closer to the strings means more output. The chart says it is slightly less hot than a 36th bridge, but I played a 339 with a 36th bridge (backed off a bit as they have to be) back to back with the LPJ with AN bridge, and the AN seemed noticeably hotter due to being able to be closer to the strings without artifacts.

Was just playing AN in the bridge of my LPJ, sounds friggin' monstrous, definite quintessential PAF on steroids thing going. Articulate but not piercing highs, strong but not overly 'humpy' lows.

Sounds awesome in the right guitar.
Title: Re: Norton vs. Air Norton in bridge position
Post by: darkbluemurder on January 12, 2021, 03:22:55 AM: Actually I replaced a Virtual Hot PAF with an Air Norton in one of my strats (used both with 250k volume), and to my ears they have about the same output but the Air Norton has slightly more mids. Other pickups on the guitar are Area 58 middle and Area 67 neck. In #2 the Air Norton and the Area 58 get split with the neck side coil of the AN active - quacks just fine to me.