1

The Pickup Place / Re: My NORTON Review

« on: July 16, 2025, 06:51:51 AM »

The Norton works great in a guitar that has a lot of natural lows, like a Les Paul or PRS Singlecut. It pairs well with the Liquifire in the neck.

I have a set neck guitar with 25" scale and warm tone. I will swap its custom pearly gates into Norton soon

2

Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: The Bluesbucker

« on: July 04, 2025, 02:44:34 AM »

I have just uploaded a new review of Bluesbucker. Hope you like it;

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/dimarzio-bluesbucker-dp163-review

3

The Pickup Place / Re: 3 New Pickups from Dimarzio: Super PAF, Muscle T's

« on: July 03, 2025, 03:53:45 AM »

A tele neck pickup that can step up to the bridge pickup in output and tonal quality. I find most tele neck pickups dull, weak or both. In fact I never quite understood why Fender did not switch to a strat pickup for the neck position after putting the stratocaster in production but different strokes for different folks I guess.

That's why i always liked Twisted Tele neck pickup.

4

The Pickup Place / Re: 3 New Pickups from Dimarzio: Super PAF, Muscle T's

« on: July 02, 2025, 06:40:23 AM »

Super PAF is a nice idea if you want the Super D with a PAF look.
Cheers Stephan

Presented EQ graph is quite different than the SD. So what reminds me is Duncan Custom. It may be a louder Custom.

5

The Pickup Place / 3 New Pickups from Dimarzio: Super PAF, Muscle T's

« on: July 02, 2025, 01:44:32 AM »

Dimarzio announced 3 new models;

Super PAF;
https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/high-power/super-paf-ceramic

Muscle T Neck:
https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/standard-tele/muscle-t-neck
Muscle T Bridge;
https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/standard-tele/muscle-t-bridge

What do you say about it?

6

The Pickup Place / My Vintage Dimarzio PAF Review

« on: June 20, 2025, 06:16:53 AM »

Hello,

This friday i have published Vintage Dimarzio PAF review.

https://www.tonejourney.com/post/vintage-dimarzio-paf-review

Hope you like it.

7

The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio Virtual Hot PAF (DP214) Review

« on: May 13, 2025, 01:31:32 AM »

I have this , going to use it in the bridge of my ‘87 Charvel Model 2
( Are my pics viewable?)

I have seen this on reverb but it makes me curious. Mine has nickel silver baseplate. Like this;

8

The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio Virtual Hot PAF (DP214) Review

« on: May 12, 2025, 09:41:39 AM »

Did they make a specific neck VHP?
Thanks

Nope. There were only Virtual PAF neck

9

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

« on: May 03, 2025, 01:41:48 AM »

Excellent review. I think you captured a fair description of this pickup. I have it in two strat style guitars right now, and have had it in other guitars, including a Les Paul.  One thing about this pickup I found is that it doesn't overide the characteristics of the guitar it's in. Each guitar still sounds like the guitar it's in. This is good if your guitar sounds good naturally, but it might not be the right pickup for fixing a paticular characteristic of a guitar you don't like.

Enough output in my opinion, too.

Thank you so very much for your reply.

You have mentioned i never could experienced. I put it on my custom JS style guitar and i really did fall in love with it. Part of me wants to try it on some other guitars and the rest part tells me to f*ck off, awesome where it belongs
But still i wonder how will it sound on my fat strat. I need another PAF 36th

10

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.

11

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

12

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".

13

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.

14

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.

15

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