DiMarzio Forum

DimarzioForum.Com => The Pickup Place => Topic started by: headcrash on July 22, 2025, 05:18:55 AM

Title: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: headcrash on July 22, 2025, 05:18:55 AM
Does anyone have any infos? It basically looks like a black EVH custom with black back, and  "B 5" stamped on it. It measures 17,2k and is F-spaced.
Title: Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: nienturi on July 22, 2025, 06:55:14 AM
Does anyone have any infos? It basically looks like a black EVH custom with black back, and  "B 5" stamped on it. It measures 17,2k and is F-spaced.

May it be "Breed"?
Title: Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: headcrash on July 23, 2025, 03:33:51 AM
Does anyone have any infos? It basically looks like a black EVH custom with black back, and  "B 5" stamped on it. It measures 17,2k and is F-spaced.

May it be "Breed"?

Well the one I'm talking about has a classic pole pieces configurations, no double row allen key type ones.
It could be a Tonezone, from visuals and the DC resistance, but with black baseplate an B 5 stamped in ... ?
Other than that I am out of ideas :-)
Title: Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: nienturi on July 23, 2025, 09:30:46 AM
Well the one I'm talking about has a classic pole pieces configurations, no double row allen key type ones.
It could be a Tonezone, from visuals and the DC resistance, but with black baseplate an B 5 stamped in ... ?
Other than that I am out of ideas :-)

You are right.
Title: Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: gregr on July 23, 2025, 01:47:20 PM
Does the neck pickup have an N on the back?
Title: Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: headcrash on July 26, 2025, 02:02:15 PM
Does the neck pickup have an N on the back?

Nopes. It has an „F“ there, so it most likely is a bridge humbucker.
Title: Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: gregr on July 26, 2025, 04:33:00 PM
I was thinking Neck/Bridge but Front/Back could also be used to specify the location of each pickup.
Title: Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: headcrash on July 27, 2025, 06:25:32 AM
I was thinking Neck/Bridge but Front/Back could also be used to specify the location of each pickup.

Good point  :) While I have never heard of these terms being used by Dimarzio, I also don't consider myself an expert here  :)

I was thinking to just buy the thing, because it’s cheap, but neither do I like the Tonezone, nor do I need one.
I was hoping for some OEM PU made for Music Man, since the lugs don’t have a thread, and some EBMM models like the AXIS series would need it like that…
Title: Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: darkbluemurder on August 11, 2025, 09:21:33 AM
Best to E-Mail the DiMarzio Tech Support with pictures. They are usually quite quick to reply.

Good luck,
Stephan
Title: Re: 1990s B5 bridge humbucker
Post by: headcrash on August 20, 2025, 05:28:26 AM
That B5 pickup is long sold, so I don't have pics any more.

On a side note: I spent the last two weeks reading on the guitarnutz2 forum and learned A LOT about pickups. Actually it was the first time in my life (after playing electric guitars for maybe 35 years, AND being an electrical engineer), I dove relly deep into what is technically important and really makes the sound of a pickup.
I mean, I've had the books by Manfred Zollner for like 10 years now, but tbh, Zollner gets VERY theoretical, and that guitarnutz2 forum mostly doesn't.

What I wanted to say: I wrote here in this thread, I don't like the Tonezone. Well, with with what I learned from guitarnutz2 AND reminding myself and you of this thread https://www.dimarzioforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=16029.0 , with the large DCR tolerances,  the snake oil DiMarzio EBMM EvH could very well sound like a Tonezone or vice versa.
So my main guitar at the moment, where the bridge pickup sits 5 ..7mm nearer to the bridge as in my EBMM Axis's, had a 12k A5 pickup, which I needed to bring very near to the bass strings, to have a balanced sound (and still does not come close to the Axis's). So I put one of my Dimarzio EvH pickups in there, just for the sake of testing, and - well it was really much better.
Now, knowing, that a Tonezone will sound VERY close, I found a cheap one, and put it in there - and turns out, I so much like it!!!
It sounds really, really good in that guitar. I have to admit, I don't like it in the guitar of my band buddy, an old EBMM SUB (chost-saving US-made variant of a Silhouette), where the bridge pickup is even a few millimeters further away from the bridge towards neck, so the TZ sounds quite muddy in there.

Long story short: I can say now: the Tonezone sounds GREAT!