DiMarzio Forum
DimarzioForum.Com => The Pickup Place => Topic started by: HelpImaRock on September 05, 2026, 12:07:50 AM
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Many years ago, thanks to you kind folks, I bought a Virtual PAF set for my PRS Custom 24. It solved the problem of obliterating the front end of my Mesa Subway Rocket so I could actually get a clean tone when I wanted one. It was a perfect match at the time. In the ensuing years, the rest of my gear has completely changed but the PRS continues to be #1. It's time to at least revisit the neck pickup if not both.
My basic setup is the PRS into a Red Llama or RAT, Catalinbread Echorec, and then into an Allen Encore, which is basically a tweaked out Fender Vibrolux Reverb. The guitar has a 3 way switch with two 500k push/pull pots for series/parallel on each pickup.
In parallel, the DP196 neck is clean and spanky and bright. A little too bright. In series it's undefined, particularly with distortion. The DP197F bridge sound is pretty good, if a little trebly as well. Rolling down the volume and/or tone either takes not enough edge off or too much.
If I had my druthers, I'd like a set that sounds like the Super 70s in my old Ibanez AR50. That guitar has an authority the PRS simply doesn't. Though I can dial both in to sound fantastic, if different. Understanding that's probably a pipe dream, I'd be very happy with a solution that just makes it sound like the best SG ever, which is how I think of it.
I don't have a lot of experience with pickups. My Ibanez RG had an Air Norton and AT-1 and I hated it. I sold the AT-1 and rewired it with the Air Norton in the bridge and got another VPAF for the neck. The Air Norton in that guitar sounds good in the bridge, though it doesn't compete on output with the Super 70s. The VPAF has the same issues as on the PRS.
I'm probably sticking to Dimarzio and Duncan, if that matters. Thanks for your help!
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Roll back your tone control to the point where it is as low as you’d ever want it to go. Measure the resistance and then put the closest value resistor between the control and the wire feeding it. This will solve the problem of not being able to easily dial in the sweet spot. This assumes you don’t ever turn your tone control all the way down, of course.
There are other options short of modding or swapping the pickup, this just happens to be the one I primarily use. I also happen to like swapping magnets as well as passive bass shelves.
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Roll back your tone control to the point where it is as low as you’d ever want it to go. Measure the resistance and then put the closest value resistor between the control and the wire feeding it. This will solve the problem of not being able to easily dial in the sweet spot. This assumes you don’t ever turn your tone control all the way down, of course.
There are other options short of modding or swapping the pickup, this just happens to be the one I primarily use. I also happen to like swapping magnets as well as passive bass shelves.
I'm all over the place with volume and tone knob settings. I'm usually somewhere between 3 and 10, but I've gone lower before.
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I’ve never tried it but The Steve Morse Neck model might work quite well when wired in parallel, though it was designed to work with his bridge pickup which is quite hot.