1

The Pickup Place / Re: Pickups that have left you less than impressed?

« on: August 12, 2026, 10:15:53 AM »

Maybe I just haven't found the right guitar for it yet, but the AT-1 bores me to tears.

I installed Duncan Classic Strat Plus's in for somebody. I wasn't that impressed. A bit dissapointing. They seemed to lack responsiveness to picking dynamics. They were good if you switched off the noiseless. There's a reason the Dimarzio Area series have become the industrty standard for noiseless SCs, I guess.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Virtual Solo for the win

« on: July 09, 2026, 09:15:55 PM »

I revisited the Solo in an SSS strat today. I liked it a few years ago but went back to a stock strat single in the bridge position for music I was playing at that time.
Also it was sounding strangely dark on the wound strings. Turns out that was because of the speakers I was using at the time.

So, with different speakers and back to playing more leads again, the stock pickup was lacking power as before.

One of the great things I discovered about the Solo this time around is that with the guitar volume down a couple notches and the tone up a few notches it is pretty much a stock strat bridge pickup. Then if you crank up the guitar volume and roll the tone back a couple notches, it turns into a pretty good paf. (I use a 250k pot on the middle knob hooked up to the bridge pickup) And the guitar looks stock.

The notch position with the middle pickup is very stratty at all volume settings.

 BTW, Take your time dialing in the pickup height. It matters with this one.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: 36th neck in bridge?

« on: May 27, 2026, 10:54:34 AM »

I do like the 36th bridge (DP223) in the bridge position better in guitars with a maple top or a maple neck, or in a strat/tele type.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: 36th neck in bridge?

« on: May 21, 2026, 11:10:33 AM »

I just put a 36th (DP103) in the bridge position of an all mahogany PRS. Really woke up this guitar.  It did the same to an all mahogany strat build several years ago. Read about good results with SGs. It seems to be a repeatable result.  This pickup really seems to work well in the bridge position of all hog guitars.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« on: April 28, 2026, 11:58:45 AM »

I plan on trying the Chopper in an upcoming HS build, mainly because I have one in the parts drawer.

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The Pickup Place / Re: My Air Zone Review

« on: April 23, 2026, 11:45:27 PM »

I just read your review, and coincidentally I read it the day after I 1/2 aired my vintage Tone Zone. Your finding that the factory AZ still contains the spacer and so is a 1/2 aired TZ came as a surprize.  Nonetheless, your detailed comparision discription is spot on to what I am observing. You nailed it.

I had to change the pickup height settings and the pole piece adjustments slightly to get back to the sound I liked so much in this guitar all these years. This would seem to confirm your thoughts about resonate peak differences. 

The reason I decided to try the 1/2 air mod was because of the lower mids congestion.  With this guitar I play mostly single note solo stuff and I always loved how the TZ made singles notes played up higher on the neck not sound thin, but still have a PAF vibe. But the lower mid congestion always made chord work a little less than ideal. I can run it in parallel and it clears up, but then series works better for an overdriven solo tone. It's kind of PITA to switch back and forth.  The difference between the stock TZ and the 1/2 aired TZ is subtle, so I don't think I will need to go to the hasle of reversing the mod. It's a win win.

Btw, I did try the AT1 before trying the 1/2 air mod on the TZ. Nope. Hated it. I don't want to disparage the AT1, it's a good pickup, but it has no PAF vibe at all. And its so dry. I will take a TZ or an AZ, for fat plus PAF type tone, thank you.  I have kind settled into the PAF tone area for all my humbucker equiped guitars, and I love the 36th B, but for this rather bright guitar I need a little more.

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The Pickup Place / Re: EC preamp with Areas

« on: May 20, 2025, 11:49:14 AM »

Well, I played that strat through a high gain amp with out too much gain dialed in. Never mind. Carry on. LOL

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The Pickup Place / EC preamp with Areas

« on: May 02, 2025, 10:10:38 PM »

Has anybody tried this?

I'm just thinking out loud, but this may be a good way to bump up power without losing the strattyness, or at least you can get it back with the turn of a knob.

What about the EC preamp with true singles? Or would the noise make it unusable once it's boosted?

I still like the tone and response of true singles better when possible, but I haven't gained a lot of experience using Areas.

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

« on: May 02, 2025, 09:56:28 PM »

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.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: The AT-1

« on: November 27, 2024, 08:30:15 PM »

I tried it in a parts caster.  At first I was kind of disappointed. I thought it a bit too polite, perhaps a bit compressed/too smooth, and lacking in tonal depth.

It replaced a 36thB, though, so that was a tough act to follow. I was hoping for a similar tone just with more power. It definitely has more output, but lacked the chimey top, and the 3d depth. Also the bottom end was a bit flabby.

But, I decided to leave it in the guitar for awhile, at least until the strings had some miles on them. It was acceptable, and the ample power was nice to have. It started growing on me.

Then I ran it through a Marshall 1/2 stack loaded with Vintage 30s at rock band volume levels. Suddenly, the pickup sounded perfectly balanced across the spectrum, and sat nicely in the mix. It was now responding to picking dynamics, and to the guitar's volume knob nicely. Plus the little extra power. If you haven't run it through a turned up amp through a 4x12 you really should.

I still might go back to the 36th in that guitar, but the AT-1 won't be going very far away.

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The Pickup Place / Re: PAF pickups that are close in brightness to singles?

« on: September 29, 2024, 10:29:14 PM »

Both Air Classics play well with singles.  They have the good kind of bright with good clarity. In my experience, the neck model was never muddy even in mahogany. They really work great with high gain amps, too.  The Bridge version has more real world output than the mv specs would lead you to believe. It can wail, but switching to middle and neck singles was not too big a jump in the typical setup. Once again you won't find better picking dynamics.

The 36th, both models, have a charming bell like chime rarely found in an off the shelf PAF clone, so they could also integrate well with singles tonally. The mids are clear but not empty.  The 36th bridge splits great.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio Super Distortion Review

« on: September 29, 2024, 09:56:06 PM »

I have used the Super D in several guitars over the years. It always sounds good. Maybe not specifically what I wanted for a particular guitar, but never bad. And it doesn't play overly hot. It works for a variety of genres. It splits good and sounds good in parallel. 

I tend to prefer the Tone Zone in most applications where I need more beef and output. But the Tone Zone can be picky about guitars. Same with the JB, even more so.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Air Classic Neck Review (DP190)

« on: September 29, 2024, 09:47:38 PM »

They balanced perfectly in that guitar as I recall.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio LiquiFire Review

« on: May 03, 2024, 10:56:52 PM »

I know it's designed for the neck position, but it might be an interesting bridge pickup if you want a bit more power than the 36th bridge without the typically more congested lower mids of many higher output pickups, and you find the PAF Pro too bright in the bridge position. Maybe the regular Norton fills that niche, though?

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The Pickup Place / Re: PAF Pro Review

« on: March 06, 2024, 02:22:18 PM »

I could be wrong, but seem to recall that originally the PP was developed for Jazz/Rock guitarist Bill Connors.  Connors played with all the fusion heavy weights, such as Return to Forever, during the 70's usually using a Les Paul Custom.  But during the 80's he started using Charvels. He had a brown sunburst single Hum Charvel strat, with a vintage style trem, and ebony finger board. He needed a pickup which could drive through a lot of processing, but still retain clarity and pure harmonics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX7F3n8kuOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40XNBq-vPXo