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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck & middle singles for metal/rock strat

« on: November 02, 2016, 02:30:33 PM »

Doh!  I just saw where this is an update.

Norton would be a good versatile pickup that would blend well.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck & middle singles for metal/rock strat

« on: November 02, 2016, 02:27:17 PM »

I definitely like the Chopper in the neck.  A strat flavor, but thicker and chunkier.  It also splits well for more stratty tones.

In the middle, I would probably go with a Fast Track 1 for heavier stuff. Once again, if you want to get more stratty tones, it splits pretty well.

The Cruiser sounds good but might be a bit weak in this configuration.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Strat pickups that don't sound single coil

« on: October 22, 2016, 09:48:16 AM »

The Satch costs more because it says Satch instead of Chopper.  The pickups cost about the same to make, just with a different formula.

For what you are looking for, the higher output of the Chopper is more in line with a "calibrated" set of pickups, where the output is greater at the bridge position and goes down as you get to the neck position.  Also, you want a little less treble from pickups as you go towards the bridge.  The Satch is just a slightly brighter, less powerful version of the Chopper.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Did FRED Have different DCR specs at one time?

« on: October 21, 2016, 06:24:55 PM »

RE The Fred:

You can try different values of volume pot to tame the highs.  Start with a pot that measures at least 500k, then you can solder or clip in various resistors across that pot, or from the hot tab on the switch for that pickup to ground if you only want that pickup affected, to get the value that makes it sound best.  I almost always tune pickups using that method.  I keep resistors in stock in 10M, 8.2M, 6.8M, 5M, 4M, 3.3M, 2M, 1.5M, 1M, 820k, 680k, 500k, 470k in 1/8w values for just that reason.

Also, the Fred strikes me as a good candidate for a magnet swap; A2 or A4 would even out the high end.

I made a 7-position rotary tone switch for the Fred where position 2 was to take the edge off the treble-I think it was a 322K with a .01uF but don't remember.  I normally use Position 1 which is no tone circuit at all and the natural sound and output of the pickup.  I wanted a pickup that would sound good all by itself and then work down from there.  Mo' Joe cut the treble a little, but I'm thinking of going to Norton now....just for a little harder rock sound without going over the top.

Cool to keep that kind of stuff in stock.  I am an electronics engineer and have a lab.  I keep just about every basic value of resistor and capacitor in stock from 50 ohms to 2M and 100pF to 22uF...along with an assortment of coils, etc.  I even have a breadboard with an X80 microprocessor programmer....somewhere, lol.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Strat pickups that don't sound single coil

« on: October 21, 2016, 02:43:46 PM »

Good choices.

Perhaps its personal taste, but I compared the Satch Track and the Chopper for the neck position in a mahogany Gibson SG-Z.  These two are so close that they make very little difference and I liked the Chopper more.  I would not pay the extra $ for the Satch name.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Strat pickups that don't sound single coil

« on: October 20, 2016, 04:52:40 PM »

The rail type pickups respond best in the bridge position to 250k volume;

That is true for most of the rail pickups, since most of them are bright sounding...lots of treble. 

According to the specs, the Tone Zone S is very light on treble and very heavy on bass.  I think that it would probably be an exception to the rule.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Did FRED Have different DCR specs at one time?

« on: October 20, 2016, 08:22:08 AM »

Agreed.  I was just hoping that somebody from Dimarzio could verify or clarifiy this.

The Fred had a little too much treble for my taste, so I replaced it with a Mo' Joe.

That tamed the treble a little, but the Mo' Joe seems "sterile" compared to the Fred.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Strat pickups that don't sound single coil

« on: October 20, 2016, 08:18:04 AM »

Slightly off topic but @AxeManV90 - do you use the rotary switch as the sole tone switch or in conjunction with a tone pot?

Thanks,
Stephan

Just by itself. It also has a series/parallel/split pickup rotary switch. It has a Mo' Joe in the bridge and a Chopper in the neck.  Fred was too bright for me in the bridge.

There are really only a few usable positions on a tone control and I picked 5 tones that I like best.   I almost always use it in the "OFF" position so it doesn't suck tone. A straight capacitor to ground has a much sharper rolloff than with a tone pot and results in more nasally tones.  One sounds a little like Angus Young's rig and another sounds a lot like the PRS Sweet Switch or Michael Schenker when he uses a wah-wah for a tone filter.   Of course, the "woman tone" is with the pot on zero ohms, so a straight cap does that job too.  The other two tones are just snapshots of two positions on a regular tone knob at about half way and 3/4 of the way off.  I think I used 160K and 90K resistors with a common 0.015uF cap.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Strat pickups that don't sound single coil

« on: October 19, 2016, 09:22:52 PM »

If you are only going to use 2 pups, then I would probably try out the Tone Zone S with a Pro Track.

I would use 500K pots and .022uf for a standard V/T setup. A 0.015uf will make the zero position just a hair brighter and a little more useful imho ("woman tone").   You might want to consider a no-load 500K tone pot so that your tone circuit doesn't suck any tone out when you have it all the way up.  I actually use a 6 position rotary switch on my Gibson SG-Z where the first position is no tone circuit at all and the other 5 are either just caps or a cap & resistor that are tweaked for various sounds like Angus Young, PRS Sweet Switch. Woman Tone (that 0.015uf) and two that mimic useful positions on a standard tone control.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Strat pickups that don't sound single coil

« on: October 19, 2016, 06:26:14 PM »

I have used most of the Dimarzio S pickups, including many prototypes that never made it to production with names like "Mallard."

I strongly recommend a Pro Track in the neck if you want 60s-80s rock neck tones.  It splits nicely if you wanna get twangy.  I remember having one in a Gibson Flying V90 and it sang as sweet as any PAF clone I ever heard--especially in a V--gawd I miss that guitar (note my handle).

Middle?  I would probably go with a Fast Track 1 (to combine pickups) or a Chopper (for better solo output, close to the Pro Track).  The Chopper has shades of Strat tone, but its nice and chunky---thick sounding---and combines well with other pickups.  It also splits well and should combine well split with the Pro Track.

These are fairly hot middle and neck pickups so you need something in the bridge that will match well with them.  I think that the Super Distortion S would fit the bill here for hard rock, although it might be a little bassy.  The Fast Track 2 is way over the top and I don't recommend it for anything but metal.  I never used the Tone Zone S.  It looks like it would match up well if its not too bassy.  I never used the Air Norton S either.  The tone specs look good for your style, but the output seems a little weak to combine with the others.  Of course, you can adjust the pickup heights to balance them.

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News & New Guys / Hey!

« on: October 19, 2016, 11:08:20 AM »

My name is Jeff and have been using Dimarzios since the late 70s....among other things.

I mostly play hard rock on various PRS and Gibson guitars.  I have been doing all kinds of pickup and tone circuit experiments with a Gibson SG-Z that has a humbucker rout in the bridge and a single coil rout in the neck position.  The jury is still out....

I have ASEET and BSEMET degrees from PSU and have been doing music electronics since the late 70s as well.  I remember programming the entire synth track to The Who's "Baba O'Riley" on a Commodore 64, lol.  Started using MIDI backing tracks and guitar switching in 1985.  Was developing my own 4 channel guitar MIDI switcher until I found out that Tom Scholz already beat me to it.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Did FRED Have different DCR specs at one time?

« on: October 19, 2016, 10:16:00 AM »

I have several other models of pickups that measure exactly to spec.

It just seems odd that other Dimarzio models that I have measure to their specs and this one does not.  They are pretty accurate with their manufacturing.

I always measure electronics on my electronic bench/lab.  It is consistently 70 degrees F.

I also have ASEET and BSEMET degrees and 40 years of experience with electronic measuring devices--including their calibration. This multimeter is definitely functioning within spec.

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The Pickup Place / Did FRED Have different DCR specs at one time?

« on: October 19, 2016, 09:18:36 AM »

I bought a NOS FRED pickup awhile back.  This is the DC resistance that I measured:

wht/grn  5.39K
red/blk   4.11K
overall   9.5K

This is quite a bit less than the 10.38K spec on the site.  It works fine and has the tone characteristics that it should have.  Is there an explanation for this?  Was there a design change for Fred at some point?  If so, was the output spec the same?

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The Pickup Place / Satch Track more like Chopper or Pro Track with gain?

« on: April 08, 2016, 11:16:19 AM »

I have been using Choppers for years--great pickup.  I have one in the neck of a mahogany/ebony Gibson SG-Z paired with a Fred in the bridge.

The clean coil-tapped config with these two is giving me a great strat-quack that I am happy with.  My problem is that when full on with gain, the Chopper is giving me a chunky, woody strat sound and I was hoping to get more of a PAF sound. I have also used the Pro Track and like the PAF sound, but never used it coil-tapped.

Would the Satch Track make a significant difference closer to a PAF full on with gain.

OR

Would the Pro Track still give me a good strat-quack when paired with Fred and coil-tapped?