[Mr. Lime]

I recently got a deal on a BC Rich Mockingbird Supreme (shortscale mahogany neck through) that came with PRS Artist pickups that I really disliked.
Since I had a Satchur8 laying around I installed it and it fits the guitar quite nicely - very balanced and I like that it's based on the Norton with hex screws but has an A8 magnet in it to differ a little to my other guitars.
I tried a Bluesbucker which wasn't bad in the neck position but I had the feeling it might fit better in one of my Jacksons.
The Humbucker from Hell went in next and it ain't bad either but doesn't really pair well with the Satchur8. Does anybody have experience with putting a A8 magnet in to lift up the volume?
Or has anyone an opinion if it's a good idea to stick an A8 into a low output pickup like the HFH?

I guess a dual resonance pickup with A5 like the FRED might be worth a try as well but have no expierence with it and some people rage about that pickup.
I have a left over PAF Pro as well but hated it in the guitars I tried it. Some say the FRED is close to it..

Any thougths?

[darkbluemurder]

Since you already have the PAF Pro it is worth a try even though it did not work in the other guitars you tried it in. That would give you at least another baseline for further experimentation.

Cheers Stephan

[Mr. Lime]

That's exactly what I did, I put an A4 magnet into the PAF Pro and a large ceramic magnet into a Tone Zone.
The bass response of the TZ is the only neat result. Compared to the Satchur8 the TZ feels less balanced and although I kind of like the tad more grind it has, it sounds rahter cheap.
Even worse so the PAF Pro. Overall rather boring response and a sound that gets buried in the band mix of a backing track.
I use an Engl 580 Rack preamp with always the same settings which works fine with most of my guitars.
Will try some other EQing but overall the pickup swap with different magnets is a downgrade.

[gregr]

An A4 in a PAF Pro seems like a step backwards to me. An A8 that is fully aired might get you closer to what you’re looking for but you may still lose clarity. Turning that Tone Zone into an Air Zone might yield good results, since DiMarzio mentions the neck position as a use-case for the Air Zone.

[darkbluemurder]

If you don't like the PAF Pro in the neck, the FRED may only offer a bit more midrange and a bit more harmonics (at least that was the impression of both pickups back to back in the same guitar but in the bridge position). I was thinking LiquiFire as this has more midrange, similar to an Air Norton but less low end. Saying that, I had both the LiquiFire and the Bluesbucker back to back in the same guitar and preferred the Bluesbucker, in particular for its splitting capability.

Cheers Stephan

[Mr. Lime]

I had awesome results with an Air Norton with ceramic magnet in the neck but would love to have a matching neck pickup with hex screws to pair with the Sachur8.
On paper the Tone Zone is not worlds away from a JB. A JB in the neck was something I liked but to my ears the Tone Zone is way different and probably not to my liking even aired. Maybe it works with a ceramic magnet and aired as neck PU but still looks overwound to me compared to the rest of the bunch.
I didn't like the PAF Pro (too thin sounding) in any guitar in the neck but I also dislike all those Gibson pickups like Burstbucker, 57 Classic or 490R.
The FRED with more mids and harmonics compared to a PAF Pro might do the trick beeing more similiar to a Norton.
I ordered one so I will see in a view weeks.
The Liquid Fire was also on my shortlist but since I tend to aim for dual resonance as a Dimarzio exclusive feature, I rather picked something different. A last candidate might be an Evolution neck but I didn't liked the Evo Bridge and Evo 2 in the guitars I tried them in so I was hesitantly with the neck version.