Recommendations Of The Best Guitar

Have you ever heard a bridge pickup that made a guitar sound like a giant mosquito attack? If you’ve run into this problem, The Tone Zone® is the solution. The Tone Zone® is hot enough to qualify as a high-output pickup, but it has a wider dynamic range - hard picking will produce a lot of power, and softer picking will be much cleaner and quieter. It’s got tremendous bass and low-mid response to reinforce the bottom end and make the overall sound bigger. The highest single notes have depth, and chords sound huge. Patented dual-resonance coils reproduce more overtones than you’d expect from such a fat-sounding pickup. It makes a great match with an Air Norton™, PAF Joe™ or PAF Pro®, and split-coil mode produces an excellent single-coil sound as well.

Recommended For: Bridge position in all solid body guitars.
 

Tech Talk
The Tone Zone® is hot enough to qualify as a high-output pickup, but it has a wider dynamic range - hard picking will produce a lot of power, and softer picking will be much cleaner and quieter. Many models can be used in the neck position, from the Air Classic™ to the Air Zone™; the PAF Pro® and the Fred® are also good choices. Higher-output single-coil replacements like the Cruiser® and Fast Track 1™ are also recommended.

Tone Guide

Take a Super Distortion®, include a push-pull pot for series-parallel or single-coil operation and you have the Dual Sound®. The extra flexibility puts cleaner, crisp tone choices at your control. Lighten up on the lead tone in parallel operation, then roar back in with the standard series position. Use the single-coil mode along with your neck or middle pickup for chopping rhythm tones. If you need brighter, more transparent sounds from your bridge or neck pickup without sacrificing wide, singing crunch, the Dual Sound® nicely fills the bill.

Tech Talk: The Dual Sound® is the original four-conductor version of the Super Distortion®. Originally, the main purpose of four-conductor wiring was to switch from series to parallel modes. It is now popular in bridge position H-S-H pickup arrangements, where it can split to single-coil in combination with a middle position pickup like the Blue Velvet™. This combination creates very Strat-like sounds, because the warm tone and high output of the Dual Sound® allow single-coil mode to balance with most single-coils.

Talk Tech
The Dual Sound® is the original 4-conductor version of the Super Distortion®. Originally, the main purpose of 4-conductor wiring was to switch from series to parallel modes. It is now popular in bridge position H-S-H pickup arrangements, where it can split to single-coil in combination with a middle position pickup like the True Velvet™. This combination creates very Strat®-like sounds, because the warm tone and high output of the Dual Sound® allow single-coil mode to balance with most single-coils.

Tone Guide
 

The original Evolution® Bridge model did exactly what Steve Vai wanted it to do: kick butt and produce serious scream. Then he wanted something a little more complex – the same basic tone with increased headroom and dynamics, so that the sound kills on 10 and cleans up when the volume is rolled down. With a little less power than the original Evolution®, Evo 2™ balances perfectly with the Evolution® Neck model and performs equally well with high gain and vintage amps.

Recommended for: Bridge position in solid-body guitars.

Tech Talk: Although Steve was happy with the basic sound of the original Evolution® bridge pickup, he felt that a pickup with similar tone and less output would be useful, particularly for live performances. He also requested the frequency response in the 4000Hz to 5000Hz range to be reduced slightly, compared to the original Evolution® bridge model. The Evo 2™ accomplishes these tasks by using a less powerful magnet to reduce the pickup’s power, and patented Virtual Vintage® technology to alter the frequency response without drastically changing the overall tone. The Virtual Vintage® technology also allows the Evo 2™ to produce a very good single-coil sound when switched to split mode.

Talk Tech
Although Steve was happy with the basic sound of the original Evolution® bridge pickup, he felt that a pickup with similar tone and less output would be useful — particularly for live performances. He also requested the frequency response in the 4000Hz to 5000Hz range to be reduced slightly compared to the original Evolution® Bridge Model. The Evo 2™ accomplishes these tasks by using a less powerful magnet to reduce the pickup’s power, and patented Virtual Vintage® technology to alter the frequency response without drastically changing the overall tone. The Virtual Vintage® technology also allows the Evo 2™ to produce a very good single-coil sound when switched to split mode.

Tone Guide
 

Our first heavy humbucker of the 21st century, the D Sonic™ is a high-output bridge humbucker designed for the extended low end and heavy chords that dropped tuning delivers; with serious treble response for single-note solos and standard tuning. The D Sonic™ is more than just a one-sound pickup, too. In addition to the standard series humbucking sound, our patented design utilizes 4-conductor wiring to access two different single-coil sounds plus parallel humbucking mode, for three additional sounds that are distinctive and versatile.

Tech Talk: Those of you familiar with DiMarzio® history will note the visual resemblance to our old MegaDrive™, but the design is completely different.  Installation direction makes a noticeable difference in the sound, particularly with overdriven amps. With the solid bar toward the bridge, the sound is a little brighter and better-defined, and this is the direction we recommend for heavy strings and low tunings. With the adjustable polepieces toward the bridge, the sound is warmer and a touch louder, and we think this works best for standard tuning and more solo-oriented playing. Each coil has a unique tonal character, so the two split sounds are different, and parallel humbucking produces a third clean and bright sound.

The X2N® is a “take-no-prisoners, in-your-face” humbucker. Twin, wide-bar pole pieces give the X2N® a nasty, dangerous look - and rightly so. Our highest gain pickup was created to push tube amps into total overdrive. Put one in the bridge position for a powerful jolt to the voltage the amp sees from your guitar. The result is a sound that can only be described as blistering. The magnetic field of the X2N® is very powerful and focused. It captures the character of whichever guitar it’s in. If your guitar is warm sounding, the X2N® will act like a sledgehammer. A bright-sounding guitar will go into total scream mode. And the X2N® still has versatility: single-coil and series-parallel modes are particularly effective, because the X2N® pickup’s power gives these sounds more authority than is possible with weaker humbuckers.

Recommended For: Bridge position on solid body guitars. 

Tech Talk: The X2N® works in any situation where maximum power and overdrive is required. The dual blade polepieces create a very even, balanced sound. The X2N® works best in combination with higher-output pickups. It can also combine well with the Fast Track 1™, Chopper™ and Pro Track™. The split option is very effective, because a single X2N® coil has similar performance parameters to many Strat-type pickups.

Talk Tech
The X2N® works in any situation where maximum power and overdrive is required. The dual blade pole pieces create a very even, balanced sound. The X2N® works best in combination with higher-output pickups. It can also combine well with the Fast Track 1™, The Chopper™, and Pro Track™. The split option is very effective, because a single X2N® coil has similar performance parameters to many Strat®-type pickups.

Tone Guide 
Treble: 6.5

The D Activator™ Bridge has an enriched harmonic quality and the notes want to sing. Both the D Activator™ Neck and Bridge pickups were designed to eliminate the sterile edginess commonly associated with active pickups. The D Activator™ Bridge pickup is about 25% louder than the D Activator™ Neck. Since we were developing both pickups as a set from the ground up, we adjusted the volume levels on the pickups so they are balanced. That way when you switch from the neck to the bridge, you don’t hear a drop in volume - also a frequent problem with active pickups. And they don’t use batteries.

Recommended For: Bridge

Tech Talk: An interesting fact about the most popular active bridge pickups is that they aren’t incredibly loud. Instead, they have a strong, focused attack that hits the amp very hard and makes them ‘feel’ more powerful than they actually spec out to be. This is an important characteristic that we needed to capture with the D Activator™ bridge pickup. We also wanted to avoid the limiting effect that can occur with active pickups when they are played hard. Our pickup is passive with a lot of headroom, and it responds quickly and accurately to changes in pick attack. A hard pick attack doesn’t cause the signal to flatten out, and picking more softly or rolling the volume control down lets the sound clean up naturally.  Like all passive pickups, D Activators™ require controls with a minimum value of 250Kohms. 500K is the standard all around value, and our 1Megohm tone control is best for long cable runs.

Tech Talk
An interesting fact about the most popular active bridge pickups is that they aren’t incredibly loud. Instead, they have a strong, focused attack that hits the amp very hard and makes them ‘feel’ more powerful than they actually spec out to be. This is an important characteristic that we needed to capture with the D Activator™ bridge pickup. We also wanted to avoid the limiting effect that can occur with active pickups when they are played hard. Our pickup is passive with a lot of headroom, and it responds quickly and accurately to changes in pick attack. A hard pick attack doesn’t cause the signal to flatten out, and picking more softly or rolling the volume control down lets the sound clean up naturally. Like all passive pickups, D Activator™ pickups require controls with a minimum value of 250Kohms. 500K is the standard all around value, and our 1Megohm tone control is best for long cable runs.

Tone Guide