Dimarzio Andy Timmons pickup?

[shreder75]

ok...I think it's time for a change...I'm tired of the JB in my Lynch..sick and tired..tired and sick..I could go with a duncan distortion as I love that pup, but I'm not sure if I want three guitars with the same pickup in them...although they each sound different, I may want to try something else...

I was looking into the dimarzio 36th anni pup and I've played one in a strat that vlad built but that was a while go...just afraid it's not going to be quite hot enough..it's not much hotter than my chopper T...by the numbers anyway..who knows..

so I was also looking into the AT-1...by the numbers it seems cool but I've had bad luck with dimarzio bridge humbuckers in the past so I'm kind of wary...

I was also looking into the duncan custom 5 which, once again by the numbers, seems like a hotter version of the 59...the clips on the site sounded like total ass though..really boomy...

help?

 

[tonmazz]

Hey man, the AT1 is pretty good. I do like it but I will tell you that the Motor City Detroiter is the be all end all for me. I typically play two main guitars when we play out, the AT 1 in my Ibanez and the Detroiter in the Les Paul. I have had two different people come up and tell me that when I plug the Les Paul in for the second part of the first set, the tone is to die for. I can hear it myself and as soon as I get the cash, it will be Detroiters all around for me. Just my opinion FWIW. A third told me and I quote "that first guitar sounded like ass but the Les Paul was killer" I discount that statement because it certainly does not sound like ass but there is a noticable difference. Good Luck

 

[shreder75]

thanks for the info....as a general rule I try to stay away from the boutique pickup market...partially money, partially the fact that I can get and return dimarzios and duncans to MF or a place like that pretty easily, partially money..lol...

I don't know if it's my tastes that are changing, GAS or just wanting to try and mix it up a little...I don't have that much experience with dimarzios...but the chopper in my tele makes me think Is hould give them a second look

 

[smdb]

Motor City pickups has an exchange policy.. He will tweak the one you bought, swap it for a different model.
The Detroiter is killer!

 

[shreder75]

for $130 he'd better have an exchange policy!! lol
sorry guys...call me stubborn, but like I said..the whole boutique pickup thing just ain't my bag...

 

[tonmazz]

I hear you as you usually don't know what you are getting with the boutique stuff. I will say though that I have yet to get any store bought one that compares to the Detroiter. Stop being stubborn! Sign up for Wades contest at motorcity and maybe you can win a free set. Good stuff.

 

[The Whale]

I've got an AT-1 in an alder bodied strat (maple/rosewood neck). It's KILLER. it's not overly hot and fits well with the 36th anniversary that's in the neck. They're very balanced. It splits really well, and sounds great with cleans, mid gain and high gain. I recently was at a soundcheck where the sound crew complimented me on the guitar tone.... normally takes a lot to make a sound crew say anything nice, let alone a tone compliment. Great pickup!

 

[muudrock]

Another positve for the AT-1. Put one in my Strat-Alder/flame maple top and Ebony FB. Guitar cam alive! Good output, but not hot or compressed. Very expressive pickup for it's output level. Picked up another for a PRS SC245 and sounds great in that as well. It's the first Dimarzio HB I've really liked in a long time.

 

[shreder75]

ok, two votes for the AT-1! here's a question for Whale and Muurdock

is it percussive? Looking at the EQ on the dimarzio website it seems to have lots of mids and bass which, by the numbers, would make me think that it could get flubby on the low end...that's something I don't want...

I like percussivness and harmonics without it being spikey...and I'd like it to be full sounding as well...think early EVH and nuno, early lynch..full, but percussive without being ear peircing...

the fact that you're saying it's not overly compressed sounds good to me..cause I don't want it to sound like it's coming through a paper towel tube..lol...

I'm also pretty interested in the breed...even the d activator has my interest

thing is, will they even fit in my guitar properly? if it'll fit into a strat then it should be ok in my esp lynch..it doesn't have pickup rings and it came with duncans and they seem to be a direct fit...I'm just hoping that the dimarzio mounting hardware isn't too tall...if it is, then I may have to look into the alternative 8 from duncan..but I'd really like to try a dimarzio

 

[shreder75]

oh, and about the whole boutique pickup market...what do you have? a magnet, some wire, bobbins, wax..a few screws...I find it hard to believe that pickups in the $150 to $250 dollar range (bare knuckle, wcr, etc) are doing anything that hasn't really already been done before...what's the price justification? different number of winds? them being hand made? I'm sorry..just can't see the justification in spending two to three times as much for something that's pretty much built the same way as the 50+ types of duncan or dimarzio that are available..

no offense to people who have them and dig them...it's just not something I'm going to entertain..

besides, most of the people we know, love and respect in the world of professional guitar players use bone stock or run of the mill duncan or dimarzio pickups...at least that's true of me..gilbert, evh, lynch, dimartini, timmons, saraceno, yjm, etc..duncans and dimarzios...

that's my story and I'm sticking to it =D

 

[Vrad]

oh, and about the whole boutique pickup market...what do you have? a magnet, some wire, bobbins, wax..a few screws...I find it hard to believe that pickups in the $150 to $250 dollar range (bare knuckle, wcr, etc) are doing anything that hasn't really already been done before...what's the price justification? different number of winds? them being hand made? I'm sorry..just can't see the justification in spending two to three times as much for something that's pretty much built the same way as the 50+ types of duncan or dimarzio that are available..

no offense to people who have them and dig them...it's just not something I'm going to entertain..

besides, most of the people we know, love and respect in the world of professional guitar players use bone stock or run of the mill duncan or dimarzio pickups...at least that's true of me..gilbert, evh, lynch, dimartini, timmons, saraceno, yjm, etc..duncans and dimarzios...

that's my story and I'm sticking to it =D

Speaking of Saraceno,
SD makes a Blues pickup. I think it's a Parallel Axis thingy...
Check your email, I sent you a clip.

 

[shreder75]

oh, and about the whole boutique pickup market...what do you have? a magnet, some wire, bobbins, wax..a few screws...I find it hard to believe that pickups in the $150 to $250 dollar range (bare knuckle, wcr, etc) are doing anything that hasn't really already been done before...what's the price justification? different number of winds? them being hand made? I'm sorry..just can't see the justification in spending two to three times as much for something that's pretty much built the same way as the 50+ types of duncan or dimarzio that are available..

no offense to people who have them and dig them...it's just not something I'm going to entertain..

besides, most of the people we know, love and respect in the world of professional guitar players use bone stock or run of the mill duncan or dimarzio pickups...at least that's true of me..gilbert, evh, lynch, dimartini, timmons, saraceno, yjm, etc..duncans and dimarzios...

that's my story and I'm sticking to it =D

Speaking of Saraceno,
SD makes a Blues pickup. I think it's a Parallel Axis thingy...
Check your email, I sent you a clip.

yeah, I know of that pickup...alot of the descriptions say that it's midrange 'quacky'...so that makes me leary...lol

I did check it...sounds hotter than I thought it would

 

[muudrock]

ok, two votes for the AT-1! here's a question for Whale and Muurdock

is it percussive? Looking at the EQ on the dimarzio website it seems to have lots of mids and bass which, by the numbers, would make me think that it could get flubby on the low end...that's something I don't want...

I like percussivness and harmonics without it being spikey...and I'd like it to be full sounding as well...think early EVH and nuno, early lynch..full, but percussive without being ear peircing...

the fact that you're saying it's not overly compressed sounds good to me..cause I don't want it to sound like it's coming through a paper towel tube..lol...

I'm also pretty interested in the breed...even the d activator has my interest

thing is, will they even fit in my guitar properly? if it'll fit into a strat then it should be ok in my esp lynch..it doesn't have pickup rings and it came with duncans and they seem to be a direct fit...I'm just hoping that the dimarzio mounting hardware isn't too tall...if it is, then I may have to look into the alternative 8 from duncan..but I'd really like to try a dimarzio

In the bolt-on neck strat, it is very percussive because that is the inherent quality of bolt on guitars. In my set neck/shorter scale guitar, it has smoother attack and a rounder overall tone but still cuts. The pickup is just amplifying what your guitar naturally has and adds a little eq sauce and it's own feel to a guitar (at least that's what a good pickup should do IMO). The AT-1 has excellent mids and I don't find the lows flubby or cloudy-even in the set neck guitar. Some Dimarzio's seem compressed to me with a smaller dynamic range. I don't hear that in the AT-1. Like any pickup I'm sure there are some guitars it's just not gonna work well in, but in the 2 I use it in I really like it. FWIW, at one point I had a botique pickup in both guitars and while there are some good hand wound pickups from companies like Bare Knuckle, MCP, etc, I truly find the hype surrounding them a little overboard. It's one part of the equation and IMO not as much so as the guitar itself let alone speakers, amps, strings, picks, cables, yada...... Just my humble opinion...

 

[shreder75]

ok, two votes for the AT-1! here's a question for Whale and Muurdock

is it percussive? Looking at the EQ on the dimarzio website it seems to have lots of mids and bass which, by the numbers, would make me think that it could get flubby on the low end...that's something I don't want...

I like percussivness and harmonics without it being spikey...and I'd like it to be full sounding as well...think early EVH and nuno, early lynch..full, but percussive without being ear peircing...

the fact that you're saying it's not overly compressed sounds good to me..cause I don't want it to sound like it's coming through a paper towel tube..lol...

I'm also pretty interested in the breed...even the d activator has my interest

thing is, will they even fit in my guitar properly? if it'll fit into a strat then it should be ok in my esp lynch..it doesn't have pickup rings and it came with duncans and they seem to be a direct fit...I'm just hoping that the dimarzio mounting hardware isn't too tall...if it is, then I may have to look into the alternative 8 from duncan..but I'd really like to try a dimarzio

In the bolt-on neck strat, it is very percussive because that is the inherent quality of bolt on guitars. In my set neck/shorter scale guitar, it has smoother attack and a rounder overall tone but still cuts. The pickup is just amplifying what your guitar naturally has and adds a little eq sauce and it's own feel to a guitar (at least that's what a good pickup should do IMO). The AT-1 has excellent mids and I don't find the lows flubby or cloudy-even in the set neck guitar. Some Dimarzio's seem compressed to me with a smaller dynamic range. I don't hear that in the AT-1. Like any pickup I'm sure there are some guitars it's just not gonna work well in, but in the 2 I use it in I really like it. FWIW, at one point I had a botique pickup in both guitars and while there are some good hand wound pickups from companies like Bare Knuckle, MCP, etc, I truly find the hype surrounding them a little overboard. It's one part of the equation and IMO not as much so as the guitar itself let alone speakers, amps, strings, picks, cables, yada...... Just my humble opinion...

I may have to give this pickup a shot then..I found the same thing with the few dimarzios I had back in the day..the stockers in my axis, the stockers in my JP6, the evolution....I didn't care for any of them..but I did like the 36th anniversary vrad put in his buddy's strat...seems like the AT 1 is that but just a little more..which would be pretty cool...I want to stay away from the compression and limited dynamics..i like an open sound...

so it's looking like this or the breed if I want to try something new in my lynch...I find the JB to be spikey at times..it's a love/hate thing =D although I think it sounds really good in a LP cause of the darker nature of those...I had one in my old edwards lp that killed pretty good...

 

[racerevlon]

I'd stay away from the Breed based on what you've described. I think that pickup would be too "all over the place" for you. If you're thinking Breed at all, just go with the PAF 36th Bridge. Another pickup you might want to consider to control the potential "flubbiness" in the low-end is Norton. To me, the AT-1 looks like a rolled-off Tone Zone and that scares me a bit. I've had great success with Norton in MANY different guitars of different composition. The mids aren't SO pronounced it becomes a quack machine, the bass is rolled off enough to keep it punchy but tight, and the output is good, but not over the top--right in between the PAF 36th and the Tone Zone. Norton has a little more output than AT-1 which compensates for the AT-1's pushed EQ curve.

BTW--I play Dimarzios pretty much exclusively and have since I was about 16.

Hope this helps!!

Cheers,

 

[Anonymous]

try a duncan custom...or a tone zone.

two different ends of the spectrum..the custom is pretty focused, the tzone is pretty open and big note sounding, but...hey try em from gutter center and return if you dont like.

 

[Toshiro]

I absolutely love the AT-1, I have 2 of them in alder-bodied Charvels. Works for everything from chunky metal rhythm, to singing leads, to bluesier tones.

 

[muudrock]

I'd stay away from the Breed based on what you've described. I think that pickup would be too "all over the place" for you. If you're thinking Breed at all, just go with the PAF 36th Bridge. Another pickup you might want to consider to control the potential "flubbiness" in the low-end is Norton. To me, the AT-1 looks like a rolled-off Tone Zone and that scares me a bit. I've had great success with Norton in MANY different guitars of different composition. The mids aren't SO pronounced it becomes a quack machine, the bass is rolled off enough to keep it punchy but tight, and the output is good, but not over the top--right in between the PAF 36th and the Tone Zone. Norton has a little more output than AT-1 which compensates for the AT-1's pushed EQ curve.

BTW--I play Dimarzios pretty much exclusively and have since I was about 16.

Hope this helps!!

Cheers,

Ive not found Dimarzio's (or Duncans) eq specs to be particularly acurate. Too many variables. Since Ive had it installed, I haven't found the AT-1 to be anything like the Tone Zone. I had a TZ in this and a couple other guitars and it had no life to it. The whole midrange sounds congested on the TZ in every guitar I've tried it in. The AT-1 sounds much more open to me. To my ears, in my guitars, It has some qualities of the SD JB but without the strident spike in the upper mids. Tighter low end, and I haven't found that sharp, fatiguing presence spike that the presence. YMMV.

 

[shreder75]

I have heard the AT 1 mentioned along with the JB actually..as in 'dimarzios answer to the JB'..only slightly different..

the norton is also one that seems to be an underappreciated hero...

I'm taking a new approach to my gear as of late...lesson learned from playing the lower output chopper in my tele...I go to third gear with it and I get some good hard rock stuff, go to first and I can get all kinds of funk/jazz/clean stuff

with my duncan distortion loaded guitars it's first gear only

I play the JB on first gear but it still annoys me at times....I'm thinking my new fascination may be medium output pickups and just use more gain for the heaiver stuff rather than high output pickups...with more gain...lol

sure, the chopper is really on the cool side but with a good amount of gain through it I'm digging the string separation and clarity of it...so I'm thinking a medium output pup in my lynch may just do the trick..just a matter of what...I'm digging the info and suggestions...the AT 1 is definetly up there...I'll look more into the norton...

I have played the tone zone in a wannabe EVH bumblebee guitar and didn't much care for it however...

so, what do we have? AT 1, Norton perhaps? I've considered the custom at times but I think it's too beefy on the low end for my liking...I'm still intrigued by the FRED and Mo Joe too...dunno why..lol

 

[tom_h]

I really dig the PAF 36th BRIDGE model (DP223) and the Norton. The more I hear about the AT-1, the more interested I am in trying one out.