Dimarzio Pickups

[khalilthewanderer]

Has anyone ever tried a Steve's Special with a Liquifire combo? What is the best dimarzio combo for prog rock/prog metal?

 

[Robotechnology]

Haven’t tried with liquifire but, have mine with an Air Norton. Love that combo. I must say that if you don’t like the Steve’s Special... flip it around. I was going to swap back to a Tone Zone before I flipped mine. Didn’t like it the other way. Great prog hard rock/metal tone in my opinion.

 

[skullfxr]

I LOVE the Liquifire in one of my Prestiges. It's paired with the crunch lab, and I find myself liking that too. The set matches well IMO.

Edit: Also if you do get a crunch lab, compare it in the standard orientation and 180° it may sound silly to do, but it's worth trying as a fine tweak.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

The problem these days is that Dimarzio has soo many offerings that it is hard to know where to lay your hat ( so to speak) so many sig and other fun named pickups. I do like the ones I use though, can't go wrong with a chopper or SD. The classics are always the classics for a reason.

 

[skullfxr]

The problem these days is that Dimarzio has soo many offerings that it is hard to know where to lay your hat ( so to speak) so many sig and other fun named pickups. I do like the ones I use though, can't go wrong with a chopper or SD. The classics are always the classics for a reason.

I totally agree with you on that. Call them last time I did, they were great on the phone.

The one DiMarzio that is blowing me away is that Virtual PAF in the neck of the Gibson. Not for the OP, but damn that thing sings.

I don't like the new PAF Pro's as I do my '80's PAF Pros though. I have an early production (super Distortion going in the LP I am still refinishing (essentially waiting for laquer to cure). The DiMarzio tech said it's one of the very earliest they made based on photos and measurements but he could not stick a year on it. I can't wait.

For me, I really like the Liquifire in the neck. EVO's are great, the air Nortons are OK, the tone zones blow balls in Ibanez they come on. The twang kings are my all time favorite mainstream Tele combo. The crunch lab sounds good in an RG no idea how it would work in a LP.

 

[Speeddemon]

The one DiMarzio that is blowing me away is that Virtual PAF in the neck of the Gibson. Not for the OP, but damn that thing sings....

For me, I really like the Liquifire in the neck. EVO's are great, the air Nortons are OK.

This surprises me a bit; I was under the impression that the Liquifire was even smoother than the Air Norton in the neck, yet you do seem to like the Virtual PAF as well in the neck, which should be more in the vain of the more open sounding DP103 36th Anniv. neck, so I'd expect you to prefer the Air Norton over the Liquifire in the neck, no?

Personally I really like the Air Norton for a thick, but clear/defined slightly boosted neck tone and I'm using it in 3 greatly different guitars with equally great results;
a Burny Les Paul Standard, a Charvel So-Cal (superstrat) and an Ibanez S540FM.
In that Ibanez as well as in the Charvel, there was an Evo Neck before (which came stock in the Charvel), and while I like that pickup in its own right, since it's already on the brighter and thinner side of the spectrum, I'd rather use something more beefy sounding in those bright(er) guitars.
I tried a Breed Neck in the Charvel, and while it was bigger in the low-end than the Air Norton, it also imparted some top-end 'jangle' that I didn't care for. That pickup went in my all mahogany Gibson V (ebony fb) and there it's absolute phat rawk! Also splits great, like the Air Norton.

The twang kings are my all time favorite mainstream Tele combo. The crunch lab sounds good in an RG no idea how it would work in a LP.

Agreed, I put a Twang King neck in my G&L Asat tele to add some more classic tele tones, since the stock G&L MFD pickups can sound quite powerful for a tele. The good thing about the MFD's is that they handle high gain really well, without sounding dull when used clean. But the Twang King took it to the next level as well as re-instating the classic chrome 'lipstick' look for the Tele, since the stock MFD was uncovered black.

 

[skullfxr]

The one DiMarzio that is blowing me away is that Virtual PAF in the neck of the Gibson. Not for the OP, but damn that thing sings....

For me, I really like the Liquifire in the neck. EVO's are great, the air Nortons are OK.

This surprises me a bit; I was under the impression that the Liquifire was even smoother than the Air Norton in the neck, yet you do seem to like the Virtual PAF as well in the neck, which should be more in the vain of the more open sounding DP103 36th Anniv. neck, so I'd expect you to prefer the Air Norton over the Liquifire in the neck, no?

Personally I really like the Air Norton for a thick, but clear/defined slightly boosted neck tone and I'm using it in 3 greatly different guitars with equally great results;
a Burny Les Paul Standard, a Charvel So-Cal (superstrat) and an Ibanez S540FM.
In that Ibanez as well as in the Charvel, there was an Evo Neck before (which came stock in the Charvel), and while I like that pickup in its own right, since it's already on the brighter and thinner side of the spectrum, I'd rather use something more beefy sounding in those bright(er) guitars.
I tried a Breed Neck in the Charvel, and while it was bigger in the low-end than the Air Norton, it also imparted some top-end 'jangle' that I didn't care for. That pickup went in my all mahogany Gibson V (ebony fb) and there it's absolute phat rawk! Also splits great, like the Air Norton.

The twang kings are my all time favorite mainstream Tele combo. The crunch lab sounds good in an RG no idea how it would work in a LP.

Agreed, I put a Twang King neck in my G&L Asat tele to add some more classic tele tones, since the stock G&L MFD pickups can sound quite powerful for a tele. The good thing about the MFD's is that they handle high gain really well, without sounding dull when used clean. But the Twang King took it to the next level as well as re-instating the classic chrome 'lipstick' look for the Tele, since the stock MFD was uncovered black.

The V-PAF is in a LP used more for blues/rock. And with the PAF pro it's killer for that. IMO.

The Liquifire is in a Prestige for metal. The Liquifire is much smoother than the air Norton. I really like the CL/LQ combo for metal. If you don't like the CL as-is, rotate it 180°.

I have EVO's in a Charvel in one spot and a set of EVO's in a Prestige. Thinner than the CL/LQ, but the variety is nice.

Those guitars are for different uses.

 

[skullfxr]

When I had my Gibson V's, 500t was king. I have a 500t in one of my LP'S in the bridge. Great pickup for hard rock/metal in a LP. and cheap too!

 

[grooveHT]

Two concerns; firstI've not heard of the SS being used in the neck before, so I'm not sure what it'll sound like there. Second, I'm the setup that you described, I think that it'll overpower a lot of bridge pickups, as there tends to be less strong vibration going towards the bridge. I really liked the SS in the bridge with the air Norton as others have said in the neck, and the inner coils sound of course is awesome.