DiMarzio X2N?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rex Rocker
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Rex Rocker
Rex Rocker
Well-known member
Anyone dig it in a Les Paul?

I just recently rediscovered my love for the Duncan Black Winter. I love how blisteringly hot bridge pickups pimpslap the input of an amp for added tightness and saturation.

Wonder if the X2N can keep up with the Black Winter seeing it's lower DCR. I don't think it has triple ceramic magnets either, does it?
 
I had an older 1979 one not long ago and thought it was awful honestly, but I am not a Dimarzio fan in general fwiw. I remember it being undefined, not too clear, lacking solidity to the notes. Duncan’s aren’t my favorite either tbh, but much prefer them to that X2N or other Dimarzio’s
 
They can work in the right guitar. But compared to most really high output pups, there is not a ton of mids to offset the ceramic high end sizzle. It’s actually a really neutral voice, but it will shout out all the bad qualities if you have a bright or thin piece of wood. It will come across as really bright and fizzy in most cases.
 
I tried one years ago, all I can remember is it being extremely trebly, piercing type sound. Don’t remember the guitar details otherwise.
 
Much like others here, my experience with the X2N was that it wound up being a bit fizzy and undefined.
This was in an Epi Les Paul some time back.
I've heard that it responds well in certain woods and guitars but all I know is my own experience with it, and I was left underwhelmed.
However I love the Black Winter pickup, surprisingly that pickup has responded super well in nearly every guitar I've tried it in.
The BW neck pickup is great too, so I've been using the set and I'm happy with it. I have them in two different guitars currently.
 
I play solid maple ESP Kamikaze. It’s a dark sounding guitar. I tried several pickups in it. When tried the X2N in it. Pure MAGIC thru my setup! It balanced nicely. Super edgy crunch. Ripping lead tones. I put the pickup in all my other guitars. Never looked back. That was about 10 years ago or so. My other strat I used a jb then an Aldrich. It fit perfectly.
 
I love the X2N. It sounds balanced to me and not harsh at all. The only negative is that it picks up every sound on the guitar being so hot, but not an issue using a noise gate.
 
I believe Buckethead used the X2N pretty extensively. His live tones from my experience has always been pretty awesome... but he was using his Les Paul for those gigs... and I'm not sure what he has in those.
 
Both my favorite pickups. X2N in MiM Charvel SoCal and Black Winter in LTD F-250. Both with high output and well balanced signal.
 
I just pulled one out of my RG657-MSK where are you located ? you can have it cheap, I didn't hate it but I had a BK holydiver available to use and I put that in there. The 657-MSK is mahogany with lacewood top it didn't sound bad but it was really hot..
message me if you want it
 
Rex Rocker said:
How do you think they compare?
Click to expand...

They are different. X2N is beefy pickup with massive output. Black Winter is more mid focused and let say more defined. Which looks fine, but it is also more prone to catch parasitic noises from strings and frets, if you can't play clean (like me). But you know Black Winter. X2N is a bit more forgiving. It overloads my Axe III input at all times :). With Kemper and tube amps it is ok. If you ask me, which one I like more, I don't know. It depends. Both great. X2N is worth to try, it's quite cheap.
 
So you'd say the X2N is hotter than the Black Winter? Because the Black Winter is pretty hot!
 
Many of those late 70’s early 80’s hot pickups are hot just for “hotness” sake (what more can we squeeze out of a ceramic pickup) and don’t carry a lot of tone. People just wanted hotter and hotter pickups to get as metal sound as they could. The Duncan Distortion and EMG are the only ones that really had staying power because they stayed tight and added saturation, and they are still go to pickups to this day. Others like the X2N, Dirty Fingers, Bill Lawrence etc from that era were just loud and brash, but not overly tight or saturated. Some famous players made them work of course but to me they are just a product of that era and better pickups came along later.
 
Well, everything is a matter of taste. IMHO many 'modern and tight' pickups has that disturbing hen like cluck-cluck-cluck coloring when playing gallops on 'modern and tight' amps. I.e. I bought SD Blackouts AHB-2 and was full of expectations, but ended up with a flock of hens running for their lives like sound. But that's just my opinion.

Except of X2N and L500XL, SD SH-13 is also a nice pickup from this family. My fellow guitarist has it in Dean ML. Sound wise it is great through 6505+.

@Rex Rocker I will check it with a scope and post results
 
As promised, some scope screens. Pickups loaded by Engl E530 input. Peak to peak voltages are maybe surprising (deltaY, 7.4V on the first pic) for someone. And it seems, that signal is about the same from both pickups, but that's not true. Y axis sensitivity is different on the first pic (to be short, first pic signal is zoomed 2x compared to others). Also X2N chugging signal is fuller. And what is not visible here is, that distance from strings is 2,5mm on a Black Winter and 5mm on X2N :)

Hard strummed E chord, all strings:
BW E.jpg
X2N E.jpg


Hard chugga chugga:
BW chug.jpg


X2N chug.jpg
 
Interesting, so this means the X2N is more compressed?
 
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