How do you guys evaluate pickups? (Dimarzio / Duncan)

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Kapo_Polenton

Kapo_Polenton

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I took a few hours last weekend to swap pups back to back and I have to say, the room is hugely underrated when doing shootouts. Unfinished basement, lots of bass build up from a 4x12, make sure you run through a set of headphones or even into a twonotes or something so you can get more than one idea of the tone. For example, I thought the PAF PRO sounded pretty good in the room with the bite and harmonics I liked but with earphones on, sounds way too compressed. In fact, dimarzio's overall left me a bit bleh this time around. This is what I rolled through my alder strat (Koa top) with rosewood board this weekend;

PARIAH Patina - wanted to try this, sort of specs out like the Duncan RTM which is essentially a JB2. Big sounding but maybe not gritty enough for me. smooth.
Duncan Custom Custom SH-11 - pretty good sounding. Felt too boomy in the room but again, earphones are a diff story. Not earth shattering good, but sounds good.
Dimarzio AT - The dimarzio JB with a 250K pot sound from what I understand. Good pup but when you compare a JB, it is definitely more of a gentleman and not that wild girl at the bar with crazy hair that is everything we love or hate about JB.
Dimarzio PAF PRO- Sounds good in untreated room but man the compression when I listen through tracking headphones.
Dimarzio 36 anni - a little thin up top but good crunch, less compressed than a lot of the other dimarzios. (love the neck 36)

So far to me my two faves still are, my JB2 (magnet swap in a regular JB) and the aldrich. The biggest thing that stood out to me is that maybe I am not a dimarzio guy when it comes to bridge pups. I like their chopper in the neck position where you want that juicy compression but for the bridge, I much prefer more raw sound and duncans really do that well. What was fun was that I didn't do the usual 5 diff strats with 5 diff pickups. This was all the same guitar back to back. Definitely not scientific but good enough when you know what you like.
 
Oh! the other takeaway. Every guitar is different. Everything plays a part. The bridge hardware, the body, neck, finish, pots, room, gear, settings etc.. You can get a guideline of what they are like but every guitar is going to be it's own unique thing with pickups. So these recommend me a pickup threads may be good as a starting point but they also result in people like me with a box full of humbuckers. I was counting some of the others I had and I must have like 1200$ worth of pickups or more.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
Duncan Custom Custom SH-11 - pretty good sounding. Felt too boomy in the room but again, earphones are a diff story. Not earth shattering good, but sounds good.
Dimarzio AT - The dimarzio JB with a 250K pot sound from what I understand. Good pup but when you compare a JB, it is definitely more of a gentleman and not that wild girl at the bar with crazy hair that is everything we love or hate about JB.
Dimarzio PAF PRO- Sounds good in untreated room but man the compression when I listen through tracking headphones.
Dimarzio 36 anni - a little thin up top but good crunch, less compressed than a lot of the other dimarzios. (love the neck 36)
Click to expand...
I had pretty much the same findings...
add-on: I found the SH-11 too thin in the low-end, too mellow in the top-end and all mids+low-mids. Not the tighest pickup either.

Never tried the 36th Anniv bridge, but I love the neck as well. Had it in two Les Paul Customs, now just one. I swapped the other one out with a Duncan PGn, to keep that LPC all-Duncan. There's a Custom/59 Hybrid in the bridge, which rocks.
The AT-1 is in another Les Paul (standard) together with a flipped Air Norton in the neck. Very, VERY versatile guitar, with push-pull Bourns volume pots (500k).
 
Speeddemon said:
I had pretty much the same findings...
add-on: I found the SH-11 too thin in the low-end, too mellow in the top-end and all mids+low-mids. Not the tighest pickup either.

Never tried the 36th Anniv bridge, but I love the neck as well. Had it in two Les Paul Customs, now just one. I swapped the other one out with a Duncan PGn, to keep that LPC all-Duncan. There's a Custom/59 Hybrid in the bridge, which rocks.
The AT-1 is in another Les Paul (standard) together with a flipped Air Norton in the neck. Very, VERY versatile guitar, with push-pull Bourns volume pots (500k).
Click to expand...
For sure the SH-11 is booming in the mids and a bit sloppy. I was expecting it to be tighter. I wouldn't mind trying the custom/59 but the prices I see are a total turn off. The 59 on it's own bridge and neck seem like a really good starting point for any guitar. The right flavor of vanilla.
 
I had the 59 neck in a Les Paul and in my ESP Horizon NT-II, where it came stock.
Took it out both. In my Randy Rhoads Les Paul Custom I found it too boomy/wide and scooped. Tried a Jazz, found that way too sterile/clean. Tried the Alnico Pro II, found that too thick/warm/wooly. Then went for the DiMarzio 36th Anni DP103. Which sure worked very well, although I wanted just a pinch more push and hair... so.... for now the Pearly Gates neck is a winner in that Les Paul.
The 59n in the ESP wasn't bad, but the split tone lacked something. Went for a Screamin Demon in the neck there. Much better, although still not perfect.
For a more lead-oriented guitar, I'm looking for a more Andy Larocque meets Jon Norum-tone; clear, bell like, lots of character, nothing too gainy.
Normally, a flipped Air Norton does that for me, but I want to keep the ESP Duncan-only (Custom-5 SH-14 in the bridge). Already have 3 totally different guitars with an Air Norton neck already. :sneaky:
 
What does the norton flipped do? I liked the custom 5 I had years ago but I think I gave it to a buddy and I am not sure what he did to it. I've wanted it back to put in my LP copy for a Schenker sort of vibe. What bridge pickup do you have in the RR now? I've always read that it was either the SD or the stock gibson pickups.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
What does the norton flipped do? I liked the custom 5 I had years ago but I think I gave it to a buddy and I am not sure what he did to it. I've wanted it back to put in my LP copy for a Schenker sort of vibe. What bridge pickup do you have in the RR now? I've always read that it was either the SD or the stock gibson pickups.
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Flipped, it's a bit brighter.
My RR Les Paul Custom is a Japanese Burny from '83. Originally came with VH-1 pups, which are very nice in their own way; more classic PAF like, but since I like to cover lots of ground with almost every guitar I have, I wanted something coil-splittable in there. Of course I stowed the VH-1's away; not selling those.

So that's the guitar with the Custom/59 Hybrid bridge and the Pearly Gates Neck.
My other two Les Pauls are Burny's as well; an '87 (Black beauty LPC) and an '89 (the Standard).
Owned a few more, sold one (Tobacco burst) to one of the guys from DeadHead. ?

The Black LPC has a Super Distortion (b) with the DP103 36th Anni neck.
But the RR is pretty much my #1... weighs over 11lbs, changed out all the electronics, Tusq saddles and nut, Grover 18:1 Rotomatic tuners, Switchcraft switch and jack and made it look more 'Randy-approved'.
The original pickguard only shows a part of the 'R', as the rest of the letters were rubbed off or something...
I had the Custom-5 in that RR as well and it flat out rocked! A tad more modern, tighter and with maybe a bit beefier low-end (still very tight) than the Custom/59 Hybrid, but I found the C/59 rather affordable locally, and a buddy of mine who's an endorsee at Seymour Duncan was raving about that pickup for a while, so gave it a go.
Very generally speaking; the Custom/59 will shine a bit better in hard rock/classic rock tones, and the Custom 5 more into heavier metal styles, while both have enough going for them to cover a lot more. The Custom-5 is still an Alnico V based pup, so it's not too pushy or sterile.
Tried EMG's, tried upping the juice to 24V with 'custom' batteries in a 9V-ish holder, but it wasn't for me.
 
I start with a pickup I know (JB/59 is a good one) and make changes based on what I like about the pickup for the next pickup after that.

Having said that, I do not swap pickups in a guitar that I do not swap in new pots, new switch, and new jack in ever. Bornes in Gibson, CTS everywhere else. Caps get swapped too both type and value.
 
I have about 40 pickups I’ve collected over the years. I go through cycles where I swap a lot. Right now I’ve been on a Tom Anderson Pickup kick. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve tried the H2+, H3, H1, H1-, SF2, SA2, HC3, HC1 and HF3 in various guitars.

For how I evaluate, it changes. Sometimes I’m wanting an edgy sizzle with high output, then I’ll go through wanting a more full bodied even sound that’sa little warmer. But I know it’s there when I hear it, haha... I’m no help
 
To me, the ultimate test is how a pickup sounds mic'd up. My ears have adjusted to listening in the room something that translates well mic'd up.
 
Yes mic'd up is the great equalizer. I remember in my old place once I treated my listening space all my settings changed on the amp as well as my thoughts on pickups. I've moved though, untreated room it is once again. I tend to lean toward alnico 2 I am finding. I like the sponginess but it has to be tight. I have to wonder with all these pickup winders though, there are only so many ways to skin a cat, it has for to be much of the same after a while.
 
For me I evaluate pickups by trying various head and cab combinations.
Of coarse playing rythems , leads and different techniques to hear the response and see how they feel.
I like both dimarzios and Duncan's.
I have these pickups in different guitars.
80's jb in a kramer focus 1000
Screamin demon kramer focus 1000
Michael Schenker sig Dean in a kramer focus 1000
Dimarzio transitions in a tele thinline
SD Warren d martini in a kramer voyager
Lil pearly gates in a custom strat deluxe

On deck I have an AT 1 and chopper waiting for another kramer to be finished.
Also a Bill Lawrence xl500 in a kramer pacer.
An email 81 in an old strat .
The rest of my guitars are stock pickups.
I like each one for various reasons.
But truly so many variables.
What sounds good in one might sound bad in another ?
It seems I'm starting to like the less hot pickups theses days ?
Seem like they are more articulate?
 
If I am considering a pickup change I first look at the natural strengths of the guitar in question. I then pinpoint what I want more or less of then find a pickup that does that. If it ended up sounding great I guessed good. If it ends up sounding like shit, then I missed the mark somewhere along the line and need to regroup.
 
Pickups are a pain to shop for. I’ll research them, look at all the specs, read the reviews and even reach out to the manufacturers for recommendations. It’s almost like a crap shoot because they can react so differently depending on the amp being used. Luckily most everything I’ve bought has worked out, but to me it’s still all a combination of voodoo, pixie dust and esoteric knowledge as to what I’m actually buying.
 
The advantage of lower output pickups is for sure how they handle gain. Even when you boost a gained out amp, they keep the tightness and clarity.
 
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