What sounds good with a DiMarzio Tone Zone?

If you want to know how a Tone Zone sounds, just take your guitar now and try turning your tone knob all the way down. Then imagine that the low end could somehow get even looser.
 
jsp":mzcw908d said:
If you want to know how a Tone Zone sounds, just take your guitar now and try turning your tone knob all the way down. Then imagine that the low end could somehow get even looser.
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Man, what are you guys doing to TZ's to have them do that? They are in no way that extreme darkness in any guitar I've tried em' on.
 
It actually sounds pretty decent in my Strat. I am happy. Tonight I am doing my second round of 'secret' mods o. That Strat. If it's not perfect, I have the scheme for the third phase of development written out.
 
Tone Zone was the answer for me with my Tom Anderson. Took me a while to get there, but I should have realized sooner since it was a basswood and maple super strat that already had an Air Norton in the neck.

It's like a Warpig or Invader EQ curve where it dumps a tone of low end into the signal, but it's not as hot and the voicing is less in your face.
 
Shask":1ad6akaf said:
Lol, I thought about buying up a few cheap TZs :D

I just put the stock TZ back in my Charvel So-Cal the other day, and it made me wonder why I ever played pickup roulette in that guitar. It sounds great in there as is. It has probably been 6-7 years since I last had it in there. I have had the Duncan Custom, Distortion, Invader, etc.... in there over the last several years. It is Alder/Maple neck, so naturally very bright. I thought about trying the TZ in a few other bright guitars I have.

It also makes me want to try some other related pickups, like the Super Distortion, and the D Sonic.
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I actually wanted to replace the stock TZ in my So-Cal, because of that little flubbiness in the lows.
Had a Super Distortion in there, a Duncan Distortion and finally settled on the Norton. It's a bit brighter/sharper than the TZ, but at least the low-end is tight, without sounding too pushed and clinical, like the Duncan Distortion did here.
One thing though, when I had the DD in there, that guitar was pretty much made for thrash metal. I just wanted a a bit more old school heavy metal feel from it.
That Charvel's TZ now is happily living in my Ibanez S540.

As others have said, in the right guitar it can work, but you just got a be careful that the big, woofy low-end doesn't become overpowering.
Compared to the TZ, I found the Duncan CC a lot less heavy, more rounded and middy sounding. I did NOT care for that pickup at all.
Now, a Duncan SH-16 Custom/59 Hybrid, which I have in my Burny Randy Rhoads LPC, that thing rocks! But I digress...
 
Devin":1wnhlxj2 said:
Shask, if you like the Tone Zone, you should try the BG Hellabucker. To me it's like a more versatile, better sounding TZ. By far my fave high output pickup
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The new billy gibbons humbuckers and strat pickups sound really really good. Thinking about getting the strat single coil bridge as a neck pickup to match the output of a humbucker TZ in one of my strats.
 
I redid the full wiring of the strat (about 8 more tweaks than normal a normal HSS strat) added some stuff. The tone zone in the strat is kicking all kinds of ass, especially after my mods (which the mods are no means normal). The switching was untouched.
 


That was first take. I hate screwing around with clips. I will do a clean video in a bit with all functions.

Probably one of the most pissed off Strats I have ever heard

Also I just refretted this guitar last week and I need to spot level/crown a tiny bit
 
Kick ass man, right on! One thing about the Tone Zone/Air Zone....pickup height makes a tremendous difference to tone(more than some). A little slanted makes a world of difference(closer on the high strings than the bottom). Play with the pickup height....once you find that sweet spot you'll know it.
 
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