Who's played the Dimarzio Crunch Lab?

[GuitarGoat]

I'm looking for a pickup for my Strat. It's a maple neck, rosewood fretboard, ash body, and vintage style trem. Currently I've got a Bareknuckle Warpig in there, but it's just a little too thick so I can't get the definition I want. I've got an Aftermath set that I use in my ash ESP Horizon, but I want a little more bottom end out of this Strat in standard, and I drop tune that guitar so less bottom end is perfect in that guitar. I'm leaning towards a Ceramic Nailbom (or Alnico Nailbomb), and the Dimarzio Crunch Lab just crossed my mind. Anyone used one yet, and what did you think? Any other suggestions would be great too!

 

[Musza]

If you're looking for a superior note definition the Nailbomb is a good choice. It's a very well balanced, mid-high output pickup with a spike highs, tight lows and very natural mids. The Crunch Lab has a lot of highs to it which won't work in strat in my opinion. It has also very deep and warm lows which not help the note separation when playing chords. Don't get me wrong, I really like Crunch Lab and it's a good pickup but in ash/maple/rosewood strat the Nailbomb is a better choice for what are you looking for.

 

[GuitarGoat]

If you're looking for a superior note definition the Nailbomb is a good choice. It's a very well balanced, mid-high output pickup with a spike highs, tight lows and very natural mids. The Crunch Lab has a lot of highs to it which won't work in strat in my opinion. It has also very deep and warm lows which not help the note separation when playing chords. Don't get me wrong, I really like Crunch Lab and it's a good pickup but in ash/maple/rosewood strat the Nailbomb is a better choice for what are you looking for.

Perfect. I just ordered a Ceramic Nailbomb last night after reading up on them. Fingers crossed!

 

[Chris O]

Underwhelmed. I don't understand the hype. AT ALL. To me, it's really generic, and doesn't particularly appeal to my ears. But it's soooo subjective, and therefore all opinions don't matter.

 

[Rock Bodom]

If you're looking for a superior note definition the Nailbomb is a good choice. It's a very well balanced, mid-high output pickup with a spike highs, tight lows and very natural mids. The Crunch Lab has a lot of highs to it which won't work in strat in my opinion. It has also very deep and warm lows which not help the note separation when playing chords. Don't get me wrong, I really like Crunch Lab and it's a good pickup but in ash/maple/rosewood strat the Nailbomb is a better choice for what are you looking for.

Perfect. I just ordered a Ceramic Nailbomb last night after reading up on them. Fingers crossed!

C-Bomb is a tight and bright pickup, emphasis on the bright. Definitely will give you good definition, very articulate. The low end is interesting, tight but not tons of chunk to my ears, would be curious to hear how it works out for you!

 

[garey77]

If you're looking for a superior note definition the Nailbomb is a good choice. It's a very well balanced, mid-high output pickup with a spike highs, tight lows and very natural mids. The Crunch Lab has a lot of highs to it which won't work in strat in my opinion. It has also very deep and warm lows which not help the note separation when playing chords. Don't get me wrong, I really like Crunch Lab and it's a good pickup but in ash/maple/rosewood strat the Nailbomb is a better choice for what are you looking for.

Interesting. I would think that a pickup with a spike in the treble frequencies would be a bit too trebly, seeing as ash usually has a definitive and almost crispy high end.

 

[garey77]

Also, I had a CL in one of my guitars and loved it.

 

[GuitarGoat]

If you're looking for a superior note definition the Nailbomb is a good choice. It's a very well balanced, mid-high output pickup with a spike highs, tight lows and very natural mids. The Crunch Lab has a lot of highs to it which won't work in strat in my opinion. It has also very deep and warm lows which not help the note separation when playing chords. Don't get me wrong, I really like Crunch Lab and it's a good pickup but in ash/maple/rosewood strat the Nailbomb is a better choice for what are you looking for.

Perfect. I just ordered a Ceramic Nailbomb last night after reading up on them. Fingers crossed!

C-Bomb is a tight and bright pickup, emphasis on the bright. Definitely will give you good definition, very articulate. The low end is interesting, tight but not tons of chunk to my ears, would be curious to hear how it works out for you!

I'll let you know how it goes. The guitar sounds good but it's that last little bit I'm trying to perfect. I'll let you know when it comes in!

 

[Shask]

I have one in an Ibanez 7 string. I do like it, but I cant say I love it. It definitely has some sort of mid spike that it gets that nice focused crunch when you palm mute. It is a nice sounding pickup, but I cant say I like it better than anything else.....

 

[racerevlon]

The Crunch Lab is my #2 go-to bridge pickup (Super 3 is my #1). The great thing about the CL is that I usually install it with the solid bar towards the bridge, and am very happy with the results. On the rare occasion where the tone is too bright, I can reverse the pickup and put the solid bar towards the neck and warm it up a bit. Extremely good tone, and versatile. Highly recommend.

 

[PBGas]

I've had several of the over the years....you would think I would have learned after the first one! LoL...but I tried it with different guitars and woods to be sure.

Just can't get along with the pickup.

I'll have one F-spaced black/creme for sale in the classifieds shortly along with a PAF Pro in the same configuration.

 

[Badronald]

I have Subr Aldrich and Dimarzio Super Distortions in my Stratocasters. Love them both. Lean towards the Suhr.
The next one I want to try is the hot Anderson H+ or whatever it is.

 

[Stealthtastic]

Ive had them in a few guitars. They are too hot and undefined IMO

 

[Milerky2]

The Crunch Lab is my #2 go-to bridge pickup (Super 3 is my #1). The great thing about the CL is that I usually install it with the solid bar towards the bridge, and am very happy with the results. On the rare occasion where the tone is too bright, I can reverse the pickup and put the solid bar towards the neck and warm it up a bit. Extremely good tone, and versatile. Highly recommend.

So this may sound dumb, but I installed the Crunchlab / Liquifire combination in my Warlock, and I did it solid bar towards neck... but there is no defining mark on the Liquifire to tell which way it should be mounted... how do you tell?