SD v DiMarzio

[Cyberi4n]

So here's my question. I have two gorgeous Jackson Soloist SL3s loaded with Seymour Duncan SH4's! My new RG7620 arrives in a week's time and I'm concerned that the output will be much quieter than with the Jacksons, (based on the experience I've had with my bro's Jem). So if I find that this is the case and I need to upgrade the pickups, should i go for the SH4 or the DiMarzio ToneZone?

 

[Dylan7620]

so JBs versus New7s? i actually prefer my new 7s. to me JBs seem "quacky" and loose. i can't give a fair comparison as i've never owned a guitar with a JB, just played on them, i know they react very differntly at different heights. for what its worth.... the only JB tone i was amazed with was in an SL3.

which JEM does your buddy have, the early ones have PAF pros (fairly low out put) then the 7VWH with white EVOs (really high output) and the others that have breed pickups (somewhere in the middle)

in any case, if your scared of the 7620 not having enough out put heres a clip i just recorded yesterday click on "nomad clip pt. 2 modern"

 

[zimbloth]

sorry but this is apples and oranges.

 

[Emperoff]

The JB in mahogany kicks maximum ass. In basswood may not sound quite good. Try a Blaze bridge/custom, they sound pretty good in basswood

 

[Dylan7620]

sorry but this is apples and oranges.

how so? he can only go by what he knows. all he knows is than he has JBs in his soloist and said that his friends jem feels like it didn't have as much output. are we talking alder to basswood? 6 string to 7 string? duncan to dimarzio? whats apples and oranges?

 

[Cyberi4n]

sorry but this is apples and oranges.

Yeah but I like apples, but not oranges! So is the JB an apple or an orange?

 

[Dylan7620]

also, dimarzio has a 30 day trial period, so if you wanted to try the tonezone and end up not likeing it then you can give it back i don't know about duncan....

 

[jtm45]

Personally i've always preferred Dimarzios in Ibanez guitars (but that's going on using Dimarzios in an Ibanez 6.Haven't gotten around to trying them in any of my 7's yet.)
The SD's i have tried didn't really tickle my pickle, but then as Zimbloth said,different people like different tones/sounds so this is a tricky one to give an answer on.

The '30 day trial' thing with Dimarzio sounds like a good way of finding out though.
You already have a good idea as to how the SD's sound so if you try a Dimarzio and aren't impressed with the way they sound you can always return them and go down the SD road.

If money wasn't a concern i would personally give some BKP's a try.

 

[zimbloth]

Sorry I wasn't specific enough, let me attempt to clarify.

Comparing two pickups that have almost zero things in common just seems like a losing effort to me. Anyways, for lead tones, you are absolutely correct about the JB sounding cool in mahogany. But JBs unfocused bass response in mahogany can leave a lot to be desired in the rhythm department. I actually think the JB would work better in basswood or alder.

The Tone Zone is traditionally an excellent pickup for basswood (assuming you're thinking about this for your RG7620), but the 7-string version is a lot different. I don't know if it's the ceramic magnet vs. the 6-strings alnico, or if it's just voiced differently... but the TZ7 has loads of bass and mids, but has fizzy highs. It can sound cool, but something about it. It's just not that warm punchy toneful metal pickup like the TZ6 was.

Your SL3s are alder, so thats probably why you like the JBs. In your RG7620, id recommend maybe trying something new. Maybe give the SH-5 or SH-8 a shot, or a DiMarzio (Blaze, Blaze Custom, Evolution, D Sonic, X2N, PAF7 are all great pickups). Even the Tone Zone 7 might be nice in Basswood. I've only tried the TZ7 in mahogany guitars with maple necks.

 

[Cyberi4n]

Sorry I wasn't specific enough, let me attempt to clarify.

Comparing two pickups that have almost zero things in common just seems like a losing effort to me. Anyways, for lead tones, you are absolutely correct about the JB sounding cool in mahogany. But JBs unfocused bass response in mahogany can leave a lot to be desired in the rhythm department. I actually think the JB would work better in basswood or alder.

The Tone Zone is traditionally an excellent pickup for basswood (assuming you're thinking about this for your RG7620), but the 7-string version is a lot different. I don't know if it's the ceramic magnet vs. the 6-strings alnico, or if it's just voiced differently... but the TZ7 has loads of bass and mids, but has fizzy highs. It can sound cool, but something about it. It's just not that warm punchy toneful metal pickup like the TZ6 was.

Your SL3s are alder, so thats probably why you like the JBs. In your RG7620, id recommend maybe trying something new. Maybe give the SH-5 or SH-8 a shot, or a DiMarzio (Blaze, Blaze Custom, Evolution, D Sonic, X2N, PAF7 are all great pickups). Even the Tone Zone 7 might be nice in Basswood. I've only tried the TZ7 in mahogany guitars with maple necks.

Cheers dude - a lot to think about then

I'm after a clear non-muddy tone as I play more deep rhythm than lead. For me getting that deep bass crunch to sound clean is more important than shredding lead! The ToneZone7 has been recommended to me but I get the impression from your response that you dont rate this as much as the Blaze or Blaze custom? Of course all this is heresay - I may be perfectly happy with the stock pickups....

 

[zimbloth]

Try the D Sonic. Sounds right up your alley. The Blaze is a good option too, but the D-Sonic has more bite.

 

[Dylan7620]

im really curious as to try the D- sonic. though you can get a used blaze for pretty cheap too

 

[Metal Ken]

The Tone Zone is traditionally an excellent pickup for basswood (assuming you're thinking about this for your RG7620), but the 7-string version is a lot different. I don't know if it's the ceramic magnet vs. the 6-strings alnico, or if it's just voiced differently... but the TZ7 has loads of bass and mids, but has fizzy highs. It can sound cool, but something about it. It's just not that warm punchy toneful metal pickup like the TZ6 was.

I'll vouch for this -- The TZ7 is totally not my type of pickup at all. I've been meaning to replace mine, considering a DS7 in place of it. The tonezone just seems bassy and unfocused.

 

[EdgeCrusher]

Ive got Duncans in my 7 and Dimarzios in my 6's. They are all basswood RG's.

My first guitar was a RG270DX and I put a TZ6 in it. Fucking awesome sound.

It did Images and Words tones as well as Lamb of God style heavy metal pummeling perfectly. I realized it wasnt f-spaced years later, so even though it still sounded awesome, the low strings didnt pickup as much harmonics and I wanted to try something new so I built a new guitar (RG570FM) and got the D-Sonic and Air Norton. Even fucking awesomer. Alot like the TZ6 only now I have more clarity,a bit more treble, as well as evenly spread out harmonics. I have it the other way, but I'd imagine that with the bar twoards the neck, it sound almost identical to the TZ6. I dont know what Dimarzio did to the TZ7 and I've never played one, but Ive read notihng but bad reviews.

Now, as for my 7621, the SD JB and Jazz have the best cleans I've ever heard. But as for the other 90% of the time when I'm playing metal, it's not quite as good as my Dimarzios.
Now that I have a good tweakable amp with a 4X12 cab (my old amp was a Crate GFX212), I'm actually able to get a pretty good tone out of the JB, but I am going to replace it with a DS7.

Here are my thoughts on my JB7.

Good: Awesome cleans. Punchy and good for rock on lower 6 strings. Great lead and solo tones.

Bad: The low B on the JB7 is a bit unfocused and uncompressed. Its not tight like my DS6 or TZ6. Its also just not a good match for basswood, I cant quite put my finger on it, I'll just its say not like what is in mahagony, which is suppossed to be awesome.

 

[noodles]

Bad: The low B on the JB7 is a bit unfocused and uncompressed. Its not tight like my DS6 or TZ6. Its also just not a good match for basswood, I cant quite put my finger on it, I'll just its say not like what is in mahagony, which is suppossed to be awesome.

You're absolutely correct about the JB in basswood. It sounds absolutely horrible IMHO. JB sounds great on mahogany, and amazing on alder. Especially if it's neck through. It also usually takes me a few weeks to tweak the height sweet spot for any given guitar, because the pickup does have a broad dynamic range. I think about five practices with KxK and I found it.

 

[EdgeCrusher]

I just recorded a clip of my 7621 while I was practicing a new song with my singer tonight. I managed to get a pretty good tone out the JB7, even in my basswood RG, after some tweaking of course. I emailed Tommi Inkila over on the Petrucci forums a while back to get his Vox settings so I could have a good starting point. He was real nice and gave them to me. I cut back the bass like he recommended and cranked the mids and treble, and it sounded pretty rocking, not perfect, but definatley not horrible either. I'll post it up tommorow so you guys can let me know what you think. I promise it will be at least 10x better than the clip I posted with my Crate and crappy mic :cringes at the thought of my old tone: Hopefully none of you listened to it.

 

[Cyberi4n]

well I picked up a cheapish JB from eBay, so I'll give that a go and see how it compares to the Jacksons, if its no good I'l simply rip it out and sell it on ebay again