[font=trebuchet ms]I suspect there aren't a lot of players who have both pups in their kennel.

I've been playing DiMarzio pickups for so long that I didn't even consider risking my dollars on another brand. I feel like I know what to expect from these guys. So when I bought a second 1984 Yamaha SBG1000 (I do tend to go with what I know), I went to DiMarzio for something a little different.

My first SBG1000 (picture a double-cutaway Les Paul with better detailing) has a DiMarzio Dual Sound DP101 at the bridge and a SCHB DP106 at the neck. It's a good pairing. The Dual Sound is a 4-wire version of the classic Super Distortion DP100 pickup. If you've heard anything recorded in the 70's, you've probably heard a wailin' guitar with at least one Super Distortion pickup in it.

The SCHB (Super Clear HumBucker) just didn't catch on for some reason. It was discontinued in the mid-80's. Too bad, 'cause it has a really nice warm, smooth sound sound that works well either clean or distorted. I prefer these 4-wire pickups because I can install Series/Parallel coil switches to add some more colours to the available sonic palette without suffering the noise problems I always had with single-coil pickups. I find that this pair work very well together, either in or out of phase.

For my second SBG1000, I wanted something with a more modern bite to it. The DiMarzio Tone Zone DP155 certainly delivers on that! There's no place to hide - the same characteristics that reward subtleties of touch and pick attack, also expose sloppy technique. When I'm on my game, this is the only pickup that can let me put it all out there without anything getting lost in the translation. It was meant for moderate-to-high-gain setups, but it works well clean, too. It's just a very expressive pickup.

I paired it with a DiMarzio PAF Pro DP151 at the neck. It reminds me of my old SCHB, but it's a bit more chimey, and it cuts through the mix better, without being aggressive about it. And it has sesitivity to pick attack that is similar to the Tone Zone. The two balance well, and when I run them out-of-phase, the result is so dramatic that it's like having a flanger built into my axe.

This combination is really, really good at letting a skilled guitarist show off their chops. I don't practice enough to qualify for that title on a consistent basis. That's the only downside to this combo. As I said before, there's nowhere to hide. If you slur your fretting, or get sloppy about muting unused strings, that's gonna come out for everyone to hear. The other side of that coin is that when you've got your **** together, the rest of the world is gonna have to settle for what you leave for them. Any little thing you do that makes your sound the individual expression that it is, will be proudly displayed. This definitely a 'take no prisoners' kind of rig.[/font]