Pickup question..

For dimarzio pickups..

Would it work to have a Parker Fly custom in the neck with a X2N in the bridge?

Nobody seems to be going for that one..

Hows about a FRED (used by satriani) in the bridge with a Humbucker from Hell in the neck? What do you all think of that?

I hate to pet anyones fur backwards.But I'd look at the Seymour Duncan JB.Hot output,but rich and creamy sounding,not harsh.Real sweet.

i second the Seymour Duncans, but i don't know which pickups i'd get.

I don't know what the Parker Fly custom is like, but the DiMarzio X2N is the most extreme high-output passive pickup out there! It will not play cleanly - it was designed only for overdriving any amp input stage. A very single-purpose pickup.

The Fred is similar to the PAF Pro, with a little tweaking to bring out the harmonics. It's not quite as dramatic as the Tone Zone, which makes it easier to get along with. I think it would work well with a Humbucker From Hell, which actually is a very sweet-sounding pickup - smooth and warm when played clean, it cranks up nicely when you wanna play dirty.

I know the basic info about the pickups, I'm just wondering how they would all work together.

I think the FRED & HFH combination would work out well.

The X2N would need to be paired with something fairly high-output. I don't know the Parker Fly custom, but I think a DiMarzio Dual Sound or Super 2 would be a good match.

Originally posted by Lordathestrings
... but the DiMarzio X2N is the most extreme high-output passive pickup out there! It will not play cleanly...

I know you're experienced, Lordathestrings (I, as well), and I respect your opinions, but I've been using the "X2N" for MANY years as my #1 pickup in almost ALL of my guitars. It plays very clean. I use more gain (even when clean) then most players, and have never experienced 'clipping' prob's with it.

Several of my customers & students have had us put the X2N in a guitar-or-two (and they mostly use amps/heads, not rack gear like my own set-up); still never a prob' when clean.

AGREED, it's a VERY high-output pickup that's not necessarily suitable for MOST players, & I don't always recommend it to my clients. An average output of about 510mv, most 'lower-impedance' ACTIVE pickups usually can deliver over a VOLT(1000mv) without clipping clean signals.

The "Humbucker From Hell" I see mentioned [here] quite a bit, and is a very BRIGHT pickup, primarily designed to replicate the tone/attack/response of a 'single-coil', with reasonably MORE output than a single-coil (averaging 220mv or more, where the common high-output "single-stacks" are in the 110mv-130mv range).

btw- I was quite surprized to find out just HOW MANY of Zappa's guitars had the X2N in the bridge position, and how much praise he offered it. Once, when speaking to Larry DiMarzio, he told me he used the X2N HIMSELF in several guitars & offered a funny story as to how the original design came about!


~JSV

Just a Note:

You're a cool-cat, Lordathestrings! No 'beef here, just defending my "babies" lol! You know how it is, bro'?? ;)

~JSV

JSV: No prob.

I tried a X2N-equipped Les Paul guitar before I decided to put a Tone Zone in my second Yamaha SBG1000. Admittedly, I may not have spent enough time experimenting with it to find the right amp and guitar settings. I found that I had to turn the guitar volume knob way down to get a clean sound, and then the tone sounded muddy. This may have been the result of a poor choice of pot resistance for that application.

My main guitar is a black 1984 Yamaha SBG1000 with a Dual Sound at the bridge, and a SCHB (remember them?) at the neck. I recently found a stock, identical 1984 SBG100 on eBay. I soon decided that I wasn't satisfied with the stock pickups now, anymore than I was back in '84 when I bought the first one. This time around I wanted something with a nastier edge to it. Which led me to try out the aforementioned LP.

SCHB! That's an old pickup eh'?? 'Don't see 'em very often! I may be nuts (well... I AM nuts, I know...) but I think pickups, when cared for, get better with age. My main guitar have my older pickups in them, and when I buy new ones I put them in my 'less often used' axes.

About the 'LesPaul' thing; that's SO TRUE! In fact, my Gibsons are the only guitars I DON'T put the X2N in (I don't recommend it to clients w/Gibsons either). Not all heavy-bodied guitars do the same thing to pickups as Gibsons! Even my "V's", I use the DUAL-SOUND. AWESOME all-around pickup in any guitar. Being the "gain-iac" I am, it's the outrageous X2N in everything else.

Many Gibsons are factory wired with 300k pots, True, and some pickups aren't even tested for that resistance.
Gibson also makes many stock pickups that are of custom after-market quality (unusual in today's market). The rule-of-thumb I've found is that most guitars sold for (not LIST) over $1000-1100 or so, will have QUALITY pickups. It doesn't mean all player will like (or keep) them; but over that price range is where you'll find the CATALOG custom model Dimarzio, EMG active, Duncan, etc.

Just look at what you got with your 'PRS', or your Top-o-the-line Universe/JEM, or that $1800 flying-V, or that $2000 Tom Anderson... get the picture?

Now; how many of you EXPEIENCED players willingly kept the place-keepers that were in the RG550/RG540(awesome guitars, lame stock pickups & wiring job), or in your BC-Rich"NJ"series, or that cheap STRAT, etc...

Sorry to carry-on so much, but like I said...

I AM NUTS.... but learning to cope with it...

Props' to you, Lord-a-tHa'-sTrAaangs!


~JSV