So Cal Pickups

[cvansickle]

I decided that I wasn't liking the stock Dimarzios on my So Cal.

So Cal owners, please tell me, if you have changed the pickups on your So Cal, what did you use?

Thanks.

[Matt_B]

Precisely what do you not like about the stock pickups? Please be specific and speak in terms of tone (bass, mid and treble response) and/or output.

Be in mind that the bridge pickup (the Dimarzio Tone Zone) is very sensitive to height adjustments so it would be good to know the distance the pickup is from the strings (press the low E at the 22nd fret and measure the distance from the top of the bridge pickup to the bottom of the low E string).

[wanthairspray]

I also changed mine. Did not suit the type of rock I was doing.

I put in a '59 neck and a Pearly Gates bridge. Didn't have a JB to hand. The gates is not very suitable. Very trebley. '59 sounds great.

[gtrbuyer]

I like the Duncans in my Production Tele but did not bond with the Dimarizo's in my So Cal. I dropped in a EVOII in bridge

[roodyrocker]

I also changed mine. Did not suit the type of rock I was doing.

I put in a '59 neck and a Pearly Gates bridge. Didn't have a JB to hand. The gates is not very suitable. Very trebley. '59 sounds great.

I never really liked the Pearly Gates for a bridge pickup. The older Shannon Soloists had this in them and I hated it, pretty weak for a bridge pickup. Now put it in the neck and its a whole other story, sounds nice there.
I like the Tone Zone so I left my So-Cal with its stock pickups. Depending on what you're looking for tone wise, there are always the old stadbys that got us through a couple decades, Dimarzio Super Distortion or Duncan Distortion

[cvansickle]

Precisely what do you not like about the stock pickups? Please be specific and speak in terms of tone (bass, mid and treble response) and/or output.

I think both stock pickups sound pretty sterile. They lack bass and they lack warmth. There's no "woman tone" in the neck Evo at all. The Tone Zone is just all bright, no bass and no mids.

I purposely wanted to avoid saying what I was looking for in particular. I wanted to hear what others have done, and get some ideas. There is no right or wrong here, just differences of tonal taste and I'm open to suggestions.

[Matt_B]

I think both stock pickups sound pretty sterile. They lack bass and they lack warmth. There's no "woman tone" in the neck Evo at all. The Tone Zone is just all bright, no bass and no mids.

Hmmm...interesting, especially about the Tone Zone because it has significant bass and mids and while it's not a dark sounding pickup, it's also not bright either. I'm saying this based partially upon the specs and my experiences with the pickup in a few different guitars (basswood bodies, alder bodies, hardtail, OFRs, rosewood fingerboards, maple fingerboards and ebony fingerboards).

I purposely wanted to avoid saying what I was looking for in particular. I wanted to hear what others have done, and get some ideas. There is no right or wrong here, just differences of tonal taste and I'm open to suggestions.

The only reason I asked what you don't like about the stock pickups is because in knowing what you don't like, it makes it easier to recommend something you might like.

That said, I have no recommendations because all the things you don't like about the Tone Zone I don't hear. Please understand that I'm not saying you're wrong because I agree with you - there is not right or wrong. It's just that my ears seem to be very different than yours so I'm afraid I have nothing.

[wanthairspray]

What amp and settings are you using cvansickle?

I actually quite like the Evos (tried them in a few guitars) and find them to very midd-y and singing.

However I also found the TZ to be quite harsh. I have tried them stock, in a Vigier and found it to be the same. Guess I don't like the TZ!

[Sturmovik]

I like the tone zone a lot. For me it really nails the Maiden type of sound. Your description of this pick up just doesn't sound anything like mine. I would describe it as having a midrange bite or snap. I would do what Matt-B suggested and play with the height first, assuming you havn't already done so. If I had a mind to swap it out, I would check out
some of the Bare Knuckles pups. People who have them seem to rate them very highly.

[Newc]

Yeah, what he said. Iron Maiden all the way.

I did notice the TZ sounds a bit like the JB if you back it away from the strings. And for me that's not a good thing

But I do prefer the TZ over the JB, even at the same height.


But then I use a rack full of preamps, sometimes 2 at once, and each one's got EQ out the ass, so I can do more tonally than the "geetar-to-amp" guys

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I haven't owned a SoCal but I did have a Tone Zone in a Charvel mutt. I love the Tone Zone, I think it's got great bass (I like a decent amount of bass) and sounds nice and focused. Actually I thought it might be a more "old-school" 80's sound than it actually was, to my ears, but I was pleasantly surprised.

I like the Duncan Custom as well. Kind of funny, but my buddy was bragging about how "heavy" the EMG's sounded in his (my old) Jackson and we unplugged the cord and put it in my guitar with a Duncan Custom, and we both thought it sounded more aggressive/chunky.

[jem777az]

I have two So-Cals both with a Suhr Doug Aldrich in the bridge. One guitar has a Lil Screamin Demon in the neck and the other has a Custom Shop Lil Pearly Gates in the neck. Both are wired with the DiMarzio Petrucci wiring system which in the middle position uses the inner coil of both the bridge and neck pickup for a great clean sound.

[cvansickle]

Well, I decided to keep the stock set. I tried a few other pickup combos, and they weren't doing it for me either. I put the stocks back in today, and I like what I'm hearing now. Maybe I just didn't have the pickups adjusted right?

[vondran]

I really like the stock pups in the SoCal. As others have said, height really makes a big difference in the TZ tone.

[cat&sloane]

If you don't want to read all of my rambling, but you are not completely satisfied with the sound of the stock pickups in the So-Cal, consider trying the Fender (made by SD) EVH Frankenstein in the bridge and the SD Alnico II Pro (N) in the neck. These pickups transformed my So-Cal into the best sounding and most fun guitar I have ever owned. FWIW (which ain't much), I have owned a lot (more than I care to count) of nice made in USA guitars (Fender, Fender CS, Gibson, Gibson CS, Jackson USA, Dean USA, Kramer USA, Hamer USA, Robin, G&L, Music Man, PRS (a lot of PRS!), etc., etc.)

At first, I thought the TZ sounded cool. Best pickup I have ever tried for distorted single string low and mid note riffing. But I couldn't shake the heavy midrange honk, and it really started to annoy me.

I thought the Evolution in the neck was good for high note soloing with heavy distortion and nothing else.

I could not get a decent clean or semi-distorted sound out of either of the stock pickups. Yes, I tried raising and lowering the pickup heights. After the novelty wore off, the guitar mostly hung on the wall and was seldom played in favor of other guitars.

I loved the Charvel neck and I knew the guitar had potential, so I replaced the TZ with new Fender/SD EVH Frankenstein. I was instantly blown away. I am not an EVH fanboy, but this is the tone I have been searching for since I first picked up an electric guitar 25 years ago. It has just the right amount of sizzle on top. It is not at all raspy like a JB. The midrange honk of the TZ was gone. The Frankenstein pickup even sounds good clean. The clean sound of this pickup has a smokey flavor that allowed me to understand for the first time what Eddie meant by the term "brown sound."

Anyway, I think the Frankenstein pickup and the So-Cal are magic together. This combination nails the EVH tone on Panama like no other guitar/pickup combination I have ever played. If you add more gain, it sounds even better!

[The Frankenstein output is noticeably lower than the output of the TZ. I think they have similar DC resistance, so I am guessing the difference is attributable to the degaussed alnico II magnets.]

The Alnico II Pro neck pickup ended up being the perfect compliment to the Frankenstein pickup. The A2Pro in the neck sounds great clean, distorted, and anywhere in between on this guitar. The improvement over the Evolution was astounding.

The test rig for all of these observations was my Egnater IE4 (Redface) - TC G-Force - VHT 2/50/2 - 4/12 Greenback cabinets (2 in stereo).