BRIGHT problem

[MarceloBR]

The Dimarzio Tone Zone should solve this problem. Really nice pickup for bright guitars.

[Robert Hendrix]

The Dimarzio Tone Zone should solve this problem. Really nice pickup for bright guitars.

+1 I put a Tone Zone in my DK2 and it transformed it into a MONSTER!! Before, it was too bright and harsh sounding, the TZ really gave it some ass and too away the harshness.
BTW: the pickup that WAS in it was a full shred

[jgcable]

My vote would be a Gibson 500T

I had the same problem with one of my Washburn's. Too bright. I even switched the pot to a 350K and it was still to bright.
Put the 500T and a 500K pot in and its perfect.

[Amerturk]

My vote would be a Gibson 500T

I had the same problem with one of my Washburn's. Too bright. I even switched the pot to a 350K and it was still to bright.
Put the 500T and a 500K pot in and its perfect.

One of the best pups around IMO!

[j2379]

BTW: the pickup that WAS in it was a full shred

Robert, the original pickup when i got it was a screamin demon, one row of gibson slotted poles, 1 row of black allen key poles. Ive heard rumors the tone zone is a slight tweak on the double whammy anybody know if its true. I only ask because Ive had many double whammy's as they were the factory pup in older ST-3's.

I'm also thinking about an X2N or a duncan distortion.

[Rich#6]

the dd is pretty bright since it's based on the JB with ceramic magnets.

[ginsambo]

+1 about the DD. It was so ear piercingly shrill in definitely not a nice way in my heavy, alder dreamsicle I replaced it, I can understand that it could well be a JB on ceramic steroids in that respect. Too OTT for a bright guitar, it'll drive you insane if it doesn't deafen you first.

I have a JB and a 500k vol pot in my Red 1H Wildcard. I like it. The body is a heavy one and I have the mids maxed out on the Marshall DSL which is a thin sounding amp anyway. I don't find it too shrill and I like it's organic natural swell on the highs. Especially it's swell and then it's sappy pucker it adds to the notes and it's response to pick attack makes the guitar really sing, can't really describe it, but just a single note seems to have so much more dynamics to it than any other pup. It is a bit thin and flappy on the lower notes granted, but overall it's my fav pup, mainly because of those dynamics it adds to the high notes, like it's an animal crying rather than a guitar. Feckin A for 80's metal and soulful blues! Maybe that guitar is not so bright, it doesn't sound overly bright unplugged, probably guessing wrongly that heavier alder guitars are brighter?

The Tone zone does sound good with good definition balance, especially for crunchy riffage power and balanced and clean, articulated definition all round but it's also swell searingly muted compared to a JB on the highs without being too powerful or distorted on the amp and it's much better (Crunchily) defined on the lows. It is a great pup IMO, you won't be dissappointed, especially in a bright guitar that has definition anyway. Basically it adds a lot of crunch and overall balance and more mids, of course being ceramic, it's far more restrained and organically/dynamically muted on the highs compared to a JB as you'd expect with a ceramic, but not 2 dimensionally so. Well inspiring pup though, especially if on the beat distorted riffage and riffs are your thing. I have that in my Slime Green Pro Mod. I alway think of that controlled Paul Gilbert tone when I'm playing the Tonezone, but it does have more blues rock chatter give in it if you want to reach for it.

Other pups I have in brighter guitars are the Dimarzio AT-1, and 36th Anniversaries and the Breed (All use alnico 5 magnets). One other ceramic pup which I like is the Dimarzio Super Distortion, it's a different animal to the Duncan Distortion as the emphasis is on the bass and power on lower mid spectrum, as opposed to the searing upper mid range and treble side on the Duncan.

I think you might also find a Custom and even a Custom Custom too bright. Although haven't tryed CC myself.

Depends on what you are adverse to, if you like organic valve tones, 80's metal, rock and bluesy stuff and reaching for something you can't quite technically pull off to the beat but it sounds great anyway go for alnico pups. But I think you won't go wrong with a nice crunchy Tonezone for versatility and punch.

I just gave a lecture again didn't I. I really love the JB, it was created by God and I think that alot of people don't know how to handle it. Most all strat type guitars are bright anyway, although I think you have to learn to harness that to your advantage. A common mistake when choosing humbuckers, is going for more power, when it won't necessarily give you want you want and often will make it sound worse. I've done it, I'm sure we all have.

A year ago I put together a Eddie Ojeda Kramer replica which is a bright guitar and added a red/black Dimarzio De Activator Bridge. It's way bright, like playing with the mains voltage plugged in to it. I mean you can just widdly with one hand, but it's such a one trick pony it kind of gets boring after a half hour. Has unbelievable pick harmonics though. Dimarzio definitely excel at making the higher output pups that still have some punch and harmonics to them though. I seriously think Eddie Ojeda must be missing some of his higher hearing register from all those gigs in the 80's, although I should really substitute the 500k pot for a 250K pot first. If you want active pups without electronics, it's definitely all true what the dimarzio guys say. Still no where near as shrill as the DD though.

Yeah Tonezone is definitely your pup of choice for a more balanced widdle.

I don't get half the Jackson bods on here and their EMG's and such and all that, whilst they are much better than me at what they do, I don't get the tonality, so I annoy them with essays. You can't beat a Charvel Strat with an AT-1 or a JB in it for the ultimate in soulful widdlying.

[BigE13]

I would vote for a BKP Nailbomb. Very balanced pup that can go from nice cleans to tear your face off metal. Not shrill at all.

[VitaminG]

I never got through LOTR either - can someone give me a high-level synopsis of ginsambo's post?

[Robert Hendrix]

This s a really interesting thread to me as I am getting ready to re-pup a DKMGTFF I recently picked up. I don't care for the EMG-HZs that are in it. I wouldn't mind a Tone Zone in it as I am still really impressed with the tone in the DK2 that I mentioned earlier.
I LOVE the JB that's in my Wild Card 4, but when I go to my lead channel (which scoops the mids) it tends to get a lot of really wild out of control feedback, so I've had to resort to just using a boost pedal on the crunch channel, not really the tone I want for leads, but it gets the job done.
I have a friend that has recently gotten a distributorship for Bareknuckle pickups, and there's a couple of those that I'm interested in, but I don't know how they would do in this particular guitar. I guess it just boils down to spending money to experiment.

[Amerturk]

The SD 59 tends to clean up well without the earsplitting highs of the JB and DD.

[j2379]

thanks, I have a DD in a top routed fender/jackson mutt and its thick full and i wouldnt expect thats its listed as bright as it is on the tone chart. As for JB's I still think they are in some guitars magic and in others a bucket of ass. my wayne sounds killer w one.

I am in the process of messing with it again, as i noticed the vol pot looked like a cheapo generic 500K. going to put in a CTS and see what happens.

[ginsambo]

The height of your action has a lot of effect on tone and sustain too and pup closeness to the strings.

In short G, for a bright guitar, my choice would be a Tonezone....or a JB...or a AT-1 or a 36th Anniversary or a Breed, or a Superdistortion, or possible a Custom Custom but I haven't tryed that one yet although it has been reccommended me and haven't tryed anything other than D'd and Dimarzio's so can't comment, but not a DD. Depends on your prefered tonality.

Like JB's though, honky low down mids, sweet, searing upper mids and organically rounded highs and I guess I can live with the flappy, muddy bottoms.

Love to try an RTM, that must be like God of the Universe.

Also, as it's a direct mount the JB in my Wildcard is quite a distance from the strings, I wonder if that tones down the shrillness as I don't hear it the same as I do with the DD? But that said the Japanese alder bodies are generally heavier and tighter so probably brighter too than my USA ones.

Also creme pickups tend to sound better.

[toejam]

In short G, for a bright guitar, my choice would be a Tonezone....or a JB...

I'd go for a Tone Zone. In a bright guitar, no way would I do a JB unless I had a 250k pot. Those pickups are like the opposite of each other... the TZ has more lows and low mids, where the JB is more treble and high mids. I've always thought the JB sounded better in mahogany, but sometimes it can sound pretty good in alder.

[Whoopu2]

In my early days, I had a cheapo Dean that was brighter than the sun. Nothing could seem to fix it, I could EQ it so it didn't sound so harsh but it would just sound thin as hell. Put a few different pups in it, didn't matter. That damn guitar was just cursed with brightness.