a couple years ago when the BFR ebmm's came out is when he started using the D-sonic.. it was originally just for those since they had a few different woods in the body (and he wanted a new pickup that worked with the combo) and that eventually led to him replacing is custom tweaked SS in the standard model to the off the shelf D-sonic in the standard guitars.
i played the old pick up years ago when the guitar originally came out (so i dont really remember) and the d-sonic in a newer guitar (which sounded like someone dropped it.. or the wiring was bad cause all it did was hum) so i can't make an accurate comparison... i have the dimarzio SS in 3 of my guitars though. 1 is basswood.. and i like it
musicmanjp6 said that the d sonic was really nice in the BFR (seems to go better with the use of the "tone" woods) but didnt do the standard basswood guitar justice. (please MMJP6 correct me or elaborate)
and mr fingers, if you havnet already looked it up, its an alder body, with a mahogany "tone block" in the middle of the guitar with a maple cap for Petruccis BFR guitars. the neck was usually Mahogany, but now they are offering Rosewood necks as well, and the fingerboard is always rosewood