Pickup Changes - Opinions and Suggestions Needed

[visualrocker69]

Actually he kept using custom wound Steve's Specials in his EBMM gutiars and only switched to D Sonic in 2006. So... all the DT albums except for the newest one will let you hear that pickup.

Actually he DIDN'T. The bridge in the Ernie Ball JPM evolved out of the Steve Special but has a different midrange curve and overall tone. Similar but it is not the same pickup.

Uh, no, actually he DID. It's a custom wound pickup but Steve's Special nonetheless. And yes, you're correct in saying the midrange curve was restructured. This was done to compensate for the Steve's Special stock nature of having really scooooopoed mids. I still don't understand why JP wanted this... the Marks are really midrangey amps by nature... OK maybe not how he sets them, but then again maybe he should just use less of an extreme V shape in the GEQ...

Anyway, evidence (from the Petrucci board):

well when i've asked dimarzio they have said that the neck pup is wound tighter and has a tad more output and retains more clarity since john uses his bridge pup a lot of soloing. it also has different coils thus a slightly different sound.


the neck pup is basically a modded steves special which has slightly more mids. i did ask them and they said that it is literally a modded SS not a totally new pickup they just adjust a couple things to give it some more mids but not enough to make a difference. i remember the guy telling me if you take a EBMMJP and swap out the stock pups for stock dimarzio an/ss and a/b the two guitars you could not tell the difference, and i remember him saying he probably can't either but john likes it like that.


basically the bottom line is that the SS/AN are like 98% similar to the old pups on the EBMMJP models before the d sonic, which by the wy isn't modded or anything it's a stock pickup, which of course also was told to me by the folks over at dimarzio.

I...rest my case. It is, for all practical purposes, a Steve's Special. Even a Dimarzio guy said he can't tell the difference!

 

[Rocky]

There you go, you tried to sound smart and lost your own little aguement. 98% similar means 2% diffrent whicch means that it IS NO identical to a regular Steve Special. We didnt ask about HOW different...just that it is different and you presented the proof. Thanks for that.

You also agree that the midrange was reshaped....once again you agree that there is a diff b/w the SS and the EBMM Petrucci Pickup.

Anyway, I consider your whole attitude just one step away from trolling and this place is nice and peaceful. Not going to reply to you on this matter anymore.

 

[visualrocker69]

WOW. Way to miss my point. I don't even care if you reply again.

The point is that 2% different is practically indistinguishable, therefore listening to Petrucci's modded Steve's Special on his later recordings is as good of a source as listening to his stock SS on his earlier recordings.

Anyway, I didn't mean to offend Rocky or Nitrobattery or anyone else. My comments about the EMG's were completely tongue in cheek. I have nothing against them, in fact I'm planning on swapping the Duncan single coils in one of my guitars with EMG SA's.

And I'm not by any means trolling, Rocky. If anything, I'm trying to be helpful to the original poster, just like the rest of you guys. Sorry if I said some inappropriate things.

Peace~

 

[MusicManJP6]

Not to mention JP has changed amps a few times the last few albums. All of them have been Mesa amps, but still slightly different tone for each record, regardless of pickup differences.

 

[SixVeeSix]

Having installed hundreds of EMG pickups in customer's guitars since they came out, perhaps I can lend some perspective. First of all, unfortunately for EMG, the instructions in the installation sheet direct you to adjust the pickup as close to the strings as possible. The reasoning is that the low magnetic field will not "drag" the strings and cause intonation problems and you get the best possible signal to noise ratio that way.

It may not be your best tone option however. These pickups have high output and can overdrive a preamp pretty easily. Try lowering the pickups down away from the strings and you will notice a huge difference in tone. This is sort of along the lines of putting a 5751 or 12at7 in V1 of your preamp. Things open up and "breathe" more, you start to get the smoothness back and highs that glisten instead of oppress.

I'm willing to bet quite a few of you EMG haters would change your opinion if you played my guitars, they are sweet and soulful sounding. OK, back to your bitter and pointless arguing, have fun!!!

 

[srf399]

Got my Dimarzio Breed bridge pup in my strat yesterday.... in my guitar and to my ears it's the nicest sounding pup I've ever played. Silky Smooth...ballsy bottom end... nice presence. Wow. Trouble is there are about 10 other pups I want to try in it LOL