Members Soeru Posted October 28, 2007 Members Share Posted October 28, 2007 I'm looking for a humbucker-in-a-singlecoil pickup that resembles the dimarzio PAF pro(not vintage pafs) humbucker in both tone and output as much as possible, for use in a slanted neck position for high gain lead work, with a very hot bridge humbucker. I've been looking at dimarzio's hum canceling pups but many say they don't resemble humbuckers at all in terms of sound so I'm not sure if it's something I want. I like the sound of the PAF pro in the neck position, wooly but with lots of presence, neither bright nor muddy. Which pickup should I look into? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members potaetoes Posted October 28, 2007 Members Share Posted October 28, 2007 dimarzio's (and duncan's) single-sized humbuckers absolutely DO sound like humbuckers, because they are 100% humbuckers in every sense of the word. two coils, side by side, in series, etc. if anything, they're improvements over big humbuckers - the coils closer together improves noise rejection, and allows for finer control over voicing and response. "hum cancelling single coils" or "stacked" pickups are different - the coils are stacked, and one coil does the majority of the signal production, while the other is basically there as a dummy-coil to reduce hum. anyway, try them. they sound good. try the pro-track if you're looking for PAF pro sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ENdtime Posted October 28, 2007 Members Share Posted October 28, 2007 Good question. They should make the PAF pro in single coil size.. Anyway, if it were me, and I really like the PAF pro in the neck, I'd have to go with the S.D Little 59. I like it just as much as the PAF pro in the neck position of my guitars. I wouldnt say they are carbon copies of each other but they both sound great in what they do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Soeru Posted October 28, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 28, 2007 Thanks for the help, I'll be looking into the Chopper and pro-track. Btw ENdtime I wanted to ask you about the dimarzio Evo 2 a bit more, I read your review where you said you had the tonezone before getting it. Would you consider it more tame or more sensitive and high output than the TZ? I want to get one because of it's EQ curve that'll be more favorable for my relatively dark neckthru guitar than the tonezone I have in it, but I'm not sure if it's going to have enough output for me if it's less hot than the tonezone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ENdtime Posted October 28, 2007 Members Share Posted October 28, 2007 Thanks for the help, I'll be looking into the Chopper and pro-track.Btw ENdtime I wanted to ask you about the dimarzio Evo 2 a bit more, I read your review where you said you had the tonezone before getting it. Would you consider it more tame or more sensitive and high output than the TZ? I want to get one because of it's EQ curve that'll be more favorable for my relatively dark neckthru guitar than the tonezone I have in it, but I'm not sure if it's going to have enough output for me if it's less hot than the tonezone. Well they are quite different, The actual output that Dimarzio has on their site is a little misleading. FOr me the Tone Zone is super high output, hotter than any Super Distortion I ever heard. The EVO2 has plenty of power, without going overboard. Its got a lot of string seperation for chords and great harmonix, but still has enough bottom for chunks and power chords. THe Tone Zone is just the heaviest sounding pickup I ever tried. The low end is unmatched, so expect a definite difference in the low end between the two.. And the EVO2 is def. more sensitive than the TZ.. And I used the EVO2 in a dark guitar where I had the TZ. I liked the TZ, but as my strings got a little old, it would just be too dark and very lifeless. THe EVO2 helped out a lot in this guitar.. Although if you like the TZ, you should try the Air Zone as well. SInce its not nearly as hot as the TZ , the low end while still being big doesnt get muddy at all.. Or the Breed for the EVO harmonix with the TZ type EQ curve. I use the Breed in my RG550, and works great but its a fairly bright guitar to begin with... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Soeru Posted October 28, 2007 Author Members Share Posted October 28, 2007 Thanks for that. Actually what I don't want is a dark bassy pickup like the tonezone, breed or super distortion in this guitar, I want something more balanced with more presence/cut. The guitar sounds dark enough as it is and I play a relatively dark sounding amp, so a dark pickup isn't exactly ideal. I had a guitar with a X2N once and I loved it, it was ridiculously hot, more so than a tonezone or even an emg-81. The PAF Pro would be my favorite bridge pickup if it was only 1/4 or a 1/3 hotter, the x2n has a similar eq curve but it's about twice the output, which at times was a bit too much for me. I think I might get a x2n just because I've had experience with it, but if I do I'll have a tough time selecting a single coil bucker that'll be hot enough to match with it. So I guess it's a toss between the evo 2 and the x2n. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ENdtime Posted October 28, 2007 Members Share Posted October 28, 2007 Thanks for that. Actually what I don't want is a dark bassy pickup like the tonezone, breed or super distortion in this guitar, I want something more balanced with more presence/cut. The guitar sounds dark enough as it is and I play a relatively dark sounding amp, so a dark pickup isn't exactly ideal. I had a guitar with a X2N once and I loved it, it was ridiculously hot, more so than a tonezone or even an emg-81. The PAF Pro would be my favorite bridge pickup if it was only 1/4 or a 1/3 hotter, the x2n has a similar eq curve but it's about twice the output, which at times was a bit too much for me. I think I might get a x2n just because I've had experience with it, but if I do I'll have a tough time selecting a single coil bucker that'll be hot enough to match with it. So I guess it's a toss between the evo 2 and the x2n. Yeah I agree the PAF pro would be my favorite pickup as well with a little more power. I even practically begged Dimarzio to make one for me. The dude said it won't sound the same.. He is probably right, but I just wanted to hear it with a little extra power anyway. I said, just make it, I'll pay.. He said go for the MoJoe or Norton. I never tried the MoJoe, but I have tried the Norton and its not even comparable to the PAFpro.. I used to be a faithful X2N user, until I was realizing at high gain it really is muddy-ing up the tone.. Of course I could adjust the gain and such, but if Im switching guitars during a show, I owuld also have to change amp settings to accomadate the change.. I think its a great pickup actually.. I might get one again for one of my gits... I would go for the EVO2. If you ever liked/tried the first Evolution, I think you'll see they got the EVO2 right.. The first EVO was great, but it had a little too much high end, the EVO2 rolls it down a little and sounds a little smoother.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToneGrail Posted October 28, 2007 Members Share Posted October 28, 2007 Yeah I agree the PAF pro would be my favorite pickup as well with a little more power. I even practically begged Dimarzio to make one for me. The dude said it won't sound the same.. He is probably right, but I just wanted to hear it with a little extra power anyway. I said, just make it, I'll pay.. He said go for the MoJoe or Norton. I never tried the MoJoe, but I have tried the Norton and its not even comparable to the PAFpro.. I used to be a faithful X2N user, until I was realizing at high gain it really is muddy-ing up the tone.. Of course I could adjust the gain and such, but if Im switching guitars during a show, I owuld also have to change amp settings to accomadate the change.. I think its a great pickup actually.. I might get one again for one of my gits...I would go for the EVO2. If you ever liked/tried the first Evolution, I think you'll see they got the EVO2 right.. The first EVO was great, but it had a little too much high end, the EVO2 rolls it down a little and sounds a little smoother.. The Fred is supposed to be slightly hotter. The Norton is yet a bit hotter yet than the Fred. I would look into the Norton. It has a similar voicing as the PAF Pro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ENdtime Posted October 28, 2007 Members Share Posted October 28, 2007 Yeah I have tried them all. While others on here buy an amp every other week. I had my Pickup changing phase. I think I have tried every pickup I ever wanted.. I didnt find the Norton to be what I wanted, Id say the Fred and Norton are very similar. BUt I dont find them all that similar to the PAF pro. The Pro has a very full low end compared to the Fred or Norton.. I know the Fred was supposedly a PAFpro with more mids and output, but it really sounds much different to me.. The Fred and Norton are much "tighter" Where the PAF seems to have a wider response. Im sure the Dimarzio tech was right, in that the PAF pro cant be upped in output and stay the same.. Im perfectly happy with the Breed or Tone Zone, and I'll keep the Paf pro or a PAF in the neck.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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