Axis is too powerful....

[beej]

I think sometimes there is a misunderstanding (at least on my part) about what a "hot" humbucker really is.

When I hear that a humbucker is "hot" I understand that to mean it has a higher volume output than the average pickup, regardless of tone.

Yet I can understand how someone would interpret a "hot" sound to be more tonally hot: distorted, sounding hotter but not necessarily being louder.

Good point. I think people generally mean output, but it gets used a lot to describe a p'up with a lot of mids which will distort well. Totally agree that "hot" is an overused term for pickups. About as useful as quoting resistance.

 

[headcrash]

I meant "high output" when saying "hot". In general, hot pickups need more windings which increases dc-resistance and decreases upper frequency limit. So in general, hot pickups seem not only to have a high output, but do in general also emphasize the mid spectrum.
My experience is, that the axis humbucker is a very mid-heavy pickup, compared to a Dimarzio PAF pro in my Gibson SG. And by hearing with my ears, that the Air Norton (which is mid heavy, have a look at Dimarzio's description and tone chart) sounds really similar to the Custom wound pup, I learn, the custom wound must be very mid-heavy, too.
Maybe most of you know this pickup from a rather neutral sounding basswood-body Axis, which could be the reason, why it does seem to be clean sounding to some of you.
My experience is, that they are not neutral at all.
Again my recommendation: If you search for a more vintage-like tone for clean and crunch, with an almost similar tone for higain hotrod distortion, go for the Air Norton as bridge pickup. All you have to do is turn up your distortion channel's gain control.

 

[headcrash]

I just wanted to share my latest impressions with exchanging pups on my Axis Sport. As I explained earlier, I installed an Air Norton in bridge position and finally got a Standard PAF (DP103) for the neck. I also put some washers under the mounting lugs to get the pups closer to the strings.
First it was not bad, but soon I remarked, that things were not as tight as I wanted them to be. Something was missing. Less bite, less fluidity. Less aggressiveness, less punch, less growl, less meat. Nothing dramatic, but something was lacking.
Plus the PAF farted heavily on the lower strings. For Clean and Crunch, things got really more glassy and sparkly which I liked though.
So next I threw out the washers, but this did not do the trick for the overdrive and Higain sounds.
So what's next? Guess what?? I threw out Air Norton and PAF and put back the original pups. And there it was: raging, slightly compressed, super tight, biting, growl - perfect!! Even clean and crunch sounds I seem to like much better than before. All I did, was throw out the washers I had put under the lugs of the original pups some time earlier this year, and I had forgotten about.
Only very small thing to complain is, that there is some very little glass and shimmer missing for cleansounds.
But still - very mighty huge wall-of-sound pups. Just do not know, why I even thought about exchanging them! They are perfect!

BP - tell us more about these wonders of pups! How was the process with EvH to design and tweak these pups? Why did he chose such rather hi output pups (for in his early years and now, he has a more PAF-sounding pup on his 25000 USD (ab)used, mediocre piece of wood...)? Why can Dimarzio not sell them seperately? Is this with Ceramic or ALNICO V magnets? Does it use any of the "Air" or "Virtual" or "Dual resonance" technologies Dimarzio is famous for? What is the big secret about them?

 

[gerry d]

Man I thought this thread was dead......... I still have the Axis..... I was thinking about selling it and nearly did a few times..... and after all these years of playing I have discovered something new.... I got the guitar with 9's on it and didn't really think too much about that... a friend wanted to try the guitar and he requested that I put 10's on it... so I did.......... it's so much better with 10's..... and the feel is totally diferent not to mention the sound.... when I roll off the volume a bit now I can hear what was missing before.... amazing that such small things make the biggest difference..... Tone? if you read this I'm happy now we missed out on the deal.... I think I need a drink...

 

[whitestrat]

air norton is the closest to the axis pickup since they cannot sell the axis pickup

Dear BP, I don't understand something. You mentioned that the Axis humbuckers are one of the lowest output pickups you have. But If DiMarzio lists the Air Norton as the closest to the Axis neck, then that's not exactly low either, especially when the Silos use Virtual PAFs. Even the virtual HOT Pafs are slightly lower in output compared to the Air Norton.

Am I right?

 

[whitestrat]

So what's next? Guess what?? I threw out Air Norton and PAF and put back the original pups. And there it was: raging, slightly compressed, super tight, biting, growl - perfect!! Even clean and crunch sounds I seem to like much better than before. All I did, was throw out the washers I had put under the lugs of the original pups some time earlier this year, and I had forgotten about.
Only very small thing to complain is, that there is some very little glass and shimmer missing for cleansounds.
But still - very mighty huge wall-of-sound pups. Just do not know, why I even thought about exchanging them! They are perfect!

EBMMs are one of the few guitars with effort put into the thought process of the pups. I think that unless you have a huge tone preference (like me and the Steve's Special), you shouldn't think of changing the pups, rather think about the spacing adjustments to see if the sound can be tweaked. These pick ups they use are pretty much what one would buy as an aftermarket option, so they're not your underwound, cheap coil pickups you get from brands that you'vebeenhad with...

 

[Tone?]

Tone? if you read this I'm happy now we missed out on the deal.... I think I need a drink...

Someone of 'higher' wisdom is definitely looking out for us!!! and our guitar habits!

lol