Changing pickups on my Music Man Silhouette

[rockmanhatn]

Hi Everybody

First off, happy new year to all.

So, i own music man sihuette, and time has come for me to change pickups for something more agressive (now i have pickups that cam with guitar 1 DiMarzio custom single coil; 2 DiMarzio Virtual PAF humbucking). I pay all styles but mostl i'm home in rock/hard rock/metal. I was looking at a lot of pickups, and now im stuck between Petrucci's Dreamcacher/Rainmaker and Sonic Ecstasy set. So a wanted to as you about you'r opinion. I would like to chage single coil also, but i dont know with one would be best mach for sets mentioned above. I would appreciate some feedback or any other ideas.

Thank you in advance !

 

[kingdoublecut]

An HSH set of Dimarzio Dark Matter2 would be nice. Keep in mind those original pups (Virtual PAF humbuckers) are worth good money on the open market...

 

[rockmanhatn]

what about new utopia magnets ? and there is another thing, Vai's neck pickup doesn't have standart spacing, just F.

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[tbonesullivan]

What kind of music do you play? Is it a hardtail or a tremolo model?

The Air Norton Neck, True Velvet Single, and Tone Zone bridge is a VERY popular combo. It's stock on many RG models from Ibanez.

 

[rockmanhatn]

Basically rock/hard rock/ metal, but some softer stuff too, clean are important too.

 

[tbonesullivan]

Basically rock/hard rock/ metal, but some softer stuff too, clean are important too.

Well... I can say that the Tone Zone / Air Norton is one of the most popular combos that Dimarzio has ever made. People have been recommending that for well over a decade now. It also happens to be the combination that is closest in sound and design to the pickups in the original EVH and Axis models. I had a set in a guitar a while ago, and there was nothing it couldn't do.

 

[racerx]

Well... I can say that the Tone Zone / Air Norton is one of the most popular combos that Dimarzio has ever made. People have been recommending that for well over a decade now. It also happens to be the combination that is closest in sound and design to the pickups in the original EVH and Axis models. I had a set in a guitar a while ago, and there was nothing it couldn't do.

I agree here tbone - I think you'd be hard pressed to find much more performance for rock beyond the Tone Zone. Maybe there are some different colors or nuances out there, but I've always been fond of the Tone Zone and Axis pups. My Cutlass has the Axis pickup and its a monster.

 

[furor]

A Tone Zone would indeed be an option, I think it splits nicely as well.
I have just installed a SD Pearly Gates bridge in my Silo. I grew into finding the vPAF bridge ok, a little thin but very dynamic and harmonic rich, but not what I was looking for (didn't like the vPAF neck). I loved it in my ESP Horizon 20 years back, and it sounds great in the Silo. Slightly hot, nice cleans, very nice split tone, but covers the range you're after. Maybe a tone zone is too much 'metal only' (I use it for shred and metal)? A Mo'Joe might be a versatile alternative?

The Air Norton might depend on the guitar. I had an Air Norton S in a Hamer, which was too middy (I don't know if a full humbucker would be that much different?).
A SD Jazz might be something, more scooped, a PG neck or an A2P, a Dimarzio, a PAF Pro or Bare Knuckle The Mule or Stormy Monday.
I like a SD Custom bridge + Jazz neck combination. An alternative might be a BKP Cold Sweat bridge and, particularly, neck.

 

[Stratty316]

I have a Duncan 78 in the bridge and a little 58 in the neck position of my Silo Spec. Currently the middle single is the stock Dimarzio and its not connected. It will give you a nice rock tone... if I had to do it again I would probably go Dimarzio AT-1 and a Dimarzio Cruiser in the neck sort of like what Andy Timmons does. (look up Dimarzio AT-1 on youtube and there is a great demo of this in a Silo Spec)

I love the TZ/Air Norton combo.... but having 4 Axis guitars and an HH Albert with the stock Dimarzio pickups I thought I would try something different in the Silo and will continue to do so until I end up with a TZ/AN or another set of the Dimarzio Axis pickups in it...lol.