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EBMM dimarzio's vs peavey wolfgang pups?

H

howling wolf

Member
EBMM EVH dimarzio's vs peavey wolfgang pups?

can someone here tell me the main tonal differences between the two sets made for EVH?
 
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I don't like the Wolfy pups. They have too much of a mid spike, and to my ears sounds like a half cocked wah pedal. Mind you this was on a fixed bridge Wolfie I had a few years back. And I couldn't get rid of the mid-dy sound.
 
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I own an EVH and a couple of Wolfgangs. The differences I notice are as follows:

EVH/DiMarzios:
-Warmer with a chimier ping in the bridge pickup.
-More mids but not muddy.
-Lower output
-Handle high gain applications better with less fuzzzzz and better articulation.
-Lead tones are best decribed as creamy IMO.

Wolf:
-Higher output
-Scooped mids (by comparison) with a wider range of highs and larger lows.
-Not as good for high gain stuff IMO but better for multiple styles of music.
-They have more usable tonal variations than the EVH's by rolling the volume pot off.

They are different and I have no problem believing someone would prefer one over the other. In a lot of ways they are opposites of each other. But they both keep a lot of clarity without getting muddy and indistinct.
 
I too owned both at the same time. For me, the Wolfie pups were far too harsh, and I didn't find them as versatile as the Axis pickups... Coming from a reference point I know well because I played Jems for so many years, the Wolfgang pickups are like EVOs and the Axis pickups are Breeds - and I always prefered Breeds in my Jems, too! (of course, I realize that comparison will be meaningless to those of you who aren't familiar with Jems and their pickups, but it's the way I was thinking about them back when I still owned the Wolf, and it stuck in my head :p ) Anyway, hbucker's right, it's a matter of preference in the end. But I unconditionally prefer the Axis pickups myself.
 
hbucker said:
I own an EVH and a couple of Wolfgangs. The differences I notice are as follows:

EVH/DiMarzios:
-Warmer with a chimier ping in the bridge pickup.
-More mids but not muddy.
-Lower output
-Handle high gain applications better with less fuzzzzz and better articulation.
-Lead tones are best decribed as creamy IMO.

Wolf:
-Higher output
-Scooped mids (by comparison) with a wider range of highs and larger lows.
-Not as good for high gain stuff IMO but better for multiple styles of music.
-They have more usable tonal variations than the EVH's by rolling the volume pot off.

They are different and I have no problem believing someone would prefer one over the other. In a lot of ways they are opposites of each other. But they both keep a lot of clarity without getting muddy and indistinct.
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very good comparison;) it is really kind of odd about the dimarzio's being "that different" since both the wolfs and dimarzio's were designed from EVH's ear?
he just had steve blucher wind them till he heard what he was looking for and the same for peavey,but for some reason unknown,the wolf bridge pup has a more (at least to me), scooped,crisp, more PAFish tone
that sounds incredible and very old VH toned through a old vintage marshall,
the dimarzio bridge one did not sound as older VH or as good overall through the 1968 SLP:confused:
i heard the 5150 was the amp that was the testing amp for the pups design?
 
Jimi D said:
I too owned both at the same time. For me, the Wolfie pups were far too harsh, and I didn't find them as versatile as the Axis pickups... Coming from a reference point I know well because I played Jems for so many years, the Wolfgang pickups are like EVOs and the Axis pickups are Breeds - and I always prefered Breeds in my Jems, too! (of course, I realize that comparison will be meaningless to those of you who aren't familiar with Jems and their pickups, but it's the way I was thinking about them back when I still owned the Wolf, and it stuck in my head :p ) Anyway, hbucker's right, it's a matter of preference in the end. But I unconditionally prefer the Axis pickups myself.
Click to expand...

what do you mean by harsh? they had too much edge? output?
 
I won't presume to speak for Jimi. I'll just give my 2 cents on his comment. Harsh is probably the harshest way to describe it. IMO it's more harsh the way a good Strat pickup is more harsh than a PAF. Of course that's extreme but one certainly is more edgy and a little brighter than the other.

When I have my amp dialed in for my EVH the Wolfgang sounds a little bright, edgy, harsh if you want. When I have my amp dialed for my Wolfgang, the EVH sounds muddy and kind of lifeless. I've reached an amp setting that bodes well for both but it's taken a while. This way I can leave my amp alone and enjoy the differences between the two guitars.

Honestly, I don't like the clean tones of the Wolfgang at full volume from the guitar. They are too distorted. I either pot off to about 7 or 8 which gives really nice cleans. Or I just split the coils on my Standard. The single coil tones from the Wolf pickups are awesome! Potting off the EVH in clean mode just makes the pickups too muddy IMO so I leave it up even though there is some distortion there too. Those pickups really have a nice chime though.

These guitars with coil tapping become extraordinarilly versatile guitars. I tell most people who care that the Axis SS is probably the best universal guitar out there. It gets the edge over the Wolf because the coils are already tapped in an interesting way and you can't knock the silent circuit. But the feel is different between the guitars and after I split the coils on my Wolf Standard it really became a universal work horse too. Obviously without the silent circuit but it really isn't very noisey in single mode.

I played a solo on my Standard with the neck pickup split in the studio for a friend of mine a few months ago. The engineer mixing down the cd couldn't believe the solo wasn't played on a Strat in the neck position.

It's all good.
 
hbucker said:
I won't presume to speak for Jimi. I'll just give my 2 cents on his comment. Harsh is probably the harshest way to describe it. IMO it's more harsh the way a good Strat pickup is more harsh than a PAF. Of course that's extreme but one certainly is more edgy and a little brighter than the other.

When I have my amp dialed in for my EVH the Wolfgang sounds a little bright, edgy, harsh if you want. When I have my amp dialed for my Wolfgang, the EVH sounds muddy and kind of lifeless. I've reached an amp setting that bodes well for both but it's taken a while. This way I can leave my amp alone and enjoy the differences between the two guitars.

Honestly, I don't like the clean tones of the Wolfgang at full volume from the guitar. They are too distorted. I either pot off to about 7 or 8 which gives really nice cleans. Or I just split the coils on my Standard. The single coil tones from the Wolf pickups are awesome! Potting off the EVH in clean mode just makes the pickups too muddy IMO so I leave it up even though there is some distortion there too. Those pickups really have a nice chime though.

These guitars with coil tapping become extraordinarilly versatile guitars. I tell most people who care that the Axis SS is probably the best universal guitar out there. It gets the edge over the Wolf because the coils are already tapped in an interesting way and you can't knock the silent circuit. But the feel is different between the guitars and after I split the coils on my Wolf Standard it really became a universal work horse too. Obviously without the silent circuit but it really isn't very noisey in single mode.

I played a solo on my Standard with the neck pickup split in the studio for a friend of mine a few months ago. The engineer mixing down the cd couldn't believe the solo wasn't played on a Strat in the neck position.

It's all good.
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Hbucker, if you could do me a favor i would appreciate it?
get a pup height mesurement from both your wolf standard and EBMM EVH?
take the mesurement from the top of the slug pole coil to the bottom of the low E and High E
on my EVH the dimarzio's are
bridge low E= 5/32"
high E = 4/32"
on the wolf the pups are closer to the strings?
I was told that EVH's personal height preference is what is on my EBMM EVH as i posted it. and since
the wolfgang pups have a much stronger magnet pull than the dimarzio's especially the neck one on which the dimarzio is a air bucker with a good amount less f pull i felt that they should be at least the same IF NOT lower than the dimarzio set?
I was considering lowering the pups in my wolf to the heights of the dimarzio's
I believe that would give them a less sharp/more mellow attack and a touch less output and may make them a bit closer to the tone of the dimarzio's?
but i wanted to see if you could take a mesurement on your guitars first and compare:cool:
 
I don't think that would work...

I have a Special and a Standard. The bridge pickup on my Standard is further away from the strings than the bridge pickup on my Special. From what I've heard, this is how the guitars were designed. The bridge tone of my Standard is thinner than the bridge tone of my Special. Of the 3 guitars, I'd say my EVH and my Special ooze the most juicy tone. The Standard isn't far behind but I don't think lowering the pickup will get you closer to the EVH tone. In fact, I think it will take you further from it.

I'll try to measure the height and let you know.
 
hbucker said:
I don't think that would work...

I have a Special and a Standard. The bridge pickup on my Standard is further away from the strings than the bridge pickup on my Special. From what I've heard, this is how the guitars were designed. The bridge tone of my Standard is thinner than the bridge tone of my Special. Of the 3 guitars, I'd say my EVH and my Special ooze the most juicy tone. The Standard isn't far behind but I don't think lowering the pickup will get you closer to the EVH tone. In fact, I think it will take you further from it.

I'll try to measure the height and let you know.
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great i would like to know;)
 
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HW,

I did some measuring and the differences weren't as much as I thought. I measured the bass and trebble side of the bridge pickups and the distance is from the top of the pickup screw to the bottom of the string. Each bass & trebble side was identical except for my Wolf Standard which was different on the bass side than the trebble side. Maybe it's just because it's a hard tail and there's more room for bridge height adjustment. I don't know but the measurements are as follows: (I left them all in 64ths of an inch for easier comparison. Not because I didn't know how to reduce them;)

EVH = 5/64"
Wolf Special = 4/64"
Wolf Standard (hard tail)
B = 6/64"
T = 4/64"
 
hbucker said:
HW,

I did some measuring and the differences weren't as much as I thought. I measured the bass and trebble side of the bridge pickups and the distance is from the top of the pickup screw to the bottom of the string. Each bass & trebble side was identical except for my Wolf Standard which was different on the bass side than the trebble side. Maybe it's just because it's a hard tail and there's more room for bridge height adjustment. I don't know but the measurements are as follows: (I left them all in 64ths of an inch for easier comparison. Not because I didn't know how to reduce them;)

EVH = 5/64"
Wolf Special = 4/64"
Wolf Standard (hard tail)
B = 6/64"
T = 4/64"
Click to expand...

thanks Hbucker,:cool:
 
I read a post over at peaveys forum about reversing the wolf pups so that the 14.6K one is in the neck and the 16.7K is in the bridge spot, well i gots curious l:D LOL!
and since it is no biggie for me to tinker i gave it a go sounds damn good!
much closer to the dimarzio set now:cool:
i was suprised? maybe there is something to that rumor that the wolf pups are just the dimarzio's only inreversed postions?
:)
all i know is the bridge wolf sounds a awful lot like the neck EVH dimarzio when in the neck and the neck wolf sounds worlds closer the the bridge EVH dimarzio when in the bridge spot!
 
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hmmmmmmm.... at best it sounds strange. Keep us posted. If you leave them that way I'd be interested to hear what you think of them in a few weeks after you get past the novelty of it.

If you sound convincing I might try that on my Standard.
 
howling wolf,

I too am interested in hearing more details about switching the Wolfgang neck and bridge pups. I've never been very happy with the sound of them stock and I can't really decide if I want to just change them out or have the coil tapped. Keep us posted.
 
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