EBMM PETRUCCI w/DROP SONIC PICKUP?

[mesavox]

It's pretty close tho'...

Not really. The one in the MM has way more treble response than the Air Norton. I'm not sure yet how much has to do with the body sizes etc. but I prefer the SS and the AN to the custom pickups JP went for in the MMs. There are aspects I like the MM pickups for more, but the old ones are more versatile. I think I would want guitars with both of them because of thier differences.

The Air Norton is a lot more single coil like than the Custom in the neck of the MM. I think John wanted more of a singing lead sound out of his neck pickup than the AN was giving him.

The differneces are pretty subtle and depend greatly on the sound of the amp too of course but I'm glad I never decided to get rid of the Ibanez JPM to fund my MM JPM purchase.

I only have the 7 string right now, but a friend had a six string and I found the same basic difference allthough the seven string seems to have more bottom end and volume throughout because of the extra winding length.

All in all though, they are all very fine pickups and the MM Dimarzios used the SS and the AN as the starting point and are still closer to air buckers than a Tone Zone or something like that and I prefer the air bucker approach in any of it's model numbers. Humbucker fullness with single coil clear...

 

[OrangeChannel]

The JP sig pup was based on the Air Norton and then tweaked further...so it is pretty close especially in origin, tho' not the same pup....with that being said two of mine have air nortons in the neck...if that tells you anything. They just SOUND better...not far off but better...One of three is stock, one has an Air Zone in the bridge (both have covers on that one)...another has a TZ and an F Spaced AN in the neck...

 

[Derek]

Just yesterday we had a conversation with Jay Baskin, JP's tech for the last year and a half. Great Guy!!!!

Getting ready to head out on the Gigantour w/ Megadeath, we spoke at length on JP guitars.

JP has been experimenting in last few months obviously with some pickups but also strap adjustments and different string gauges. As some of you know he has about 15 or so guitars out on the road, 2 of which are the Silhouette Bass guitars and all kinds of different tunings. With all the switching around different tensions ect JP has been experiencing some changes in his techniques and pick attack. Instead of the normal wrist motion he has been using a lot of his elbow. Noticing something was different he decided to raise the action, then lower the strap to get the comfortable position he was used too. While this worked for a while he decided to go back to raising the strap and changing the string gauges to a heavier set. Still he was noticing something was array, he decided that his technique had changed. He concentrated on more wrist for his speed picking and found this was the main reason for the change in playing style.

Just yesterday we sent him a big order of strings. This time around no .009's. Just
.10's .11-48 and 12-56. I guess the thicker strings are more his choice these days. We sent every gauge in even increments from .12 to .72. There will be some serious experimenting going on in the next month.

I remember talking with JP a couple of years ago when he went from .10's back to 9's

Right around the time he switched from Mark-II C+ to the Road King he noticed 9's sounded like .10's(standard pitch) through new Road King head. On the Mark II C+ the 9's sounded noticeably thinner. He did like the playability of 9's and kind of missed them.

In 2 weeks JP &Co will be in town. We will get a "pitt report" to see how its going.