For those who have tried both... Crunch Lab vs. D Sonic ?

[B2D]

Did a few searches looking for a direct comparison, didn't find one.

How many of you have tried both the Crunch Lab and the D Sonic? How different are they from each other?

I had a D Sonic in an OLP I recently sold but it was with the bar towards the bridge, and I plan on trying it the other way around in a much nicer guitar this time. It was a cool pickup but there was a few things that I thought could've made it more suitable for the way I play.

 

[the24thfret]

Historically I suck at describing pickup tones.... but my opinion is that the Crunch Lab is warmer and more well rounded. The D Sonic always sounded a bit too stretched for high gain and didn't have much balance.

 

[Tung]

i have used both and decided to go with the Crunch Lab. They're very similar in character, but I agrree that CL has a bit more warmth and depth.
Also, I usually don't do fast runs on the bridge pups, too harsh and not smooth enough. But since I started using CL, no problem playing on the bridge with some fast runs if I feel like it.

 

[bkrumme]

I've got JP's with both. Here's my take:

The D-Sonic is a great pickup. The tone is crisp, clear, a bit midrangey. The lows aren't quite as thick as they could be, but they stay tight. Overall, it's a great pickup, but just doesn't seem to have the "balls" of the Crunch Lab. This could be because it's a bit lower output, but I think it's more of a tonal difference. I think this pickup excels when using dropped tunings because the bottom end stays tight.

The Crunch Lab has the same fundamental tonal quality as the D-Sonic, except the lows are rounded out. Somehow, Dimarzio accomplished this without letting them loosen up at all. Overall, the tone is exceptionally balanced. There's not too much of any frequency, and there's not too little of any either. It's got this punchy, ballsy quality to it. Crunch Lab is a very fitting name.

 

[petruccirocks02]

I love both, but I'm thinking of swapping the CL in my Dargie II out for the D-Sonic, just to see which one I prefer.

-Phil

 

[B2D]

I love both, but I'm thinking of swapping the CL in my Dargie II out for the D-Sonic, just to see which one I prefer.

-Phil

I have a black F-spaced D-Sonic with silver poles/bar that I'll trade you for the CL if you wanna. It's used but it's got about 11 inches of lead on it and is about an 8/10 cosmetically.


As for the rest of you guys... thanks for the reviews. Balance, depth, warmth, tightness; these are very good descriptions for what i want in ANY pickup.

 

[mesavox]

I only have the D Sonic, but it's already too hot. The CL being hotter wouldn't work for me... I don't want more feedback at rest than I already have. LOL

That being said, I love the D Sonic... I wish there was a pickup with the exact same eq curve but just a touch less output. The mids really work well for me. Now, I'm using the DC3 with EL84s, so that alone may affect both the feedback issue, and why the mid heavy D Sonic works so well for me.

The Steve's Special I have is more bassy and definitely more of a heavy metal pickup for Metallica type stuff. But, it doesn't cut through the mix as well in live situations. If I had more gear, or a three channel amp where I could have more mids dialed into one setting, I could use the JPM more (which I would because I do love how it sounds by itself and I like the cleans of the SS and AN in split a little better).

I really think for the gear I have, the BFR just works better than the regular JP, and the D Sonic is already suited for me, and the CL being hotter would possibly cause some major issues. Plus, on the new DT record... I don't like the hotter pickup or the flatter eq curve. It's a little EMGish to me. It just sounds a bit more sterile on a lot of those new tracks. There are exceptions and it's not like it sucks... just not as much to my taste as the D Sonic or Steve's Special for that matter.

If I were you, I would slap it in and play... see if it suits your ears. If it does... don't worry so much about the grass on the other side. Deal with that when you have access to something else. To me, if I don't know exactly what frequencies I want to change...I don't know that my problem is in the pickup anyway. As long as it has enough stuff to cut through and not sound like a Wal Mart guitar pickup I'm a lot of the way there.

 

[D.K.]

Have both in my pets and have had a couple of 6-string pets with the D-Sonic.

Let's start with the D-Sonic. With the steel bar towards the neck in the 6-strings it doesn't do it for me - just lacks character and class that its predecessor has had. Now, if You flip this pu around, the way it's installed in the JP7, we are talking a very tight and very aggressive bridge pu,which is clear, cutting and has a rather unique tone. But, again, it's hot and aggressive. It also works perfectly with the neck pu in the second position - wonderful sparkly cleans.

The Crunch Lab is a totally different story - in short it's smoother and warmer, with more depth. The way it sounds in the BFR JP actually reminds me of the tone the original "custom Dimarzio" bridge pu sounded in the pre-2005 pets. The cleans are aso "silkier" and warmer with the new PUs.

So, the question is really what You are after - cutting and aggressive tone of the D-sonic, or the full, warm and reach Crunch Lab? I consider myself very lucky to have both versions, since the PUs make them two really rather different sounding guitars for different applications.

 

[Dante]

to me the D-Sonic had more grind in it, with a focused mid sound. i dare compare it to the JB or the 81. it's really a shredders pickup and very unforgiving of mistakes.

the crunch lab does exactly what it says. bigger yet tighter bass, less glassy top end and overall mucho balls. i love it.

 

[Tung]

Let's start with the D-Sonic. With the steel bar towards the neck in the 6-strings it doesn't do it for me - just lacks character and class that its predecessor has had. Now, if You flip this pu around, the way it's installed in the JP7, we are talking a very tight and very aggressive bridge pu,which is clear, cutting and has a rather unique tone. But, again, it's hot and aggressive. It also works perfectly with the neck pu in the second position - wonderful sparkly cleans.

.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU for this. I had the exact same experience, the metal bar facing the bridge. My tech actually installed my CL both ways for me, and with the bar facing the bridge, it's way better tone!

 

[joe web]

to me the CL sounds more "open"sounding which is cool. it´s not as aggressive and compressed as the D-sonic and the CL accentuates every not perfectly. like Dante said, the CL does what it says, it´s a cool cruchy pickup.
love it more than the d-sonic and i´ll change the d-sonic in my 2007LE to a CL in a few weeks.

 

[B2D]

That being said, I love the D Sonic... I wish there was a pickup with the exact same eq curve but just a touch less output. The mids really work well for me. Now, I'm using the DC3 with EL84s, so that alone may affect both the feedback issue, and why the mid heavy D Sonic works so well for me.
...

I really think for the gear I have, the BFR just works better than the regular JP, and the D Sonic is already suited for me, and the CL being hotter would possibly cause some major issues. Plus, on the new DT record... I don't like the hotter pickup or the flatter eq curve. It's a little EMGish to me. It just sounds a bit more sterile on a lot of those new tracks. There are exceptions and it's not like it sucks... just not as much to my taste as the D Sonic or Steve's Special for that matter.

If I were you, I would slap it in and play... see if it suits your ears. If it does... don't worry so much about the grass on the other side. Deal with that when you have access to something else. To me, if I don't know exactly what frequencies I want to change...I don't know that my problem is in the pickup anyway. As long as it has enough stuff to cut through and not sound like a Wal Mart guitar pickup I'm a lot of the way there.

I'm familiar with how the DSonic sounded in another guitar of mine, so I'd be interested in trying the CL anyways.

I like balanced-sounding pickups with even-sounding EQ curves with the amp I have... It's a Bogner 101B and the high gain tones really slice in the mids... sometimes too much actually. If you say the CL has a flatter EQ sound then that might work for me actually.

I actually did have a Steve's Special at one point... it wasn't hot enough for me and was too bassy to boot.

Have both in my pets and have had a couple of 6-string pets with the D-Sonic.

Let's start with the D-Sonic. With the steel bar towards the neck in the 6-strings it doesn't do it for me - just lacks character and class that its predecessor has had. Now, if You flip this pu around, the way it's installed in the JP7, we are talking a very tight and very aggressive bridge pu,which is clear, cutting and has a rather unique tone. But, again, it's hot and aggressive. It also works perfectly with the neck pu in the second position - wonderful sparkly cleans.

The Crunch Lab is a totally different story - in short it's smoother and warmer, with more depth. The way it sounds in the BFR JP actually reminds me of the tone the original "custom Dimarzio" bridge pu sounded in the pre-2005 pets. The cleans are aso "silkier" and warmer with the new PUs.

So, the question is really what You are after - cutting and aggressive tone of the D-sonic, or the full, warm and reach Crunch Lab? I consider myself very lucky to have both versions, since the PUs make them two really rather different sounding guitars for different applications.

The way you describe it, i think I'd prefer the CL, actually. Among my short list of complaints about the D Sonic was in fact the cleans... they were a little too hard sounding for me.

to me the D-Sonic had more grind in it, with a focused mid sound. i dare compare it to the JB or the 81. it's really a shredders pickup and very unforgiving of mistakes.

the crunch lab does exactly what it says. bigger yet tighter bass, less glassy top end and overall mucho balls. i love it.

Interesting... I love JB's (as long as they're used with 250k pots, else the treble and high mids will tear your head off) but don't like 81's very much.

 

[Dante]

Interesting... I love JB's (as long as they're used with 250k pots, else the treble and high mids will tear your head off) but don't like 81's very much.

same here, i think the JB is a great pickup, just not that awesome for metal. i compared it to the 81 because the 81 is also very sharp and focused, with not much bottom end. except the D-Sonic manages to have more body than the 81.

 

[kneeoh]

I'm lucky enough to have JP's in all the different pup combos. D.K. hit the nail on the head with his description:

"The Crunch Lab is a totally different story - in short it's smoother and warmer, with more depth. The way it sounds in the BFR JP actually reminds me of the tone the original "custom Dimarzio" bridge pu sounded in the pre-2005 pets. The cleans are aso "silkier" and warmer with the new PUs."

The CL, to my ears, gives you the best of the modded SS (that being the smooth tone for leads) and the best of the D-sonic (aggressive balls and chunk).

 

[B2D]

Thanks again for all the input, guys.

 

[B2D]

Quick update... just dropped coin for a Crunch Lab.

As I said before, I had a D Sonic in an OLP before, but at the time I didn't know about how you could flip the bar and get different sounds out of it... it was a very cool pickup but it could've used a little more life and personality in it.

I usually prefer Alnico-magnet pickups for the flavor they have, but I think I might like the CL. I've found that with some Ceramic mag pickups (like the Duncan Custom) I can change the ceramic magnet to an Alnico 8 and get the same basic sound and output of the pickup, but with a little Alnico flavored crunch and sag that makes it a little hairier sounding. I wonder if I can do that with the CL or D Sonic as well? I'd probably get a D-Sonic and do it... I wouldn't want to mess with a perfectly good CL. Might get shot for it here.

I do like the JB as an all-around pickup... great basic tone, hot but not too hot, sounds great for rhythm and lead alike, but the thing that keeps me from being totally satisfied with it is that I want it to be tighter and a little fatter, and I haven't been able to find a pickup like that yet. I'm told the Motor City Afwayu and the Suhr Aldrich come close though, but I haven't tried 'em as they are expensive.

 

[BrickGlass]

I have the D-Sonic in one of my guitars. I have tried it with the bar both ways and my experience was the opposite of some of the previous posters. I found it sounded better with the bar facing towards the neck and not towards the bridge. I felt that I lost some of the responsiveness, especially in the high end, with the bar towards the bridge. I use it in a guitar tuned down a half step. I don't have any experince with a CL until my Koa JP shows up.