what's the clean sound of the D-Sonic like?

[Dante]

i'm wondering cuz i'm not happy with my Steve Special's dirty sound. it's just too hard get get a good "scooped" sound from it. and once you do: it's probably the last you will... but clean it's heaven. THE BEST CLEAN BUCKER! but yeah, doesn't thrash too well.

so, does anyone have anything positive to say about the D-sonics cleans?
cuz if not, then i need 2 JPs... and i promised myself never to buy another guitar again!

 

[Lou]

Doesn't a SS have a scooped EQ curve by design?

D-sonic sounds good clean, but has more pronounced mids than a SS. You're going to have to try one and see if you like it.

 

[Norrin Radd]

D-sonic sounds good clean, but has more pronounced mids than a SS.

That's been my experience as well. You know, DiMarzio has a toll free number and you can call and actually talk to them there. Tell them what you want and they will set you straight.

800-221-6468

 

[MN246]

I was pretty sure that I would have to change out the pickups in my JP when I got it based on my experience playing one in the store. Once I got it and had a chance to take it to rehearsal and it's first gig, I couldn't be happier with the pickups. I think the D-Sonic sounds great clean or with heavy saturation gain and all the points I've experimented with inbetween.

 

[rlarino]

Personally, I hate the clean sound of every bridge pickup I've ever heard... the bridge position of a humbucker on any guitar I've played (high end guitars included) just does not lend itself well to clean tones, very trebly and nasty sounding... great for high gain leads and rhythms though where you want all that treble.

Check out lots of pro guitar players who play with humbuckers in the bridge... you will rarely find them using their bridge humbucker for cleans... you will never see JP using his bridge pickup for clean tone... that's what he's got his middle position for (the two inner, tapped coils in parallel) that's where his clean tone comes from...

 

[beej]

The problem is that, in generally, the high output humbuckers have a high inductance and have a small frequency window- they tend to be all mids. When you play it with gain, that's perfect (you want lots of mids). But clean it's lacking character.

There are a lot of lower output buckers that sound great clean. The Morse bridge bucker, while not too low output, sounds very good clean.

 

[Warthog]

I use the d sonic clean all the time in my band as we play mostly covers. Most clean stuff is with the Piezo, but I also just use the d sonic in some cases. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it sounds.

 

[greenwizard]

It sounds like birds chirping on a sweet spring morning....

 

[Dante]

Personally, I hate the clean sound of every bridge pickup I've ever heard... the bridge position of a humbucker on any guitar I've played (high end guitars included) just does not lend itself well to clean tones, very trebly and nasty sounding... great for high gain leads and rhythms though where you want all that treble.

you just described every bucker out there except the SS. SS sounds really good clean, simply because it's NOT mid heavy. but if it's not mid heavy, it sounds like a single coil (minus the twang) when distorted... i'm really torn bc i think i'm actually gonna miss the SS if i swap him out.

i guess i'm expecting too much from just one guitar... but at the same time, i'd rather pass up on a good clean bridge bucker than on a good distorted bridge bucker... trust me folks. a scooped pickup is no fun when it's together with a normal voiced pup...

until i get the chance to test the D-Sonic, i guess i'll try a less scooped EQ and other stuff...

 

[unclerico]

Is scooped what I think it is, because I hear it a lot.

Is it where you play a lead when you are on the neck pickup, and you can hear that swooshing sound has you play, like its wind blowing by?

But the d-sonic is nicer in my opinion, not that I would know to much though.

 

[Lou]

Scooped means that the mids are pulled out. Think of an eq curve like a smiley face - that's where it gets its name.

A lot of guitar players will scoop the mids out of their sound which typically results in a sound like a buzzsaw or angry bees. The smart ones know mids are the key to cutting thru and rounding out tone.

 

[cherub]

Scooped means that the mids are pulled out. Think of an eq curve like a smiley face - that's where it gets its name.

A lot of guitar players will scoop the mids out of their sound which typically results in a sound like a buzzsaw or angry bees. The smart ones know mids are the key to cutting thru and rounding out tone.

Ha ha ha ha, ive heard a few guys on the same circuit we do, who sound exactly like that. They get awful upset when you tell em they sound like a bumblejee in a jam jar, ha ha ha., good shout.

Cherub

 

[Dante]

lol, how painfully true. if the amp has the wrong Hz mid then it sounds like dung. marshalls are notoriously bad amps for scooping. the mid on them is higher than on,say what, a mesa. so yeah, tons of bite out the window with the mid.
but i think the buzzsaw is a marshall trademark lead sound, not rhythm. but marshalls are not that fast responding, so i'm actually looking for an american sounding amp. think "ride the lightning". i'm gonna take the Pet up to the shop to lest a laney 100watter. the have an awesome crunch. so much brightness, so much pressure

PS: maybe rewiring the mid position to neck pickup on parallel and a really REALLY heavy bridge humbucker...