Low / Vintage output humbuckers - these have very little in store when it comes to high octane rock & beyond. They are equipped with weaker magnets & assigned for clean tones more than anything else. DiMarzio's Air Classic (DP190) is one of those pickups but interestingly features am Alnico 5 magnet. So what's the real deal with these humbuckers?
Likes
- Clean tones in both positions
- Clarity at crunch settings
- Overall warmth
- Sustain
Dislike
- Not meant for intense drive / distortion setting per se, requires pedal reinforcements
The bridge Air Classic was conceived to have a spiked top end. The overall midrange is enough to manifest warmth, especially for bluesy stuff.
The neck counterpart has even more treble response but the midrange is a little reduced. The overall effect here is that of good clarity, clean chords sound true & unmuffled.
All in all, the Air Classics were meant to be inclining towards the PAF characteristics. They sound absolutely wonderful clean & crunchy. The latter refers to the addition of a wee bit of distortion for blues rock settings. The ACs are not for heavy metal tones to begin with, they won't appeal despite much tweaking. However, the ACs with pedal re-inforcements, is a different beast. Yes - beast mode. I am able to dial up, one more time, Dissection type tones (Reinkaos era) quite easily via the drive pedal + dirty amp channel combo. These have the depth for heavy, palm-muted notes despite the manufacturer citing limited bass responses in their EQ charts. When we deal with such pickups, acknowledging what the manufacturer claims is one thing, hearing them is person, is another experience altogether. Please be reminded, due to its output limitations, these cannot match the Super Distortion or X2N fin terms of drive intensity & harmonics content; these are not that kind of pickups but they can serve you well in their own right.
Rating: 85%
Availability: TY Music / Swee Lee
Pics: DiMarzio
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