Ibanez 2023: RG2550 - back

An interesting find - the RG2550 has returned to the fold but in China only. That's right, for some strange reason, it's not made available everywhere. The RG2550 bowed out of the catalog with an Edge Zero bridge & DiMarzio IBZ pickups. Looks like it has gone one up with the Edge bridge & DiMarzio pickups (Air Norton / True Velvet / Tone Zone).  

Pic: Ibanez CN

Holiday zoning

Played this for the entire morning yesterday before taking time off for lunch. This is the Ibanez SEW761FM, one of the standard offerings equipped with DiMarzio pickups from the factory: Tone Zone (b) / True Velvet (m/n).  

I have no issues with the True Velvet when it comes to tone. These are some of the best single coil offerings DiMarzio has in store & would recommend them to those in need of both good cleans & overdriven tones with twang to boot. The Tone Zone is another story. It's a little finicky & does not cascade good performance into various guitars it's fixed into; hits & misses, mostly. I first had it in an RG560 & it sounded awful there - muffled, bass heavy. I tried a friend's RG3120 which had the TZ  & it sounded awesome. This prompted me to move that spare TZ into one of my Les Pauls & it sounded amazing as well. Then I bought the SIR70FD & that TZ dislikes distortion, it prefers overdrive. In this latest episode, the TZ sounds a little grizzly & tends to fuzz out when the amp gain is turned up. I lowered the pickup a little more into the cavity & that helped somewhat. For some strange reason, this TZ isn't bass inclined like its other siblings, it has more top end. 

This is mostly my experience with DiMarzio in general - unpredictability. When it comes to Seymour Duncan, I do not encounter this headache. The JB for instance, will sound like the JB in any guitar so I know what to expect & have not been proven wrong thusfar. I'm not dissing DiMarzio in any way, in fact, I really like what some of them have to offer for the music genre I peddle - extreme distortion. 

Antigua (4)

This is my first set of DiMarzio pickups in a Fender. That's right, I have no DiMarzios in any of my Fenders since the start but this is my embrace for good tones regardless of the brand name. I have my Seymour Duncan inclinations but every now & then, some others would make my like list. Anyway, the pickups you see above are DiMarzio True Velvet single coils for Telecaster.

I have never tried this duo before & had initial reservations due to the wide difference in output between the neck & bridge counterpart. I am dealing with a hot bridge response but a polite, vintage-like response from the neck. What made me proceed was the EQ; these are exactly what I wish for in this guitar in the mean time. The default neck single coil suffers from a very weak midrange & has a nasal overall voicing that threatens to thin out any time. The boost in midrange here is what I was looking for. The default bridge pickup on the other hand sounded too darn honky but someone reminded me of the Tele's true nature; a honky, twangy guitar unlike the girth of a Strat. Despite being a metal fan & thriving on a commanding dose of bottom end, I opted for more treble instead. It's the D'Activator approach in a single coil format so to speak. 

Once again, the services of Master Beez was rendered to make the swap happen. After about a week of True Velvet-ing, I must say that it was a deserving switch. More importantly, it serves my embrace for gobs of distortion with clarity & surprises on two fronts: 1) The bridge pickup was not  treble excessive at all despite the anticipations. It all boils down to my amp settings & I believe the EVH 5150 has a good working low end to begin with so no major upset there. 2) The neck pickup did not wimp out in terms of output, it barks & roars as fiercely so the true measure of a pickup performance, in this case, is its actual adaptation to the player's set up. I'm a happy camper.

Ironed

Re-string adventure continues- Ibanez SIR70FD. Pickups on board are DiMarzios: Tone Zone (b)/ True Velvet (m)/ Air Norton (n).

I'm somehow thankful that Ibanez has the Iron Label range albeit my gripe with it in terms of purpose. The guitars in this range were given the alternative treatment without ending up as costly proto-customs. I was particularly drawn to this model due to its blank fretboard. That's my quirk- I have more confidence playing an unmarked fretboard. The SIR70FD is part of the pioneer Iron Label releases. The RGs at this point in time, featured EMG pickups while the S-Series were given the passive, gain friendly DiMarzios instead. 

The S-Series in this range had evolved to feature a reverse headstock & some fancy body caps but the DiMarzio & fixed bridge features stay put. I sincerely hope the Iron Label series won't go out of hand because as it is, it's a little fuzzy when it comes to being identified as a definite tier in terms of offering. Then again, this year the Axion Label became the branch-off which threatens to push the Iron Label into extinction.

Unlocking

Got my Ibanez S-Series out early in the morning: S420 (t) & SIR70FD.

The S420 is equipped with a pair of Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates while the SIR70FD has a default set of DiMarzio Tone Zone/ True Velvet/ Air Norton. 

The S420 is so much heavier due to the ZR bridge in there but the overall tone is crunchy without excessive treble. I'm saying this because the PG is associated with raunchy Texan sizzle but if you could manage your set up well, it'll give you that modern heavy metal tone which is suitable for prog as well.

The SIR on the other hand is a light guitar with that smooth top end response, instant Dream Theater tone on call here thanks to the DiMarzios on board. I'm not a fan of this pickup brand but there are some models that I fancy. The Tone Zone is not one of them but previously mentioned, it's something that's appealing once you figure out your set up in its entirety and not just banking on pickup performance for your tone ideals. 

Anyway, I like both guitars for their blank fretboards; ironically, I make less mistakes when dealing with chromatics & legato.

As you can see here, this episode was conceived at CBTL in the late morning as I was waiting for my daughter to finish her morning supplementary class. Despite its early operations, the air-conditioning here will only function at 10.00am, so it's sauna mode offset by a serving of sparkling ice tea. 

Have a great weekend, everyone. ☮

Ibanez: SIR70F DiMarzios

The Ibanez Iron Label SIR70F is equipped with a set of DiMarzio pickups right from the start: Air Norton (N)/ True Velvet (M)/ Tone Zone (B). I didn't commit to this purchase because there are DiMarzio pickups in there as I'm not a DiMarzio fan. Yes, they sound impressive, offering more sonic appeal than Ibanez's in-house pickups but they aren't quite my thing. However, I'm not going to do away with these default units because they deliver great distortion & above-average cleans.

New pickup- Ibanez SA1260

So this is the latest pickup trio in my Ibanez SA1260:

• Neck: DiMarzio True Velvet
• Middle: DiMarzio Area 67
• Bridge: D'Activator X

Initially, the neck Area 67 stayed put but after some time, I feel I can do better with a more twangy pickup in the neck, especially with lots of distortion so the 67 migrated to the middle position. I have a non-stacked unit in the neck, the True Velvet, which is the best for this guitar. It's frustrating hunting for the right preferred DiMarzio for the SA1260 due to its heaviness. Also, I'm not a DiMarzio fan, the selections I made are less fruitful, I'm more familiar with the Duncan selections but I would want to keep the pickups here an all DiMarzio affair.