Face-off: DiMarzio vs Seymour Duncan

I've been playing these 2 guitars a lot lately:

• Left: Ibanez S470- Dimarzios: Air Norton (B)/ Area '61(M)/ PAF (N)
• Right: Ibanez S420- Seymour Duncan: Pearly Gates (B/N)

Ibanez dweebs prefer DiMarzios because majority of the endorsers embrace this pickup brand- Vai, Satch, Gilbert, Timmons, et al. Estranged individuals like me, had an initial rotten episode with DiMarzio so I went with the competitor's brand & I had to say that I was lucky- I bought the pickup that suited my needs so it was no turning back.

So it boils down to this- which pickup brand do I prefer? Simple answer: Both.

These pickups have something different to offer. DiMarzio has this peculiar adaptation to effects & other signal processors; the   more you add to them, they don't seem to be undone by gain overdose. Seymour Duncan has this signature bite that you'd hear if you plug straight through to your amp. Once you get hooked, it's the only thing you'd want to hear. I'm living with both tone options, there are no rules saying I should stay true to only one brand name. It's about liking what I hear coming out from the amp regardless of what were used to make that happen.

The un-blackening (2)

Pickups are in: all DiMarzio affair (because I ran out of Duncans to try...)

Neck: PAF
Middle: Area '61
Bridge: Air Norton

DiMarzio trio

My Ibanez RG560 now sports a trio of DiMarzio pickups:

• Neck: Half Track
• Mid: Fast Track 2
• Bridge: PAF

I've decided to keep it all DiMarzio here despite my personal preference for Seymour Duncans. The Half Track is a wonderful acquisition with the right amount of output for distortion clarity; it's one of those little darlings which doesn't mud out when I sweep. Ironically, the bridge humbucker is the least powerful member in terms of output but it's most suitable pickup in the collaboration. Whatever low output, vintage voicing wonder the manufacturer had marketed it to be, it performs very well given an extreme distortion setting; I certainly didn't buy it to sweet-creamed my RG; that's not what this guitar is good for.

PS: Thanks BEEZ for the superb workmanship once again.