I recently picked up a MIJ Foto Flame 54 Reissue strat from a friend. It had a set of Gold Lace Sensors in it, which I've never been a big fan of, so I've been experimenting with pickups. Two days ago I recieved a wired set of Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups from ebay, so in they went.
Its got a VV Blues in the neck, a VV 2.1 in the Middle and a VV Heavy Blues in the bridge. I have a problem figuring out what pickups to match up in strats, so I like getting them as sets. I figured this would be a very Texas Special sounding set, with names like Blues and Heavy Blues. They were wired up to 500k pots, volume & 2 tones including the bridge on the tone circuit, and a treble bypass filter on the volume pot.
I tried them out through my Marshall JTM 60 combo and my POD. I was expecting Texas Special style sounds and the Dimarzio's were not even close. These are all vintage sounding pickups, very bright, clear, open and articulate in all positions, with a little extra girth in the bridge and some nice fatness in the neck. Not what I was expecting at all, given the model names. Through the Marshall, with the clean channel cranked, the sound stayed clean and focused, with lots of shimmer and clang. I tried them with a wah, a Fulltone fuzz and a TS-9 and all sounds were usuable. The fuzz was nice because unlike the Texas Specials in my other strat, the sound stayed really clean until I cranked the fuzz all the way - then it was Hendrix all the way. With the TS-9 adding some mids, some of the shimmer went away and the sound rounded off well, gaining oomph and losing cut.
In A/B comparisons to the Gold Lace Sensors and the Texas Specials, the Dimarzios have a whole lot more character than the Lace Sensors. They sound a whole lot more "real" than the sensors (which was always my problem with lace sensors). No comparision to the Texas Specials - they're my favorite single coil, and they just don't sound the same - that's not a bad thing. The Texas Specials have guts and punch.
If anything, these pickups are too bright. Reading Dimarzio's material, they say to use 500k pots for the most tonal options, but that 250K pots can be used for a warmer sound. I'm a everything on 10 kind of player, so I don't like rolling my tone down to warm up the sound. If I were to keep these pickups, I'd replace the 500K pots with 250K's and remove the treble bleed circuit. I like a certain muddiness when the volume rolls down. I'd have to check, but I'm betting the tone cap values aren't my preference either.
I'm a vintage kind of guy, I like things like 60-cycle hum and cloth wire, so noiseless pickups aren't my preference. These virtual vintages are dead quiet. Really no hum or buzz at all. This is likely a comination of the pickups and a well shielded pickguard. They look like regular single coils - which is a plus to me.
I've got a set of Fender Fat 50's coming today, so with my next string change, I'll put those in.
Anyone else have experience with the Dimarzio Virtual Vintages? What about using 250k pots with them?