DIMARZIO PAF PRO

Hello, this post will talk a lot about DiMarzio PAF Pro. As we all know, DiMarzio is one of those companies who are selling aftermarket pickups with many options to fit your preference. I got one installed on my JEM-JR now and the reason why I put PAF Pro on my JEM-JR is not because it's my choice; ironically, it chose me one day because my local DiMarzio dealer didn't have any humbucker left at that time except PAF Pro.

Paul Gilbert
First time I heard PAF Pro was on Paul Gilbert's solo albums. Paul put PAF Pro on the bridge position of some of his guitars, including the famous PGM300 which he later converted to a 301. It attracts my ear because it's a relatively bright humbucker which means it will blend perfectly with other bright sounding pickups and/or single coils. This also makes it very effective on the neck position to brighten up muddy neck position on a darker sounding guitar.

Put it on my JEM-JR
My original plan was to stick it on the neck of my JEM and get something hotter and darker for the bridge to kind of level off the EQ on both neck and bridge position so that I get the similar bass and treble on both position but with different gain. However, I was more interested with single coils on that time, so I chose Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 to be installed on the neck and middle position.

The sound
Exactly as what it was advertised: bright, strong, punchy and stands out pretty clear in the mix. It was bright enough that you can nail some bridge single coil tone using this pickup on the bridge position. It screams too if you need it to scream, just add more dirt on your signal and you'll get a fantastic result. Harmonic overtones are everywhere! It's not categorized as high output pickup, so it won't really drive your amp too much but that also adds more dynamics to your overall sound.

Is this the correct pickup for me?
I adjusted my volume pot to 250k in order to make this one works better, but even with 500k it was still sounding good. Beware, if you had a very bright sounding guitar you better be ready for some super bright tone especially if you put it on the bridge position. My JEM-JR is already strong in the upper mid but it's not bright enough on the top end. This pickup really helps me to achieve that top end boost so that it can cut easily on the mix without obstructing other instruments on the mid level. If brightness and top boost is what you're looking for, this is what you need.

Price?
Same with every other DiMarzios, they start around US$70.00 depending on the color you choose.

Worth the price?
Obviously, you can't go wrong with DiMarzio pickups if you know what you want.

Sound clip: coming soon
I hope you enjoy the post, cheers and God bless :)

DIMARZIO PAF 7

So sorry for the very lack of update last week, I went to so many places and didn't have much time to update the blog. Anyway, here I am with a review of DiMarzio PAF 7, the seven string DiMarzio low output PAF style pickup.

A little bit of background

It's supposed to sound like a regular PAF on Les Paul guitars. This one is formulated for seven string guitar and it has that low output sound of a weak magnet humbucker that makes it so sweet.

I installed mine on my RG7321 on the neck position. It doesn't sound good right away, but after I tweaked a little bit with the pickup height, I got my sweet spot right away.

Sound

The sound is very good, this is totally the best low output pickup for seven string guitar! This pickup doesn't boost the mid and bass like other high gain seven string guitar pickups, instead it adds a little bit more open-sound quality with more treble. On the neck position on a very dark sounding guitar, it will sound pretty much like the old PAF pickup on a '50s Les Paul guitar. Its low output doesn't mean it's not good for metal or shreddy stuffs, it's actually the best pickup on the neck for a fast legato runs! Doesn't get muddy is what it does best, so if you're frustrated with your seven string of getting too muddy and bassy, this pickup is the solution.

Keep in mind that it has what they call Virtual Vintage technology, you can do coil split and get a super sweet single coil-like sound that's pretty pleasing to hear. I don't make mine to sound like that but I guess you should be pleased if you have a coil tap function available on your guitar right now and you're thinking to get this pickup.

Price and worthiness

$70.00, It's worth every penny I spent for sure. This is one of the best replacement pickup for a seven string available. Probably the lowest output pickup replacement for seven strings.

From 0 to 10

10 ! Sounds totally awesome and not too expensive.

Stay tuned for audio clips.

Cheers and God bless :)

MY MODDED JEM-JR

Introduction
I just finished modding my Korean Ibanez JEM-JR WN today and I'm really glad with the result and I want to share it with all of you my dearest readers.

The original un-modded version of this guitar features an Ibanez ILT floating locking tremolo and Ibanez INF series pickups on all positions. It was my very first guitar that I own and not borrow from other people. It costs around $500 when it first came out and I pay almost the same price for that. I got lots of beautiful memories with this guitar, I learned a lot of materials using this guitar and it's been very friendly to me until today.

For some tone chasers, entry level Ibanez guitars probably won't please them as they sound crappy(sorry) and they feel crappy(sorry) as well. But not for me, this guitar is pretty versatile and reliable except that the ILT trem broke one day and I replaced it with Korean Floyd Rose. Now with the modifications, I even dare to compare my baby to some high-end good sounding Strat or Strat-like guitar, YEAH BABY !

Now onto the modifications

First of all, the modification that I did is to replace the trem of course as I mentioned above, the ILT proved to be a non reliable trem.

Then I replaced the pickups as usual with DiMarzios. On the neck and middle, I put Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2. They sounded SUPER AMAZING; the tone is very SRV 70-ish and works well with mild and heavy overdrive units. On the bridge I put PAF Pro and I got that Paul Gilbert tone instantly on my bridge position!

On a clean rig, the singles sounded very Strat-ish with all those glassy sparkly highs but with some extra mid punch while the PAF Pro sounds almost like a single coil but with more lows and mids and of course it's hotter than the others although not too much. All of the pickups are pretty low output and as I did with my PGM, I reduces the height of the neck pickup and increases the height of the bridge pickup to get instant less gain sound by just switching the pickup.

PAF Pro vs AT hum, VVHB2 vs Cruiser

The PAF Pro is not as hot as the AT humbucker and it lacks the mid punch that the AT humbucker has, but it has better high and clarity compared to the AT. The VVHB2 sounds much more like a hot strat compared to the Cruisers, but the Cruisers has more pronounced bottom and treble compared to the VVHB2. All of them are great but they're all different in terms of sound characteristics.

Nonetheless, they're all very impressive in terms of performance and tone. Easy to play with and sounds pretty well when combined together. No complaints, no flaw, it's like having a new guitar. I even dare to challenge someone with an American Deluxe strat on a tone match because it sounds almost like a vintage Strat with an LP humbucker now(or even better than that, I have 24 frets and floating trem, Strat comes with 22 mostly haha!).

Korean Floyd vs ILT vs Edge Pro

The new Floyd trem sounds okay to me. It's not as smooth as Edge Pro trem and it does not have extremely long sustain, but it's much better than the ILT tremolo. The tone that I'm getting from the trem is similar to the tone of a vintage style tremolo of a strat or something, twangy and rounded but not as twangy as a Telecaster. It does not stay in tune as good as the ILT and Edge Pro though because it has different string insertion mechanism.

More mods on the way

Next, I added capacitors on my volume knob as well as a resistor on parallel to make that treble bleed mod and reduce the output a little bit so the entire signal won't get too hot. But I also take out the tone knob and put the volume knob on the former tone knob routing. I get more volume by doing that. If I put Cruisers and AT humbucker, I'll probably get similar tone to my modded PGM ha ha !

Tone pot that blocks the tone

By the way, removing tone pot really helps the tone to get more volume and uncompressed feeling. That tone pot is actually a potentiometer or in an easier term: an adjustable resistor. Putting resistor in series with your signal will cause current reduction and thus you get lower output from your pickups. It also compressed the overall guitar sound a little bit. If you have the courage and heart to try something new, and if you rarely use your tone knob, try taking it/them out and hear the positive difference!

For this guitar, I won't be able to post audio clip or anything like that until probably next year when all my rigs will be transported back from Seattle to Indonesia. When that happens, we can probably hear some clips of me comparing the JEM and PGM using same FX units! How cool is that !!!

Visually unappealing

The overall modification sounds great but it DOESN'T look great. That's because now the single coil on the neck position does not cover the humbucker routing completely. I have to get a new pickguard to solve that aesthetic-related problem.

I don't really care though to be honest

As long as it sounds good, I don't complain. Right now, all I want to do is play that baby all day long and all night long. I plug it through a digital crappy(sorry) Korg Tonework AX1500 and now the overall tone that I'm getting is almost like using a POD X3 Live, very very lively thanks to those modifications.

I hope this post will be useful for everyone who reads this.

Cheers and God bless :)

p.s. One more week until I'm able to post audio clips to my posts!