Err... where's La Floresta?

ok, ok... my apologies, I forgot you mentioned La Floresta sometime in the months that have passed. I've been busy with other thingsssss...

Gee, DiMarzio makes puppies? Does that mean if I get a single-coil DiMarzio, it'll grow up to be an X2N-7?

And screw the Krankenstein, you and I know it's all about the GT into Laney Hardcore Max 4x12 cabinets, ok! <insert outrageous bass response here>

This post has been edited by RustReaver4D1: Feb 21 2007, 05:47 PM

Just a question... any idea how it sounds like in a basswood body? with a 5-piece maple/wenge neck? (ehem!)

Yeah, I scanned through sevenstring... I'm kinda looking for something that would be close to the EMG81 in terms of output and tone (or lack of it! ).

Seems like the EVO7 is tonally closer to the EMG81, but the X2N-7 is closer in terms of output. And funnily enough, they all said that the X2N-7 sounds more "natural" than the 81... lol... guess anything sounds natural compared to the 81...

<sigh> not sure if gain10 can source the X2N-7 though...

Yeah, the EMG707 which is supposedly very similar to the EMG85 and the EMG81-7, which is the 7-string equivalent of the EMG81.

I'm a die-hard EMG fan (FTW!) but I'll need to do some re-routing etc. to fit EMGs into my guitar... and I'm not too keen on that.

Hence, my quest for DiMarzios!

Really no rerouting required? Ok... maybe it has something to do with the size of the EMGs? I remember reading that some body work is required to install EMGs in the 1527...

i c i c...

Thing is, I also like the fact that EMGs are bloody quiet pups when you don't play - I can really crank up the gain on my GT-8 and not worry so much about feedback when I don't play. I'm a bit worried that the X2N-7 may not be as quiet...

RM425 retail price for the D-sonic7... not sure how much of a discount you can get though...

Ok, I've got a question about pickups in general...

what's the difference between direct-mounted pickups and those mounted in a pickup-ring (y'know, like got a box around the pup...)?

Is there a tonal difference? If so, like how?

Really? I always felt that pickup rings look cooler... like the pickup is in some kind of altar... hehe..

X2N7 Review

Phew... ok I finally managed to slot in some time with my 1527 with a newly-installed DiMarzio X2N7 in the bridge position.

Just a little background concerning why I chose of this p/up:

1. I've been GASsing for an X2N since way way back and was considering installing it into my Jackson RR3- on the spur of the moment however I opted for an EMG81/85 combo instead.
2. EMG81-7 or EMG707 would have required body routing on the guitar... and the p/ups themselves aren't very easy to source here. (DeadEye, no comments please... )
3. It's the highest output DiMarzio 7-string p/up and it has rails (FTW!).
4. Reviews on sevenstring.org etc say that this p/up is tight, brighter than the 6-string X2N and is dead-on for metal.

So with these things in mind, I plugged in my 1527 into my GT8 and dialled up the standard metal rhythm/lead patches (Mesa R-Fier Mdn 1 sim + 8x12 cab sim) which I made for the Jackson RR3+EMG81/85 combo; basically to get an A/B comparison between the EMG81 and the X2N7.

Shhhh....
I had one real fear before getting this p/up though... noise.

The EMGhas an RMS output voltage of 1.25khz and a peak output voltage of 1.75khz. IIRC, the EMG81 is actually a low output passive p/up and it's the active electronix thingy which boosts the output into "Stand Tall and Shake the Heaven" regions... supposedly that's why it's a relatively quiet p/up.

The X2N7 on the other hand is a straight-out ballz2Dwallz high output p/up so I was a bit worried that I'd get some serious feedback issues... surprisingly though, this p/up is quite quiet. The verdict is still out though because I've only tried it at slightly loud bedroom levels (twas be 2 hours till midnight, and t'would be impolite to blast ) ... will have to see how it fares at band playing levels though.

Rhythm
Since it's a 7-string, naturally the first power chord I hit was the low B and I thought to myself... wow, the distortion is as saturated as the EMG81. I played a few random palm-muted riffs on the B string (8th notes, 16th notes, syncopated, straight... standard power metal fare! "16th notes are the only notes!") and the thing that really struck me was how tight and clear the 7th string sounded. Heck, when I played on the 6th string it sounded even clearer and tighter than the EMG81! It was so bloody addictive that I spent about 15 minutes doing nothing but chugging aimlessly on the 7th string...

I think the difference between the EMG81 in the Jackson and the X2N7 in the 1527 is that the EMG81 has a bit more mids than the X2N7... according to the EQ chart on the DiMarzio website, the X2N7 has a pretty flat EQ curve with a very slight dip in the mid frequencies. Also probably it's because the Jackson is alder whereas the 1527 is basswood... who knows, I'm not very well-versed in guitar woods... hehe...

Lead
My lead patch is essentially the same as my rhythm patch, but I back off the gain on the R-fier sim and slap a T-screamer sim in front as a booster... plus a bit of EQ boost in the 2khz range. The X2N7 responded quite well- it may not be as bright as the EMG81 but it sure as heck sounds more "alive". Interestingly enough, according Tham (who has an X2N installed in his Ibanez Rhandy Rhoads) the X2N7 is a lot brighter than the 6-string X2N... then again, IIRC the X2N7 is not so much a modified X2N for 7-strings but more of a complete redesign. Oh well, I like the results...

For slow lines, the X2N7 has a bit of a sizzle to it which makes it "sing" nicely, but not so over-the-top. Surprisingly though, for fast scalar runs on the lower strings (7th to 4th strings), the notes sound clearer than the EMG81 in the Jackson. (...ok, I know a statement like this generally attracts comments like "if it sounds jumbled up, it's probably your technique wtf!" ... but since I'm comparing my own playing on the Jackson+EMG81 against the 1527+X2N7, that's as objective as I can get, so there! ...in other words, runs sounded less sloppy on the X2N7 than the EMG81... hehe...)

Yes, in my euphoric state, I even tried sweep arpeggios with this thing... it didn't really sound very clear, but I'm going to refrain from saying any more because that, I can safely say, is probably because of my technique (or lack thereof)...

...ok, the above was all tried with the p/up selector in the bridge position.... when I switched to the next position (2nd position from the bridge... the one where it uses one bridge single coil plus the neck p/up in parallel), ...the sound was single-coilish but still punchy. Gee... the output however was as much as my neck p/up (stock Ibz V7-7) in serial...

Clean tone... huh what?!
Hehe... I remember reading on the DiMarzio website... "If you're looking for pretty sound, don't go here. If you're looking for pretty crazy, this is it." That pretty much sums up how the clean tone sounds like...

On a more serious note however, chords don't sound as jangly with the X2N7 as with the EMG81. In fact, if the p/up selector is in the 2nd position from the Bridge, it actually sounds quite nice... punchy, clear and bright yet not piercing.

The End
I can safely say that I am now a DiMarzio convert. If I were to do a one-word against one-word comparison with the EMG, I'd say that the EMG is a "chainsaw" but this baby is a "chainsword" ("In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war." ..hehe...) Brutal, yet with more finesse than the EMG81...

Now the only problem is getting a decent neck p/up companion for this beast. I've been eyeing the DA7 neck which has an interesting treble spike... but I may also consider another X2N7 just to get that tight sound for my neck p/up. Plus, quad rails FTW!

So, in conclusion...
This thing is: like cold steel, good for slaying dragons (+1 against chromatic dragonkind), saving the green valleys where unicorns run wild, defending townes against the evil forces of the Abyss... essentially- metal.

This thing is bad for: anything that's not metal. On that note, I'll end with a quote from Joey DiMaio...



This post has been edited by RustReaver4D1: Sep 6 2007, 06:14 PM

unfortunately (or fortunately) no... but if you see me in Que Tone, I'll let you demo it if you want...

...hehe... in return, you've gotta show "Under the Influence"!

well, according to Rusty, when he had to shoot a video to showcase his Dean signature series, he chose "Under the Influence" because it was the easiest song from his solo album.

...ok before mod intervention comes, back to topic a bit...

I just found out from Tham that you can actually mix and match a passive pickup with an active one, so long as you use different volume pots. Which gives rise to interesting possibilities... like having an X2N on the bridge and an EMG85 on the neck. Seems ok for 6-strings but for 7-strings, it'll look bloody weird because of the stupid size of the EMG pickup covers...

wah seriously? I always heard that actives and passives can't be mixed one...

Yeah, but supposedly the D-Activator 7 Neck sounds bright but not brittle on the higher strings.

I doubt that the EMG-HZ will sound similar to the DA7 though, since like Val says, the DA7 is supposed to emulate active pups like EMG81.

SweetTooth, your AX is basswood right? ...you should probably stay clear from the Invader then... my friend has an Invader in a basswood RG, and it is not a very clear sounding p/up. Also, Invaders are supposedly better in woods like alder than in basswood.

Why not try the X2N? It's as high output (or higher!) as the Invader... plus the rails look schweeet...

Well... I know for a fact that the X2N7 is bloody tight and is reasonably bright ala your tone (err... I mean Alexi ). The only X2N I've heard is Tham's one, but that's in the neck position.

Still, if you want tight and Alexi-sh, I think Invader is outta the question. And he was using the HZ in a Jackson (alder presumably).

Not sure how Agathis is supposed to sound like. Hel, be safe and get EMG81/85 FTW!

No man... X2N all the way for the win!

Plus, the white one with black rails just look sick!

And it rocks for clean tone when set to parallel too...