Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups

[Tone2TheBone]

I bought a Virtual Vintage Blues pickup to put in the bridge position of my Strat yesterday and I just wanted to say how quiet they are. It really compliments the sound of my other Dimarzios. The pickup is a little hotter than the '55s I have in the neck and middle position and really makes the bridge position sound good. Nice big tone but with just the right amount of output for lead work. Still sounds like a single coil only smoother and bigger. *thumbs up* Always liked Dimarzio pickups.

[Robert****]

Congrats man, those Virtual Vintage pickups are awesome. Isn't it great to get rid of the hum!?

I am going to try the Area 58 pickups, I have heard they are also fantastic.

[Tone2TheBone]

Robert - yes the quiet single coil is nice dude. Had I known how good they sounded I would have bought regular Virtual Vintage 2.1s or Area 58s for the other positions....although the '55s are "my sound". When I get a maple necked Strat I'll throw in some Area 58s and another VV Blues in that guitar!

[Cranium]

Cool, could you describe it? I been thinking about putting one of those in the neck position of the next strat I buy.

[Tone2TheBone]

Cranium - I can only give you an interpretation of what it sounds like in the bridge position of a Strat. I will first compare the VV Blues to what I had installed before I got it which were a couple of things...

1. The original stock ceramic pickup they put in MIM Strats.

2. A Seymour Duncan Great White Snarks for Strat pickup I got for free from
someone I know.

I tried the Duncan pickup first only because it was free. It was very thin sounding and didn't match the output on the new Dimarzios I had already installed. Because of this I rarely played on the bridge. I have had good luck with Duncans in the past but they sell this pickup at Guitar Centers for real cheap ($30.00 US) so....I guess you get what you pay for and luckily I didn't pay anything for it....so out it went.

After trying the Duncan I put back the original ceramic pickup that came with the guitar and lowered it from the strings. Ceramics sound good like that especially on the bridge BUT...it was too noisy because of the strong magnet pull, and it was wired out of phase with my middle pickup. When wired the way you're supposed to wire it the sound was thin (out of phase)...but would cancel out hum in the quack position. When I soldered the wires opposite (switching the black and white wires to ground) the pickup wasn't out of phase anymore but it wouldn't cancel out hum in the quack position. I even tried flipping the single coil ceramic pickup upside down in the pickguard thinking it would be in phase and hum canceling. It did not work that way so...out THAT came too.

I did some research and initially I was going to install a Virtual Vintage Solo pickup in there because of the information I was reading about. After comparing both pickups and looking at the specs I decided that I wasn't sure if I wanted the extra midrange the Solo provides in the bridge position. When buying my VV Blues yesterday I spoke with the shop tech there and he mentioned that he liked the sound of the VV Solo in the neck...but he also thought it would be too much on the bridge. I told him I thought the same thing and so that is why I ended up with the VV Blues. The Blues pup in the bridge is bigger sounding right off the bat. It's hard to get a big sound from a bridge position Strat because of the close proximity to the bridge and the angle that it sets at on the treble side. Less string vibration happens there so you're already at a disadvantage in trying to get a bigger sound from a single coil. With a humbucker it's not a problem. The VV Blues has nice bottom end. The mids are just right and the pickup is not icepicky in the least yet has clarity. I would compare the sound to some of Robert Renman's guitar hero Scott Henderson's sound. Robert was the one that told me about the Virtual Vintage 2.2s and this pickup is very similar in specs to those pickups...and I loved Scotts sound on some of the songs he had posted on his website. Scott now uses Suhr pickups now I think. Robert can probably verify this so I'm not sure if those songs he did with the Virtual Vintage pickups are still available to listen to online. (Rob do you know?) If they are then have a listen to those songs and you'll get the idea of how they sound in a Strat.

[SuperSwede]

T2TB, so when will we be able to hear how it sounds in your strat?

[Tone2TheBone]

T2TB, so when will we be able to hear how it sounds in your strat?

As soon as I get my digital camera fixed. I guess I could break down and put a mic in front of my amps and record it the "old fashioned way"........on my computer.

Oh Cranium...here's the link to Scott Henderson's sound...

http://www.scotthenderson.net/live.htm

Here is the original thread I started about a good bridge single coil pickup....

http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=19

[SuperSwede]

Cool.. I´m really looking forward to hear the ´55s as well!

[Tone2TheBone]

Cool.. I´m really looking forward to hear the ´55s as well!

The '55s spank dude! I'll get it on file.

[Robert****]

Yep, Scott Henderson used Virtual Vintage 2.x on the Live album. Not sure if they were 2.1's or 2.2's. He uses the same pup for all the positions.

[Cranium]

Tone, I have a VV solo pro which is even a bit more middy then the solo and it sounds nice, its in the middle position on my Ibanez but as soon as I get an s/s/s strat I will try it in the bridge, it sounds somewhat like a gibson but with less output and a little cleaner, its definatly not for you if you want a strat sound, its very smooth and woody sounding. The reason I want the VV blues is because I want to get a nice clean sound but still warm sounding.

[Tone2TheBone]

Cranium - give it a whirl I bet you'd like it. Dimarzio has been making some good stuff since I started playing back in the 70s.

[Spudman***]

I bought a Virtual Vintage Blues pickup to put in the bridge position of my Strat yesterday and I just wanted to say how quiet they are. It really compliments the sound of my other Dimarzios. The pickup is a little hotter than the '55s I have in the neck and middle position and really makes the bridge position sound good. Nice big tone but with just the right amount of output for lead work. Still sounds like a single coil only smoother and bigger. *thumbs up* Always liked Dimarzio pickups.

Tone
Do you still have this and what do you think of it now? I'm looking for a Tele bridge pickup.

[Robert****]

Hey, I have a Virtual Vintage Tele bridge pup in my Squier Tele! Ask me!

Seriously, I love the pickup. Great, spanking tone with no hum. What more do you want?

[Tone2TheBone]

Tone
Do you still have this and what do you think of it now? I'm looking for a Tele bridge pickup.

A follow up post eh. Ok yes I still have this pickup and no I'm not going to sell it sorry. It's the perfect compliment to my other pups in my rosewood Strat. Quiet as heck. Has bigger output so it's a slightly thicker sounding Strat bridge pup (which is what I wanted). It's sorta like how Joe Perry sounds when he plays his Strats. Straty yes but more thicker. I love this pickup. It still sounds like a single coil like I said earlier...but it's got the bigger nicer tone. The Tele pup you're wanting should be awesome too.

[duhvoodooman***]

Do these stacked 'buckers at the bridge change the position 2 quack character much? And do you lose some/all of the noise cancellation at that position that you get when the middle p'up is RW/RP?

[Robert****]

My Tele is dead silent in all three positions. The Virtual T's sound just like "real" Tele single coils in my ears. Maybe I would hear a small difference if I did an A/B test, but seriously, these are awesome pickups.

[Tone2TheBone]

Do these stacked 'buckers at the bridge change the position 2 quack character much? And do you lose some/all of the noise cancellation at that position that you get when the middle p'up is RW/RP?

Good questions. The quack stays the same. I have wired that Strat like a JV though so the middle pup is not wired to the tone pot. It's wide open and I like that sound. It might accentuate the quack in position 2 as such.

I haven't noticed any noise loss in that position only because I've got the NS-2 on constantly. I'll shut it off tonight and tell you what I hear without it.

[duhvoodooman***]

I'm just concerned about the possible impact on the two "quack" positions on a Strat, since those are some of my favorite tones. I wouldn't mind having a bit fuller tone from the bridge p'up, which is my least favorite of the three Strat pickups. But I don't want to screw up that quack!!