Andy Timmons plays "Electric Gypsy" and talks about his sound, DiMarzio pickups, Mesa Boogie amps, "Xotic effects and his Andy Timmons signature Ibanez guitar. www.dimarzio.c... www.dimarzio.c... www.dimarzio.c...
I used to catch all of Andy’s various project’s gigs in Dallas up through the 90’s and early 2000’s. A great, modest guy and a fantastic guitarist! Andy has covered a lot of ground. Great guitar tone.
God bless this boy.. he has brought tasteful soulful playing back to the forefront of the guitar genre, all the mindless shredding and macho sweeping was getting old... Andy is a true Jimi Hendrix Disciple in that his soul is in his Guitar playing... A very special player, Andy is a good hearted guy and it shows in his playing..
I've got six guitars, five of them equipped whit DiMarzios. In 8 years I didn't find any better pickups for me. I've got two Dactivators, a CrunchLab and a Liquifire, a Chopper-Class '54 and Virtual '77 combination, but I think that the Timmons's set is composed by the best sounding pickups of DiMarzio.
larry, you rock on so many levels! it's not "just" your great pickups that rule my tiny rockworld; you take the best artist-pics, make the best artist-videos and are a great and humble person to boot. thanks again.
Andy is just incredible ! He has made the cruiser his own pickup and gets the most out of. This is a thrill for me because is directly involved in the development of it with Steve Blucher in 1993.We went through three revisions and Steve nailed the voicing perfectly !! I see it has stood the test of time so cool.
Hi, Yes, you are right, it's a humbucker. The Chopper was designed to fit into a Strat style (single coil) space. So it's a great pickup to go to to fit into Strat, HSS, or HSH guitars. The wiring is standard and you can check it out on the DiMarzio website. Hope that helps, Larry DiMarzio
I bought the Cruiser bridge (neck position), Fast Track 1 (middle position), and Chopper for the bridge of my 08 Strat. I can say this was the best ever for this guitar, thank you so much Larry Dimarzio, your company is one of the best I've ever purchased from. :)
I saw Andy Timmons at the Wildwest guitar clinic this past summer. He has everything: Tone, feeling, technicality... he's absolutely amazing. I also happen to love Dimarzio pickups and am a proud user myself. I'll never take them out of my guitar that's for sure!
Another fact that really amazes me is the fact that the legendary Mr. Dimarzio actually finds time to answer all the questions people make. How many companys do that?? really amazing!
I have a DiMarzio PAF from the 70's (possibly early 80s, things get hazy...) in my 1977 Ibanez Artist neck position. It has been replaced too many times to count, and has always been re-installed again. Perfect PUP Larry.
@heath832 Your observations are correct. The Fast Track 1 is a little louder than the Cruiser, but you should be able to get a good balance by using either of them with a Chopper in the bridge. The main difference is tone. The Cruiser has more of a scooped-mid sound than the Fast Track 1.
Love the lick at :40 (And everywhere else).. LOl I see Andy all the time cause I am a Texas Boy and live near Dallas. He isn't here as much as he used to be cause he tours with his band and Olivia and other stuff, btu I have had privledge if seeing him LIVE 20+ times.
@jermrox1 Andy does use the middle pickup a fair amount of the time. It doesn't sound as warm in the middle position as it does in the neck, but that is what makes it useful for brighter tones.
@Esbenmad I think it would work with the single-coil G&L pickup, but the AT-1 is a full -size humbucker, so I assume there would have to be woodwork to install it.
They can be split, but the sound isn't very different in split mode. The Area 61, Area 58 and Area 67 were all designed to produce variations of classic Strat sounds without needing to be split. I think you should try the Area 61 and HB2 as you originally asked about. They may do what you have in mind.
@LiamTrevor It depends on how close you need to get to a "true" Strat sound. A Cruiser can handle saturation, but an Area 67 or 61 can also do so, if a vintage Strat sound is what you have in mind.
Just installed a DP187 Cruiser in the neck and an AT-1 in the bridge of a modified Line 6 Variax 700 which sounds great. Placed a normal single coil in the middle BTW.
@ShadowLancer128 They're almost identical in output, which usually means you will have to adjust the neck pickup (the Breed) further from the strings to get a good balance. I don't see any issues other than that.
@heath832 EIther one might be OK. The Air Norton is a little louder and warmer. It shouldn't have any problem balancing with the pickups you're considering for the neck & middle positions.
Just seeing responses from the company to the average person sold me for life. Oh yeah, they are also used by basically every guitar icon in the planet...
@LarryDiMarzio Yeah, good point. Hey, maybe both? They are , after all, very much a team of guitar players. I think they recently finished a new album so I guess this would be a fitting time for it. :)
It is impossible to be certain what the problem might be without seeing the guitar, but every guitar responds differently in terms of balance between individual pickup positions. On your guitar, it might be necessary to consider a quieter bridge pickup such as a PAF bridge model or an Air Norton.
@ilDePalma The balance shouldn't be a problem, but I don't really know what type of sound you want in the neck position. A Fast Track 1 isn't particularly bluesy, so it's just a question of what you have in mind for the overall sound.
@Dreamscapevirus Hi, This was recorded live and Andy's setup was very simple and no rack gear or power conditioners. Just floor pedals, fingers and it was great to be in the room. I suggest checking Andy's gear list on his site for better info. Hope that helps, Larry DiMarzio
@LarryDiMarzio right, , but would it be a good compliment with the mo joe pickup???,, I really like the cruiser's tone, exactly because it is much more brighter and it's fat as well , it's a great pickup Larry, and kudos for taing the time to answer people questions, That's the best you can ask a company, a little concern about the client puts a smile in my face.
@jacktheguitarman The DP103 comes standard with 4-conductor cable (the same as all of our other humbuckers). This is the version you need for coil-tapping. Do not get the single-conductor version.
@MrFenderkev I have a chopper in the bridge as well, and it mixes very nicely with a cruiser bridge in the neck and a fast track 1 in the middle position. In fact a fast track in the middle position is incredible for cleans. ~ Sean
@sledge76 If you were to swap necks in the same guitar, the maple board would usually be brighter. However, no 2 guitars are identical, so it's very possible that one guitar with a rosewood board could be brighter than a different guitar with maple.
@sledge76 Andy actually a Cruiser bridge model in the neck and middle, which should work well in your guitar. If you have a Strat-size pickup in the bridge position, you could try a Tone Zone S. It's not the same as Andy's bridge pickup, but there are some strong similarities.
@gamergeek3000 A Cruiser isn't loud enough to balance well with a Super, but it will still work if your style doesn't require all of the pickups to have equal volume.
damn that cruiser sounds incredibly glassy for a humbucker and glassy in a good way clear, cuts through but not too much twang. if i closed my eyes and listen i could have sworn that was a standard single coil.
@LarryDiMarzio Thanks I believe I will try the Air zone in the bridge the guitar is a Music man Silhouette. Love the new site by the way. Thank for making pickups that have depth and power. Even if they are a model with lots of treble you find a way to keep it full bodied.
The title of the video in itself is a great advice. Too many fail to write good music because they build meaningless shred around the tiny ideas that made them write the song in the first place.
@40MattB I have the lonestar, I can promise that his tone is about as pure as it gets. The clean you hear in the beginning on Electric Gypsy is nothing more than the neck pickup into a Carl Martin Compressor and then the lonestars clean; which as it turns out is really similar to the twin reverb's clean. You really are hearing that pickup's tone ;) All the best, ~ PilotSSW
@12kirkhinrich12 Andy has a lot of recorded examples of these pickups on his CDs. I guess it depends on your definition of "bluesy and glassy", but the sounds he gets seem to fit the description.
@jacktheguitarman Our turnaround for the PAF is the same as for our other pickups. Sorry, but the most likely explanation is that the order (or the pickup itself) got lost in their system.
@OmniVirus2 Andy's guitar isn't wired to split any of the pickups. How well it (or any other model) will do with metal will depend a lot on the type of amp you play. Volume-wise, it should be OK with an Evo neck model.
An Area 61 in the neck and a Heavy Blues 2 in the bridge might be good, but I think you may also need a humcancelling pickup like an Area 67 in the middle for all 5 positions to be quiet.
@josephvincentguitar It sounds good in basswood - a little warmer than it does in alder. A PAF or PAF Joe goes very well in the neck. Both positions should be F-spaced.
Hi Larry I have a G&L ASAT Special. A wonderful guitar in many ways, but I dont use the bridge pickup at all. On the other hand I absolutely love the sound of your AT1 pickup. Do you think it would go with the neck G&L Magnetic Field Design high output single coil pickup and would I be able to install it without carving in the wood of the guitar? Kind regards Esben Madsen, Denmark
Larry, thanks again for your response. I have decided to get for sure one HB2 for the Bridge, and the Area 67 for the middle. For the neck I'm thinking in getting the Area 61 as you suggested, but looking in your website I was also attracted to the "Virtual Vintage 54 Pro" . What are the differences? I'm asking cause I have a Mark V Mesa boogie and maybe that would help on the Drive channel, but I'm afraid it will fatten a whole lot the clean channel. What do you think?
