He's a great guitar player obvs but that is horrible guitar tone - was the amp mic'd wrong? Sounds like a fuzzed out solid state practice amp. Total mush and fizz.
I agree that the Tone Zone/Air Zone is the wrong pickup set for that guitar, although I like it in very bright bolt-on strats. The reason it doesn't work here is because he's got a 24-scale mahogany ax and so it sounds very muddy and woofy. Also, the out of phase demo, although cool, is not useful for most players who just want to hear what these pickups sound like. For this ax I would have just popped in a Norton/Air Norton set, or Super Distortion/PAF 36.
OMG ! This is great, if you could do the same with all Dimarzio pickups it would be awesome, won't have to be all famous players either. I think people will really appreciate having a database of Dimarzio sounds by Dimarzio.
@@castleanthrax1833 I think DiMarzio advertises themselves quite nicely with players like Steve Morse, John Petrucci , Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Billy Sheehan, etc.. :)
Half that has to be an act... its a Dimarzio advertisement, and there are more closeups of his face making, then there are of the product being sold. :D
Most probably are not aware of this but the TONE ZONE was one of the last two remaining pu's left when Eddie Van halen was having Dimarzio pu's made for his EBMM sig guitar. He got down to what is now in the EBMM AXIS bridge spot and the TONE ZONE and could not decide so Steve lukather said pick that one pointing to the guitar that has the Custom wound EVH/AXIS p'u in it. Larry dimarzio really liked the p'u that did not get picked that day and later released it as "The Tone zone". The one that did get picked is only available on the EBMM guitar.
I've always loved the Tone Zone. I think I got my first Tone Zone at a Sam Ash in Hollywood, in blue. I had it popped into my single bucker Charvel and a couple weeks later rocked The Roxy with it. But I would not put a Tone Zone in a 24 scale like an Iceman or Les Paul. It really excels at beefing up strats. Great pickup. Paul's a terrific player. I saw him with Racer X many times in the late 80s.
For me, there are few guitarists who rival the joy and plethora of stank faces than Paul Gilbert. Not only is he a master, he is a hoot to watch! Love this video.
I've had the tone zone in an alder Washburn Nuno and it sounded, well, let's just say not good. Too bassy, scratchy and fuzzy. How different is the air zone to your experience? Is it worth the try?
The Iceman is a cool guitar. The Japanese companies were copying in the 70's and I respect the fact that they decided to make a bold design of their own. It was a success!!! Anyone like Racer X?
👍 It is a great p'u! I prefer using it with only a 1 meg volume pot and no tone knobs. There is a guy here on YT that demo's old Marshalls and does amp mods named Michael RT and he turned me onto using the 1 meg in place of the standard 500K pot.
Hands so damn big fingers almost wrap around the fretboard twice! U know what they say about guys with long fingers? They probably say, "Wow! He's got long fingers."
Kudos to Paul Gilbert for making a Tone Zone sound good. TZ is way too boomy for me, sadly they were stock in ALL my Ibanez Prestige/J-Customs. I find the Satchur8 and Steve's Special, or even those in the PAF Pro vein to be much cleaner and more articulate. DiMarzio has some fantastic pickups, but Tone Zone was never one of them, for me at least, they only work with an unusually thin sounding guitars. Odds are if you think you want a Tone Zone, you probably should just go with a Norton, which is literally like a direct mix of a FRED and Tone Zone, get the clarity and the low end without going into that extreme, boomy/muddy place that the Tone Zone lives in.
Ive just watched Paul use the whammy bar more in 2 minutes than all of his concerts and instructional videos. Rock on Paul. Branch out. Paul is the man.
I LOVE Paul Gilbert AND I'm telling you - get the DiMarzio D Activator instead, because it is the BEST humbucker EVER invented on this planet!!! (seriously though, get whatever you like, lol)
I played Dimarzio Super Distortions for decades and the Tone Zone later on (also Duncan JBs, customs, Pegasus and distortions) but I finally tried a pair of 'D Activators' in a guitar that needed an upgrade and I was blown away. It really is a great metal pickup. It will now be my new "go to" DiMarzio.
Paul Gilbert can play any style of music and make it instantly more fun. I'm so tired of the Uber-serious self-proclaimed guitar gods, especially of the progressive rock genre.
Mr. Gilbert, I'm 59 yrs old. Many influences to name pre 70s to post 90s. You are the best teacher and player I have come across....all times brother. All times!! That speaks volumes
Met him at GIT back in the day when I went to Hollywood to make it big, he was in a hurry but was nice guy. oddly enough he was in a practise room on the weekend.
I wish he'd explain the half out of phase vs just out of phase and why etc. For me, the distorted tones sounded slightly woofy on the low end when he was playing the barre chords.
You can't help but smile when you hear him play. It also makes you realize how good he is, period. DiMardio pickups, each pickup has it's own solar system of sound.
I remember when Paul and Bruce were using the ADA. I also met them about that time. I actually jammed with Jeff Martin when Racer X broke up. He was in another band for a while before he ended up replacing Eric Singer in Jake E. Lee's Badlands. Jeff had gone back to drums then, and he's just as great on drums as Scott Travis, who had also left Racer X to join Judas Priest, replacing Dave Holland. Jeff is a really cool guy. All the dudes in Racer X were good people. I just wish that band could have made it. But I think the issue was that for all the attention they got they never got a big label interested in them. Their music, although good, was not that special when it came to songwriting. Most of the songs were about beer, pussy and driving fast, and that wasn't going to set them apart. They also didn't have much of an image, and the music biz is, sadly, very shallow. But Racer did serve as a springboard for Paul getting Mr. Big together with Billy Sheehan who had just left David Lee Roth's band, for Bruce getting into The Scream with John Corabi, and John Alderete eventually forming Mars Volta and Scott joining Priest.
I've loved the Air Zone for ages but now maybe drop it in the neck and a DP100 Super D in the bridge is in order! (The DP100 is my all time fav bridge HB) Thanks for the demo Bro! You Rock!
I can never get enough Paul Gilbert. Although I never met him personally, he comes off as the most personable and “down to earth” of all the Guitar Gods. He manages to not only shred but also plays with so much “soul”. Please keep the PG content coming!!!
Could you all get potentially get Phil Collen to do a demo with these pickups so that we can get another perspective? Paul is one of the best guitar players of all time. . . but the lower strings sound muddy as hell when distorted and the clean tones sound weak and I can't tell if he's running pedals vs. plugging the guitar straight into the amp (and not setting said amp up).
@@LarryDiMarzio I actually bought a Super Distortion based on that video (along with learning that Randy R used it) and I love it, transformed my Agile AD-2000. What I meant generally is that I've never seen PC play with a tone that didn't sound great, and it'd be cool to see these pickups plugged into a similar rig to what Collen uses (with similar settings) to see how it sounds.
Paul is always a joy to watch. I've been doing nearly the same mods on my guitars for years, too: Air Norton / Air Classic, individually switchable between series/parallel coils, blocking the tremolo system if there is one, and of course: swapping the volume and tone knobs around (thanks, Paul!) :D
I've got an RG7420 coming back in a few days with a TZ + AN + half-out-of-phase switch, and I'm so stoked. Really happy to find this video to get a preview!
