DiMarzio D Activator vs Tone Zone/Air Norton Pickup Comparison

DiMarzio D Activator vs Tone Zone/Air Norton pickup comparison by High Z Productions. Same settings, same amp sim. In summary there’s a big difference in playing feel but the sound is closer than one might expect. ---------- ---------- 00:00 Intro 00:08 Summary of results 00:37 Tone Zone bridge 00:57 Tone Zone guitar solo 01:01 Air Norton neck 01:08 D Activator bridge 01:28 D Activator guitar solo 01:32 D Activator neck 01:38 Post playthrough discussion 01:44 Biggest difference is feel 01:51 Harmonic evidence/frequency response 02:26 Listener won’t hear much difference 02:35 Makes a difference in EQ application 02:39 Tone Zone better for warmer sounds, D Activator for cutting through mix 03:11 Conclusion 03:17 Outro I switched out the pickups in the RG652AHM and was pretty surprised with the results. One might expect the D Activators to be significantly brighter than the Tone Zone/Air Norton but through either consistent playing or the power of the amp sim, the sound was very close. So much so that the difference can’t be noticed unless you’re directly comparing them and are really listening closely. Was it worth it? I think so based on the guitar solo tone. Fitting a solo into the mix can be challenging and was my biggest issue with the Tone Zone bridge. Getting that to fit into songs took a lot of thought, EQ, and signal shaping so having something that fits in much more naturally is worth it. Otherwise if you’re not looking to solo, using different amp settings or...