DiMarzio Blaze II

Pickup features: active humbuckers
Impedence or other specs: uh...

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanez RG7621
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: (none)
Other pickups on guitar: same
Artists using this pickup: korn, limp bisquick
You musical style(s): heavy, experimental rock/grunge/metal (tool, soundgarden, korn, NIN, etc.)
Reason for pickup change: n/a

Perceived output level: hot enuf to cut, but not over the top
Tone: fairly even and balanced tone, good bass, nice combination of punchiness and clarity.
Sonic evaluation: RG 7 string into a line 6 head. i leave the highs and mids alone on my eq, since the pickups get good presence and punch without being annoying, but i boost the bass to make it rumble. they can get nice deep cleans if you want em to, or incredibly heavy distortion tone. basically they have nice thick bass with enuf mids and highs to give cut and clarity, but not so much that it gets annoying. nice balance, you can take your tone in any direction you want.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: i play grungy metal influenced rock, heavy but melodic and experimental too. i go from clean to very heavy, rhythm and lead, and the pickups are diverse enuf for this.

Comments: yeah these seem like the best passive p.u.'s of the 7 strings ive played, way better than the shitty ibanez stock pickups, or the pickups on the S-series. they get a nice high output, excellent clarity, nice deep clear cleans, huge sounding distortion, etc. very diverse, nice balanced tone.

Pickup features: Passive Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: do you really care?

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanez Rg7620
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: none
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: Korn, Limp Bisquick
You musical style(s): Neo Metal, Industrial, Soft Metal
Reason for pickup change: i did not change the pickup...how many fucking times must i tell ya! hehe...

Perceived output level: A bit louder than EMG HZs...
Tone: balanced
Sonic evaluation: ibanez rg7620--->line 6 floorboard--->line 6 flextone HD

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: this pickup will get you any sound you want

Comments: a lot of people say that this pickups won't give you a good clean tone...i would venture to guess it would be the fault of their amp. i can get an excellent clean tone with this pickups. when i first got the rg7620 (HIGHLY RECCOMENDED, but don't get the cheap shit rg7420) i planned on replacing the blaze II with an EMG 707, but when i heard it i fell in love with it. i play on buying a few more rg7620s for the road and i'm gonna leave these pickups alone. if i ever get another 7 string besides the rg7620 or rg7621 (highly doubted, but ya never know...maybe i'll get a custom) i'd put some blaze IIs in there in an instant. the line 6 flextone hd compliments the sound perfectly and will reccomend that amp (but not the cabs...DO NOT GET LINE 6 CABS) to anyone and everyone who will listen. NO...i am not a korn wannabe and i hate limp bizkit. i enjoy fear factory and i know dino uses the almost same rig (he uses the line 6 but he has custom ibanez 7s with the emg 707) but i do not sound like him. i'm my own musician (hehe corny i know) and i just think that setup (guitar, amp, pickups...etc.) is best suited for me.
TO SUM IT UP- the Blaze II is the best 7 string pickup ever [if you don't wanna dick around with actives...which most of us don't] if you have a 7 string an don't wanna change the batteries in an EMG 707 every 1500 hours, depending on how it's wired, then get this. you can get any tone. EVEN CLEAN ONES.
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Pickup features: passive humbucking
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanez Universe
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Blaze II 700
Other pickups on guitar: Blaze II 701 & 702
Artists using this pickup: ???- me
You musical style(s): metal & jazz
Reason for pickup change: Felt like I needed a change.

Perceived output level: a bit higher than 700
Tone: well balanced, much clearer than the 700
Sonic evaluation: I run my Universe(strung lefty w/tone removed) through a 5150 halfstack. In no particular order I usually have a Boss DD5 delay, Dunlop 535Q, Rocktron hush, zvex, and a small stone phaser running.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play music along the lines of Meshuggah,Cryptopsy, Fear Factory, and Dillinger Escape Plan . This pickup works well for this type of music, plenty of gain. The sound is much clearer than the old one. The old Blaze almost sounds muffled compared to this. Distortion and harmonics are no problem with this pickup. If you roll back on the volume it cleans up niclely too. I imagine it could work well for the neck position too. I kept the neck because I like a smooth, mellow, jazzy tone for lead and the existing neck pickup works well for this

Comments: I am quite satisfied with this pickup. I wanted a less muddy tone for my 7 string and this delivered it. If it were destroyed or stolen I would probbaly get another. I'd have to hear the new seymour duncan 7 string pickups though. I've been playing a little over 6 years. I've been playing 7 strings for about 5 years. At the time I bought it only Dimarzio and EMG made after market 7 string pickups. It was this or the EMG, which requires routing, so I went with this.

Pickup features: (passive humbucker)
Impedence or other specs: ?

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanez RG7620
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: None
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup: Korn, Limp Bizkit, Not Steve Vie
You musical style(s): Progressive, heavy mettle, bluse
Reason for pickup change: none

Perceived output level: It has ok output but nothing like an EMG.
Tone: Great If you want to play Korn, Limp Bizkit but thats all. Thare are no harmonics and the sound is muddy with flat highs and mids. This pick-up is also unsuitable for anything clean.
Sonic evaluation: I mainly use a Fender AS with a Seymor Duncan 59' and Lawernce L-500, pick-ups both coil taped. My Fender also has a Fishman Pizo pick-up. With the combation of the Fishman and the 2 humbuckers the tone ranges from an acoustic to vary bluesy solos. The problem with the Fender is that I can't get enough growl from it to play heavier styles like Pantera. My amp is a 120 watt, all tubed, Pevey 5150 going through a Marshell 1960A and all the FX that I use is a Wha. I bought the Ibenze hoping for a more of a Steve Vie or Dream Theater sound, but I found out after I bought the guitar that the older Blaze pick-ups have less output, hence a differnt tone.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: My band plays every thing but happy punk and ska. My fender does most styles and I was hoping the Ibanez could do the rest. The rest being Pantera, Tool, Metallica, Sevendust, Megadeth and so on.

Comments: If these pick-ups were stolen I would not care much because I plane on replaceing them. Seymor Duncan comes out with 7-string pick-ups in late 1999. I was thinking about geting EMG 707 but installing them requries some routering because they are in a 5-string bass casing. If some one wants to sound Korn these pick-ups are great. They are also good for people who want the individual notes not to be heard because they would like to cover up their horrible guitar ablities.

Pickup features: passive humbucking
Impedence or other specs: ???

Model of guitar or bass: Ibanez RG 7620 (seven string)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: None
Other pickups on guitar: Both Blaze II's
Artists using this pickup: John Petrucci, Steve Vai, KoRn, etc.
You musical style(s): Progressive, metal, whatever
Reason for pickup change: These pickups came stock with the guitar.

Perceived output level: Loudest pickups I've ever heard. Very sensitive. Lotsa distortion.
Tone: Well-balanced, especially considering they are meant for seven-string guitars.
Sonic evaluation: I'm running my RG-7620 either into a DigiTech processor or a Crate Blue Voodoo 60 watt amp. These pickups sound great through every amp and setup I've ever played it through. Loud, loud, loud. Just try to get a bad tone out of them. It's really hard.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Seven strings are usually used for metal, and the pickups are great for it. They're really hot and really loud. On the other hand, it can take some fiddling with the volume knob to get a decent clean sound. They tend to distort clean tones easily.

Comments: If these pickups were destroyed or stolen, I would have to buy them again because I don't even know of another company that offers seven-string pickups. However, I think they're great anyway. If I had other choices, I'd probably stick with the Blaze II's. I've been playing for seven years now, and they're the loudest pickups I've ever come across, which is probably a good thing. Lots of fun. If you get one of those new Schecter or ESP seven-strings, I'd strongly recommend looking into getting a pair of these.