DiMarzio D Activator

I am using the bridge and nech humbucker. They are passive that sounds like active.

I am using a ibanez xpt700 (which they came in). I am using both of them as stock so there fore replace nothing, but i have some EMG's in my zakk wylde guitar and i like the these more than the emg's.

The output level is very good, sounds good loud or quiet, very clear even for me who plays metal in a band, these things can handle all types of music.

I am running it through a pod, so all effects are used, and this is run through a line 6 spider 3.

I have found that people on here who are saying they are rubbish haven't played around with there amps enough to compare, they probs just used there old setting.

I play ametal as stated above, and these thigs are made for that. death, thrash and just plain heavy, all these can be played on these baby's.

If these where destroyed i would get these again, but also get something else to play around with before putting these in again.

I have been playing for 3 years, have owned about 5 guitars, and so far these pick up are the best.

Theses give me the sound i am looking for, and much more. From clean to overdriven these will play it without sounding bad. Love these.

10/10

Humbucker, passive designed to sound active

I have the neck and bridge models installed in a mahogany neck thru ibanez. Don't know who else uses this thing.

Output is hot, but not ridiculously so. The pickups are designed to sound like EMGs, only with less fizz and rough edges. When under high gain, they do accomplish a sort of EMG style sound, but in DiMarzio fasion. They are both extremely articulate, and fast alternate picking reminds me of Petrucci. The bridge is louder and matches perfectly witht the neck volume. Bridge has more of a middy feel to it, very nice. Both produce VERY nice harmonics, better than my Evolution by far. On clean, the bridge is nice, neck is superb, and using both sounds better than any clean humbucker combo I've ever heard. They ring out and make a somewhat compressed click yet warm full sound.
Interestingly, under light to moderate gain (even under very high gain) I hear somewhat of a single coil vibe to these things. These pickups sound like having a Dyna Comp permanently on increasing some degree of twanginess. Also, they have that DiMarzio "aw" sound to a slight degree (not like a tonezone or Paf Pro, but you can hear it slightly). Somehow, all these qualities make them sound delicious.
For my playing style, I use the bridge with high gain for Children of Bodom-esque sounds, both for cleans and rhythym playing, and the neck for shred.

*oh, and they sound marvelous with a wah. My evolution is too high and brittle. these things have balls*

Overall, I highly recommend these for players who are solo oriented, and like lots of gain. The cleans are also very nice. They aren't EMGs, they are DiMarzios with a boost. I only gave it a nine because I havent tried everything out there. I'd really like to compare it to an X2N and maybe a Drop Sonic, but for another time.
I love the clarity and warmth of the notes. The bridge pickup has a bit too much mids and highs for my tatse, but its the best I've played so far. I have yet to coil tap, thatd be interesting.

But again, they are excellent pickups and work for any style. (Dont judge these off of that terrible Guitar World video. His amp settings suck)

Passive humbuckers. Bridge - Ceramic, output: 470, DC resistance: 11.41... Neck - Ceramic, output: 385, DC resistance: 7.22 .

I have both D Activator neck and bridge version's in an alder-bodied, rosewood fretboard-on-maple neck Jackson DKMG. The D Activator bridge version is replacing a DiMarzio D Sonic. I'm an artist using this pickup... doesn't that count for something? :D

The D Sonic was too low-end heavy and clean. It didn't scream lead guitar to me and it sounded modern Heavy Metal-heavy. Not my kinda slightly old-school heavy.

Ooutput is high enuff to overdrive alot of ****. Both neck and bridge pickups. Things can lose their definition sometimes, obviously.

I'm using no effects at this time, but my amp is a 65 watt Crate solidstate amplifier. You know, perfect for high gain Heavy Metal.

The neck version's tone is big and fattens well and has a balanced top end. Great for soloing though, in the low registers - and playing period - it can get pretty dirty and lose some clarity.

The bridge version is 'gnarlier' but perfectly suited for the bridge position. Great for Heavy Metal rhythm and solos. Great low end tightness and a great soloing top end. Lots of sustain. Crunchy and tight is exactly what I was lookin' for. The D Activators work excellently in Alder.

Some reviewer said that the D Activators don't have as much gain as the EMG's and I find this as a good thing for my situation. You may as well.

I play high gain, Heavy Metal-type music. Both D Activators are a knockout punch for my needs. Good pwerful feel and what I love about DiMarzio pickups is that that they excell at precisely the sound you're after. The D.A.'s are no exception.

The bridge version would probably not work well in the neck, but the neck version could work well in the bridge.

I'd hafta buy 'em again. As I mentioned earlier, they're perfect for me. If DiMarzio hadn't relaesed these in 2007, I'd still be searchin' for the perfect 'unbalanced' pickup set.

I've been playing for 14 years and I am a guitar into amp guy - not a gearhead by any stretch.

I love their perfect sounds. The neck version sounds modern, big, and exactly produces the kinda lead tone and feel I was hopin' for: bluesy but handles high gain like a champ. The bridge version is crunchy and tight - 'nuff said. Oh, and like all DiMarzio's I've tried - they're quiet!

I only hate a little loss of clarity 'cause they're high output and crazy, but there is always a way to remedy certain things, right?

There is a reason why they got a Guitar World award: they don't suck! And if you run into what another reviewer said about the bridge version sounding thin and not for Metal - change your pick guage! I ran into the same problem. I was gonna replace the bridge but my acoustic (unplugged) sound was a litte thin (shall we say) and I went up a guage (1.00mm) and the plugged in bridge sound wasn't as 'splatty' and unbearable anymore. A cheap and way reasonable tone elixir.

Fantastic value for modern high gain Heavy Metal with a bit of old school style thrown in as well. Can anyone say, "Rust In Peace!" ?

passive humbucker pretending to be active.

it was stock in my ibanez xiphos.

its weak, to say the least. wimpy, wimpy, wimpy.
the tone of this thing sounds like you turned all the eq knobs on your amp down to nothing, except for the treble, which is at 20%. shrill and lifeless. my friend got an ibanez rgt42dx with ibanez infinity pups that sound more like an active pickup than these pieces of crap.

i play metal. these pickups were designed for metal players. dimarzio failed.

this is unsuitable for any kind of music.

if i was forced into using these things, i would pray that they were damaged in some way so i could have an excuse to get something else.

dont bother.

Passive 'bucker hot in nature. Wired for full options.

I put it in my WI68 Washburn Custom Shop Idol in the bridge position and is replacing a Duncan Custom Custom. The neck is a Duncan '59. I heard about this pup in some forums and wanted to try it. I have a couple of guitars with EMGs and I wanted to get the best of both worlds without batteries.

Hot! I am surprised at the output level of this pup for being passive. I play it through a Jones tube amp with some modded Boss DS-1s inline and a Modded DD-3 in loop. The amp has a dirty channel which sounds great without boxes as well. The tone is monster! You can play metal with all of the aggressive grit you want or smooth it out by tweaking controls. VERY versatile pup indeed. I play blues and blues based hard and classic rock with some metal thrown in for fun. It doesn't work for absolutely everything but is nice to have for a well rounded stable. The clarity is the big selling point, especially for the high output. It plays well with the '59 once I dialed in the position. Don't put the bridge model in the neck (duh).

I've played through a LOT of pups and like many for different reasons. This one fills a niche in a big way. I could use fewer guitars to get more sounds when using this pup. I usually wire my 'bucker pups in series/parallel with a push/pull switch/pot for less noise and more versatility. I can play this one clean or blast away with full bore distortion and retain note clarity. The harmonic response is clear and distinct. Right hand techniques are clearly articulated. Dimarzio has a winner here in my opinion.

Bridge position passive humbucker, output: 470mv, DC resistance: 11.41, treble: 6.5., mid: 6, bass: 6

DiMarzio has supposedly modeled the D Activator series to sound and feel like active pickups (EMGs)...

I was unsatisfied with the stock Duncan JB in the bridge of my ESP Horizon NT-II (maple neck, top, mahogany back). I was looking for something with more output, fuller tone, crisper palm mutes and an overall cleaner distorted tone. The Duncans in the guitar felt a bit too "transparent" in their response to picking as I'm used to DiMarzios which have a more "fluid" feel. My favorite DiMarzio for distorted sounds has been the Evolution bridge, but I wanted to try something hotter with a similar EQ curve.

I've read a few negative reviews claiming this pickup was "lifeless" and weak, and given the specs on the DiMarzio site I found that hard to believe. Actually trying the pickup, however, was a bit of a surprise. DiMarzio claims they were trying to capture the feel of a pickup that behaves in a manner much hotter than what it specs out to be, but my findings turned out to be quite the opposite.

The pickup did feel to be moderate in output, as if certain key "power" frequencies were missing. Palm mutes were not as sharp and present as the JB, and the mids, while prominent in certain areas, lacked life and "zing." The distorted tone also felt very flat and sterile, much more so than other DiMarzios. The Evolution is almost vintage sounding compared to this pickup.

I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise given this pickup is designed to emulate EMGs, but I actually did have faith in DiMarzio's claims that they had eliminated the sterile qualities of active pickups and increased the headroom of the pickup for a more natural and uncompressed response. This pickup does not show the nuances of the player or allow for much feel. While most DiMarzios introduce a bit of this in a pleasant way (seems to make them easier to control, this pickup takes that quality to an extreme. The other reviewer who mentioned a lack of character was spot on.

On the positive side, the pickup is not fuzzy in any way, and the chordal clarity is quite good in certain cases. I found some chords worked better than others, with some sounding muddier than on other pickups...strangely enough.

I've been playing 8 years and have been through a fair amount of pickups -- mostly DiMarzios. I tested this pickup through a Single Rectifier and Marshall JCM 900 SL-X. Both amps were feeding VHT fatbottom 2x12 cabinets with P50E speakers. The signal was split using a Radial Tonebone SwitchBone to run both amps at teh same time...

Overall this pickup was a let down. I was really hoping for something that felt hotter nad the sterile quality has turned me off to DiMarzios for teh time being. I still have them in my other guitars, but I think I'm going the way of Duncan now. Even the Evolution and Super Distortion feel much more powerful than this pickup, and those both have less output in MV. I was looking for a less extreme X2N humbucker, as that pickup was too over the top for me and picked up too much "thud" noise on the guitar.

These are humbucking pickups, I have the 7 string version. They are passive but are made to sound like active pickups without the sterile qualitie of actives.

These pickups are installed in a Ibanez rg7620 (7621?). I had both the neck and bridge pups installed replacing the stock pickups.

The output is definitely high

Im using these with an ibanez tubescreamer into a mesa/boogie triple recto

The tone of these pickups is a little on the trebly side. My other guitar has evolution 7s in the bridge and Air Norton 7s. The amount of distortion produced by these pickups is definitely higher than my other guitar. The sound is way more crunchy but I noticed more clarity when playing fast alternate picking runs.

I mostly play progressive stuff and metal. Definitely a suitable pickup for those styles. If you want a really nice distorted sound with good not clarity I would suggest trying these.

If they were stolen I would definitely get them again.

Ive been playing for about 10 years

Dimarzio has a 30 or 60 day policy if you dont like the sound of the pickup you can have it replaced for something else. Try them.

Humbucker and Passive
All other info is available on the Dimarzio website

Installed on a Gibson Les Paul Studio and for the time being, just the bridge was replaced.
It replaced the Dimarzio Breed. Keep in mind the Breed pickup is an awesome pickup, but I wanted something a little hotter with more note clarity.

The Les Paul currently has an Air Norton in the Neck position, which will be replaced with the Neck Version of the D Activator.

Output... Hmm well it's hot, a lot hotter than my old breed, but if you look at the specs and what is said about it on the website you can understand why.

I'm playing this pickup through my peavey 5150 half stack, line up of pedals are (going directly into the amp): Boss PH-2, BF-3, Crybaby, Digitech Whammy (reissue)- (through the Effects loop): Boss PS3, Danelectro Cool Cat, Sniper GE-7, and soon to arrive a DD20.

The Tone: Not Muddy at all! it is relatively balanced with higher points on the treble side. Don't get me wrong the mids and bass are very clear and stand out quite well.

I play heavy rock and metal, good match. In all fairness this pickup could be used for a lot of other genres, just know how to step out of your tone box that is your amp and take the steps to change a few dials.

I'm using the bridge version for the bridge. There is also a neck version

Now in all fairness I was not used to ceramic pickups but to the alnicos so the first opinion on the sound was cold and harsh. Also keep in mind at the time my amp was set up to have the breed pickup (much warmer pickup) sounding very trebly and more "metal" like. My amp was set as follows: pre-6.5 Bass-4.5 Mid-5.5 High-8 Resonance-5 Presence-6.5 and well of course the pickup would sound cold and painful. After a few hours fine tuning the amp this pickup came to life. All I have to say is that I haven't been happier to make the swap. All I wanted originally was a active pickup which wasn't active and this was an ultimate find. Although to be fair, I haven't had much experience with the active ones, but when Dimarzio states that the D Activators are based off of the leading active pickup design and removed the cold sterile sound... well that had me sold.
The harmonics of this pickup just jump out at you. I can't say enough good things about it. With the effects side of things I'd give it like an 8. Works well with everything but is a little harsh on the Whammy pedal, easy fix by playing with your guitar tone knob but that would more likey be a problem with any higher output pickup.

Dimarzio makes Great products! And this is another one of those greats!
If anyone would like more info, or what my amps current settings are feel free to Email me... I'm allowing my Email address to be shown.

Passive Humbucker, 2 versions: neck & bridge.
Specs www.dimarzio.com

These 2 pickups were installed in a Godin XTSA (mahogany body) in neck and bridge positions (with a HS-1 single coil as middle pickup), replacing the original Godin pickups.
I wanted a higher output pickup, but also wanted it to respond to dynamics and get a clear sound.

It has a very high output, excelent for progressive/fusion styles.
Though is is very balanced, I use it with high mids and works awesome.
The bridge pickup has a very hot output and very clear sound. The neck pickup is a bit more trebly, which works fine with clear tone and distortion on higher frets (a bit muddy on lower ones with distortion).
Is is THE pickup if you want every note you play to be heard clearly.

If stolen I would definitely buy them again. Pickups sound different depending on the guitar, but seem to be made exactly for this one.
In my opinion these D-Activators are incredible pickups for experienced guitar players. Maybe a beginner will find them muddy or will not know hot to get the most out of them.

For product features please dlick www.dimarzio.com

What model guitar or bass did you install this in?
Answer: 15+ Year old Fender Stratocaster American standard (Alder, rosewood)

What position is it in? Bridge

What pickup are you replacing?
Answer:Seymour Duncan JB
Other pickups installed on the instrument?
Answer: Original Fender Single Coils neck and middle

Any artists using this pickup?

Reason for changing the pickup?
Answer: In my no.1 instrument there is a Dimarzio Norton. It is Good!
The replacement guitar holds JB since than. I think I made a step towards Dimarzio with the D Sonic and there seems no way back towards Duncans.

What's the output level like?
Very HOT! I mean Hot like Amderson H3 or even hotter however it is easy to control.

What amps and effects are you using it with?
As it is a backup guitar it is rarely sees live enivironment. It is used at home for practicing. At home I use a Mesa v Twin a small 10 watt Class A Power amp and a 112 Cab.

Tone - Bassy, middy, muddy, trebly, balanced?
The first review was very disappointed. My will be the total opposit.

Very balanced! Open sounding pickup I use 250k tone Pot and the S Activator likes it. Forget about Dimarzio Eq specs Lot of mids.
Some is interesting results.
Sounds different if U solder green on hot! I don't know the reason for this. So it worth Your time to try both connectors.
Verdict: In my opinion. It is a very good pickup. I didn't feel it plastic or steril. It is fat and organic, very Dimarzio -like, sensative to vol pot. However Volume pot full throttle it sound modern.
It is not like Duncan High gains...sounds totally different.
I was very surprised to feel that it has that kind of EMG 81 modern roar character. My bandmate old fellow guitar player prefers EMG (he uses classic combo (LP EMG 60+81 - JCM DSL)He tried this guitar and said OK! D Activatos is really OK. EMG has more gain but the tonal character and the saturation is more than OK.
To be honest for me this pickup is a love at first sight.

What style of music do you play? Is this a good match?
We play covers. Lot of NickBack, In flames,.. so modern Rock or Metal.
But personally I am a rock, blues player.

For which positions is this pickup (un)suitable?
Bridge

Is it is passive the vol and tone pot meters has real meaning.
At the moment this replacement instrument is more versatile than my no.1 Norton equipped. I tried Chicken pikki' and it worked.
It is a High gain modern humbucker.
I don't know why the guy was so disappointed in the previous review.
It is possible that he was unlucky and his D Activator was a less successfull piece. It is possible that I was very lucky.
Once a good friend of mine mentioned that these pickups are handmade so the quality differs piece by piece.