DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell

I dropped one of these into the neck position of my Ibanez AR-112AV electric 12-string. I wired it with a 3-way switch to get series, parallel, and single-coil modes.

The output level is actually quite similar to the stock pickup still in the bridge position (which gives nice vintage-like 12-string tones). I wanted clarity in the neck position, though, which the stock pickup didn't really yield. This pickup though delivers what I wanted from it: the claims are that it can sound almost acoustic, which with reservations is true.

Last time I restrung the guitar I played it a little without the octave strings, and noted that with the treble rolled back it might also be good for jazz work.

If this were stolen, so would the guitar, and if I found who did it I'd hit him on the head with the instrument (those who've played AR model Ibanezes know they're VERY heavy instruments).

Firstly, Andrew Marchand's review below is excellent! Mine is more of a ``me too'' that I just have to write, because I like this pickup so much.

The Humbucker From Hell is has very interesting specs. Its impedance is the lowest among DiMarzio's line of humbuckers. It is less than 5.8K ohms. All of their other pickups are over 7K. So there is a big impedance gap between this pickup and all the others. Yet, it somehow does not have the weakest output!

The low impedance indicates fewer coil windings, which in turns means that high frequencies are attenutated to lesser extent. (There is a reason electronic coils are called chokes: they literally choke off high frequencies).

I have this in a custom neck-through-body guitar with a Floyd-Rose trem. It is the only pickup in the guitar, mounted in the bridge position on a slant, in the style of some of the 80's Kramers. This used to be done before F-spacing became commonplace. But the slant also changes the tonal balance a little bit. It works out wonderfully with the HFH pickup. Note that the bridge pickup of a Stratocaster is also slanted; this improves the bass response over the bass strings.

I got this pickup because I was searching for something with a lot of high end. I wanted a passive pickup because there is no space for a battery in the guitar's body; routing would have to be done, which I'm reluctant to do.

Pickups must have treble response, period. The guitar had a muddy-sounding Seymour Duncan Trembucker (the original one, purchased around 1991). I was tired of its boring sound and inability to handle cleans. In a guitar with just one pickup, the pickup has to be versatile. This pickup is it.

The output level is quite low, but not terribly so. As Andrew Marchand notes in a review below, the level is indeed deceptive because of the treble response. Distortion synthesizes high frequency content. But if you already have it, you don't need as much of it. Also, if this pickup is adjusted quite close to the strings, it has an amazing touch-sensitivity. You can play with decent sustain even at low gain levels! I am now able to play smooth leads using the crunch mode of my amplifier, and the gain is not even dimed. When playing leads, it's important that legato notes played with the left hand only are well-articulated---ideally as loud as the picked notes. With many pickups, this happens only if the distortion is massive. The HFH's silky responsiveness can give you that articulation at lower distortion levels. You can use your high-gain shred technique with a lower gain---light pick attack, and legato---and it still sounds good! I find that this doesn't work as well if the pickup is too far from the strings. However, if the pickup is farther from the strings, the bass thins out a little bit, and you get certain Tele or Strat like sounds. If you want your guitar to ``quack like a duck'', this is the thing to try.

I'm playing this through a Trace Elliot SuperTramp 80W solid-state head, which has a very nice tone. I found some trimmer pots inside this amplifier which boost the gain a little bit in two places: the main input, and in the dirty channel. Thanks to these tweaks, I now have enough gain that decent heavy metal sounds can be found before the gain is dimed all the way, yet there is no noise. So I have no need for a hot pickup that puts out 400+ millivolts, let alone some active monster which can easily triple that!

Because this pickup is so bright, I don't think it would produce certain thrash or death metal sounds regardless of the amount of gain, unless a pre-equalizer was used to roll off the high frequencies. In some metal music, there is a tight, dense tone used that is the result of high-output muddy pickups which is a result of their accentuated bass and midrange response together with the massive distortion. By contrast, this pickup breathes. Even heavy power-chords have an airy quality to them which is quite beautiful-sounding, but there are situations when you simply want to (or are asked to) emulate a particular tone. The dense metal tone of a shred pickup could probably be simulated with the HFH by using a pre-equalizer to shape the tone before distortion, followed by lots of gain. If you have the highs, you can roll them off. But you can't re-create them when they aren't there. Trebly pickups are versatile! My amp's distortion channel has a switch for a high gain mode and this rolls off the highs. The result with the HFH is a sound that is a lot like that of a PAF pickup: a ``brown sound''. If I flip the switch to lower gain crunch mode, the highs are let through and it's more ``Strat-like''. Even with my simple gear, the pickup shows itself versatile.

One thing that's very nice is that even if the gain is dimed on my distortion channel, you can play complex chords, and they don't sound like crap. Play a barred minor seventh rooted on the 5th string, somewhere in the middle of the neck, and all of the notes ring through in a shimmering way. Then without doing anything to the gain, you can play heavy, palm-muted powerchords near the nut. So you can play in a style that combines some tasteful harmonies (and even a bit of loose, funky finger strumming) with heavy thumping rhythms and heavy riffs.

The clean sound is wonderful. Touch responsive in the high neck positions, clean and bright. I can pull off classical pieces. Note that sensitivity can be a bad thing for finger-style playing; backing this pickup away from the strings makes it easier to play, for instance, a Baroque piece cleanly, but that configuration is not as good for jazzy or bluesy soloing.

If it was destroyed, I might use the opportunity to try something else, but, make no mistake, I love this pickup. I would not replace it with any conventional humbucker, but I would love to experiment with and get to know some different new things, like the Alumitone pickups from Lace, or those neodymium-magnet-based Q-Tuner pickups. Among conventional pickups, the Humbucker from Hell is ``it'' for me.

This is a "vintage" output pickup from DiMarzio that really accentuates treble response. It fits standard humbucker routs and is available in all DiMarzio colors. It is 4-conductor so if coil-splitting or phase reverse is desired just wire to suit.
Coil tapping and phase switching typically require replacing the stock switches and/or tone pots (if push/pull) on your guitar. Output is listed as 226 MV and DC resistance of 5.16K Ohms.
This is a passive humbucker with 12 adjustable pole-peices and includes the hex wrench to adjust them. For perspective-pickups aiming for "true" PAF-style output tend to be a little closer to 200 mV while "high output" humbuckers are up over 300mV and DC resistance between 8-10K Ohms. This is completely different than single-coil specs which can be as low as 80Mv with DC resistance typically around 6-8 K Ohms. The H-from-H is a very bright pickup but shouldn't be confused with single-coils and it is NOT going to turn a 'Paul into a Strat' (the only practical known method of doing that involves trading in the 'paul...)

I have installed the H-from-H in the neck position of a Korean-made PRS Santana SE. I love the guitar but found my love fading after having switched to DiMarzios in my Ibanez AX 30. That guitar is basswood and sounds ferocious loaded up with an Air Norton in the Neck and a Tone Zone in the bridge. It turns out that in set-neck, heavy, all-mahogony axes like the PRS SE, this combo, so good at beefing up the sound of a light (or tremolo-bridge equipped) basswood (or ash or alder) guitar lacks definition. Sigh. So I yanked the DiMarzios, which, while louder and a lot of fun through a "rectifier-type" model in Drop-D or C tuning, really didn't suit the kind of delay-drenched ambient (fairly) clean stuff I tend toward. But I missed the SE Santana and decided to try the H-from-H in the neck and a Fred in the Bridge. I have read that Paul Gilbert has this in the neck in some of his guitars. Eddie Ojeda from Twisted Sister is apparently a "FromHellRaiser" too.

OK the name really throws people. Humbucker from Hell implies heavy, over-powered images that aren't really accurate. This is a very articulate and dynamic p/u. Strangely, almost the first thing I found was that the sound of the stock neck P/U was still there--by pulling the volume almost halfway down and the tone about 3/4's down...probably not exactly but almost. With the volume full-up and the tone just above dead zero it was pretty close to when the Air Norton was installed. It just seemed funny and significant;I wasn't losing anything-there was just..more. Setting volume and tone knobs in their upper-reaches the guitar literally seems to "open up." A crisp definition and a sense of space just sang out of the guitar. It is not the same as a single-coil and isn't trying to be. It isn't thin and lacking beef, it has the lows and the mids but really caresses the highs. With distortion it isn't that far off from the bridge pickup on many guitars and riffmeisters who see no use for a neck pickup who try it out might find a use for that "rhythmn" setting after all...I don't plan on putting it in the bridge position but if you're personally trying to coax more tele than Les from your axe a double set of H-from-H might be just the ticket for funk, metal, rock, pop and country. Jazz cats tend to want a darker sound but fusion (like Mike Stern kind of fusion)players might "get it." With the volume pulled back and the tone rolled off a bit through a clean amp it has an awesome sound for strumming open-chord rythmns. Very sparkling and versatile-especially if you start dabbling in pinch/"harp" harmonics as the singing top end really does make it easier to pop them out. The lower output of "vintage" is somewhat deceptive as the cleaner highs make the sound pop a little more in the mix and distort nicely as the gain goes up. Every guitar and every ear is different but if you tend to avoid using your neck pickup because your sound turns to "mush" when you flip the switch north you might find the H-from-H is a doorway to new sounds. Gear-I almost don't use my amps anymore. I tend to use headphones from Digitech RP350 for practice and just plug it into the mixer for recording. My favorite amps now are the VOX DA-5 and the Roland MicroCube because I can use them in my apartment and out in my car or even in the woods. My "real" amps are too loud to play most of the time.

It's a tired joke that no one is going to steal pickups out of a guitar-they would walk with the whole axe but, just for the sake of argument, I think it would be obvious the second I plugged in and I would certainly replace it with another Humbucker from Hell. If it was the whole guitar...I don't know. I love the guitar but if I had to try to replace it I might well go with a different model. If I had just hit the lottery and had my axe stolen I would buy the gaudiest Dragon-iest PRS I could find. And then put DiMArzios in it. With my lottery winnings I would arduously and meticulously work through pickups from DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, Bill Lawrence, Lollar and so forth. And I wouldn't be surprised if a humbucker from hell was in the neck slot when the dust settled...but unless such a ludicrous chain of events were to actually occur, I think I'll be coaxing music from my current rig rather than searching for something it doesn't have. It works. It Works well across a variety of gain and delay settings and, at least for my ears and fingers, makes a servicable axe into a versatile and sparkling axe. If I need a thicker, woodier sound, it's still there by rolling rolling rolling off that treble. That is a little weird as the stock pickups were kinda "set it-forget it" as regards the tone pot, which I just left full-up. I do fiddle with the tone pot more often now but it's because it is suddenly so much more USEFUL. One of the things I admire about the Santana PRS SE is Mr Smith's philosophy of a buddha-like "middle way" between, oh I dunno, maybe a st*&t and a L%$ P@ul? This pickup seems to perfectly match that philosophy by bringing some of the singing clarity of the "F" world into the very "G"-like response of two-humbuckers in a mahogony slab body.

Humbucking passive pickup. Adjustable hex pole pieces.

The Humbucker From Hell is installed in the neck position of my Jackson DKMG. It is replacing a Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion neck pickup. There is a DiMarzio D(rop) Sonic in the bridge. I hear (read) Paul Gilbert uses it. I changed out the SD Distortion humbucker because I play Heavy Metal and the SH-6 made me think anything but! Well, it did make me think of Sludge/Stoner Metal - but I don't play that stuff. It made me think old-school, blues, punk, and Les Paul. Yeah, Les Paul! It had low end chunk and made me wanna wrangle my toothpick neck! I'm not that manly of a guitar player and I didn't buy a Les Paul.

The output is that of a PAF - able to hit your amp hard, but not too hard. I don't use effects but the amp is a Crate solidstate combo amp. The tone is it's own - part familiar, part alien. The familiar part is it's cool sounding alnico V makeup with snap and glass. The alien but cool sound is it's midrange and bass and acoustic or strat pickup qualities. It has a thick, punchy low end, I found, not muddy but very full bass and fatness. The treble is glassy. It's mids keep it honest, so the strings sound snappy, fat, and full. Sort of balanced except for the glassy treble strings apart from the thick bass notes.

I play Heavy Metal and the HFH makes vibey leads, as in Hard rock sounding treble notes and Classic Rock sounding lows. But, for Heavy Metal, it certainly gets the job done. Period.

I wouldn't use it for Heavy Metal rhythm as it's not aggressive enough. Under heavy gain it sounds more like Classic Rock heavily distorted. Whoo, and Heavy Metal cleans... I knew the cleans would probably rock, but I didn't know it sounded perfect for Heavy Metal. Modern and unique sounding. Play Guns N' Roses' "Civil War" intro and it sounds amazing - you'll never drop this pickup!

I also detune all my strings down one whole step and Humbucker From Hell doesn't mush out or get muddy. Though the bass tends to not be so defined. The Seymour Duncan Distortion did a little better job at the defined low end, but fortunately, Heavy Metal is Heavy Metal and I use the HFH only on solos and cleans that require the neck sound.

This humbucker may be unsuitable for the bridge only because that is partially how it got it's name.

I'd probably buy it again because it works very well for Heavy Metal music believe it or not. I've been playing for 13+ years and I love how well it works for Hevy Metal leads and cleans - you may want to try it. It's not Metal as in the stuff that's popular today, but Heavy Metal as in Denim and Leather! It's not low end aggressive for modern detuned Metal, the Humbuker From Hell plays more traditionally while having a modern sound.

I just wish it had a Chrome Top but I couldn't find one. This definitely made a huge leap in me finding my tone.

standard humbucker features...relatively low output.

Squire M77 Les Paul type solid body...neck position

Very clear and singing sound

I've had this pickup in for about two years, so this isn't a "first impression" review. This is my flat out favorite neck position humbucker. I've had a great many humbucker equiped guitars over the years, and I've also done several pickup replacments on some of them, so I've had hands on experience with a large variety of pickups. The trouble with humbuckers, IMHO, is the neck pickup. It gets muddy...quick. This HFH stays crystal clear. Contrary to the adverts, it doesn't actually sound like a single coil...it has its' own sound. I actually like the sound better than a strat type single coil, and it sings more than a P90. Some reviewers apparently believe it doesn't adapt to overdrive well. I disagree. It might require too much gain in order to break up to be adaptable to natural tube distorion, but for pedals it's great. It's easy to roll off highs...it's impossible to clean up a muddy pickup. It's also really cheap. Don't let the poorly chosen name scare you off.

4-conductor humbucker
for impedance check the DiMarzio brochure/homepage

'99 Gibson Les Paul Standard
neck position
replacement for the stock 490-R
DiMarzio PAF Pro in bridge position
I think Paul Gilbert uses this one, too
wanted to get rid of that "muddy" neck pickup sound

the output is quite moderate for humbucking pickups, but still enough to match any hot bridge humbucker
I use it with my Hughes & Kettner TriAmp II, Engl Fireball and Marshall JCM 800 and some pedal effects in front
I play mostly cover tunes (any style of music). I'd say, it's just perfect, because you can even get an "open" sound from a Les Paul. If you split the pickup, it sounds almost like playing with an acoustic guitar. If you want a sound with more bass, just roll back the tone control. I was VERY surprised how my instrument sounded after the replacement.
It's even suitable for bridge position, if you're playing punk!

Most cover band players avoid Les Pauls, because they lack versatility (at least, that seems to be the common opinion). With this pickup (and a separate push-pull switch for splitting the bridge and neck pickup), you can get almost any sound you need - from a Les Paul! - a total of 6 sounds! That's more than your regular Strat offers!

I'm completely happy with this pickup!

Pickup features:
Impedence or other specs: Check Dimarzio website

Model of guitar or bass: Pan Les Paul Copy
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: stock pickups
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Steve Vai, others,
You musical style(s): Hard Rock
Reason for pickup change: The stock pick-ups had a terrible sound on highs, not so bad on lows. Almost thought of getting rid of the guitar, but thought I would try this first.

Perceived output level:
Tone: Super Distortion sounds great for hard rock, and Humbucker from Hell is nice and clean.
Sonic evaluation: I use a Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker. With this combo I can get a great variety of sounds, which will cover anything from hard driving rock to softer rock, such as Zeppelin, Ten Years Gone, to blues. It's great!!!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Hard Rock, Blues. great match. Perfect for positions installed as described above.

Comments: I would definitely put them is a similar setup if they were destroyed or stolen. I read many different reviews before choosing these pick-ups. I am very happy with the choices. I looked at reviews for Duncans, but chose these because they seemed to be lower priced. Great value!!!

Pickup features: Passive Humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: B.C. Rich NJ Classic Bich
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: PAF Pro
Other pickups on guitar: DiMarzio FRED
Artists using this pickup: Paul Gilbert
You musical style(s): Guitar instrumentals like Satriani, Vai, Friedman + metal like Megadeth, Children of Bodom, Death
Reason for pickup change: The PAF Pro isn't a good neck pickup. It's very good in bridge, but it was too muddy in neck. To I got a Humbucker From Hell to get a super clear neck tone, and i got it.

Perceived output level: Lower output, like a Duncan SH-2 Jazz
Tone: Trebly,but not so much that it is annoying. It is very clear and balanced in Neck, i wouldn't put it in Bridge though.
Sonic evaluation: BC Rich NJ Classic Bich into a Crate Solid State 120watt 2x12. It sounds very good clean and pretty good distorted too. It is made to sound like a Single coil. I'd say it sounds 45% Single Coil, 40% Humbucker and 15% Acoustic.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Great clean. With a 3 way toggle switch in the center possition, mixing this with a humbucker in bridge gives a unqiue clean and distorted tone. Very musical. I like this pickup a lot.

Comments: I would buy this again if anything happened to it. It is the best neck pickup I've used. It doesn't sound like anything else you've ever heard...if you want to take a chance, try this out.

Pickup features: Humbucking (Passive)
Impedence or other specs: Check the Dimarzio website

Model of guitar or bass: 1997 Ibanez RG-450
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Stock
Other pickups on guitar: Dimarzio HS-2, Dimarzio Fred
Artists using this pickup: Paul Gilbert I think
You musical style(s): Everything but country and death metal
Reason for pickup change: Stock pickup sucks.

Perceived output level: Hot. A lot more output than the other 2 pickups on the guitar.
Tone: Balanced. I'm very surprise how it sounds very acoustic on clean. I shines on both clean and dirty.
Sonic evaluation: Guitar --> Morley Wah --> Digitech Hot Rod --> Boss Metal Zone --> Boss ME-50 --> Nobels Preamp/Booster --> Laney VC30 212 extra overdrive on the effects loop. The pickups shine through this setup. I have Line 6 Flextone II with Floorboard which I use for band practice. It makes the Line 6 sound reasonable. I used to like the Line 6 a lot but ever since getting the Laney, the Line 6 doesn't compare.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I use this pickup for instrumental stuff like Vai and Satriani. It it suits very well.

Comments: If the guitar is stolen, I'd probably try to find another guitar with Humbucker-Humbucker configuration and try a pup like a Dimarzio Evolution. Don't get me wrong, I like this pup a lot. I've got 4 other solid body guitars that sound very different to each other and love all of them.

Pickup features: passive humbucker in the neck position for 6-string guitar
Impedence or other specs: output 226mV DC resistance 5.82K four conductor wiring

Model of guitar or bass: Schecter C1-Elite
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Duncan Designed Jazz
Other pickups on guitar: DiMarzio Evolution
Artists using this pickup: Paul Guilbert
You musical style(s): Hard Rock
Reason for pickup change: The Duncan Designed Jazz pickup was actually a great pickup! I was switching the bridge pickup and decided to try a new neck as well.

Perceived output level: Don't let the name fool you. This pickup cleans up without any effort at all.
Tone: Bright and punchy without too much glass.
Sonic evaluation: guitar->Digitech GSP 2101 LE->BBE Sonic Maximizer->ADA microtube 200->two 4x12's.
I was -very- happy this neck pickup worked out, I was going to match the evolution - air norton on another one of my guitars to play it safe, but at the last minute went for the so called humbucker from hell. The evolution and humbucker from hell is now my favorite combo. This pickup has great snap and punch, when you split it with the evo you can get those ultra clean Queensryche tones.
I LOVE THIS PICKUP!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: There is always a better pickup out there somewhere. The only other pickup right now I would consider would be the Q-Tuner pickup but man...it costs $150!!