My Sound Clinic

Generally speaking I find it quite off-putting when I see a piece of gear that’s synonymous with a big-name player. I don’t know if it’s fear for my individuality, or more the fact that I know what they sound like, and I may or may not want that tone. The DiMarzio D-Sonic was no exception, until I tried it.

You see, you shouldn’t really go by the player that made it famous, because they have it their way, with their settings, in their guitar, with their gear, played in their style. Go at it with a neutral attitude and completely ignore the player in question. I love John Petrucci’s playing to absolute death, but personally his rhythm tone would never work in a million years for my music. It’s too smooth, not very focused, and quite woolly in places, so with that in mind I was unnecessarily apprehensive about trying the D-Sonic, but it was in my price range and was highly recommended.

The D-Sonic has a neat little feature that’s utilized to great effect by a lot of players (Petrucci included), where they switch the pickup upside-down on installation, so the bar faces the neck. As DiMarzio states, this is supposed to add a warmer, and slightly louder sound better suited for standard tunings and lead playing. I tried it this way at first, and instantly took my strings off to turn it around! I didn’t like it at all. It was honky, bulbous, undefined, and muddy. Basically, it sounded like a neck pickup in the bridge position. That’s not to say you wouldn’t like it, but I most certainly didn’t.

I was quite disappointed, and resigned my thoughts to how they were before I installed the pickup, which were that of apprehension. On turning the bar to the bridge however I was absolutely delighted. Luckily, DiMarzio were right, and there is a significant difference in sound when the pickup is turned around. It had definition, masses of tightness and clarity, chunk, and plenty of output.

The D-Sonic is an extremely clean pickup, with absolute clarity even when massively overdriven. In fact, the more you crank it, the cleaner and tighter it gets! I tried it both with my Peavey Banditt 112, and my PODxt, and it withheld the same qualities through both units. Even when the guitar was detuned to Drop C it was still just as clear as it was in E, despite the huge boost in string gauge.

This pickup has a fiercely tight bottom end with plenty of chunk and swing, the mids are clear and defined without honk, and the highs are exceptional, despite them being rolled back a touch in comparison to the bass and mid on this particular model of pickup.

I was quite let down by the output at first, because it didn’t appear to be much hotter than the pickup that it replaced. I mean, it was hotter, but not as much as I thought it was going to be. However, this thing is extremely variable depending on your attack, and I’d underestimated its output due to its unbelievable clarity.

It has amazing response, and even when your amp’s very low in gain, as soon as you crank out a pinched harmonic it will squeal for days on end. I was seriously surprised with its output capabilities, especially on lead runs. It’s probably the cleanest and most responsive pickup I’ve ever tried for leads, which is obviously how Petrucci gets that sick pick attack sound when shredding. It never slurs.

I highly recommend this pickup for anyone who loves their metal with crisp tightness, a huge bottom end and articulation. That said, it’s versatile enough to do some hot blues, and even the clean tones aren’t harsh for such a hot pickup.

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