[chavhunter]

wikid, as soon as i have a spare £136 I'll be ordering those!

[ZeroSignal]

Good info all round but...

What's the difference between the Blaze's that you buy from DiMarzio and the Blaze II's that you get on a UV? I played a UV through my amp and it has a "Blaze II Neck" yet my RG1527 has a "Blaze Neck" and they sound totally different!!! What gives? Or am I just crazy?

[metalfiend666]

Before you go shelling out on the Blazes, give me a shout when you're back in Essex and try my UV. It's a 1990 white one complete with the original Blaze's just like Vai used. See if it matches up to the tone you want first.

[chavhunter]

cheers mate! I know I wont get too close with my Marshall but the pickups will definitely help. hopefully there's not too much difference between the original Blaze pickups and the new ones.

[7 Dying Trees]

Blaze in universe is the blaze they sell. Same pickup, don't be confused. It's not a pickup that has a strong character, but in some cases it is really nice, I've had mixed responses to the ones i've had in my uv's, in some it's been really cool, in others a bit meh.

But if you want the early 7string tone (90's) then it's the blaze/blazeII you want. The naming is confusing, but the aftermarkets from dimarzio are the same pickup as thew ones in the UV's

[scott from _actual time_]

Originally Posted by ZeroSignal

What's the difference between the Blaze's that you buy from DiMarzio and the Blaze II's that you get on a UV? I played a UV through my amp and it has a "Blaze II Neck" yet my RG1527 has a "Blaze Neck" and they sound totally different!!! What gives? Or am I just crazy?

like 7 Dying Trees says, they are the same pickup.

however, DiMarzio did change one of the materials in the pickup, around 1997 or so. the old Blaze/Blaze II have a thin brass baseplate, like the New 7s. the newer Blaze have the black phenolic resin baseplate, like all the other DiMarzio 7-string humbuckers.

i wouldn't be surprised if a small change like that had a subtle effect on tone, but i don't think it should make them sound totally different. remember that the UV pickups are pickguard-mounted, but the 1527 has them direct mounted. those guitars also have different types of locking trem. there could also be significant quality differences between the two slabs of body wood (although they should both be basswood). and the old-style UV neck joint has more wood overlap between the body and neck than the current AANJ has. so perhaps all of that added up to a big difference.

[zimbloth]

Whatever the reason, the tone of a Universe always sounds vastly different than aftermarket Blazes on an RG. Must be a combination of the factors above.

[metalfiend666]

I suspect the pickguard and front routing have something to do with it. In effect the Universe has a chambered body.

[ZeroSignal]

Originally Posted by zimbloth

Whatever the reason, the tone of a Universe always sounds vastly different than aftermarket Blazes on an RG. Must be a combination of the factors above.

I blame the Illuminati style pyramid symbol at the bottom!

It has awesome and secret powers!!!

[Drew]

Originally Posted by daemon barbeque

But the Amp was a Bogner Ecstacy!So it will be hard to deal it with the Marshall TSL.maybe you can use the second channel with a creamy OD pedal.The ALney GH50L is closer to that sound i think!

Nah, "Alien Love Secrets" and the first G3 was an Ecstacy. "For the Love of God" was a UV plugged straight into a marshall head, with a wah in line, some compression (in the mix, I think, but possibly a pedal), and a bit of delay/verb in the mix.

Seriously, the Blaze neck is almost TOO "For the Love of God" in a front-routed Ibanez guitar for me. It's eerie.