# Petrucci's pickup on Image And Words ?



## jimiyves (Aug 5, 2008)

Hi,

I'd like to know which pickups Petrucci used on the album Image and Words. Somebody says Steve's special, others say Tone Zone ...

Indeed I've got a Petrucci EBMM 7 string body, without pickup. The neck pickup will be a Dimarzio Air Norton 7, but for the bridge I don't know :

- Steve's special : it would be great, but doesn't exist in 7 string version ;
- D-Sonic : I know it is the bridge pickup on the new EBMM JP7, but I'm not a fan of the latest Petrucci sounds ;
- Tone Zone : I think buying it, but may be it has a lot of bass.
- Other ?

The Petrucci tone I prefer is, for rythm, on Image And Words (Pull me Under, Take The Time), and for solo The first Liquid Tension Experiment (Universal Mind).

Excuse my mistakes but I'm a Frenchman.


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## loktide (Aug 5, 2008)

i remember reading about him using a Dimebucker in a basswood ibby for I&W. You might want to google that, though.


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## dpm (Aug 5, 2008)

Your English is fine, better than a lot of native english speakers 

I'm no Petrucci gear follower, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't go near a Tone Zone.

The Tone Zone is all bass and mids, generally thought of as very muddy sounding, but through very bright amps it can sound good (think Paul Gilbert through Laney).

The 7 string equivalent of the Steve's Special is the original Blaze bridge model. Very similar sound with scooped mids. Opinions differ vastly of this one, it seems to be a love or hate pickup. Personally, I can't stand the thing 

The D-Sonic is a little different, not totally scooped like the Blaze and Steve's Special. It's one I have trouble describing, and also a pickup I can't decide if I like or not 

You really need to decide what will work best with your amp choice. With Petrucci's tone in particular you can't just use the same pickups and expect to get close to that sound.


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## dpm (Aug 5, 2008)

loktide said:


> i remember reading about him using a Dimebucker in a basswood ibby for I&W. You might want to google that, though.




Images and Words was released in '92, the Dimebucker is only a few years old.

Hmm, the petrucci forum would probably be a good place to start


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## jimiyves (Aug 5, 2008)

Thanks 

Therefore the Air Norton 7 is ok ?

For the bridge pickup I could ask the question on the Petrucci forum, maybe it will be better.

But if you say that the 7 string equivalent of the Steve's Special is the original Blaze bridge model, I'm interested in buying it. I don't like a lot mid's, I love sounds with few mid's like Pull Me Under or Enter Sandman. 

My gear is :

- Rocktron Prophesy Preamp
- VHT Black Beauty 2*50 Poweramp
- NOS 1x12 V30 (very good french cab)

If I search Image And Words tone, I'd like to play a lot of style, and I start to use Runoffgroove simulations in order to have a lot of sounds. 

The Petrucci Custom pickup on older EBMM was a D-Sonic ? A friend of my told me his JP7 was very versatile, and I'd like to have this versatility on my guitar.


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## Toshiro (Aug 5, 2008)

I&W is a Tone Zone Humbucker From Hell set-up, IIRC. The Steve's Special, AirNorton, and Dimebucker didn't exist. Still the TZ-7 is not hailed as a great pickup. Listen to some Awake, that would be the Blaze pickups for the most part.  A Blaze Bridge/Airnorton-7 set-up would probably be a safe bet.


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## dpm (Aug 5, 2008)

Wow. Petrucci with a Tone Zone, I never would have thought. But yeah, the Steve's Special came out in '95. I should have checked that, my apologies. Funny that the Tone Zone and Humbucker from Hell are each the opposite kind of sound in their respective positions to the Steve's Special and Air Norton.


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## jimiyves (Aug 5, 2008)

Toshiro said:


> I&W is a Tone Zone Humbucker From Hell set-up, IIRC. The Steve's Special, AirNorton, and Dimebucker didn't exist. Still the TZ-7 is not hailed as a great pickup. Listen to some Awake, that would be the Blaze pickups for the most part.  A Blaze Bridge/Airnorton-7 set-up would probably be a safe bet.


 
Okay, so if I want :

- the latest Petrucci tone : D-Sonic 7 / Air Norton 7
- the Awake tone : Blaze Bridge / Air Norton 7
- The I&W tone : Tone Zone 7 / D Activator 7 (the nearest pickup of the Humbucker From Hell I suppose), but I don't want an active pickup.

The Ibanez Petrucci wood was Basswood, as the EBMM ? I think the body wood is important too.


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## eaeolian (Aug 5, 2008)

loktide said:


> i remember reading about him using a Dimebucker in a basswood ibby for I&W. You might want to google that, though.



The Dimebucker didn't exist when I&W was recorded. It could have been a Lawrence L-500XL, though. I believe he had one of those in his guitar for "When Dream and Day Unite", but I could just have a faulty memory.


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## Toshiro (Aug 5, 2008)

jimiyves said:


> Okay, so if I want :
> 
> - the latest Petrucci tone : D-Sonic 7 / Air Norton 7
> - the Awake tone : Blaze Bridge / Air Norton 7
> ...



I wouldn't get that third option though.


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## jimiyves (Aug 5, 2008)

Toshiro said:


> I wouldn't get that third option though.


 

Why ? Because of the Tone Zone or the D activator ?


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## Toshiro (Aug 5, 2008)

Well, the D-activator isn't a bad pickup, but I wouldn't call it similar to a HFH at all. The Tone Zone 7 is probably the worst 7 string pickup I've ever heard. 

Who knows, you might like it.


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## jimiyves (Aug 5, 2008)

What I want is a a very accurate (is it the right word ?) pickup. What was the guitar ? What wood ?


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## Toshiro (Aug 5, 2008)

RG7620. Basswood. If this was a 6string we were talking about, I'd say get the TZ, but not the 7 version.

IMO the D-Sonic 7 or Blaze Bridge would be better choices.


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## Variant (Aug 5, 2008)

Man, I wanna say that they were the old Ibanez V7 and V8 humbuckers in the early JPM custom. Later, he did, indeed, go to a Tone Zone / Air Norton combo.


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## jimiyves (Aug 5, 2008)

I think I'll take the combo Air Norton 7 / Blaze. If the Blaze sounds bad I would buy a Tone Zone 7.


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## Emperoff (Aug 5, 2008)

jimiyves said:


> I think I'll take the combo Air Norton 7 / Blaze. If the Blaze sounds bad I would buy a Tone Zone 7.



Don't do it man, I'm pretty sure you won't love the ToneZone 7. It's not the same pickup as his 6-string counterpart, it's waaaay worse. I had it and the Blaze as well, and the Blaze had much more definition than the TZ7


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## jimiyves (Aug 5, 2008)

I said *if the Blaze sounds bad*, but I'm sure it will sound well !


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## Edroz (Aug 5, 2008)

Toshiro said:


> Well, the D-activator isn't a bad pickup, but I wouldn't call it similar to a HFH at all.



i would definitely call it similar... while it lacks alot of the warmth and the gorgeous clean sound of the HFH, it still has that same single coil like attack and brightness, and a similar feel IMO. if anything, the DA7 neck IS the closest sounding to the HFH.


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## Toshiro (Aug 5, 2008)

Variant said:


> Man, I wanna say that they were the old Ibanez V7 and V8 humbuckers in the early JPM custom. Later, he did, indeed, go to a Tone Zone / Air Norton combo.



The first "JPM" was just a a US Custom Ibanez, I remember seeing pics of it in mags way before there was ever a JPM model, or the Air Norton for that matter, and it had Dimarzios.



Edroz said:


> i would definitely call it similar... while it lacks alot of the warmth and the gorgeous clean sound of the HFH, it still has that same single coil like attack and brightness, and a similar feel IMO. if anything, the DA7 neck IS the closest sounding to the HFH.



Ah, I just don't think of the hot DA as being similar, but I'll take your word for it.


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## jimiyves (Aug 6, 2008)

I listen to Awake again and I like the guitar rythm tone too. Therefore I consider that the Dimarzio Blaze fir the bridge pickup is a good choice.


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