# DiMarzio Evo 7 vs. Crunch Lab 7



## JaeSwift (Mar 19, 2010)

Hey guys,

Was wondering if anyone could give me any insight in the tone comparison of an Evo 7 vs a Crunch lab 7. The pickup destination is my Ibby K7, so that's a Mahogany body+5pc maple/walnut neck (bolt on).

I've heard the DiMarzio Evolution (6 string) in my cousins Ibanez S and it's an absolutely amazing pup and I like it a lot. I definetly need the amount of clarity and tightness that it gives me. I am slightly afraid that it will be too much of a ''scream queen'' in the 7 string version as from what I've understood; the 6 string and 7 string version differ quite a lot.

The Crunch Lab I have heard only some samples from, the most relavent one being an Art Rodriguez clip on YouTube which doesn't seem like a good clip to judge from since...welll...it's YouTube ;<_<

I will be ordering one of these anytime soon now, this is just my final choice for now. Any insight would be appreciated


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## signalgrey (Mar 19, 2010)

cant say for the EVO

but so far the crunchlab has been awesome in my guitar. nice and crisp.


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## 7 Dying Trees (Mar 19, 2010)

Evo in mahogony is nice, and the evo7 > ev06. I hate the 6string evolution, it's despicably sterile. When i had an ev07 in my 2027 9mahogony bolt on, like the k7) it sounded good, but just very clear, had no grit to it, and I do like grit in my sound (grit does not equal looseness, it just means it has a bit of balls).

However, for a mahogony guitar I'd actually recommend a d-activator over the evo if you want a bit more balls, it's a metal as fuck pickup that I think is probably my favorite I've tried for that wood from dimarzio, even prefer it to a lundgren M7 if I am honest.

No experience with the crunch lab at all so I cannot comment on that.


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## JaeSwift (Mar 19, 2010)

7 Dying Trees said:


> Evo in mahogony is nice, and the evo7 > ev06. I hate the 6string evolution, it's despicably sterile. When i had an ev07 in my 2027 9mahogony bolt on, like the k7) it sounded good, but just very clear, had no grit to it, and I do like grit in my sound (grit does not equal looseness, it just means it has a bit of balls).
> 
> However, for a mahogony guitar I'd actually recommend a d-activator over the evo if you want a bit more balls, it's a metal as fuck pickup that I think is probably my favorite I've tried for that wood from dimarzio, even prefer it to a lundgren M7 if I am honest.
> 
> No experience with the crunch lab at all so I cannot comment on that.



Thanks mate, that's some good info 

Thing is, my main problem now with the DiMarzio Blaze (which is a HORRIBLE bridge pup for mahogany) is that the Low B sounds flobby and undefined. I really want to tighten everything up a lot, and what I liked about the Evo in that 6 string was that when I was shredding some scales, everything sounded very very clear and tight. But I only have money for one pickup so I want to make sure I make the right choice here.

The thing that turns me off about the D-Activators is that they're supposedly passives modeled after actives? That for me is a big no no because I don't like the sterile...sort of ''plastic'' quality that actives have.


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## 7 Dying Trees (Mar 19, 2010)

i know, i avoided dactivators for ages because of that, but I really like them. PM me your email address, in have some clips of my 2027 with DActivators running through a bias modded 5150 into an orange cab 

The low end on the d-activators is tight without being sterile, in fact, I don't find them sterile at all. I think the comparison with actives is that they kind of behave like actives in the sense that pinch harmonics are easy to hit and the notes aren't flubby, but otherwise sound like passives.


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## BigPhi84 (Mar 19, 2010)

Another fan of the D-Activators. I love the response of the pickups. Trust me, they don't sound anything like Active Pickups.


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## JaeSwift (Mar 19, 2010)

BigPhi84 said:


> Another fan of the D-Activators. I love the response of the pickups. Trust me, they don't sound anything like Active Pickups.





7 Dying Trees} i know said:


> PM Sent, and thanks  Guess I'll throw the D-Activator in to the equasion then!


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## guitar4tw (Mar 19, 2010)

I use a evo7 in my agile septor (mahogany wings, maple neckthrough), and it's awesome. The lows are pretty defined and clear, and it has a cool lead feel to it as well.

Here is a soundclip. The "mind machine" clip is recorded with the agile/evo7 guitar through an ENGL invader 100 (through a krank cabinet). Bear in mind that I use a cheap ass skype microphone from labtech, so the sound quality sucks. But you get the idea. 

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=1031971


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## Armor Darks (Mar 19, 2010)

would be cool to hear some rhythm with evo or Crunch Lab on 7 string


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## guitar4tw (Mar 19, 2010)

I updated the clips just now, so all of the tracks except the morphogenesis solo is now played with the evo7. SoundClick artist: Guitar4tw - page with MP3 music downloads

I'll do some rhythm clips tomorrow if you want, it's too late to play right now.


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## JaeSwift (Mar 19, 2010)

guitar4tw said:


> I updated the clips just now, so all of the tracks except the morphogenesis solo is now played with the evo7. SoundClick artist: Guitar4tw - page with MP3 music downloads
> 
> I'll do some rhythm clips tomorrow if you want, it's too late to play right now.



Really awesome clips, very nice solo's and awesome tone! The sound you get when your shredding and the notes turn flurry is exactly what I was looking for so I think I'm gonna be ordering the Evo 7. I'm glad it still has that same tightness to it's shreddy sound as it does on the 6 string, which is what attracted me to it in the first place.

Still wanna hear the D-Activators first though, then I'll judge fer sure


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## guitar4tw (Mar 19, 2010)

Awesome! Though you should remember that the amp is very responsible for the tone as well (understatement of the year), so your mileage may vary. But I think it's a good representation of how the evo7 sounds.

It has a really nice, smooth lead tone while being cutting and clear in the low end. At least this is how it sounds in my agile through the invader 

But yeah, I say go for it. It's an awesome pickup. What rig are you going to play through? Our guitars are pretty similar when it comes to the tonewoods used.


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## SpiritCrusher86 (Mar 20, 2010)

*Evo*


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## JaeSwift (Mar 20, 2010)

guitar4tw said:


> Awesome! Though you should remember that the amp is very responsible for the tone as well (understatement of the year), so your mileage may vary. But I think it's a good representation of how the evo7 sounds.
> 
> It has a really nice, smooth lead tone while being cutting and clear in the low end. At least this is how it sounds in my agile through the invader
> 
> But yeah, I say go for it. It's an awesome pickup. What rig are you going to play through? Our guitars are pretty similar when it comes to the tonewoods used.



Teehee, unfortunatly for now it's just the K7 with a Pod GX. I've got some quality monitor headphones so the sound actually changes a lot depending on pickup settings etc.

I'll be looking in to getting an ENGL Fireball combo or so later on. I played one with a TS 808 over it and the thing djented like craaaazy.

And yea don't worry, I know the largest portion of your tone definetly comes from the Invader, but the way I can always tell pickups apart is when people shred with them (the lead tone) and a lot of alternate picked consecutive notes (i.e 111111-2222222-33333333, stuff they use in black metal/deathcore a lot).


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## guitar4tw (Mar 20, 2010)

Ah, okay. You should look into the new fireball 100, it's supposed to be godly. Talk to Zimbloth on this forum for a good deal on it if you're interested, he has played it extensively 

By the way, I added a new clip where I do some random rhythm and lead stuff without any music in the backround with the evo7. Everything is on channel 3 (rhythm channel), so the leads aren't as smooth as on the other clips which were recorded on the lead channel. 

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=1031971


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## JaeSwift (Mar 20, 2010)

Again nice clip, gives me a good understanding of the sounds it covers. It seems to be a bit less harsh than the Evo 6 which is a plus.

Oh one more funny thing, when you were playing Icarus Lives I noticed that when I play it, instead of ''Djent, djent djent djent djent'' mine goes ''Djent djent, mud mud mud mud'' lmao. Blaze=fail


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## Armor Darks (Mar 20, 2010)

hm on 8 sec your B powerchord sounds pretty dirty. Is it strings or pickup?

but all other in clip was nice, thanx =)


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## guitar4tw (Mar 20, 2010)

JaeSwift said:


> Again nice clip, gives me a good understanding of the sounds it covers. It seems to be a bit less harsh than the Evo 6 which is a plus.
> 
> Oh one more funny thing, when you were playing Icarus Lives I noticed that when I play it, instead of ''Djent, djent djent djent djent'' mine goes ''Djent djent, mud mud mud mud'' lmao. Blaze=fail


Haha! I haven't played the blaze bridge pickup, so I can't comment on it, but I don't know if it's very good for drop tunings as it's supposed to be pretty mid scooped as it is. You can try lowering the bass and crank the mids on your amp to help this, though. I don't know  




Armor Darks said:


> hm on 8 sec your B powerchord sounds pretty dirty. Is it strings or pickup?
> 
> but all other in clip was nice, thanx =)



That's not a low b, it's a low a, so it's very deep. It's actually pretty clear on the low chords. Not the brightest pickup in the world, but more than clear enough for me. And the strings are pretty old, so I should change them.


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## Armor Darks (Mar 20, 2010)

> That's not a low b, it's a low a, so it's very deep. It's actually pretty clear on the low chords. Not the brightest pickup in the world, but more than clear enough for me. And the strings are pretty old, so I should change them.


oh, sorry =) Pretty clear? So it does not handle A tuning very well, right?


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## guitar4tw (Mar 20, 2010)

Armor Darks said:


> oh, sorry =) Pretty clear? So it does not handle A tuning very well, right?



Hmm, no, I think it handles drop a pretty well, actually. Listening to the clip, the sound quality muddens up the tone a little. It is a little clearer in real life, when you have the "in the room" sound.

I think the thing I like with it is that it's pretty bright and clear in the low end while maintaining a relatively smooth top end. I've tried some pickups that sound too brittle in leads, while they are awesome at really low tunings (d-sonic 6 comes to mind). This one feels pretty balanced.


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## Armor Darks (Mar 20, 2010)

I have dropsonic 7 in Ibanez 1527 and currently despite any tuning of pickup or magnet it sounds very sharp and harsh on anything lower then E-tuning (even on D). EMG 81 in my 6-string Ibanez works much better with lower tuning (drop D), while some say that EMG 81 sounds like "saw", it is not so sharp as dropsonic.


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## guitar4tw (Mar 21, 2010)

Armor Darks said:


> I have dropsonic 7 in Ibanez 1527 and currently despite any tuning of pickup or magnet it sounds very sharp and harsh on anything lower then E-tuning (even on D). EMG 81 in my 6-string Ibanez works much better with lower tuning (drop D), while some say that EMG 81 sounds like "saw", it is not so sharp as dropsonic.



Hmm, that's weird. I haven't tried the 7 string version, but I have the 6 string version in my rg2550, and it's really awesome for drop tunings. It's a bit to shrill and harsh in the top end for my taste, though. 

How does your EQ look?


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## Zugster (Mar 21, 2010)

DiMarzio Evo7 v. Crunchlab7? ....and the winner is....




Bare Knuckles Miracle Man7!

I was looking at DiMarzios for my RG, when I realized I could have a pair of BKPs for about $100 more. Especially when you consider its hard to get the best tone out of basswood body I went with the no-compromise solution. I'll have it put together next week.


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## Armor Darks (Mar 21, 2010)

guitar4tw said:


> It's a bit to shrill and harsh in the top end for my taste, though.
> 
> How does your EQ look?



i've tried different settings, low and high presencse, bass, midd, treble.
I'm using Fireball 60 with Orange ppc 412 (v30). I think it simply don't like dropsonic.


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## jsousa (Mar 21, 2010)

7 Dying Trees said:


> i have some clips of my 2027 with DActivators running through a bias modded 5150 into an orange cab



please post the link to this


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## Iceblade (Mar 28, 2010)

So can someone comment on the Evo, CrunchLab, Blaze and D-Activators when it comes to clean tones? I already have a basswood RG7621 with Blackouts in it, so I want my new mahogany S7320 to be more than just a straight metal machine. It needs to do everything that the Blackout equipped one can't, so I need that Neck/Bridge 2nd position switch setting that Petrucci uses all the time for the nice clean stuff too. 

Thanks,
Jeff


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## BigPhi84 (Mar 28, 2010)

I had an RG7620 with a set of D-Activators (that I sold to snowblind56 ) and I really liked the clean sound of the bridge pickup. The neck pickup was a little too "wooly" for my liking. But, then again, I grew up on a Stratocaster so I like that singlecoil-neck-pickup-where-the-24th-fret-would-be sound and no humbucker can get that. The closest I could get was to run the humbucker in parallel mode.


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