Dimarzio Blaze in swamp ash guitar?

[Ben.Last]

I just picked up my first swamp ash bodied guitar (Solar 7: maple neck through, ebony fb, evertune bridge). The stock Solar pickups are fine, but I'm definitely going to upgrade them. My go to pickups are generally PAF or Blaze, but those are also generally going into basswood or mahogany guitars.

I was also considering going with the Blaze neck in the bridge position, which, based on descriptions, seems like it might be brighter still.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Zhysick]

Maybe a bit on the bright side but I think the Blazes will perform perfectly well

 

[Ben.Last]

Maybe a bit on the bright side but I think the Blazes will perform perfectly well

Would you give the neck in bridge (and probably paf neck for the neck) configuration a go, or do you think I should stick with the normal arrangement?

 

[Drew]

I've been playing a Suhr Modern with a maple cap over a swamp ash body for, well, years now, and a Blaze bridge is my favorite pickup I've tried in it so far (as well as one of my favorite seven string bridge pickups in general). By total coincidence, I recorded a couple simple rhythm guitar tracks for a guy on another board who was having some trouble with VSTs and wanted to rule out his input as a factor, so if it would help I'd be happy to flip them over to you, if you do a lot with reamping or VSTs.

But, IMO, it still sounds like a Blaze in swamp ash. Maybe a little crisper and more percussive in the low end than the deeper Blaze-in-basswood sound but not by a massive margin, and it still has that midrange-y harmonic-haze-on-sustain thing going on for single note lines that I always loved about it in my UV. I think it sounds great.

 

[Ben.Last]

I've been playing a Suhr Modern with a maple cap over a swamp ash body for, well, years now, and a Blaze bridge is my favorite pickup I've tried in it so far (as well as one of my favorite seven string bridge pickups in general). By total coincidence, I recorded a couple simple rhythm guitar tracks for a guy on another board who was having some trouble with VSTs and wanted to rule out his input as a factor, so if it would help I'd be happy to flip them over to you, if you do a lot with reamping or VSTs.

But, IMO, it still sounds like a Blaze in swamp ash. Maybe a little crisper and more percussive in the low end than the deeper Blaze-in-basswood sound but not by a massive margin, and it still has that midrange-y harmonic-haze-on-sustain thing going on for single note lines that I always loved about it in my UV. I think it sounds great.

Awesome. Thank you. Have you ever tried the neck pickup in the bridge position?

 

[Zhysick]

Would you give the neck in bridge (and probably paf neck for the neck) configuration a go, or do you think I should stick with the normal arrangement?

Nah, I wouldn't bother. Full Blaze set, neck and bridge. If after that you finde the bridge too hot well, then maybe I would try the neck on the bridge and a PAF7 for a low output neck pickup to match but that won't be my first choice.

Full Blaze all the way

 

[Drew]

Awesome. Thank you. Have you ever tried the neck pickup in the bridge position?

Never really cared for the Blaze neck, to be honest - too "Vai" for me, somehow, in ways the bridge never was. I understand the guys from Korn liked it in the bridge postion, before eventually going with a PAF7, and I suspect there's a reason they eventually went with the PAF instead.

 

[Ben.Last]

Never really cared for the Blaze neck, to be honest - too "Vai" for me, somehow, in ways the bridge never was. I understand the guys from Korn liked it in the bridge postion, before eventually going with a PAF7, and I suspect there's a reason they eventually went with the PAF instead.

I'm pretty sure they went back to the Blaze though. I have no idea when the neck as bridge thing may fit into their timeline though.

 

[akinari]

I'm pretty sure they went back to the Blaze though. I have no idea when the neck as bridge thing may fit into their timeline though.

First 4 records at least, as the PAF 7 wasn't introduced until 2000. I say try the Blaze set, and if you don't like the bridge model, switch the neck to the bridge. Then if you're cool with the neck model in the neck, I'll trade you another Blaze neck for the Blaze bridge if you want.

 

[Drew]

I'm pretty sure they went back to the Blaze though. I have no idea when the neck as bridge thing may fit into their timeline though.

I mean, if the Korn sound is something you're after, specifically the albums before their signature guitar was released, the Blaze neck in the bridge is absolutely one part of that equation and worth a try. I have no experience with it in swamp ash though, so I can't tell you what to expect. I DO have experience with the Blaze Bridge in swamp ash, though (with the caveat that it's also with a flamed maple top on the body), and I do think it's a pretty balanced combination that I've been really happy with. I'd be happy to either share those muted/unmunted rhythm track DI's, or just a quick clip through my Mark V messing around on the guitar if either would help you get a sense for how it sounds.

 

[Ben.Last]

I mean, if the Korn sound is something you're after, specifically the albums before their signature guitar was released, the Blaze neck in the bridge is absolutely one part of that equation and worth a try. I have no experience with it in swamp ash though, so I can't tell you what to expect. I DO have experience with the Blaze Bridge in swamp ash, though (with the caveat that it's also with a flamed maple top on the body), and I do think it's a pretty balanced combination that I've been really happy with. I'd be happy to either share those muted/unmunted rhythm track DI's, or just a quick clip through my Mark V messing around on the guitar if either would help you get a sense for how it sounds.

I'm not after their tone, but it's one of the examples that came up in discussions I've come across about using the neck in the bridge.

 

[Drew]

I'm not after their tone, but it's one of the examples that came up in discussions I've come across about using the neck in the bridge.

Well, if that's NOT a tone you're really chasing...

....go with the Blaze bridge. It sounds a little different in swamp ash than it does in basswood, but pretty much every classic seven string album was cut with a Blaze bridge in the body of a basswood guitar. Awake, Covenant, Passion and Warfare, a bunch of the early Meshuggah albums, probably still the first couple Korn albums... you name it, if it's an early seven string album, it was that pickup. To me, it sounds like what a seven string should, because so many of the groundbreaking seven string tones were a Blaze bridge.