Zebra Pickups?

Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 52 Location: Delawhere

I've played acoustic for years, but my EVO FT is my first electric. It seemed like the best bang for the buck in the price range: Grover tuners, set neck, plus it 'felt right' for whatever that's worth. Anyway, I know squat about pickups, and was just wondering if somebody could tell me something about the Zebras in my EVO.

I'm currently playing through a Roland Cube 30. The various tones available from the distortion models are overwhelming, I''ll play with them later. Right now I'm concentrating on trying to maximize a warm, clean tone with just a hint of delay and chorus. I know I'm asking a lot from a Korean-made guitar and a cheap SS amp, but believe me, I'm having a blast and am kicking myself for not diving in earlier. I'm also making some tones I really like (limited experience, you know).

I guess my questions are: 1) With my current set-up, would I notice a big improvement in tone if I were to upgrade the pickups?

Coil Tap? I know what it's supposed to do, but it sounds like crap when I switch to the 'single coil' mode.

Pickup selector. I assume down is bridge, up is neck and middle is both. I'm currently using mostly the middle position because I can't decide which I like best and for what purposes.

I'm not asking much, am I?

Go ahead, talk to me. Or send me to the appropriate resources.

Thanks in advance.

Guest

The Deans are wired out of phase so when you are in the middle position and you roll back on the volume a little from full you get a slight "flangy" sound. The coil tap really only eliminates the "hum" associated with humbuckers at a high volume, giving you a "crisper' sound, although somewhat thin. You are correct in the switch positions.
I personally haven't played an Evo so these observations are based on the setup on my Cadillacs and Elites, that I own. The best thing to do is to continue to experiment.

A good combination of pickups that I have used are DiMarzio Tone Zone in the bridge and DiMarzio BluesBucker in the neck.
Bill

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 4797 Location: BEERMUDA

I think you'll notice a big improvement when replacing em with some high end PU's like DiMarzio's!

Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 52 Location: Delawhere

Speaking of Zebra Pickups

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 12:26 pm

Whos's driving Laughing

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 2990

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 1:11 pm

i usually hear that the zebra's are wound pretty hot, which i dont immagine is very good for the clean tone. put a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck. that'd probably be the best thing for what you want.

Guest

Hotrat wrote:

Justnoldbluzman wrote:

The coil tap really only eliminates the "hum" associated with humbuckers at a high volume, giving you a "crisper' sound, although somewhat thin.
Bill

I always thought that humbuckers were created to eliminate the noise that you got on single coils at high volume. hence the term "humbuckers"

Yeah, they were... Rolling Eyes

Thus the dual coils. No hum, as in 60 hertz cycle hum intrinsic to single coils. The coil tap eliminates one of the coils 'making' it a single coil . Back to the point, I recently installed a DiMarzio super distortion in the bridge of my eVo special with a tone zone in the neck. The tone zone will be moving, as it duzn't work well in the neck position but the super d izz staying. Really woke this little axe up! I wanna put a PAF in the neck, I think... We'll see... For what it's worth, I have been a long time seymour duncan advocate, and I put these old dimarzios in this guitar, and I'm happy.

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 10:00 pm

AFAIK, none of the eVos are wired out of phase. Pulling up on the volume splits the neck pickup while pulling up on the tone splits the bridge. When a humbucker is "split" it means only one of the coils is being used and thus it is a single coil and not hum canceling. Hum canceling refers to EMI and RFI that the coils pick up. By reverse winding one of the coils, any EFI or RFI both coils pick up would be 180 degrees out of phase and cancel out. I'm not sure, but I think the fatter sound of humbuckers comes from having a wider magnetic field picking up the vibrating strings.

Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 46 Location: San Antonio, Texas

If you like nice warm clean tones but still wanna rock, you can't go wrong with DiMarzio PAF-Pros in both the neck and the bridge.

A DiMarzio Super Distortion in the Bridge would be a nice choice too since you can get fat distortion in full humbucker mode and a nice clean tone in coil split mode. I have a PAF-Pro and a Super Distortion on order right now for my Dean Cadillac Select.

Visit the DiMarzio website for more information and MP3 samples of the pups in action.

Joined: 04 Dec 2003 Posts: 12 Location: Columbus , Ohio

So , what do you think....Damarzio or seymour Duncan? I am thinking of replacing the pickups in a New Caddy. Any suggesstions on type of pickup , there seems to be so many choices.... I play in a local band, classic to new rock and like the Les Paul tone..Thanks

Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2003 10:58 pm

Hardrocker wrote:

So , what do you think....Damarzio or seymour Duncan? I am thinking of replacing the pickups in a New Caddy. Any suggesstions on type of pickup , there seems to be so many choices.... I play in a local band, classic to new rock and like the Les Paul tone..Thanks

Welcome to my world. SD Custom custom should do it. That's my fave LP bridge pup. Dimarzio Super Dists are good too tho. It's just that for my taste the LP needs a bit of a fatter sound that the Custom custom produces effortlessly. That's my 2c anyways.

Joined: 01 Dec 2003 Posts: 218

I personally don't like the Zebras and have replaced them with Duncans and Rios.....I found them too tame and muddy.

Joined: 29 Nov 2003 Posts: 393 Location: Lake Mary, Florida

I hear many referring to "zebras" as a type of pickup. It's just a color pattern. You can get that zebra color scheme on a lot of different pups from different companies.

Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 4406 Location: Hostile Territory

I know the Dean zebras in my V, Z, & ML Selects were very good pups, but the newer models don't seem as gutsy. I'd go with a good aftermarket pickup set. However the neck pickup in my Evo Special is nice like a PAF. Check the "golden age" humbuckers available from Stew Mac http://www.stewmac.com Price is right -