DiMarzio or no...

Your perception of the sound difference will all depend on what guitar you have now (ie. the body wood, neck wood, fretboard wood, pickups currently installed, type of string <wind, guage, etc.>) You'll probably put the pickups in and then totally change your eq on guitar and amp and other amp settings. Its all relative.

My Fender Strat has a DiMarzio humbucker at the bridge position. Sorry, don't know the model, but my guitar is a '91 so it's an old pickup. But I personally love it, it handles distortion extremely well, very tight with plenty of gain and sustain. It sounds good clean but really shines when using distortion.

You really don't want super-gain from a pickup, you won't be able to get good clean tones, they want to break-up on everything. It is really just a sales gimmick, most of the greatest recordings you've ever heard were using relatively weak pickups, think Eddie Van Halen for instance or even Hendrix. They used stock pickups. :wink:

Wes: it was a long time ago, but maybe you remember the DiMarzio advert that used to appear in GP. the ad copy claimed that while DiMarzio could make the pictured humbucker with a gigantic, powerful magnet and lotsa coil windings, it would never be sold by them because it didn't meet the exacting tonal standards of the company. yet all these years later, DiMarzio seems to be selling a lot these designs. interesting evolution of a company.

tehdoc: I agree with Wes: get a moderate (or even weaker) humbucker that starts with great tone by pulling less on the strings and have less parasitic capacitance and coil inductance that will kill highs and definition. better to add a booster or overdrive pedal after your guitar. leaves you with more tonal options.

I agree -

A nice PAF style Humbucker with AlNiCo II magnets 8)

Ken

I've played many different guitars with many pickup configs, but the Ibanez I own right now is the first time I've had active humbuckers (Custom installed).

I have the "classic" EMG 81/85 setup, and I get GREAT clean tones (unless the battery is dying, thanks gnease/kenrogers). The idea that actives can't get you great clean tones is mostly a myth. Check any early metallica, they use EMG's.

Been wanting a tone upgrade for a while now, something with a little more kick too it. DiMarzio Pickups are looking pretty good to give me what I want without having to go active, which I desperatly want to aviod. I've had active before and they were a pain and too "noisy" for me. Been looking at either going X2N Brdg/Evolution neck or Evolution Brdg/D Sonic Neck. Really like the output on the X2N, but i'm worried it might be too much of a kick. Just wondering if anyone had any experience with DiMarzio or any other pickup suggestions for getting some extra gain from the guitar itself.

I know this goes counter to the conventional wisdom of "throw money at it," but have you tried raising the height of the pickups a smidgen to see if that improves the sound? Go easy - 1/16 of an inch (or 1 mm) at a time is plenty. A little change will make a big difference.