Illuminator 7 Bridge Humbucker Pickup - Black Review

Very Pleasant Surprise

I really liked the technical reviews for the Illuminator pickups...i have been a Dimarzio pickup guy for many years but had not played these in the past. I have a variety of guitars, one of them a Gibson SG Standard with stock 498t and 490r pickups. They have the classic modern Gibson hard rock / metal sound. I have another Gibson guitar...2010 Les Paul Standard with a chambered… read more body. The chambered body, as some of you may know, creates some tone issues for Les Paul purists.The fact is this guitar is a semi-solid body truth be told...although Gibson will not fess up to this. Great for weight relief if you are standing with the guitar around your neck 4 hours a night....but really hard to get the same tone a solid body Les Paul has...resonance, sustain, and low/ low-mid frequencies are really effected by this. I have 2 semi-solid body guitars that behave in a similar way but in their case, it is a desirable frequency response with appropriate pickups to capture it (another story for another time). OK....so the stage is set for my Illuminator PU review....i replaced Gibson classic 57 PU's in my Les Paul with Illuminator neck and bridge PU's / nickel covers just like the stock Gibson PU's.....i can hear some of you saying...Good God man! Why would you do that?....57 Classics are awesome for a Les Paul. If you are playing blues, country, or classic rock....you could be right. The 57 classics have a very dynamic and pretty tone when played clean and light to moderately overdriven. But that is where it ends with this particular chambered Les Paul design. Heavy overdrive hard rock / metal tones for progressive rock / metal (what i like to play with this guitar) are just not ballsy or saturated enough with fat low-mids. Illuminator pickups to the rescue....i was holding my breath when i first powered up my rig to try this guitar with the new pickups...the Illuminators are ceramic magnet pickups not Alnico...first worry....overbright and thin....not the case at all...i am able to get an amazingly fat bridge tone with heavy overdrive that sounds very much like an Alnico 5 pickup (498t) only more articulate for Prog rock chord voicing...i compared the 498t on my SG very closely to the Illuminator bridge (tone knob cut back to about 5) and they were very close with the exception that the Illuminator sounded more rich harmonically and articulate.....PROBLEM SOLVED!! I now have the huge full sound a traditional solid body Les Paul has with even better tone and articulation thanks to the Illuminator bridge pickup.....and the neck pickup is also very sweet sounding with enough high end to sound modern but also classic with control of the tone knob....the 2 pickups play well together in the middle pickup position and make a great modern clean tone. I am very happy and these pickups are here to stay....at least until the next amazing pickup comes along... P.S. I put in CTS 500K pots with orange drop caps old school wiring too.

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Just what I was hoping for

Purchased the 6 string version on this pickup DP257I usually do not write reviews, but I was so impressed with this Dimarzio Illuminator pickup. I have a 1996 Gibson DC Plus that had Burst Bucker Pro pickups. Didn't like the BBPros compared to my other guitars with their pickups, as the BBPs were too bright. My other guitars are/have; LTD F2E with SD SH-6 pickup, Charvel with EMG… read more 81 pickup, and Gibson LP with 498T pickup.The Dimarzio 257 pickup is as, if not more, articulate as my EMGs and has more warmth then the 498T. The distortion chug and presence of the 257s is better than the other pickups as well. I would compare it to a solid mix between my EMG81 and SH-6.I play metal, alternative, and rock. My Gibson with this Dimarzio pickup, will now surely be my "go to" guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!

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