Thank you for including a comparison with the pickupo facing both ways, it's interesting to hear how much it changes and there's definitely something to like in both sounds.
As a side note, it clarifies here Spinning a pickup 180 deg within a pickup ring Does NOT change the phase relationship with the other pickup . That's like turning a clock upside down and expecting the hands to move in the opposite direction! People think the Peter Green Les Paul guitar ( owned by Kirk Hammett) famous out of phase sound occurs because the pickup is turned around. That's simply not the case. Sure ,the magnet IS turned around, but so is the coil direction (= no effect) To change the phase relationship between 2 pickups you have to either :1 Flip the magnet (a hassle) or ::2 reverse the wires on 1 pickup on the vol pot ( Changes coil direction= easy)
I used the MegaDrive in the 80s more than any other pickup. I used it with the blade towards the neck. I installed it in all of my guitars at one point from Kramers to Charvels to my ESP. I loved it. I felt it had a great balance of power and clarity. But I can understand why DiMarzio discontinued it. It's a pickup that didn't really survive the 80s. It just isn't tight enough for a modern metal pickup. To hear it as it was meant to be you've got to play it through a 100 W Marshall, cranked, or a comparable tube amp. It find of farts out through your mini stack, although I think it's good enough for testing most pickups. The MegaDrive is a pickup mired by a time and place, the L.A. metal scene of the 80s. Seriously. I was there, used the pickup, and so did many other players. Through a big Marshall stack it was awesome. It also coil split well, worked in parallel well. But the tone, the response, is really something stuck back in 1986. Also, DiMarzio used a similar design, as least aesthetically, for the D-Sonic in 2000, and the Petrucci signature Crunch Lab in 2008, which make much better use of the blade/hex design for a more modern tonescape. I still use a number of DiMarzios but wouldn't even think of using a MegaDrive these days. I'd use a Super Distortion, Super 3, and X2N, but not a MegaDrive. Not a bad pickup, but time has passed it by. It didn't age well. I don't know if you found an old one on the market or ordered it from DiMarzio (out of production but they will make it custom ordered), but it's definitely more of a relic than a classic. Still a good demo. Give it a try through a 100 watt and see what you think.
It’s a very good thought to try it on an amp with some bigger glass. I’ve a 50w Marshall Master Volume Model which should work well. I rarely use it as it is too loud for the house! Thanks for the comment as always, I do enjoy reading these tales of the 80s! And yes, this was an original pickup, rather than a recent special order.
@@gwEmbassy The MegaDrive works best with the blade towards the neck. It was a fairly ubiquitous pickup on the Sunset Strip in the 80s, often use in Kramers, Charvels, Jacksons, BC Rich Gunslingers, etc. It was a very distinctive looking pickup at the time. The were often ordered in pink for some reason with black blade and poles. Older MegaDrives like this can look a bit rusty. It's a good heavy metal pickup and sounds great coil split or parallel and I'd use these positions too. But these days they have other models with a similar look but a more modern sound like the D-Sonic and Crunch Lab, which even sound different from each other. These days I'm sporting either Super Distortions or Super 3s in my axes with either Super 2 or Air Norton necks. One thing I'll say about the original Super Distortion is that it has aged well. While it does not work well for djent or anything that thuddy it does produce a big rock guitar tone which is why it's perfect for Phil Collen. It's important to have a pup that can flesh out chords and make the leads sing and the SD does that very well.
I have one for more than 20 years and I've always pleased with it. Lately I've been trying to get that modern Pete Thorn disto sounds and it handles very well
I noticed a fatter sound when you had it with the bar towards the neck. I currently have two, I bought them when they first came out because I had seen that Leslie West used and endorsed them on the “Go For Your Life album. I have one in a 1962 LP/SG that had a neck repair near the heel causing the bridge pickup to be thin sounding. Using the Mega-Drive with the bar towards the neck fattens it up and makes it actually sound normal because of the wider frequency range and sort of acting in a kind of stereo operation in its own way. I’ve tried it both ways in other guitars, the bar towards bridge is crunchier, I think I like it towards the neck.
Too bad about the damage on that ‘62 SG. Listening back to the clips, I think I prefer the sound with the blade towards the neck too. There’s just something extra about it in that position. I’ll have a listen to that Leslie West album later, I like his playing.
gwEm’s gwEmbassy Yea, that’s true. I bought it this way. It had an expert repair when I bought it (in the early 80s). Don’t know when it was broken and fixed, bought it in a vintage guitar shop in New Jersey. You’d never know by the way it plays or feels that it had broken where SGs typically do. However, it made it more affordable to me at the time because of that since it was my first true vintage guitar. It’s a great guitar. When I tried the Mega-Drive both ways I noticed a more scooped tone when the bar was towards the bridge.
I heard that MegaDrive is a hybrid of X2N and Paf Pro. One coil from X2N and the other from Paf Pro. The same with Norton, a hybrid of Tone Zone with Fred.
Happened across a DP-107 while going thru old parts and found your video. Good vid. I haven't heard a sound demo of this for years. Big plus for the RD. I bought an RD Artist in '94. Loved the look of that guitar....couldn't get on with playing it. Too big and long for me. But damn, they are the coolest guitars.
@@gwEmbassy Nah, honestly, while it is a beauty, just cause it says Gibson means nothing. Your guitar looks awesome, you can mod the crap out of it and not care. I gave mine to my nephew. It was that or sell it and he always loved it. Gibson is overpriced. Never worth it, honestly. It's wood, wires and some plastic. If it's well made, well setup, it's a great guitar. If you ever want to try, IMHO, the greatest metal pickup ever, Gibson DID do one thing no one else did. The Tony Iommi Signature pickup. Nothing compares. I've had literally a dozen really good pickups, Fralin, Gibson, PRS, Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan etc and I always end up playing the guitar with the TI pickup-it sounds better than anything I've ever played. Not cheap, but there is only one-no difference between the neck/bridge. Put that in the bridge of the RD and you're set.
I’ve never tried that Gibson Iommi pickup, always wanted to. I really like their 80s Dirty Fingers and the T-Top. Perhaps I’ll try and score one on eBay. My RD has Filtertrons in at the moment!
@@gwEmbassy Ha! I've never tried Filtertrons. I guess they always reminded me of Gretsch guitars and I'm just not a fan. Like Vox amps-great amps, just not for me. I've recently just for the first time tried a Tele....damn fine guitar. Great sound, amazing playability. Just hate the look of the thing.
The megadrive is my favorite pickup along with the super distortion. According to Dimarzio the specs are 350mv with a tone profile of bass 7, mids 5,and treble, 6. Slightly different form the Steve’s special but very similar.
I still HAVE the Megadrive, but its uninstalled, and am watching because Im thinking of installing in an Aria. I used it with the Ibanez DESTROYER II..... It sounded very impressive. But I was using rack gear back then. That guitar is stored away, and I cant even remember why I took it out. I used it blade toward bridge. BTW, youve got some STRONG ass glasses! I could even feel their power as *I* watched! 🤘🏻
I really like the Megadrive. That Ibanez Destroyer 2 must have been a very cool guitar, always wanted to try one of those. And yes, the glasses are strong!
They put them in a handful MIJ Hondos in the late 70s I believe. During the Gibson “lawsuit” era. Dimarzio exported a small number of these after they got called out for advertising the predecessors as USA made humbuckers (they were just single coils with a dual housing). So during the 2-3 years the clones were manufactured in Japan mostly Dimarzio out together the original Megadrives pre patent due to having to fulfill the contract. I got lucky by finding a Hondo that has them. Did a comparison between every version of mega drive dimarzio has made since and nothing comes close to how unique the 70s ones sound.
Bought this for an Ibanez with direct mount pickups so only a Dimarzio would fit, most Dimarzio bridge pups ive tried/own have this annoying cocked wah sound (too much mids) ... this one doesnt have that, nice lows, controled mids, balanced highs, loved it!
1995 I bought my first decent axe, a brand new Jackson PS-4. The only weakness in those Korean Jackson's at the time were the pickups so I had a Megadrive fitted to the bridge pre-delivery. It's still there today and that guitar has aged very well. The old Jackson sits next to a $5K Les Paul these days, love the LP but the old Jackson is still my go to every time.
@@gwEmbassy Yes, and those old Jackson's are great 'player' guitars. A Jackson PS-4 in good nick is well buying, with decent pickups they are awesome to play.
Its funny. You played an all time favorite songs to jam to with my favorite pickup. The Megadrive is in both of my main guitars. I do have a Steve special in a back up and it seems to be muddier. But then it could be the guitar. Thanks for the video.
I think Di Marzio Megadrive is a great Pickup if you have the right Amp and a Guitar which makes it not to bass, Im Personally a Fan of Super Distortion, Breed, Air Norton and Paf36th and the Megadrive if the Guitar fits the Megadrive
Just ordered mine from the DiMarzio Custom shop last week (red/black colour variation), they still offer it, but on request! I think it sounds better with the blade towards the neck, towards the bridge it sounds dirtier/muddier
I did not hear much difference between the two orientations of the pickup. Maybe it was slightly fatter sounding in the second clip with the blade pole piece closer to the bridge. But it sounded tighter with the blade polepiece closer to the neck.
Your ears are deceiving you. The fatness you think you're hearing is amp distortion. It's 100% darker/thicker with the bar towards the neck. Bar towards the neck has the classic ceramic humbucker sound that's almost scooped sounding. The bar coil is the higher ouput/darker sounding one. The pickup is darker with the bar towards the neck and more balanced with the bar towards the bridge. If you think about how the tone changes when you move where you're picking the strings this makes sense. The reason it sounds thicker with the bar towards the bridge in these clips is because it has more of an upper mid spike/grind in that orientation and it's hitting the front end of the amp harder, especially on the power chords. You can tell how much darker having the bar towards the neck is on the single note palm mutes. I have this pickup in an RG550 and it had so much bottom that it was unusable for me with the bar towards the neck. Flipped it the other way and it was more balanced but still a bit too bright. I ended up tuning the guitar down to Eb to get the tone just right.
well I've heard that the Ibanez HB2 is based on the MegaDrive. I have both and have had both installed in my '92 RG565 and think that the HB2 in standard orientation (bar towards neck) sounds very close to the MegaDrive with the bar towards the bridge. I've installed my MegaDrive in 3 different guitars at this point and I've never liked it with the bar towards the neck. I don't know if it's my hands, gear, or ears, but I just tend to not like darker pickup sounds. That same RG565 came to me with a Tone Zone in it and I HATED it. It has a BKP Holy Diver in it and that's about as dark/smooth a pickup as I can tolerate these days.
I always liked the Megadrive. Suspect one coil is wound with AWG45 (not unlike BKP's Warpig) and the other will be AWG42 or something close to that
Looking at the DC readings for each coil, you are most probably right Jonathan! Thanks for the comment.
Thank you for including a comparison with the pickupo facing both ways, it's interesting to hear how much it changes and there's definitely something to like in both sounds.
Thanks to you for tuning in :)
As a side note, it clarifies here Spinning a pickup 180 deg within a pickup ring Does NOT change the phase relationship with the other pickup .
That's like turning a clock upside down and expecting the hands to move in the opposite direction!
People think the Peter Green Les Paul guitar ( owned by Kirk Hammett) famous out of phase sound occurs because the pickup is turned around. That's simply not the case.
Sure ,the magnet IS turned around, but so is the coil direction (= no effect)
To change the phase relationship between 2 pickups you have to either :1 Flip the magnet (a hassle) or ::2 reverse the wires on 1 pickup on the vol pot ( Changes coil direction= easy)
I used the MegaDrive in the 80s more than any other pickup. I used it with the blade towards the neck. I installed it in all of my guitars at one point from Kramers to Charvels to my ESP. I loved it. I felt it had a great balance of power and clarity. But I can understand why DiMarzio discontinued it. It's a pickup that didn't really survive the 80s. It just isn't tight enough for a modern metal pickup. To hear it as it was meant to be you've got to play it through a 100 W Marshall, cranked, or a comparable tube amp. It find of farts out through your mini stack, although I think it's good enough for testing most pickups. The MegaDrive is a pickup mired by a time and place, the L.A. metal scene of the 80s. Seriously. I was there, used the pickup, and so did many other players. Through a big Marshall stack it was awesome. It also coil split well, worked in parallel well. But the tone, the response, is really something stuck back in 1986. Also, DiMarzio used a similar design, as least aesthetically, for the D-Sonic in 2000, and the Petrucci signature Crunch Lab in 2008, which make much better use of the blade/hex design for a more modern tonescape. I still use a number of DiMarzios but wouldn't even think of using a MegaDrive these days. I'd use a Super Distortion, Super 3, and X2N, but not a MegaDrive. Not a bad pickup, but time has passed it by. It didn't age well. I don't know if you found an old one on the market or ordered it from DiMarzio (out of production but they will make it custom ordered), but it's definitely more of a relic than a classic. Still a good demo. Give it a try through a 100 watt and see what you think.
It’s a very good thought to try it on an amp with some bigger glass.
I’ve a 50w Marshall Master Volume Model which should work well. I rarely use it as it is too loud for the house!
Thanks for the comment as always, I do enjoy reading these tales of the 80s!
And yes, this was an original pickup, rather than a recent special order.
@@gwEmbassy The MegaDrive works best with the blade towards the neck. It was a fairly ubiquitous pickup on the Sunset Strip in the 80s, often use in Kramers, Charvels, Jacksons, BC Rich Gunslingers, etc. It was a very distinctive looking pickup at the time. The were often ordered in pink for some reason with black blade and poles. Older MegaDrives like this can look a bit rusty. It's a good heavy metal pickup and sounds great coil split or parallel and I'd use these positions too. But these days they have other models with a similar look but a more modern sound like the D-Sonic and Crunch Lab, which even sound different from each other. These days I'm sporting either Super Distortions or Super 3s in my axes with either Super 2 or Air Norton necks. One thing I'll say about the original Super Distortion is that it has aged well. While it does not work well for djent or anything that thuddy it does produce a big rock guitar tone which is why it's perfect for Phil Collen. It's important to have a pup that can flesh out chords and make the leads sing and the SD does that very well.
It’s true the original Super Distortion has aged well. I guess Larry got it right the first time!
Love that Chibi RD... and the mega drive really gives it that Mountain edge...
you’re right, I think it does too
I have one for more than 20 years and I've always pleased with it. Lately I've been trying to get that modern Pete Thorn disto sounds and it handles very well
I like mine a lot too! Thanks for watching :)
Sounds amazing!! It's called a Megadrive cos the secret is a built in YM2612
I’d like to think so ;)
I noticed a fatter sound when you had it with the bar towards the neck. I currently have two, I bought them when they first came out because I had seen that Leslie West used and endorsed them on the “Go For Your Life album. I have one in a 1962 LP/SG that had a neck repair near the heel causing the bridge pickup to be thin sounding. Using the Mega-Drive with the bar towards the neck fattens it up and makes it actually sound normal because of the wider frequency range and sort of acting in a kind of stereo operation in its own way. I’ve tried it both ways in other guitars, the bar towards bridge is crunchier, I think I like it towards the neck.
Too bad about the damage on that ‘62 SG. Listening back to the clips, I think I prefer the sound with the blade towards the neck too. There’s just something extra about it in that position. I’ll have a listen to that Leslie West album later, I like his playing.
gwEm’s gwEmbassy Yea, that’s true. I bought it this way. It had an expert repair when I bought it (in the early 80s). Don’t know when it was broken and fixed, bought it in a vintage guitar shop in New Jersey. You’d never know by the way it plays or feels that it had broken where SGs typically do. However, it made it more affordable to me at the time because of that since it was my first true vintage guitar. It’s a great guitar. When I tried the Mega-Drive both ways I noticed a more scooped tone when the bar was towards the bridge.
It does sound like a cool guitar, I absolutely love the feel of a vintage instrument
I heard that MegaDrive is a hybrid of X2N and Paf Pro. One coil from X2N and the other from Paf Pro.
The same with Norton, a hybrid of Tone Zone with Fred.
I heard the same about the MegaDrive, but can’t confirm for sure.
Happened across a DP-107 while going thru old parts and found your video.
Good vid. I haven't heard a sound demo of this for years.
Big plus for the RD. I bought an RD Artist in '94. Loved the look of that guitar....couldn't get on with playing it. Too big and long for me. But damn, they are the coolest guitars.
They look amazing! I’d love a real Gibson one
@@gwEmbassy Nah, honestly, while it is a beauty, just cause it says Gibson means nothing. Your guitar looks awesome, you can mod the crap out of it and not care.
I gave mine to my nephew. It was that or sell it and he always loved it.
Gibson is overpriced. Never worth it, honestly. It's wood, wires and some plastic. If it's well made, well setup, it's a great guitar.
If you ever want to try, IMHO, the greatest metal pickup ever, Gibson DID do one thing no one else did. The Tony Iommi Signature pickup. Nothing compares. I've had literally a dozen really good pickups, Fralin, Gibson, PRS, Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan etc and I always end up playing the guitar with the TI pickup-it sounds better than anything I've ever played. Not cheap, but there is only one-no difference between the neck/bridge.
Put that in the bridge of the RD and you're set.
I’ve never tried that Gibson Iommi pickup, always wanted to. I really like their 80s Dirty Fingers and the T-Top. Perhaps I’ll try and score one on eBay. My RD has Filtertrons in at the moment!
@@gwEmbassy Ha! I've never tried Filtertrons. I guess they always reminded me of Gretsch guitars and I'm just not a fan. Like Vox amps-great amps, just not for me.
I've recently just for the first time tried a Tele....damn fine guitar. Great sound, amazing playability. Just hate the look of the thing.
I have the exact same opinion of the telecaster!!
The megadrive is my favorite pickup along with the super distortion. According to Dimarzio the specs are 350mv with a tone profile of bass 7, mids 5,and treble, 6. Slightly different form the Steve’s special but very similar.
It’s a great pickup! Thanks for watching :)
I still HAVE the Megadrive, but its uninstalled, and am watching because Im thinking of installing in an Aria. I used it with the Ibanez DESTROYER II..... It sounded very impressive. But I was using rack gear back then. That guitar is stored away, and I cant even remember why I took it out. I used it blade toward bridge. BTW, youve got some STRONG ass glasses! I could even feel their power as *I* watched! 🤘🏻
I really like the Megadrive. That Ibanez Destroyer 2 must have been a very cool guitar, always wanted to try one of those. And yes, the glasses are strong!
They put them in a handful MIJ Hondos in the late 70s I believe.
During the Gibson “lawsuit” era.
Dimarzio exported a small number of these after they got called out for advertising the predecessors as USA made humbuckers (they were just single coils with a dual housing).
So during the 2-3 years the clones were manufactured in Japan mostly Dimarzio out together the original Megadrives pre patent due to having to fulfill the contract.
I got lucky by finding a Hondo that has them.
Did a comparison between every version of mega drive dimarzio has made since and nothing comes close to how unique the 70s ones sound.
that’s an interesting bit of info! I will do some digging around about that
Bought this for an Ibanez with direct mount pickups so only a Dimarzio would fit, most Dimarzio bridge pups ive tried/own have this annoying cocked wah sound (too much mids) ... this one doesnt have that, nice lows, controled mids, balanced highs, loved it!
Great!! I think it’s a really good design :)
1995 I bought my first decent axe, a brand new Jackson PS-4. The only weakness in those Korean Jackson's at the time were the pickups so I had a Megadrive fitted to the bridge pre-delivery. It's still there today and that guitar has aged very well. The old Jackson sits next to a $5K Les Paul these days, love the LP but the old Jackson is still my go to every time.
Big Jackson fan here. I don’t really care for other shredder guitar brands like ESP or Ibanez. The MegaDrive must be great in one of those!
@@gwEmbassy Yes, and those old Jackson's are great 'player' guitars. A Jackson PS-4 in good nick is well buying, with decent pickups they are awesome to play.
Its funny. You played an all time favorite songs to jam to with my favorite pickup. The Megadrive is in both of my main guitars.
I do have a Steve special in a back up and it seems to be muddier. But then it could be the guitar.
Thanks for the video.
Total genocide!!! :)
I have both and youre right, the Steves special is not as tight as the mega drive
I love the Megadrive in my les Paul. My favorite pickup!
It has always worked in every guitar I tried it in. It’s a great design :)
steve s special is by far my most fav pickup , if u get the chance try it its amazing
Would love to try one!
I think Di Marzio Megadrive is a great Pickup if you have the right Amp and a Guitar which makes it not to bass, Im Personally a Fan of Super Distortion, Breed, Air Norton and Paf36th and the Megadrive if the Guitar fits the Megadrive
Thanks for the comment! It is rather an unusual pickup.
I have one in an Explorer I built years ago that I haven't used in years .
Thinking of trying in an Ibanez RG .
I expect it would work well in the RG
Just ordered mine from the DiMarzio Custom shop last week (red/black colour variation), they still offer it, but on request! I think it sounds better with the blade towards the neck, towards the bridge it sounds dirtier/muddier
I think you are right about having it with the blade towards the neck. I hope you enjoy yours
I did not hear much difference between the two orientations of the pickup. Maybe it was slightly fatter sounding in the second clip with the blade pole piece closer to the bridge. But it sounded tighter with the blade polepiece closer to the neck.
I agree with your description there. Thanks for watching :)
Your ears are deceiving you. The fatness you think you're hearing is amp distortion. It's 100% darker/thicker with the bar towards the neck.
Bar towards the neck has the classic ceramic humbucker sound that's almost scooped sounding. The bar coil is the higher ouput/darker sounding one. The pickup is darker with the bar towards the neck and more balanced with the bar towards the bridge. If you think about how the tone changes when you move where you're picking the strings this makes sense.
The reason it sounds thicker with the bar towards the bridge in these clips is because it has more of an upper mid spike/grind in that orientation and it's hitting the front end of the amp harder, especially on the power chords. You can tell how much darker having the bar towards the neck is on the single note palm mutes.
I have this pickup in an RG550 and it had so much bottom that it was unusable for me with the bar towards the neck. Flipped it the other way and it was more balanced but still a bit too bright. I ended up tuning the guitar down to Eb to get the tone just right.
Best pickup clean best drive best 100/100 clear all note
It is a very clear pickup! Thanks for watching :)
I just looked it up - Kerry King has bar installed towards the neck 👌 (in his silver BC Rich Speed V with tons of mini toggle switches)
That’s good knowledge! Makes sense for his tone.
Judas Priest. At 4:02 hit the A chord instead of the E. Just scored a DP107 Megadrive for free on a trade deal.
thanks for the comment! enjoy the Megadrive :)
Nice job. Indeed it was used by Kerry King. Btw, sometimes you remind me of Jason Newsted ! Cheers from Morocco.
Haha ;) My brother thinks I sometimes look a bit like Jason too! Best wishes
I’ve always been curious of these. I wonder how they could handle death metal etc
They are quite tight and a little scooped, so I think they could handle it well.
DiMarzio still makes the Megadrive... Special order only thru their custom shop.
that’s right! I actually saw some new on Thomann a few years ago
Tony MacAlpine definitely
🎸
Blade facing the bridge seems to have a little more clarity and edge. My preference.
listening back a few years later, I think I agree
Isn’t one of ibanez’s pickups based on the mega drive?
I’m not sure, maybe! They do seem to collaborate a lot
well I've heard that the Ibanez HB2 is based on the MegaDrive. I have both and have had both installed in my '92 RG565 and think that the HB2 in standard orientation (bar towards neck) sounds very close to the MegaDrive with the bar towards the bridge.
I've installed my MegaDrive in 3 different guitars at this point and I've never liked it with the bar towards the neck. I don't know if it's my hands, gear, or ears, but I just tend to not like darker pickup sounds. That same RG565 came to me with a Tone Zone in it and I HATED it. It has a BKP Holy Diver in it and that's about as dark/smooth a pickup as I can tolerate these days.
I had mine with the blade towards the neck then one day it started mudding out, some how the output increased, I flipped it to cut the low end
It’s interesting how the sounds of guitars changes over time.
@@gwEmbassy it’s was a new pickup when I installed it, after a month it acted up
Definitely next to neck!
🤘🤘
BOTH
How true :)
I think it would suit a single volume guitar, no tone as it is quite rich. Great rock tone tho!
That’s a good thought. I rarely use the tone knob and it does make it a bit darker
Blade to bridge are better!
It looks cooler that way too :)