DiMarzio Mirage vs. Titan | In-depth analysis
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 лип 2024
- The new DiMarzio Mirage model has a lot of similarities to the DiMarzio Titan. Today, we're going over both of their specifications in-depth to understand how they're similar, what makes them different, and how that translates to the sound that comes out the amp.
Guitar Pickup Database: guitarpickupdatabase.com/
Our Instagram: / guitarpickupdatabase
Axesrus Pickups: www.axesrus.co.uk/
Axesrus baseplate and cover research: www.axesrus.co.uk/Humbucker-C...
Axesrus audio player: www.axesrus.co.uk/ARUMOD24-p/...
DiMarzio Virtual Vintage patent: patents.google.com/patent/US5...
PRS's Pickup Video: • Paul Reed Smith Explai...
0:00 Introduction
0:51 External analysis
2:31 Internal analysis
4:47 Resonance curves and measurements
7:02 Audio examples
10:03 Audio opinions
11:13 Final thoughts
Cool analysis! I didn’t want to deviate too far from the sound of the Titan but I knew it was time for an update which reflected what I learned from recording and touring since we released the Titan (2013? 👴). I think the biggest thing for me is that my picking style has become more refined and I’ve tried to work out some of the inconsistencies in my playing since releasing the Titan. The Mirage is definitely me and DiMarzio trying to iterate on that sound and not arbitrarily trying to reinvent it.
This is really cool context to have for the differences between models. I also thought your recent Premier Guitar interview provided a lot of good thoughts on what you were going for with the Mirage bridge. I’m looking forward to showing the neck pickup in our next video. We actually have all of Periphery’s signature pickups in our inventory, so we’ll be doing a whole shootout of all of them.
I wish your video demonstration of the mirage neck was more thorough. I’ve spent the past two months waiting for somebody to play it in a regular sense so I can actually hear what it sounds like. DiMarzio didn’t help by using buzzwords to describe it. I’m hoping it’s a good modern take on the chopper and the talk of it being like a chopper with some cruiser qualities is intriguing.
We’ll be posting the Mirage neck analysis next week! Hopefully we can help you make a decision on them.
@@guitarpickupdatabase Yes please!
I dig the tones I've been hearing in demos from your new set. I play a very different style of music but I'd still consider buying these set. My style is a percussive DiMeola meets Adrian Belew kind of thing, mostly moderate distortion, but I dig the clarity of the Mirage set. This is also why I lean towards ceramics. I need that sort of direct power and response. I dig Periphery! Keep rocking.
This is how pickup reviews ought to be like
This is the kind of pickup demo I've been dreaming of. I'd love to see a series analyzing any of Bill Lawrences designs. Keep up the phenomenal work. Can't wait for more🎉
Thanks! I’d love to look at the Bill Lawrence stuff. Especially comparing the two different brands.
@guitarpickupdatabase Bill Lawrence l500xl to Seymour duncan dimebucker. Similar degisn different specs. Sealed rail humbuckers, so might be a bit challenging but what a interesting analysis would that be.
absolutely amazing video, please do more of these videos!
It’s interesting with the introduction of the mirage. Jake has stated he’s still going to be using his titans and it seems he’s using them in his 7 and 8 string. So the mirage is for his 6 strings. Usually once a new pickup comes out they completely switch. But he still likes his titans.
One of the best vids on YT regarding the topic. Great and truly professional job!!!
This is exactly what I'd want in a pickup comparison/analysis. Keeping everything as many controls as possible, cutting through the buzzwords, and both real data and sound comparisons! Congrats on such a great job. I was eyeing the Titan, but this has sold me on the Mirage I think!
I have a Titan in the bridge of an ash body prestige. It does everything ive asked it to and is the favorite pickup in my band with 2 other guitar players.
Subbed and appreciate your work on this. Looking forward for more future videos!!!
Brilliant review!!
I love this!
A video idea that I'd really love to see would be a a general roadmap for modern aftermarket pickups.
Like a general guide which pickups of what brand would fall under the same tonal category.
As in which pickups, regardless of brand, are sonically comparable and where do other popular options position themselves on the sonic spectrum.
For those of us, who don't have a deep technical understanding of the matter.
This is a superb format for pickup reviews. I hope you make more!
That having been said, a pickup which is marketed to the type of player who is likely a Periphery fan is very likely to be using these pickups in a very downtuned setting. I know that that introduces an additional inconvenience, when it comes to retuning or restringing your testing guitar, but I think that you should use a lower tuning for a demo on this type of pickup.
Using a testing guitar tuned to D make perfect sense for a signature pickup of a band which does not heavily downtune, but this is a signature pickup of a Periphery member. Since they're a band which makes downtuning much further than that part of their core sound, I feel that showcasing how the pickup interacts with those much lower tunings would do a better job at getting at the questions which many of the likely prospective buyers of this particular pickup model would have.
Thanks! And you’re absolutely right. Tuning down is something I wanted to do for this video, but I was already weeks behind where I wanted to be and needed to start posting. Once I have multiple test guitars (which is in process), one will be dedicated to lower tunings. I’ll definitely be doing a full review of every Periphery pickup together, and that one will for sure be tuned to Drop C at least. I’m a big Periphery fan so I appreciate and agree with the feedback. Thanks for watching and commenting.
This is a great review
Astounding depth of pickup analysis
i liked the "oohmph" from the titans better, but the mirage has this nice cutting edge to it! Can´t go wrong with either
I like the Mirage better. It sounds clearer and more open. Basically like you have said its an "upgraded" version of the Titan.
If it was my money, I think I’d go with the Mirage too. I think what I really want though is a Titan with a nickel silver baseplate.
It was hard to tell the difference. But thanks for all the good information. Well done shoot out.
Can you compare the EJ bridge or the Humbucker From Hell with something else?
Great video! It would be cool if you did little cuts in the audio samples. If you had smaller sections and went back and forth between the pickups more frequently, the could be more easily compared.
Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking about that, I'll have to find a good way to implement it.
Sweet, you should cover GFS, warman etc. With the big companies and their counterparts
I bought titans almost 8 years ago and I've loved them so much that I've never wanted to change them. This is the only thing that has made me reconsider that loyalty to the Titans
I like the Mirage. Don't forget the harmonics a ceramic magnet brings to the table.
Well, at last a pickup review with a meaning :) I literally find many of the pickup demos on youtube "USELESS". I would like to update your videos properly, lets say weekly :) As a pickup reviewer for years (on web/press) i like your channel and my best wishes are for you guys.
Baris/ Guitarism
Someone else nerding out about dimarzio signature sets? Instant sub
Subbed 😊
I wonder if DiMarzio was worried about a placebo effect, by advertising the virtual vintage slugs in a high-gain pickup. Both the “vintage” name and the concept of extra slugs would give someone pause… but understanding what they do, it’s actually really cool. Now I’m curious to know if the D Activators use them, because it would help solve a major problem in replicating active pickups (perceived loudness w/o adding DCR)
That’s likely exactly the reason. Virtual Vintage IIRC was first introduced on their hum cancelling single coils, which is probably why they went with the “vintage” branding. But in actuality it basically adds a ton of output and reduces the high end, which is exactly what happens when you add more winds to a coil.
I have a D Activator in my inventory. I don’t recall right now but I’m pretty sure it didn’t have Virtual Vintage. It does however use set screw pole pieces which are thicker than regular screws. It’s very similar to using double slug pole pieces like you’d see on a Lundgren M6 pickup. So not exactly VV but to an extent it’s on that same spectrum.
I just put titans in a cheapo nameless guitar and I love the neck but the bridge is a bit bright. It is HYPER tight on palm mutes though.
I've always wondered if the development of the Titan began as an underwound version of the Super Distortion.
They share the Virtual Vintage technology, almost equal outputs and EQ graphs with the only difference in the bass response.
The Super Distortion is actually pretty different, but it's possible the design started from there. I think the Super Distortion seems like it was the basis for a lot of the modern metal humbuckers we see today. But it's using thicker set screw pole pieces (similar to slugs), 43AWG wire, a narrower ceramic magnet, and the Virtual Vintage aspect is implemented much differently. Instead of slugs in the coils, it uses a steel plate attached to one side of the magnet. The Super Distortion appears to get a lot of its influence from Filtertron designs.
@@guitarpickupdatabase "But it's using thicker set screw pole pieces (similar to slugs), 43AWG wire, a narrower ceramic magnet"
True, and every single of those differences decreases the bass response as a result, right?
@Guiyar Pickup Database, I love these comparison breakdowns! Is there any way you can do this comparison between a Tone Zone and the Custom wound Dimarzio bridge in the EBMM axis guitar? Dimarzio swears these two are "Very similar" in tone BUT many including myself have tested both and found them to not be all that similar? You would be the first to publish the results of these two on a video in the same guitar and heights . No one has ever done a video on it.
Thanks! I would be interested if I could get access to the pickup. Our main focus is to provide breakdowns on pickups that are currently on sale to help guitar players find the right option, but I hear requests like this a lot for very specific pickups. The guitar pickup community seems to really love rare pickups!
@@guitarpickupdatabase Yeah unfortunately this Dimarzio is only on EBMM guitars like the AXIS and Albert Less model. It has been a debate for a long time just how close a Tone Zone is to one of them. Most seem to disagree they are that similar?
I prefer the Titan. very clear sounding pickup
Me tooo!!
Sir, between the dimarzio fast track 1, dimarzio mirage neck and dimarzio chopper which one can create the better overall tonal balance as a neck pickup with the dimarzio humbucker sized fantom p90 on the bridge? Need a full explanation and comparison video for this solution...
That's a really specific request, but first I'd draw a line between the Fast Track 1 and the Chopper/Mirage. FT1 is going to have a brighter resonant frequency vs. the other two. Unless you specifically play most of the time in the middle position, I'd decide what kind of neck tone you want. The outputs will be close enough between all of them that you can balance by adjusting pickup height. Overall tonal balance is subjective. Personally I was playing the Chopper last night and really loved it.
Hi.. I'm here... 👍👍
I have a theory as to why DiMarzio mention patents with some pickup descriptions and not others. For instance, if they have a pickup with Virtual Vintage tech built in and it's marketed as having a vintage tone, they will mention it as a selling point. But if it's a pickup aimed at a metal crowd, Virtual Vintage tech may be off-putting. This is just my theory. But keep in mind, a lot of metal players can be very small minded. I played metal for years in the L.A. scene in the 80s and early 90s. Too many players even back then bought into marketing mumbo jumbo. I knew a lot of techs and when as a wild-eyed fourteen-year-old I'd tell them about some new tech I heard about in some guitar, amp, pickups, etc., they'd always burst the bubble. Seymour Duncan have a long history of marketing the "vintage" qualities of their pickups. While they may not mention patents as often as DiMarzio, they are not as inconsistent in their marketing. I recall back to the 80s that DiMarzio marketed their pickups as high-performance shred pickups while Duncan aimed more at a vintage crowd. It also seemed at the time that DiMarzio were developing many more pickups than Duncan. The JB was the bread and butter of Seymour Duncan just as the Super Distortion was for DiMarzio. All a pickup company needs is one big pickup to break through. But think back to those ads in the 80s. I remember the DiMarzio ads with their MTV styling, with cool shredders standing next to fast cars and fast women, wielding a red shred stick, while a Duncan ad was more toned down, like the ad for the Custom Custom SH-11 in 1989, which was a pickup encased in a block of ice, straight out of Ogilvy on Advertising. Duncan wanted both the shred crowd and the more legacy oriented classic rock and jazz players to consider their products. Yes, classic rock and jazz players used DiMarzio too. But I'm talking about where the marketing was focused. There was big money in it. Regarding patents, I've heard the DiMarzio AT-1 (Andy Timmons model) is very close to the Air Zone and also uses Airbucker technology. I don't know if this is the case but I'm curious. I also hear the PAF 36th Anniversary also uses Airbucking technology. Damn! It's all confusing. Thank god for Guitar Pickup Database! Maybe you can figuer it out for me! Great demo, BTW.
It seemed like the mirage had a little bit juicier bottom end on it. But the clarity of the Titan, to me was a little bit better. Which I like the fatter sound, but knowing what I know about mixing with an ensemble, the low end can be your enemy
The bottom end push seems to be coming from the extra output. Note also I added the Revv's cut button, so that was removing some low end as well. When I double tracked both pickup in a different recording, the Mirage did seem to cut through a bit more. But like I've mentioned throughout the video, we're really getting into small differences.
I agree wholeheartedly. Without having an AB comparison, I don't think there's anybody that could guess which one was which 10 out of 10 times. I appreciate all your work you're doing
You didn't mention it on the video, but it seems to me that both use stainless steel baseplate screws, right?
If those were brass screws, there would be even more attenuation in the high frequencies.
That would be a really interesting test to try. You're correct that they appear to use stainless steel. However as I understand it, the attenuation in high end is caused via the generation of eddy currents. Those currents are increased by low permeability and high conductivity. Brass should still have a lower permeability and higher conductivity than stainless steel, so I would expect brass to cause more losses. But ultimately we're referring to 4 small screws, so how much impact it could have is unclear. It would be an easy test to try though!
@@guitarpickupdatabase I think we agree. I'm not sure why you said "however".
"ThroBak Guitar Lounge" made a comparison video, and it seems the tonal differences are audible.
@@ErebosGR Oh you're right, I read your original comment as "stainless steel attenuates more than brass", not the other way around. We're on the same page 👍
I play with Seymour Duncan Nazgûl bridge on both my 6 and 7 string setups which are in drop C and drop F#
I am open to a new neck pickup
I play a wide range of music but mostly modern metal
Any advice ?
It depends on what you’re going for, but overall most neck humbuckers take a very similar approach. Typically they have a lower DCR which provides a higher resonant frequency. Even the ones you see between 10-12k are using 43 gauge wire instead of 42, which puts their resonant frequency in a similar spot. That doesn’t make them the same, but it’s a decent simplification. So what I find more important to think about is the magnet. If you want to prioritize sharper pick attack to get away from flubby notes, go with ceramic. If you want something that sounds more fluid, I’d go alnico 5 and/or something with a higher DCR. The Seymour Duncan Sentient is designed to go with the Nazgul and is basically a slightly darker 59 model due to its copper shielding. But if you want something brighter with more attack, the Alpha or Scarlet are great options for that.
Tightness of Mirage is the bomb
I imagine Dimazio don't want cetain pickups to be seen as 'vintage' and if their more 'modern' pickups, marketed Virtual Vintage, this might be seen to diminish the vintageness of the pickups Dimarzio aim specifically at the vintage feel market.
Mirage neck Vs chopper next ? :)
Already working on it 👍🏻
I liked Titan's articulation much more than under the blanket Mirage.
Titan has just a little bit more clarity imo.
i thought these were day and night!. The mirage sounds far more versatile imo. I dont want to knock the Titan so i wont say anymore.
Algorithm
So stoked you’re making videos now. 🤌