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DiMarzio D Activator Humbucker Guitar Pickup

Add a harmonic quality to your playing while eliminating the unwanted edginess with this humbucker pickup. It's designed to be used in the bridge and neck positions.

$99.00

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    $16.50
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Overall User Ratings (based on 17 ratings)
  • Overall:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(17) (see rating details)
Submitted February 6, 2008 by a customer from aol.com

"More METAL for the Buck!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Looks, Sound, Features, and Price make this pickup a great upgrade to any guitar and an excellent value!
Sound
I got this pickup on an Ibanez EX 370 I won off E-bay. I was surprised by the response I got win I cranked it up. This pickup can give you some sweet sustain on clean channels and on an overdriven channel with a Digitech Metal Master pedal it creates some great Metal sounds like Tommi Iommi's vintage sound to Nickelbacks cranking tones.
Features
The best feature I like about this pickup is getting the Active sound without having to feed it 9 volt batterys!
Ease of Use
Couldn't be easier to use, it reacts to the force at which strike the strings. It gives you all the features of an active pickup with the wiring ease of a passive pickup.
Quality
It's a Dimarzio! Nuff said!
Value
Definitely worth the price considering what active EMGs or Duncans are selling for.
Manufacturer Support
I know from past experoences that Dimarzio is great with customer support, whether your having problems with a product oe just need a wiring diagram.
The Wow Factor
Its a sweet looking set of open coils all rivets no screw heads, looks great sitting above a Floyd Rose Bridge!

Musical Background:

Musician

Musical Style:

Classic Rock, Metal, New Metal, Death Metal if it KRANKS, I like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Submitted October 19, 2011 by a customer from sbcglobal.net

"These pups can KEEP UP and then some!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Sound
In an Ibanez Xiphos these are PERFECT! Great PUNCH! Turn the volume down and they clean up fairly well! These pups are HOT and they scream when picked hard yet can also clean up with lighter picking which is good! Has a lot of bass along with mids so yeah they are perfect for metal! But I play blues and they can deliver the goods there also! I like them better than my EMG's as they have a fuller sound!
Features
SOUND! PERFECT!

Musical Background:

Hobbyist

Musical Style:

All
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Submitted April 21, 2011 by a customer from gmail.com

"It screams!!!"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
will never buy another pickup
Sound
This pickup is definitely the hottest, non-active pickup I have played. Replaced my stock PRS bridge pickup with the D-Activator and I cannot put the thing down. My music friends love the sound as well. DiMarzio is by far my favorite pickup company!! Buy this if you want to have a super hot, heavy sound!!!
Features
Came with an allen key to adjust the poles.
Ease of Use
Easy install dirrections
Quality
DiMarzio Rocks!!!
Value
Great price for a great pickup
Manufacturer Support
Won't ever need it!
The Wow Factor
Adds so much appeal to my PRS

Musical Background:

Hobbyist, musician, recording engineer in training

Musical Style:

progressive
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Submitted October 3, 2008 by a customer from yahoo.com

"Active-sounding pickups for a Passive Price. Brillant"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Sound
Being passive, My EMGs sound a lot more metal. However these are "The Best" passive pickups, sound wise, of all I have used.
Features
The feature of not replacing batteries is very useful. Active volume control makes it easy not to kill people when switching between pickups.
Ease of Use
Solder those puppies up and start playing. Amazing.
Quality
dimarzio made these pickups very well. Enough said.
Value
These are active sound for passive price.
Manufacturer Support
I have not contacted them, but I have for other pickups. Nice people, easy to talk to.
The Wow Factor
These and a xiphos. Groupies need to stay in a line

Musical Background:

"active musician"

Musical Style:

Metal all of it
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Submitted August 13, 2007 by a customer from hotmail.com

"The best pickups in the market...Guaranteed"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Sound
The sound is clear....precise and unlike most other active pickups it does not have that uneasiness.....however an awesome "PASSIVE" pickup carrying out the amazing features of the famed active pickups.... These are THE PICKUPS for all metal players and pther genre players too

Musical Background:

Guitarist

Musical Style:

Hard Rock, Alternative Rock, Pop-Rock, Grunge and General Rock, Rock N' Roll
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Submitted April 8, 2010 by a customer from sbcglobal.net

"Best Pups for $$$$!"

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
As long as my Xiphos can play I shall LOVE my pups!
Sound
Considering what they were trying to do I think they came close? I do think they sound good and have a very UNIQUE sound (GOOD) played with my XPT700 Xiphos! I do like NOT having to buy a battery every time I gig! Yes it has an active sound but it is very important to have your guitar PROPERLY set up along with your pups at the right distance from the strings. Adjust until you find the tone.
Features
NO BATTERY NEEDED! That makes for a 10!
Ease of Use
Plug in a WAIL!
Quality
I think there is room for improvement as in everything so I give it an 9
Value
Price EMGs and then add oh say 100+ batteries and see what you come up with! I guarantee it will be a lot more than 70.00.
Manufacturer Support
Very helpful and eager to help!
The Wow Factor
I have it so no want it........

Musical Background:

wanna be

Musical Style:

ALL!
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Submitted December 3, 2011 by a customer from yahoo.com

"What a letdown"

Overall: 2 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
If you've ever played out of any EMG pickup and loved the attack those bad larrys have, then steer clear of these guys. If you want a very warm and weak distortion, then these are the pickups for you.
Sound
I wasn't impressed with this pickup at all. They came standard in my Ibanez XPT700 and I immediately replaced them with EMG-HZs. The attack is weak, and they have a very warm, rounded sound that doesn't have any real ompf behind it. If I were playing blues, or some clean stuff, they would work great, but for metal, they dont compare to active pickups at all.
Ease of Use
Its a pickup. Not hard to use.
Quality
They seem to be made well, but its difficult to rate durability when you remove them right away.
Value
For what I was looking for in a pickup, they didn't produce. I wanted a pickup that screams when Im soloing, making my harmonies really pop. They most certainly didnt do that. For the price that they are, there are a number of better sounding pickups for actually less money.
Manufacturer Support
Never called
The Wow Factor
DiMarzio makes them so the name adds to the want factor.

Musical Style:

Metal
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Submitted October 31, 2007 by a customer from aol.com

"Not what I had hoped for..."

Overall: 2.5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I've been playing 8 years and have been through a fair amount of pickups -- mostly DiMarzios. I tested this pickup through a Single Rectifier and Marshall JCM 900 SL-X. Both amps were feeding VHT fatbottom 2x12 cabinets with P50E speakers. The signal was split using a Radial Tonebone SwitchBone to run both amps at teh same time... Overall this pickup was a let down. I was really hoping for something that felt hotter nad the sterile quality has turned me off to DiMarzios for the time being. I still have them in my other guitars, but I think I'm going the way of Duncan now. Even the Evolution and Super Distortion feel much more powerful than this pickup, and those both have less output in MV. I was looking for a less extreme X2N humbucker, as that pickup was too over the top for me and picked up too much "thud" noise on the guitar.
Sound
I've read a few negative reviews claiming this pickup was "lifeless" and weak, and given the specs on the DiMarzio site I found that hard to believe. Actually trying the pickup, however, was a bit of a surprise. DiMarzio claims they were trying to capture the feel of a pickup that behaves in a manner much hotter than what it specs out to be, but my findings turned out to be quite the opposite. The pickup did feel to be moderate in output, as if certain key "power" frequencies were missing. Palm mutes were not as sharp and present as the JB, and the mids, while prominent in certain areas, lacked life and "zing." The distorted tone also felt very flat and sterile, much more so than other DiMarzios. The Evolution is almost vintage sounding compared to this pickup. I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise given this pickup is designed to emulate EMGs, but I actually did have faith in DiMarzio's claims that they had eliminated the sterile qualities of active pickups and increased the headroom of the pickup for a more natural and uncompressed response. This pickup does not show the nuances of the player or allow for much feel. While most DiMarzios introduce a bit of this in a pleasant way (seems to make them easier to control, this pickup takes that quality to an extreme. The other reviewer who mentioned a lack of character was spot on. On the positive side, the pickup is not fuzzy in any way, and the chordal clarity is quite good in certain cases. I found some chords worked better than others, with some sounding muddier than on other pickups...strangely enough.

Musical Style:

Rock/Metal
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Submitted December 20, 2009

DiMarzio D Activator Customer Review

Overall: 3 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
i wasnt even loooking at these some1 bought me the guitar as a gift i wanted a dean because there super hot pick ups
Sound
i got mine factory in a ibanez x 700 the sound was worse than the cheap pick ups on my washburn but every one says they r awesome so im having mine adjusted hopefully they turn out as great as they say they r and dean guitars rule
Features
its a pick up not very many features love ceramic magnets tho
Quality
hav only played it for 3 hour lets hope they work long enough
The Wow Factor
their reputation is huge but not the best passive on the market
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Submitted March 1, 2008

"Best passive pickups for metal!!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Really gives you superior tone...check out necophagist at youtube.. the guitarist use these pickups.....
Sound
Wow.. these D activator pickups are really rich in harmonics, and delivers with out edgy-ness. I have a miny P.A. system at home (4[2x15]cabs,2[2x18]subwoofers and 6 power mixers) and use these pickups with my Schecter Damian fr and line 6 pod xt live(with metal shop[and racks that include;aural exciter 204,dbx compression, and pretube mp rack.).....AWESOME TONE when direct to P.A.
Quality
obviously not active right...... but easy to have installed and no batteries.
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