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D Activators vs Gravity Storm

4K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  Drew 
#1 ·
Okay so I have three guitars

Ibanez 7620 with D Activators
Ibanez 1570 with Gravity Stork Humbuckers/Evo coil
Wolfgang Special

The prestige is the one I gravitate towards and the others have pretty much been gathering dust.

While taking a break from practicing I pulled out the other two guitars.

Is it just me or are D Activators extremely growly pickups?

I played them through the same amp with the same settings and wow it seems the D Activators have more bass and growl.

Is that the correct observation? No, I was not comparing the lowest string on the 7..... I used the same six you'd find on a standard guitar.

I can see why the D Activators are a popular modern metal choice if this is the case.
 
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#3 ·
Gravity Storms I find are more rock pickups, also remind me a bit of the Mo Joe in terms of thickness, but, the low end is not tight on them. Great for rock, standard tuning etc.

DActivators I've kind of found too grainy for me, jsut never got on with them well, but, i've only ever had them in mahogony guitars so I may have to try them in a basswood to see what that's like...
 
#5 ·
I've had gravity storms in 2 550's and a 560 and I agree with 7 dying Trees, better suited to Rock I thought they were too "loose" on the bottom
end for metal, but that looseness made for a really good lead pickup in standard tuning. One my my favorite Dimarzios in Basswood.
 
#6 ·
I know it shouldn't have been so surprising but i have never done an a b comparison like that. I had mainly just relied on YouTube videos. The gravity storms were by choice i was looking for a more rock tone. The d activator came with the guitar. I made thst purchase as i wanted to have a seven string. Mind you i am concentrated on six string for now.

I will have to see what the d activator sounds like if i turn down the gain. On the peavey i tend to leave things at 6666 and the post volume at about 1 for bedroom levels.

My taste is fairly retro so while the growl and low end was exciting i can't say i necessarily need it.

I may need to think about a more subtle seven string pick up. No rush as i dont see myself doing much with the seven in the next while.
 
#7 ·
Radically different pickups - the Gravity Storms are basically hotter PAFs, the DActivators are extremely hot, and IMO fairly thin. I suspect on their own the Gravity Storms are thicker, but the DActivators, much like EMGs, hold up to high gain better thanks to their brightness and clarity, which for highly saturated metal riffing makes them SEEM more "growly." At the gain levels I play, I had the opposite problem; they had NO growl, and were thin and sterile while the Blaze 7 sounded thicker and more growly by a long shot.

This was in that awesome, awesome RG1527 with DActivators I should never have sold. :/ A pickup swap and it would have been a keeper.
 
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