Mojotone DW Tomahawk Humbucker Set Review

Mojotone describes the DW Tomahawk as “a one of a kind, passive, high output humbucker, designed to have more clarity without muddying up or compressing your sound like most other high output pickups. So forget about what you’ve heard with other high output humbuckers and take a look at the new ‘DW Tomahawk.’ This is a fresh new take on high output humbuckers that won’t leave you disappointed or uninspired.“

The DW Tomahawk is the signature pickup set for Dustie Waring, of Between The Buried And Me.  You probably also remember BTBAM from when I reviewed Mojotone’s PW Hornet set a while back.  Dustie has played different active and passive pickups over the years, which is to say that he’s been thorough in developing his tonal palette and sonic vocabulary.

Dustie put a lot of effort into looking for ‘the’ Dustie Waring pickup tone before turning to the guys at Mojotone.  He is active on social media and shared some of the steps along the way (his IG is full of Tomahawk teasers!).  It’s great that Dustie is able to go to Mojotone and they can nail a signature pickup tone together so quickly and easily.

For a player that puts so much into his tone quest, what is it about the DW Tomahawk pickups that succeeds?  Well, I’m glad you ask those sorts of things.

On the whole, the set is powerful and it is loud, thanks in part to the hybrid magnet design.  For something wound up into the 16k bridge and mid-7k neck ranges, the DW Tomahawk is remarkably open sounding.  I’ve seen this several times, where Mojotone can design a powerful pickup with more clarity than would be expected.  Some of it is in the aforementioned hybrid magnet designs.

What does THAT mean?  It means that Mojotone is groovy when it comes to aiming for the bleachers.  Or rather, they recognize the value of new ideas.  It can be easy to overlook, but a great example is the pole piece selection in models like the PW Hornet or the Level Head as an example.  So, fret not (ha! a pun!)… just enjoy the heavy boogie woogie vibes.

Looking at the bridge humbucker, you get punchy lows with an even mid-range and a clear high end.  Riffing, chugging and palm mutes are deliberate without being loose or brittle.  I can see it responding well to lower tuning options.  The mids have a little sass, delivering more of a snarling growl.  The pickup does respond nicely to being rolled back, but it’s still a relatively loud humbucker and might require some amp gain/volume tweaking for your clean tones.

What do many players want from a neck humbucker?  The DW Tomahawk neck has a level of warmth that remains precise.  A bit of focused depth, if you will.  It’s a handy neck position option, as it can still deliver some bite for your lead work.  Big open chords ring full, embellished by the slightly asymmetrical coils.  When put in to split or parallel wiring options, the clean amp tones are luscious.  For that matter, playing around with both positions in different combinations of split and parallel and you have and clean amp tone you’re going to need.

Specs

How about we peek at some specs:

Demo

Official video demo by Dustie Waring:

You can buy them separately or as a set.  The bridge is available in both standard and f-spacing.  You get a choice of hard-hitting cover selections, and there are open coils options too.  To place your order for this or any Mojotone pickup, give them a call or drop by their website.

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