DiMarzio PG-13 Mini Humbuckers

The PG-13 is a signature mini humbucker set for Mr. Big’s Paul Gilbert. A “mini” humbucker? For shred superstar Pablo Gilberto? You betcha! Go take a peek at some of Paul’s early work, especially with Racer X. See that trippy pink guitar with the understated horns? That’s a mini humbucker in the neck. So Paul is knowing exactly what he’s wanting when it’s time to voice his own.

How about considering some of the other pickups that Paul uses: Super Distortion, PAF Pro, Tone Zone, Humbucker From Hell, Air Classic, Area 67, Injector Neck, and more! From classic hot-rod to balanced to subtle to vintage. That should serve as a fairly good idea of his expertise and his various sonic preferences.

MINI(?) Humbucker

Well, yeah. It’s a miniature humbucker! LOL! All kidding aside, it’s just a smaller format. With a reduction in size, the coils are a little closer together. As such, the magnetic field has more focus. Or I should say that the pickup is getting a response from a more focused area of the string… at least more so than a full size humbucker. Yet not so much as the single coil of… well, a single coil. HaHa!

That means that it has a little precision and it has a little beef, all while hum cancelling. And that in no way means that a mini humbucker is a lightweight option. Some of the most raucous and gnarly sleaze rock out there if from Bulletboys own Mick Sweda using a mini humbucker in the bridge (and a stock P-90 in the neck!). Go listen to my man Mick on the Bulletboys 1988 debut for a crash course in how to not underestimate mini hums or P-90s. LOL!

Dual Resonance Tech

The bridge and the neck position pickups apply the DiMarzio Dual Resonance technology.

Dual Resonance is basically mis-matched coils. It’s common for several pickup companies to allow about a 5% variance. But Dual Resonance is an intentional mis-matching of the coils to produce a specific “tuning” of the pickup’s voice. According to the patent, it is pretty much about putting a similar number of turns on each coil. But with different wire gauges.

Installation

This set is going in a 1990 Fender American Standard with a maple neck and a 25-1/5″ fret maple board. I’m using a pickguard made for 3 mini humbucker pickups with the Mojotone Pre-Wired Premium Historic Strat Harness. Strings are 09-42 in E standard tuning.

Evaluation

You know, this is a fun and versatile set of pickups! These are hotter than your classic (or vintage) style mini humbuckers. So you’re getting some grind and some snarl and a little added oomph. Each position has a character unto itself while complimenting the whole. Moderate picking reveals more of the warmth and fullness of a humbucker. Digging in to the strings will unleash the snap that’s closer to a single coil vibe.

No matter if you are dialing in clean or dirty amp settings, you are going to find results that work for you. The neck position delivers jazzy comps and bluesy licks with a clean low end and vocal mids. When working the bridge pickup, you have the range you need for Nashville snap, Texas blues, arena-rattling crunch, and even sizzling shred. Tweak your knobs just right, and you’re managing Eric and Jimi sounds out of the 2 and 4 notches.

The middle position is sort of it’s own thing, in that it starts with a unique magnet configuration. An Alnico 5 and Neodymium blend provides more output and responsiveness. It’s the answer for Gilbert wanting to lower the middle pickup to keep clear of his picking style. However, I’m liking it at the conventional pickup height. It has less mids and more high end than the bridge. It’s a nice alternative for screaming lead tones with just a shift in the vibe. I’m going to also go ahead and suggest that those that like to experiment give it a shot in the bridge position.

Demo

Specs

Conclusion

As you look at the Tone Chart for each position, you can see this set has a fairly balanced voice. That is key as what makes this selection good for so many genres and styles. Factor in the Dual Resonance tech to open up richer and more varied harmonic content across the fretboard.

The PG-13 set is going to be good for jazz, blues, funk, country, indie, classic rock, alternative, hard rock, metal, and more. These come with 4-conductor lead wire and is available with nickel, gold or black covers, and with your choice of nickel, gold, or black poles.

For reference, this DiMarzio PG-13 mini humbucker pickup set evaluation was conducted with the following: Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ featuring Celestion Impluse Responses and Fractal MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller. ADA MP-1 Tube Pre-Amp loaded with Tube Amp Doctor ECC83 Premium Selected tubes, using the ADA MC-1 MIDI Controller. Fryette LX II Stereo Tube Power Amplifier. Physical cabs use are Marshall 1960B, Mojotone British, and Peavey 6505 cabs loaded with Celestion Classic Series Vintage 30s and Classic Series G12M Greenbacks.

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