DiMarzio Evo 2 Bridge Humbucker

The Evo 2 humbucker is a product of about a decade with the original Evolution humbucker. Sure, there is a pit stop along the way with the Breed humbucker set (reviw coming soon!). Where as the Breed goes a little beefier than the Evolution, the Evo 2 really opens it up.

The Evo 2 has a few tricks up its sleeve. Let’s take a look at Virtual Vintage and another look at Dual Resonance.

Virtual Vintage

What’s that? For the most part, they put ”dummy poles” between the normal pole pieces. The installation is in the underside of the bobbin, so they are not visible when looking at your typical operating humbucker. The purpose is to alter the inductance to ”tune” the coil(s) in a way not traditionally possible.

Dual Resonance

Yes, this again! LOL! Seems like we are seeing this a bit in DiMarzio humbuckers. The TLDR version is that each coil has different gauge wire. You can have one full coil and one semi-full coil, but they both have the same number of turns, for example. The end result can be a more open-sounding humbucker that allows more/different frequencies to come through than many ”traditional” humbucker winds.

Now that we have some of the ”lab coat” stuff behind us, how about we get to it?

Installation

For the sake of a reasonable comparison, the Evo 2 is going in the same test guitar as the Evolution set.

An alder double-hum super-strat style guitar. Maple neck with 25-1/2″ rosewood board and 22 frets. Tuning is E standard with 09-42 strings. Harness has Bourns 500K pots, Switchcraft 12120X 3-way toggle, and Pure Tone 1/4″ output jack.

Evaluation

The Evo 2 is a screamer. Yeah, I know what the official descriptions says it has less power. But in terms of the mV output that DiMarzio measures by, it’s only about 7% less. That’s not nothing, but it’s still a powerful humbucker.

The EQ is a little tighter in the lows with more overall mids, if comparing to the Evolution. Technically, there is less in the high end. But the tweak in the upper mids sort of steals that thunder. Which is to say that I find the Evo 2 a bright pickup. A fairly even voice with plenty of output and the upper-mid clarity. That’s a great option for a player with a lot of processing. You know, like Steve Vai! HaHa! Something to keep in mind if you are in to amp modeling or amp sims or if you have an effects rack the size of a refrigerator. LOL!

Even so, I do find the Evo 2 to be more expressive to subtleties in playing styles. Pick attack. Fretting and vibrato technique. A pickup’s ability to catch when the natural decay diminishes and the mechanical sounds of the bending string on the frets surfaces. The sort of character that a jackhammer or a steamroller of a pickup isn’t going to easily recognize.

Demo

There are no official demos or sound samples from DiMarzio to be found of the Evo 2 model. Based on the release date and timing of Vai recordings of the time, here are a few loosely educated guesses:

If I’m not right about the Evo 2 on those, we can trust the internet to be sure to let me know I’m wrong. LOL!

Specs

Just for giggles, let’s look at the Evo 2 specs in comparison to the original Evolution bridge.

The Evo 2 bridge humbucker set is going to be good for fusion, hard rock, progressive metal, djent, nu-metal, thrash, metalcore, hardcore, blues rock, garage, classic rock, alt rock, tech metal, shred, 80s rock, 80s metal, tech metal, and more. It’s available in over a dozen bobbin colors, over 10 cover options, and 3 pole piece colors in both standard and wide pole spacing.

For reference, this DiMarzio Evo 2 bridge humbucker pickup evaluation was conducted with a Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ featuring Celestion Impluse Responses and Fractal MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller.  In addition, real cabs in 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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