DiMarzio Andy Timmons AT-1 Cruiser Set

Andy Timmons is mandatory listening for any guitar player. Straight up… if you don’t know who Andy is, sell your guitar and buy a bunch of Andy Timmons music. After immersion in to that big fat guitar lesson, you’ll be ready to start playing guitar again for real. LOL!

Andy originally hit the scene in the late 80s, but don’t let his hair metal stint with Danger Danger provide any preconceived notions. Years on tour with Olivia Newton-John. He’s on albums that range from Paula Abdul to Kip Winger. Before you go all Beavis, remember that Kip has a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. So it’s not like Andy is throwing down riffs on songs about an underage magic mountain! HaHa! AND… Andy has the gravitas to release a cover album of The Beatles St Pepper, by way of an all instrumental.

Oh yeah, he still shreds. Check him out, going toe-to-toe with Steve Vai and Paul Gilbert:

Biggest tone on that stage, if you ask me.

Here he is, playing on Kip Winger’s first solo album. Cued up to start at solo, but definitely take the time to check out the entire tune. In fact, just buy Kip’s This Conversations Seems Like A Dream for Andy’s playing on every track.

Signature Set

Calling the AT-1 and The Cruiser his signature set is sort of a given. It’s not “officially” a signature set. Yet the configuration is undeniably his. Yes, the AT-1 is obviously his signature humbucker. The Cruiser is a matter of the stars aligning just right to allow the right pickups in the right hands at the right time. And yes, he is using The Cruiser bridge in the middle and the neck.

What makes these pickups so special? Glad you asked! LOL! The answer is that there is a combination of DiMarzio technologies happening across these model. Let’s take a look

Airbucker Tech

DiMarzio’s Air technology is literally about putting air between the magnet and the conductive screws and/or poles. To give some pickups a more vintage character, some might tinker with the gauss strength of the magnet. For more consistent result, DiMarzio uses that “air” as a way to alter the field of a fully charged magnet. The AT-1 uses this. For the AT-1, there is literally a non-magnetic spacer between the screw slugs and the magnet. The slugs poles are tapered at the bottom, so they also do not come in contact with the magnet. Working together, they have that air gap on both side. The Air tech can vary from one pickup to another, depending on the goal.

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. The AT-1 uses this as well. If someone were to CLICK HERE, they might even find a photo of the inside of an AT-1, showing the Air tech and the VV tech.

Dual Resonance

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. The Cruiser bridge uses this.

Installation

For this evaluation, I’m putting this set of pickups in the Fender Player Stratocaster Floyd Rose HSS. Alder body, maple neck, 25-1/2″ 22 fret pau ferro fingerboard, CRL 5-way lever switch, Pure Tone 1/4″ output jack, and Floyd Rose double locking tremolo system. Strings are 09-42 and tuning is E standard.

Have been using the AT-1 for about 10-12 years now. Over that time, this AT-1 has been in a basswood body and in a mahogany body. I do have to say that my own personal preference is with the alder body, as it reveals the punchy and dynamic characteristics of the AT-1 in a way that tickles my ear holes the best.

Evaluation

DiMarzio AT-1

The AT-1 is what you get when you take an archetypical hot-rod humbucker and fine tune the best while filtering out the rest. On paper, you might think it’s a real fire breather. But that DiMarzio technology really does sweeten things up with supporting a firm presence in the lows and highs while retaining an awesome midrange roar. You’re getting a great level of finesse in the details that allows the volume pot to help transcend to multiple playing styles and musical genres.

The Cruiser Bridge

What an interesting pickup! Looking at the output, it’s on the tamer end of the DiMarzio “rail hum canceling” pickups. Yet, it stands toe-to-toe with stronger pickups in the bridge such as the AT-1 and even the Tone Zone S. On paper, this should be slightly docile. Yet not so much in reality.

The Cruiser Bridge is great in the bridge position. As you see me say, don’t always think that a designation in the name means it cannot go where ever it works. Yes, I did try a regular Cruiser with the AT-1. Nothing wrong with that, but you know that the Cruiser Bridge configuration is the undeniable Timmons vibe.

Complete HSS Set

These pickups all go together like peas and carrots. Big, full tones that punch you in the chest when you push. Yet delicate enough to take clean amp channels to produce lush tapestries. You can cover early 60s rock to late 60s psychedelic and then go all the way to 80s glam rock and modern virtuoso. And you can even stop along the way for slick 70s pop. A gigging player can cover the bases with this set of pickups. Throw in a switch for going split, and the world is your oyster.

Demo

Specs

Conclusion

If this is not the ideal HSS configuration, it will certain do until ideal comes along! LOL! For some players, the HSS config can be a hard call. Some neck options for high-octane rock can be too hot or too dark for the cleaner, jazzy styles. And the classic immaculate pristine tones can fall apart and much out under too much gain. The Cruiser Bridge addresses those opportunities. The Timmons setup is as versatile as the man himself.

The AT-1 and Cruiser Bridge pickups are going to be good for blues, funk, indie, pop, parage, punk, classic rock, country, alternative, heavy rock, hard rock, progressive rock, fusion, shred, blues rock, shred, and more. That AT-1 is available in 9 solid colors, 8 zebra colors, 9 covers, with nickel, gold, and black poles, with either standard or trem-spacing. The Cruiser Bridge comes with a selection of over a dozen cover colors and 3 pole/rail colors. You can also special order the Cruiser Bridge without the flange, so as to better fit the tighter single-space cavities or brands such as Jackson and/or Charvel.

For reference, this DiMarzio Andy Timmons 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.

DiMarzio Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Instagram

7 string 16Ω 59 Airbucker Alnico 2 Alnico 3 Alnico 4 Alnico 5 Alnico 8 Bare Knuckle BKP Boot Camp Brown Sound Celestion Ceramic Custom Shop DiMarzio Dual Resonance EVH Fishman Floyd Rose Fluence Gibson Humbucker Ibanez JB Jimmy Page John Petrucci Les Paul MJ Mojotone P90 PAF Pariah Pickup Satch Satriani Schaller Seymour Duncan Singlecoil Single Width Speaker Steve Vai Tech Tip Virtual Vintage