Dimarzio Air Norton DP193 in the Neck Review
As Tone Journey followers may already know, a few months ago I tested the Air Norton in the bridge position, liked it a lot, and wrote a detailed review about it. This experience left such an impression on me that, with a bit of luck, I got my hands on another second-hand DiMarzio Air Norton from the late 90s, and this time I wanted to try it in the neck position. As I mentioned in my previous review, it’s been almost 10 years since I last used the Air Norton in the neck. So, testing it again today with my current experience level and my own gear could be considered a new experience for me. Let’s see what kind of impression the Air Norton—one of the most loved neck pickups in the shred world (while being intensely disliked by some others)—left on me this time
Installation
Air Norton stood on my “Pink Tiger” for a while. Ibanez JPM has reversed orientation but i prefer traditional orientation; slug coil towards to the bridge. That pink tiger is a superstrat has a Jackson Dinky body made of alder, one piece maple neck in modern C profile, German made Jackson Floyd Rose tremolo with Japanese made stainless steel saddles, 25,5” scale, nickel silver frets, Alpha 500K pots and elixir strings in E-std tuning. Guitar has Dimarzio EVO2 bridge and No-name blade style middle pickups(~9K thou). Its primary (unplugged) tone is neutral to fairly bright.
Evaluation
Let’s read the desciption first, as always;
“The Air Norton™ started out simply to be the Airbucker version of the Norton. We thought it would make a distinctive-sounding bridge pickup with high-gain amps, but we soon discovered that it’s a radically neat neck pickup, too. The tone is deep and warm, but not muddy. It’s hot, but not distorted. It’s even got cool harmonics, which are really unusual for a neck humbucker. The patented Air Norton magnetic structure reduces string-pull, so sustain is improved; and pick attack and dynamics are tremendously controllable and expressive. Combine the Air Norton with an Air Zone, The Tone Zone or Steve’s Special in the bridge position for a perfect blend of power and tone, or use an Air Norton in the bridge position with an Air Classic Bridge model in the neck position for a distinctive medium-output blues-rock sound.
When the Air Norton is in the neck position, it's a warm, open-sounding pickup with enough power to balance with all bridge humbuckers. Try it with 500K pots for maximum treble and harmonic presence. In the bridge position, the sound is medium output with solid lows and biting harmonics. You can try it here with 250K controls, or a 500 K volume and 250K tone to fatten the highs up a little. Combines well with Air Classic in neck, and also with The Cruiser, The Chopper, and Blue Velvet single-coils.”
I’ll start why i re-picked Air Norton (AN shortly) after all? Why did I want to try the Air Norton in the neck position after all this time? Besides being a shred guitar classic, did I even need another reason? Maybe not. But still, the pleasant taste left in my mouth from using it in the bridge position was so sweet that I wanted to update my experience with it in the neck. Moreover, as I mentioned in my previous review, the influence of Amilcar Pretzen’s motivation also played a role. :)
Let’s read my measuremens here;
Dimarzio Air Norton (DP193)
Magnet – Alnico 5
Advertised DCR: 12,58 K Ohm (Series)
Measured DCR: 12,74 K Ohm (Series)
Inductance @100Hz: 6,39 H (Series)
Measured C: -21,9 nF (Series)
Output: 270 Milivolts (advertised)
EQ (B/M/T) – 6,5/7/5 (old catalogs) – 6/6/6/5,5 (official website)
Gauss: 250G slug, 270G screw (measured at top center of pole pieces)
Patents: Airbucker&Dual Resonance
Air Norton is (one of) the most popular shred neck humbucker i believe. That’s not for nothing.
First of all, i remind you something from the official describtion: “The tone is deep and warm, but not muddy. It’s hot, but not distorted” That’s the spirit of Air Norton. AN is lower output humbucker. In traditional humbuckers or PAF clones, a pickup with 12K winding, you may get a lot of mud. Not with Air Norton, generally. Because what did Dimarzio told us? Deep and Warm not muddy! Yes, yes and yes. Still, I’m doubtful whether it can stay mud-free in the neck position of a guitar that is inherently warm, as some of the Ibanez guitars I tried in the past had more than just warmth going on. The Air Norton allows you to get the neck tone of a Les Paul from your Superstrat's neck position. Try your overdriven LP neck tone melodies (just like the intro of “Sweet Child of Mine”) on your AN loaded superstrat. Not all the same but pretty close for a guitar made of alder, 25,5” scale and 24 frets… I told you about its EQ response. It has everything but also a characteristic sweet spike in the mids. That’s the where magic(?) happens. Here i copy what i had written in my first review; “we can say that the basses are rich and clear, the highs are somewhat spongier, trailing slightly behind other frequency groups, while the mid-mids are pronounced”. That mid-mids gains your tone a sweet “aawww” that are creamy. Hence if you are looking for a scooped neck tone or biting brighter, skip the Air Norton because you will find it too middy and too smooth. On the contrary you’re up to smooth fat lead tones from the neck, don’t be late for it.
In my opinion, one of the most characteristic aspects of the Air Norton in the neck—and one of the reasons it’s become renowned as a shred pickup—is its response to pick attacks. It sounds different compared to other neck pickups with relatively brighter tones like PAF Pro, Jazz whatever. In very fast 3-notes-per-string passages, how its sounds and smoothness is, hmm, so ideal. Personally, I prefer the prounced pick attack response of the PAF Pro in many guitars. But this doesn’t change the fact that the AN has a unique sound and that it performs exceptionally well with fast picking and legato parts, particularly in the right guitar.
Air Norton pairs perfectly well with mid-focused high output pickups like the Tone Zone and its predecessor, the JB. I paired it with EVO2 and i am amazed for the result.
Split tones and in-between tones are very cool on a shred guitar.
In clean passages, the Air Norton sounds like a high-quality jazz pickup—clear and dark. While being dark, it’s not muffled or lifeless, and its compression is not high.
Opeth/Camel kindo lead melodies are much fun with it. You probaly know how it sounds from old Dream Theater. Listen “Falling into Infinity “ album especially well because it is less “engineered” or more “direct” then the others. So you can consantrate on the lead guitar tone better on the songs like “Hell’s Kitchen”. So Air Norton can be heard in action in the hands of a progressive metal god John Petrucci.
I haven’t got experience with drop tunings with AN in the neck. I’m too lazy to tune the Floyd into drop tunings :)
Harmonics are another advantageous aspect of the Air Norton, but you may know it already. Because maybe all of you had experienced AN at the neck before.
One of my guitar had Dimarzio Al DiMeola Neck humbucker, remember? Haven’t read yet? Click here. It had warm response and i must admit they combined tremendously. They both have warmer tone. I haven’t experienced them on a same guitar nor did an A-B test. But… If I were to make an empirical comparison, their output levels seemed quite similar to me. Both have a certain 'aaawww' tone. However, I’d say the ADM Neck is fairly clearer. In other words, there is a noticeable inductance difference between the two (AN: 6.39H and ADM Neck: 4.87H), thus it is not unexpected. Ultimately, I think it’s more appropriate to decide based on the essence tone of the guitar in which the pickup will be installed. If the guitar’s tone is warmer, the ADM Neck would be a better choice, while for a brighter tone, the Air Norton would be more suitable according to my logic yet still up to players choice.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Air Norton has been one of the most popular neck pickups in the guitar market for years. The trend led by John Petrucci in the early 90s still continues successfully. Many companies, pioneered by Ibanez, choose the Air Norton in their guitars. This is because the Air Norton brings a fat, warm, thick, and full tone to the neck position while (usually) not muddying up the sound. Thanks to all these qualities i’ve told above, it has earned its rightful place in the guitars of many musicians—from John Petrucci to Angel Vivaldi, Marco Sfogli, Patrick Rondat, and Rob Balducci.
If your guitar is too nasal and don’t want for more, if your neck position has serious mud issues, if you prefer bright bite in the neck then mids, be careful and think twice.
Me with my Air Norton in the neck on my Pink Tiger Guitar? I do enjoy it and liked how it pairs well with EVO2. I'll tell you more about that EVO2 soon. Yet I'm not so sure that the EVO2 will stay in the bridge for that long, While the Air Norton still remains peacefully in the neck position; if you know what i mean.
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