Dimarzio Steve Morse Bridge Review DP200
It is a fact that Steve Morse has been one of my favorite guitarists since I first heard him. Throughout his career, I have been a fan of his tone. Whether acoustic or electric, he has a tone that sounds beautiful. Moreover, he is extremely proficient in achieving this tone. He knows how to use both the amp and the guitar very well. He is a true expert, even a master, in the use of the volume pot, which is a dying art form :) Additionally, he is a real expert on which pickup should be used for which sounds or when to use which pickup. On the other hand, he is a versatile guitarist. Whether we look at what he has done with the Dregs, with Purple, for Flying Colors, or with his own solo band, we can easily hear and distinguish the typical sweet tone unique to Steve Morse. We witness that such a living legend is also very consistent in terms of guitar and pickups. We see many guitarists who change countless signature guitars or pickups and so on, even though they don't have half the career he has. Given this, we have no excuse not to take a look at Steve Morse's classic DiMarzio.
Test Guitar
My test guitar for the DP200 is Hantug Titania, somewhat copy of Suhr Modern but with more additions. One piece body with tone chambers and mahogany cap cut from the same body chunk, one piece mahogany neck, dark indian rosewood fretboard, 25” scale, Stewmac Jumbo frets, Sperzel tuners, Donlis DH-53 neck, custom made vintage style single coil on the middle (~5,5Kohms – Alnico 5), 500K Bourns pot on volume & 250K Push/Pull pot on tone controls, onboard booster and titanium fixed bridge and one piece tone block as ferrule. Its primary (unplugged) tone is fairly warm yet clear; mids are pronounced but non-excessively.
Evaluation
Let’s read the official desciption first;
“Steve Morse has a unique approach to playing guitar, and we designed his pickups to match his technique. Steve commonly switches between pickups mid-solo — playing the neck pickup on the high notes and the bridge pickup on the lows — so both pickups must be evenly-balanced over the entire fingerboard. The Steve Morse Model Bridge delivers high output and a strong attack centered on the mids. It is also designed to give more definition when Steve plays harmonics.
The Steve Morse Model Bridge was DiMarzio's first artist signature pickup. It is almost exactly the opposite of the Neck Model. It has a lot of power and a strong upper mid-range peak which makes the low notes really pop with a hard pick attack. It has relatively low DC resistance for a high-output pickup, so the lows are very tight. They don't sound muddy even with very high gain amps...”
And from 2012;
"Steve Morse has a unique approach to playing guitar, and we designed his pickups to match his technique. Steve commonly switches between pickups mid-solo — playing the neck pickup on the high notes and the bridge pickup on the lows — so both pickups must be evenly-balanced over the entire fingerboard. The Steve Morse Model™ Bridge delivers high output and a strong attack centered on the mids. It is also designed to give more definition when Steve plays harmonics."
Want to see the measurements, right here!
Dimarzio Steve Morse Bridge DP200
Magnet – Big Ceramic
Advertised DCR: 9,94 K Ohm (Series)
Measured DCR: 9,70 K Ohm (Series)
Measured DCR: 4,85 K Ohm (Screw Coil)
Measured DCR: 4,85 K Ohm (Slug Coil)
Inductance @100Hz: 5,64 H (Series)
Inductance @100Hz: 2,40 H (Screw Coil)
Inductance @100Hz: 2,41 H (Slug Coil)
Measured C: -30,6 nF (Series)/ -57,9nF (Screw Coil) / -58nF (Slug Coil)
Output: 450 Milivolts (advertised)
EQ (B/M/T) – 5/8/5 (80s catalogs), 5/7/6,5 (2012 catalogs) – 4,55/5,5/7,5/5 (official website)
Gauss: 480G screws, 480G slug (measured at top center of D&G pole pieces)
Patents: None
I don’t know where you live or what the guitar scene is like where you are, but I can say that in my own circle, the number of people who truly understand the use of pickups in electric guitar is quite limited. Of course, there’s no single, absolute answer as to which pickup should be used in different parts of a song. However, it’s an important discipline to consider how to emphasize the tone throughout the piece, whether it’s during the bridge, chorus, harmony, or solo because it is all about how to elevate the piece to the next level. Watch how Steve Morse switches between pickups when you see him live. Crazy! Moreover, I think it’s quite challenging on his classic blue Music Man guitar, because it has, as you may know, many pickups and many controls which are non traditional. He explained how he switches between pickups in a special interview I published a few months ago. Steve Morse is truly an incredible man. Now, let’s talk about his bridge pickup... Steve wanted a powerful and loud pickup for the bridge. He must have liked these aspects of the Super Distortion. But he also wanted something more controllable and something that has more "bite". There’s nothing surprising about that; Steve uses a wide variety of tones, even with his own band. Roaring rock guitars can suddenly transform into acoustic tones, or lightning-fast picking can evolve into sweet arpeggios. So, it’s only natural that when designing a pickup, he would want something that suits his versatility.
When we examine the technical specifications of the DP200, we see that it’s a pickup very similar to Super Distortion but with ~10K winding and has equally wound coils, contains a big ceramic magnet. I’m not 100% sure but as far as i inspect the coils fullness by sight, thw wire should be AWG42. When I first got this pickup second-hand, I noticed that one of the coils was faulty. I found the break, resoldered it to the remaining wires, and the problem was solved. I was lucky because the break could have been much deeper, and I might have had to rewind the coil. While doing this, if I’m not mistaken—though I’m not very confident in this—I didn’t see any wax inside the coil tape. What I mean is, maybe these pickups are taped, assembled, and then wax-potted afterward, I’m not sure. But I didn’t feel much wax inside the coil. while there are plenty of hot-wax inside the assembled humbucker. Since I only had to unwind 7-8 turns, I can’t be completely certain. I just wanted to mention it because I found it interesting. Could this perhaps be one of the reasons behind the pickup's success in handling harmonics?
When you install a pickup with a 450mV output in a guitar, the first thing you notice, one way or another, is its power. Raw and loud power. It's loud, but not distorted or saturated. Artificial harmonics are abundant and easy to produce. The response to picking is quite precise. At full volume there is some compression but you can get rid off when you drop the volume pot. On the low registers the sound never goes muddy or muffled. Palm muted fast picking lines sound very precise and full. I don’t know if it is placebo effect but i have felt the sound colour of Steve Morse, if you know what i mean. If you are familiar with Steve Morse and how he sounds in his career, you should know that DP200 will/can do its best for you to achieve it.
The tone? This is very bright humbucker. Not bright on the trebles but pretty bright on the hi-mids. That’s why it is very audiable in a band or mix. Lows are tight, but don’t expect something more modern hi-gain pickups. Not as bold as them. Trebles are crisp but not harsh. BTW, don’t expect something like a JB when you see a peak in the mids. DP200 is not a nasal humbucker, DP200 is not a JB :) But it has enough mids to satisfy you.
Because of its brightness, Steve Morse Bridge can turn your bright setup (bright guitar+amp settings) into a screaming horror-zone :) On the contrary, your guitar with warmer tone can find lifeness and power. My test guitar has warm kind of tone. So i am happy with the result. So be mindful on that before buying.
I have a custom made single coil in the middle (~5,5Kohms – Alnico 5) and i really liked how my 2nd position (middle+inside bobbin of DP200, parallel) sounds. It has right amount of quack and the reaction to tone pot drops is very sweet.
Conclusion
If you are drawn to Steve Morse tones, i mean his tones from Deep Purple, Dixie Dregs, Flying Colors or his solo band, you may like DP200. If you are not a fan or not familiar with his tone, but have a warm tone kindo guitar, want seriously loud pickup with full of artificial harmonics, powerful rock&metal tone, adequately dynamic, yes, Steve Morse Bridge can be a peak alternative.
Did i like it? Yes, i did enjoy. Personally i would like to have just a little bit more “meat” and “warmth”, if i could. Not much, because if you want plenty of them, you may reach “Super Distortion” :)
DiMarzio Steve Morse Bridge is an excellent choice for guitarists looking for a powerful&loud, articulate relatively dynamic and bright humbucker. It shines in “power rock” situations but remains versatile enough for a range of musical styles.
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