I would just like to seek clarification on my position -- I do recognize Larry DiMarzio as an innovator and the company started the after market thing along with Mighty Mite, etc. If it were not for DiMarzio, we would be stuck with substandard parts on both higher priced and lower priced guitars. Plus, we can attribute the 'hot' output pickups that characterized some classic rock and a lot of 80s metal to his innovation.
But... DiMarzio somewhere down the line, stopped being a custom shop of sound innovation and became more like the Toyota of guitar pickups. Not a bad thing specially considering, DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan are EXPECTED minimums in today's USA and European made guitars. However, on every model they offer, there is a boutique manufacturer that outdoes them by a MILE! This is very obvious in a 'boutique' signal chain. In fact, the pickups become the limiting factor and ARE the reason that makes your uber expensive guitar sound bad. That being said; if you use multi-fx and are not too particular with your sound; DiMarzios are the way to go.
At the end of the day, when you buy into the brand and the list of endorsers, selecting the cool color combinations, looking into a pickup that looks like everything else except that the pole screws use allen wrenches -- all these factors are easily tiring until the next year with Mr. endorser produces the fifth variant of his pickup. Its like trying to keep up with the Joneses. Its only the sound and response that remains after the marketing hype. And I can tell you that DiMarzio pickups do NOT do it for me.
P.S. Just my two cents... I used to love DiMarzios and owned countless models and even today a lot of guitars that I buy come with DiMarzios BUT when the boutique pickups arrived (though there are some bad ones too that sound bad compared to DiMarzios) my sound became richer, more defined, bigger and thicker, without any harshness.
