GEARREVIEW
DiMarzio Black Angel Pickups for
Steel String Acoustic Guitars
BY DOUG DOPPLER
The Black Angel Magnetic and Piezo pickups install and ships with both an end pin jack and BLACK ANGEL PIEZO
deliver the same design ingenuity that electric a ten-foot cable. Per the name, this pickup is Although you might need a professional luthier
players have come to expect from DiMarzio. matte black and won’t stand out on stage. install it, you’ll appreciate the fact that the Black
Although they sound great on their own, the While the battery-free, humbucking design Angel Piezo doesn’t sound like traditional under
Black Angels were designed to work together draws upon DiMarzio’s expertise with electric saddle pickup. The piezo elements are layered
to capture the essence of your favorite acoustic guitar pickups, the Black Angel is designed between pieces of maple resulting in a warm
guitar. specifically for acoustics. The rare earth and “woody” sound. I found the Black Angel
magnetic does an exceptional job of delivering Piezo to be a hint darker than the Magnetic.
These pickups build upon DiMarzio’s expertise
the nuanced character of your instrument.
in crafting pickups for players like Joe Satriani,
[WM] How would you describe the sound of
Steve Vai, and John Petrucci, and Larry [WM] The Black Angel Magnetic features
DiMarzio’s passion for building acoustic guitars. design elements not traditionally found in
With that in mind, we’re excited to share the acoustic pickups.
[Larry DiMarzio] I’m gonna describe them
following insights from the founding father of
the replacement pickup market with you!
traditional piezos?
as somewhat artificial. Interesting, but artificial
[Larry DiMarzio] This pickup is new for us
if that makes sense.
because the coils are actually on their side,
[WM] DiMarzio has manufactured acoustic
THE SOUND
facing into the pole pieces.
pickups since the ‘70s. What was the impetus
Mike Dawes’ video pretty much says it all!
behind the Black Angels?
[Larry DiMarzio] The goal was to get
acoustics to perform well not only in the studio,
but in a concert hall or coffee shop. To have
enough control and functionality to get the
[WM] It also has adjustable pole pieces.
While I thoroughly enjoyed playing through
guitar to sound bigger than life. Combining the
magnetic and piezo allows you to do that.
[Larry DiMarzio] I never believed you could each of the pickups, I loved playing the
just throw in a “one size fits all” magnetic combined system. As demonstrated in my play
[WM] Where did you first hear about this arrangement. There are lots of problems through video, using a Grace Audio Felix into
kind of system? with that. Pro Tools delivered outstanding studio results,
while a pair of Bugera AC60 amps offered
[Larry DiMarzio] I heard about using the [WM] Acoustic phenom Mike Dawes was similar results for a live setup. To find out more
combination of a magnetic and piezo a long key in the development. I understand he about the DiMarzio Black Angel pickups please
time ago from one of the roadies for The Rolling suggested adding the phase switch on the side visit DiMarzio.com
Stones. They were combining them in one of the pickup for proper phase alignment when of the guitars they were using. It’s not really combining it with a piezo or mic.
a new idea.
[Larry DiMarzio] It’s so much fun to have
BLACK ANGEL MAGNETIC someone like Mike to send stuff to. He’s using
If you’re thinking about equipping your favorite the Black Angel Piezo now as well. We’ll
acoustic with a pickup, we’d suggest starting also have a microphone available as part of
with the Black Angel Magnetic. It’s easy to that system.
STREET PRICE
Black Angel Magnetic $164.99 MAP
Black Angel Piezo $199.99 MAP
CONTACT
DiMarzio.com
24
May Jun 2017
WorshipMusician.com