GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Part of DIMEs tone was no doubt his choice of pickups. The Bill Lawrence X500l and variants were a big part of his sound. Some folks HATE the entire range of tones produced by pickups that sound anything like this. Some folks HATE DIME's tone in general. There's room for that too If you are however, a fan of DIME, ( I am) and his tone (me too) you can get close to it in a very simple way.
1.)Dean ML or even better WASHBURN ML. (He was only with Dean for a week or so before his death) 2.)The Duncan "DIME" pickup set. Based very closely on what he actually used. Not exact, but very close. 3.)Fuhrman PEQ (parametric EQ). He used this rack parametric EQ the same way we would use a clean boost today, to "tighten" up the tone, cut some lows/mud, and focus the mids/pick strikes/etc. 4.)Randall Solid State Head (He used a LOT of Randall heads til he switched to KRANK, but Randall still sounds more like him IMHO) 5.)RANDALL 4x12 with Jaguar Speakers (DIME didn't start off using celestions. He started with the Jaguar which is a speaker built by Randall. I've got one of these old cabs and they sound great 6.)PRACTICE YOUR A## off!! Dime's use of vibrato and pinch harmonics are part of what made him sound like DIME. Pulling this off requires practice. Here is one of the most devoted DIME fans I've heard play. WES HAUCH formerly of THE FACELESS. Notice the control of his fingers during vibrato/pinch harmonics and especially during PInches that use subtle vibrato.
If you are however, a fan of DIME, ( I am) and his tone (me too) you can get close to it in a very simple way.
