DiMarzio DP 702 BK

Get this pickup if you want a sound that tends towards the aggressive, but not so much that you can't dial in some mellower tones. I've found that it strikes an excellent balance between high output with clarity, which is vital if you want to get heavy on the gain from time to time without turning your chords and low notes into a rumble-laden mush. Basically the pickup has some of the lower mids pulled back a bit to make room for clearer upper harmonics and still-present low fundamental tones. Sort of the opposite of a tone zone.

It's particularly great for crunchy rhythm tones. Not bad for leads either - the slight scoop doesn't make for a thin tone, it just makes the notes bite a little harder yet sound slightly cleaner than the output would suggest.

The pickup can also reach some fine clean tones when you roll off the volume. It doesn't seem to mud up much at very low settings. Probably one of the best characteristics of the pickup, as you can coax pretty much the full range of gain from one channel on your amp without sucking tone.

The blaze was originally made for the Ibanez Universe which is the first production line 7 string guitar. The sound of the pickup is fairly similar to that of the Dimarzio Steve Special. It has a slighty scooped mid range sound which helps with the clarity of notes with a lot of distortion. This is great if you like playing big and intricate chords with a high gain setting. When you coil split this humbucker you can achieve a nice bright and snappy strat like tone which is perfect for cleans or slightly overdriven leads. Quality of the product is great and is packaged well. The pickup even comes with replacement screws and springs.