DiMarzio DP227BK LiquiFire guitar pickup

General

John Petrucci is a legendary guitarist who has had a long and successful career. One thing that has never changed in Petrucci's setup are the DiMarzio elements that are in his guitars. Ever since the 1980s, John Petrucci has been pushing the boundaries within progressive metal and the DiMarzio DP227BK LiquiFire is a result of a recent collaboration between DiMarzio and Petrucci. Because he liked the sound of this element so much, Petrucci played on Dream Theater's album Black Clouds & Silver Linings on a guitar fitted with a DP227 LiquiFire in the neck position. According to John Petrucci, these are the best elements for both live and in the studio.

Petrucci's neck element

Since the mid-1990s, the sound of the neck element on John Petrucci's guitars has been based on either a DiMarzio Air Norton or one of the custom-built pickups from his Ernie Ball Music Man guitars. The DiMarzio DP227BK LiquiFire is very different from these elements in a number of ways. The highs sound rounder and warmer while the basses sound tighter and brighter. Overall, the overall sound is more defined and works just as well for playing solos with lots of distortion, as it does for playing complex chords with a clean sound.