The last few guitars I have built, I have found great success with heavy bodies and Dimarzio pickups. When reading what the crunch lab was supposed to do on Dimarzios site, I decided semi-sceptically to give it a try. This thing is absolutely amazing. Just like they state, it is not a total screamer or a boomer. No crushing lows like some and not in your face presence like the Evolutions, etc. The shape and sound of the individual notes is precise and articulate. Not muddy, even with legato playing and heavy yet odd chords. It is warm and smooth, yet loves huge amounts of gain, distortion and punch. Another amazing thing about this pickup is the fact that it absolutely loves tuning lower that a standard E. Where lots of pickups lose their character when dropped to very low tunings, this thing actually sounds as good or better, even with standard gauge strings. This pickup is absolutely perfect for the application I chose it for. This particular guitar is for playing live with an occasional drop D tuning. This is spectacular as a live pickup. Great definition of notes and the ability to not get muddy and noisy with another guitar and a bass to compete with in a confined area. One thing about this pickup to make it meet it's total potential is placement. Petrucci likes the pickup spun around with the solid bar toward the neck. That is a little deceiving. That is putting the hotter of the pickup sides closer to where it wants to me. I tried the Paul Gilbert trick of moving the bridge pickup 1MM closer to the neck than standard, yet installing the pickup with the solid bar to the bridge as designed and this thing came ALIVE!!! (I would love to try this a little more with other guitars, etc. But I think I am really on to something with this recipe.) If you are a total nit-pick about total sound perfection, try moving the pickup just that bit closer to the neck. (Especially for quick playing on the higher strings between the 12th fret and about the 18th or so. -depending on the particular guitar-) If you don't have the ear for little precision differences, or play mostly low power chords, just spin the pickup around and enjoy.