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I bought the Dimarzio bluesbucker to replace the nice but too similar sounding Virtual Hot PAF in the bridge. I wanted more upper midrange snarl and a more biting tone without going overboard with icepicky highs and I wanted more output. I got precisely what I wanted. This pickup kills. I love it very very much. I can't say that it sounds like a P-90 because I don't own a real P-90 equipped guitar and I've never played one either. I can say that it sounds extremely bluesy and works well with the VVPAF in the neck. The neck VVPAF is round and warm and the bluesbucker on the bridge is a perfect compliment to this sound. It adds a P90 type sound with no hum (unless you split it and that sounds icepicky and too bright). The sound is not as luxurious or as innocent as the VVPAF. If the VVPAF = Charlotte Church, the Bluesbucker = Janis Joplin. This is a whiskey-soaked tattoo-covered pickup that just impregnated the neighbor's daughter and yet it isn't abrasive at all. It's still warm and friendly when not played aggressively. Whack those strings and it bites down hard though. It also does pinch harmonics well and is far better at them than the original VHPAF was. It's definitely a single coil sound and has all the dynamics of a single.

This pickup is PERFECT for playing hard blues based rock. Good for anything blues based IMHO. It's got balls and yet it still sings too. Think of the intro to AC/DC's Have a Drink On Me and you have the sound of this pickup running through my Peavy Classic 50 with the gain all the way up and the EQ roughly even.

I have this guitar strung up with 10-53 nickle strings. It's a Korean Hamer Archtop. Basically a double cutaway les paul in construction with a PRS-like top.

That sounds bad-ass!! I've been wanting to try one of those in the neck for a long time....I like nice bright cleans kind of like that of a single coil...but with a *touch* more balls.

Thanks for the review. I definitely agree with you on your comments. Bluesbucker is one hell of a pickup. I have it on my Gibson SG's neck and, dude, is that a serious pickup. I had 490R there which I loved its fat tone but stock 490s hum actually... at least mine did. did a little researce and came up with bluesbucker. it gave me proper hum-cancelling, great single-coil like feel and attack, a cooler tone and more highs.
bluesbucker probably would have a tad too much highs for me in the bridge but it's unreal in neck.
It also works well with Steve's Special in the bridge. I know it's an unusual pickup for an SG, but it's ok. with these two pups my guitar has more of a hi-fi taste now.

Great review. I have a Bluesbucker in the bridge of my baritone, and it kills. Exactly the kind of snarl, clarity, and attitude that you've described. I've got it matched with a Humbucker From Hell in the neck, and this guitar sounds like a super heavyweight P-90/Strat/Tele/Les Paul Junior on steroids. Righteous tone.

The Bluesbucker seems like a sleeper pickup to me. It's only been out a few years, has Virtual Vintage and Airbucker stuff going on inside, and nicely fills a hole in the pickup offerings of SD and Dimarzio.