I like inventors. Thankfully there are still a few left in the guitar industry; one of them is Larry DiMarzio. Inventor? What do I mean? Surely not some eccentric bumbling fool who's just reinvented the wheel? Well no, an inventor is classed as someone with creative power or ability; inventive skill. DiMarzio has led the field for many years in terms of replacement pickup design and a lot of the ideas we take for granted now were his in the first place. Unfortunately the UK doesn't do justice to DiMarzio in terms of exposure. For example a well respected guitar maker was surprised to hear that DiMarzio made a stacked humbucker the size of a single coil. These HS series pickups were about the first stacked humbuckers available in the UK and carry a US Patent for their hum cancelling and low strength magnetic field designs.

Which brings us to another first. A purpose built active system for the Strat-style guitar, the electronics for which all fit into the jack socket hole mounted on its unique Power Module. The system offers three specially designed vertical humbuckers with blade pole pieces and is classed in the hot category. The power module offers an 18dB boost at the flick of a switch as well as contouring the sound through active (and fixed) eq and converting the guitar's output to low impedance. With lithium power cells instead of batteries on board not only is the power life longer (minimum of two years) they also take up far less space than the obligatory PP3. In the event of power failure you can always switch back to passive mode which bypasses the whole of the active circuitry.

The complete Shock Wave System is smartly packaged with very full and in-depth fitting instructions allowing anyone with only a basic knowledge of guitar wiring to fit the system very quickly. The beauty of this system is that all the active part is in the power module which is a direct replacement for the standard dish output jack on a Strat.

In practice all you have to do is take off your strings, unscrew the scratchplate, unwire the original pickups and jack socket and re-mount the new pickups and power module. The module incorporates a locking jack which is activated by a small red tab. The only problem here is that the jack socket is now face mounted as opposed to the angled mounting of the original, so a right-angled jack is preferable to stop it getting in your way, especially if you use a loose armed trem system.

If you're re-fitting the whole of the system onto a standard Strat design it should be a quick and painless job requiring nothing more than a soldering iron and screwdriver. Mind you I did find that the fixing holes on the power module didn't quite match up to those on the original jack housing. Ideally the holes would have to be plugged and re-drilled which isn't a big job but I was surprised to find it necessary at all.

In practice the Shock Wave system has a couple of applications. Firstly in a regular live setup the pickups sound very accurate and Strat-ish without adding the active boost. Many stacked humbucking units tend to sound very different from the single coils that they replace, but these DiMarzio units live a very true single coil sound, more accurate I felt than the HS-1 and HS-2 units that were previously installed on my Strat. With the active boost switched in, not only do we get a hefty increase in level but also a different sound with more middle and a 'tighter' overall response. In a live setting then we have the obvious rhythm/solo application provided by the passive/active switching; (certainly the 18dB boost should give you more than enough to be heard!) as well as providing a hefty degree of overdrive through a suitable amp.

The Shock Wave system also gives a great sound if it's DI'd into a desk. The added boost gives a great level and preserves the overall tone of the guitar without it sounding thin and weedy.

Although the pickups only have a two conductor output, meaning that only series and phase reverse wiring is possible it could be nice to offer four conductor wiring so that more options are available. This would be especially handy in the active mode when DI'ing where the extra output would make those thinner parallel sounds very useful. You could easily convert the pickups to four conductor wiring as the other coil leads are easily accessible without removing even the black plastic pickup covers.

The Shock Wave system provides a great hum-free Strat sound. The additional boost and eq contouring have the obvious live applications and not so obvious studio applications where the low-impedance output and level boost provide excellent clarity and tone. The system can be purchased complete for £165 or the module alone for £59.

DiMarzio recommend the power module for use with any of their Strat pickups, especially the HS stacked humbucking range. Strangely the pickups aren't available separately and judging by their quality this is quite an oversight.

In its complete state the Shock Wave System is certainly the easiest active Strat system I've ever installed and possibly the best sounding and most versatile too. On its own the Power Module is a very neat and effective way of improving a passive Strat although the addition of a trim pot to alter the degree of boost would be quite an advantage, as not everyone wants such a drastic difference between passive and active levels. Complete though, with the three pickups and power module, you'll be hard put to find a more pro-minded and effective active Strat set-up available anywhere today.

Dimarzio Shock Wave System - RRP See Copy