DiMarzio D Activator 7 Neck DP719

I have this pickup paired with a Duncan Nazgul in the bridge and the combination is brutal (Nazgul) with the clarity of the D-Activator. The pickup sounds modern and seems to handle the high gain levels I'm accustomed to and, what's more important, cleans up nicely for lead playing. I can't see any problems with this pickup as, besides, DiMarzio are experienced manufacturers and know what they're doing. The pickup seems to work well both with valve amps and solid state amps - I like to play both. I would recommend them to anyone who wants to upgrade their pickups for a tone akin to active pickups but without the sterility that active pickups are notorious for.

Like I said on the bridge model of this pickup, this is the best passive pickup I have ever used. I didn't even use the neck pickup too often until I got this Dimarzio BEAST installed on my Ibanez RG7421.

You get a real fat and clear sound for solos and leads, and it has a very high ouput, even for a neck pickup, without sounding to harsh. The cleans are bright and full of harmonies, and feature a lot of headroom

Their simple design fits nicely in any guitar, keeping the looks intact. Also you feel like Chris Broderick from Megadeth and ex-Nevermore while using these fantastic pick-ups.

The perfect set for Metal players, and everyone else, due to their unique versatility.

I will not lie: I just bought it to complement the neck version.
But they balance very well, and coil split or parallel sounds very pleasant on my Ibanez RG7421, not harsh at all, yet with enough clarity to get me where I want to be.
Originally I didn't expect to use it much, but I actually do let's say 30% of the time, especially for leads and arpeggios (no surprise).
As for the clear tones, well, I heard they should be ok, but I didn't test that myself ;-)

So it's a recommendation, especially since it is often difficult to find a match for such high output pickups.