What are your thoughts on the super distortion? I used to play a lot of metal, and essentially grew up with an X2n in the bridge of my #1 guitar. About 6 or 7 years ago when I stopped playing metal I got a SD to take the output down a bit (kinda funny right), but I instantly fell in love with this pickup. I now have one in two of my guitars... I think it is hands down the best riffing pickup I've ever had, from heavy blues to rock to metal, its just a riff machine (and cheap to boot!). I can't make anything sound bad on it. It cleans up decent, but definitely plug something else in if I'm looking for glassy cleans or cleanish chordal stuff (thought it does the latter ok). But for everything else I love it. I had a really good playing session yesterday and fell in love again (which seems to happen any time I plug her in). Anyone else a big fan of this pickup? Did you fall out of love with it? Find something else that is better? Hate it now and always have? Thoughts?
I think it depends on your music style and the guitar. It can work very well. I put in a strat. I had to mod the wiring to allow bridge tone control in the strat. It was very bright.
I have an unusual penchant for 80s hair metal and find that for those sounds the DiMarzio Super Distortion and PAF are glorious choices! I have not personally spent much time playing the Seymour Duncan JB but hear that is somewhere in the ballpark as well (I'll get around to it eventually). Those two DiMarzios are great rockers for sure!
I didn't vote in the poll because the way I feel about mine wasn't an option. I have a late 70s/early 80s in one of my SGs. While I like it, I find that with too much volume or gain, it squeals and howls and is unplayable unless I move to another room or turn the guitar volume down a little which in turn squashes the tone. My guitar room has shrunk considerably lately so I'm no more than 6-10 feet away from any speaker cab. I bought it for one reason only. Early Judas Priest(Point of Entry and before) and it does that very well. I have other pups for other things.
I used to love the hell out of them things and put them into anything they would fit in. It was later in life that I came to really appreciate and work with stock pups such as '57s, etc.
I had them in the bridge position of 2 of my guitars. I liked them a lot. I sold 1 of those guitars and the one in the SG finally got replaced with one of Larry's PAFs. The PAF had a nicer midrange and I like midrange.
In the early 80s, SDs were one of the very few after market p/u that were available. I still have a few old catalogs. Maybe that's were my interest in SDs started.
All very interesting. I'm still quite young, so when I got into the SD it wasn't the only show in town. But that's how you know there was something good there. I'm usually a fan of lower output pickups, but for some reason every time I plug in a guitar with an SD in the bridge everything I play rhythm wise sounds great. I am playing in a vox mind you, and find that high output pickups work well in vintage voiced amps (because that was the point). I've never really played an SD in something modern voiced.
Pretty much the same story with me. I remember it seemed that the only real choices were SDs or a Seymour Duncan of some sort.
Well, Adrian Smith, Dave Murray and Ace Frehley, among others, use it. And it comes stock in the new Charvel USA guitar line. Enough said.
The name comes from the fact that the higher output of the pickup would drive a tube amp easier/better and give more of a distorted sound.