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The Pickup Place / Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3

« Last post by darkbluemurder on March 12, 2026, 11:56:36 AM »

Indeed - the 36th anniversary bridge is in the hot PAF category whereas the other DiMarzios mentioned are high output. JB,  Norton and Breed are between those in output. In this group, JB and Breed are midhyped whereas Norton leans more towards a hot PAF.

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3

« Last post by gregr on March 11, 2026, 02:15:10 PM »

There is a massive gap between a 36th Anniversary and the other two pickups you just mentioned. Why not a Norton or The Breed for example?

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The Pickup Place / Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3

« Last post by D20 on March 11, 2026, 01:40:43 PM »

Many thanks for breaking that down for me! The more I keep reading the more I get torn. I’m kind of narrowing it to the Super D, the Titan, or the PAF 36th Anniversary.

I’m very used to alnico 5 pickups but would like to maybe get something with a little more output.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3

« Last post by darkbluemurder on March 09, 2026, 01:29:28 PM »

To be more specific on the differences between a JB and a Super D:

- Super D has more output and punch
- JB is a mid-hyped pickup, Super D has mids but more in the lower range. In some guitars it can take on a rather dark midrange color
- JB has smoother highs, Super D can sound fizzy or brittle in the high end if the guitar accentuates that. If this occurs, this can sometimes be countered by bringing down the load on the pickup from 500k to approx. 380k (i.e. adding a resistance of 1.5 meg to 1.6 meg to ground).

Cheers Stephan

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The Pickup Place / Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3

« Last post by darkbluemurder on March 09, 2026, 05:08:34 AM »

I have never played a Super 3 but I played both the JB and the Super Distortion and can confidently say that those two pickups are very very different.

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The Pickup Place / Super Distortion or the Super 3

« Last post by D20 on March 06, 2026, 06:08:04 AM »

Hey everyone,
I've used some Duncans in the past and Dimarzios. I've tried D Activator, Crunchlab, Liquifire, and X2n from Dimarzio. Mostly with Duncans I stick to JBs or Thrash Factors. I want to try a Super Distortion because I never have, but I was reading that they Super 3 is a Super D but with more mids and maybe less high.

Coming from a JB I wanted to see what everyone thought here. Would I be better off with the Super 3 or just go with my initial Super Distortion I was going to get?

For reference I play mainly in drop C and write music like a heavier 311/old SCIENCE era Incubus. Mostly reggae mixed with rock/hard rock.
I daBble in metal, heavy metal as well.

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: FRED

« Last post by darkbluemurder on March 03, 2026, 03:50:36 AM »

I noted that the FRED is very guitar sensitive and load sensitive. The upside is that it is very tweakable as a result. In a recent project (an alder bodied guitar with maple/rosewood neck and a floyd rose trem) it was close with 500k and spot on with a 2m2 ohms resistor to ground to make the total load approx. 410k. The middle position benefitted as well (neck pu is a Duncan Full Shred neck).

Cheers Stephan

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Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: Humbucker From Hell

« Last post by KH Guitar Freak on February 26, 2026, 01:52:38 AM »

How does the HFH sounded in split?

Definitely weaker in my case too, with the added hum like a single coil. However, it did cut some of the bass out, which in some applications might be favourable

I actually just installed an HFH in a clients Les Paul with the Dial-A-Split control instead of a tone and to be totally honest, running the HFH in single coil mode sounds pretty much the same as it does in humbucker mode, except it's got a little less output and it's got the 60 hz hum.

Hey mate. Old bump in post. I have wired the ability to split a HFH in the neck of one of my guitars (outer coil closes to the neck), but did not bother trying out the inner coil (coil closest to the bridge). I have it mounted where the wire is exiting towards the bridge side.  Just wondering if you have tried splitting each coil and hearing/measuring the differences

I wired my HFH splitable can't remember well which coil was working but sounds too weak and low when split.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« Last post by gregr on February 24, 2026, 05:42:12 PM »

Andy Timmons relies on the Cruiser Bridge for his clean tones, either with a compressor or an overdrive pedal with the volume rolled way back that has a treble bleed. This pickup is the second brightest (and second weakest) rail pickup that DiMarzio makes.

Bear in mind that with rail pickups the top end drops very quickly as the output increases. By the time you get to the Pro Track cleans become more suited for jazz, though unfortunately they’ve already lost articulation. Luckily that sounds like a non-issue for you. So that out of the way, yes, the Air Norton S or BC-1 will pair well with the Tone Zone in terms of output and sustain. They are almost the same pickup; if I were to choose between the two for the neck position I would opt for the slightly tighter Air Norton S.

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The Pickup Place / Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« Last post by aizenx on February 24, 2026, 02:20:45 PM »

Hey guys,

I'm looking for opinions on a good neck pick up to put in my HS superstrat. I currently have a Tone Zone in the bridge. Really, I'm just looking for something that's powerful enough to keep up with it, that isn't too bright, and has great sustain. I play mostly distorted tones, but occasionally I'll play cleans similar to Andy Timmons (nothing too clean, as I usually have 'some' gain on it). I love my other guitar that has a full size Air Norton in the neck. Would the S version work here? What about the BC1 (supposedly a modified Air Norton S). Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!