DiMarzio Forum

DimarzioForum.Com => The Pickup Place => Topic started by: D20 on March 06, 2026, 06:08:04 AM

Title: Super Distortion or the Super 3
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.

Title: Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3
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.

Title: Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3
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

Title: Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3
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.

Title: Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3
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?

Title: Re: Super Distortion or the Super 3
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