DiMarzio Super Distortion

My SD is a black F-spaced for a strat (f=fender) type guitar. It is a A high-output bridge pickup.

The guitar i put this pickup into is a behringer strat copy. It sounded ok for a beginners guitar and I was used to playing it that I had to get a new pickup to make it sound good. It is in the bridge position and is currenty the onl pickup in that guitar. Amp is a custom made 60 watt Soundmaster (what it says on the head) and has quite a nice tone. Think it's solid state.

I am EXTREMELY satisfied with the sound it produces. It has a very high and good output and handles distortion like a dream. The tones are very balanced which is good. If your using dist and play a chord with all the strings, you can hear every voicing of the chord. It is good with any type of rock-related music, I myself play alternative, hard rock and punk rock. The clean is ok, but i don't mind a bit of grit to my clean tones anyway.

NOTE: when i first installed the pickup, my strat copy had 250k pots. The sound was better, but still a bit weak. I installed a 500k pot a week later and thats when this pickup showed its full potential. Just remember, 500k is the way to go with this.

It was either this or a duncan jb, and i have no regret buying it. I would buy another one anyday. It is an awesome pickup and now the only thing I play is on this guitar. Just remember, 500k pots.

I play a 2004 50th anniversary fender american strat. i have all three super 2's (black) with a blend switch. playing thru a 96 twin reverb. these puppies get some raunchey sounds love them to death.Also am running a gk3 synth with it. Immulating Jerry Garcia's of the grateful dead. I recomend these to any jerry lover out there its as close as ur guna get to his sound. and when its topped off with brass hardware the sound is somethin u dont wana turn down or off. mike jones East Ash Street Band Columbia Mo

my super distortion pickup is just a standard sd and black, not zebra.

I own a 2003 Gibson SG. i play it through a peavey valveking100 with 4 tubes. the head is ran through a marshall 1060 412 cab. when the stock pickup in my SG started to die from so much use i was in desperate need of a pickup. i heard some good things about it so i went ahead and put it as my bridge pickup. My guitar is solid black with a black pickgaurd.

the output level is frekin wild!!! (in a good way)
as far as amps go i would totally recomend something with tubes. with tubes you can really bring out the pickup and the guitar's full potential. the super distortion is a passive pickup(unlike the actives such as some emg's. i personally like the dimarzio super distortion because it is passive wich really lets the wood of the guitar give it your signiture sound. even if u put an emg active pickup in a baseball bat you would still get the same sound. i like a really unique sound.

TONE- The tone is great!!! before i got the dimarzio sd i was using my dying gibson stock humbucker and it sounded really really muddy and crappy. i thought it was my amp at first and i was super pissed but as soon as i popped that new sd in there it was a total difference.
in my band (www.myspace.com/aynsleyrock)i play lead guitar. its kind of a senses fail/armor for sleep sound with more intense solos and thats why i needed the sd. the best postition i would reccomend for the sd is the bridge. this thing has alot of tone so make sure your trebble isnt up mad high

if something happens to it like getting destroyed or stolen just get another one..its worth it
ive been playing for about 9 years. and out of all the stuff ive seen this is byfar the best. overall i am very satisfied

Double cream humbucking, ~14K, ceramic magnet

Installed in an '06 Gibson 1960 Historic (R0) in the bridge. Replaced several bridge PU's. I have an1958 for PAF sounds, so I use this guitar as my "hot" guitar. The stock PU was a Burstbucker 2. Of course, tons of people use or used this pickup: Miaden, Ace, Al Dimeola, Paul Gilbert.....

I have used the SD for years in various guitars. When all else fails and you want a great hot pickup, this is it. The sound is fat with pleanty of low end and sizzle. Harmonics are great as well. The mids are not scooped, but rather pushed, so all you nu metal lovers run now. LOL, it will actually do fine for any type hard rock or metal but isn't the best PU for cleans, but fairs well with volume roll off. This pickup is made for a hot, but musical tone, not some lame percusive drop-B BS. The sustain is unreal in a good intrument. I would advise running good 500K pots and decent caps to get the most out of these. I would not recommend a SD in the neck as it will be too muddy. Try a more PAF-type A2 magnet pickup, such as a Burstbucker, Antiquity, Seth Lover, etc. The middle position sound will be unreal.

All of you trying the newest Dimarzio, Duncan, this is THE pickup that seems to get overlooked for some reason. Buy one and throw out your EMG's and start hearing your guitar and not what a preamp. Batteries are for toys. This is the original pickup all hot pickups are spawned from.

Ibanez Jem 77FP bridge position
Replacing a Steve's Special (not a fan of the scooped mid's)
I have a Pro Track in the middle and an Air Norton in the neck

I wish I had made this decision a long time ago. This pickup is just what the doctor ordered. This pickup is very hot and can just scream. First thing I did when I played on it was throw out some Vai. Great tone out of this pickup.

I would definitely get it again. I feel that this pickup is the perfect match for my Jem. It is a huge improvement over the Steve's Special it replaced.

DP100 Dimarzio Super Distortion Humbucker
Zebra painted coils ,high output humbucker

Installed on a 83'Burny Les Paul STD, bridge position, replacing stock pickup, which is good but lack of punch to my taste.
I was just about to change pedals and other gear, to find my sound,
don't need it anymore.
There are many rock guitarists using this pick up, mostly any good rock guitar player from 70's and 80's replaced stock pickups in their Les Pauls to SD's for "that" legendary Hard Rock tone

The output is super hot, you have to dial your volume to play with the signal, is practically the double(or more!)of a traditional PAF pickup
the tone is great and balanced (at least for me) it has the right amount of bass, without being boomy, the highs are not piercing and the mids are great with presence. I have a Matchless Clubman 35, it sounded like a cranked Vox AC-30 with the stock pickup in the Les Paul, after the change my amp sounds more like a 50w Marshall 1987 head!
I mostly play classic rock, so it suits my needs very well, I don't see any other application for this pick up, other than blues and/or hard rock...so it would be a matter of taste for you and your style.
A good match for this pick up (if you play Les Paul or other guitar with H+H configuration) will the Dimarzio's: Steve Morse DP205/ Breed DP165 awesome neck pickups and the next upgrade for my Les Paul

I LOVE THIS PICKUP AND I'M ABOUT RIGHT TO SAY THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING PICKUP IN THE HISTORY OF ROCK, TOTALLY UNDER RATED...
IT DESRVES A PLACE IN HISTORY LIKE LES PAULS AND MARSHALLS,

I will load my other Les Pauls with this pick up again and again...
I have been playing over 25 years and sold and trade too much gear and crap...looking for good sound.
Many people don'realize this"HOW MUCH A GOOD PICKUP WILL DO FOR THE TONE" and starts selling amps, pedals or guitars, frustrated in the search of good tone....switch to decent pickups and you'll see too much difference!
I have load a Les Paul Custom once with a Duncan GL Screaming Demon
the SD totally kills it....and it also cost much less
BUY IT!!

Oh No O Man Holy I found the Sound in my Head!!! I Bought a Super Distortion for my les paul...This is my holy grail humbucker..The sustain and harmonics are CRAZY>>>>>>> Ive been playing with paf humbuckers so long i had no idea what i was Missing..I LOVE DIMARZIO SUPER DISTORTION!!

installed in a les paul bridge postion ..Most all Great classic rock guitar players from the 1970s great time in music...Kurt cobain... sonic youth i could start a list but i wont ,This pickUp is GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

High output Beautiful harmincics CRUNCH SUSTAIN Come on im in love with a pickup...Good old rock ala grunge garge punk perfect for sonic love to the open air

Im Gonna rock the casBah and buy 500 les pauls 600 strats 900 teles and load them with Dimarzio Super Distortion pickups set the 1000 marshall amps to 11 and Set the world Free riding on a blazing light
of temporal lobe anThems..JUst like Jimi did at woodstock only longer and louder............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ill never go back to 8ohms pafs again i have been reborn oh yea!

Passive humbucker. Impedance... whatever a passive pickup is supposed to be... It'll feed a guitar amp with a high input impedance, it won't feed a stereo for example with a low input impedance. It won't drive headphones. But it works with guitar amps and that's all that matters.

BC Rich NJ series Mockingbird (2000, I believe), bridge position.
It came with the guitar so I can't compare it to the pickup the guitar originally had, though I can compare it to the neck pickup.

It's great for distortion. It's called the "super distortion", what did you expect? The distortion is smooth, with high output and a fairly balanced sound-- plenty of low end through midrange power, but still with enough high end to make those harmonics cut through. It can make great chunky or "crunchy" distortion without making your amp sound like fuzz-- it can overdrive the piss out of anything but doesn't lose smoothness, in other words. Unlike other pickups I've played, though this could just as easily be the guitar this one happens to be installed in, low notes don't drown out high notes. A power chord is a chord, not the bottom string only. Notes played over a string ringing out can actually be heard.

The less said about the clean sound the better. It sounds weak and distorted, with a slightly lacking midrange and more definition than clean pickups should have-- it's harsh, not accurate sounding. I switch the neck pickup, a stock BC Rich pickup in this case, for clean sounds.

Having not heard the Duncan Invader or any of the EMG active pickups, I don't know whether they'd be the best choice or if I'd get another one of these if I needed a new pickup. It sounds great for heavy metal power chords (like the intro to Master's Apprentices by Opeth) and for solos, it's got an awesome lead tone.
As for the value-- the guitar I got this is was priced as if I was getting a free guitar thrown in with a pickup, not the other way around. The whole package was so ridiculously cheap that I can't really complain about the value of any of the parts. If I were to buy this for the $70 it sells for though, I'm not sure it'd be worth it. The BC Rich neck pickup does it's job (clean sounds) really really well. If the BC Rich bridge pickup the guitar originally came with did its job (distortion) as well as that, then I wouldn't need this Super Distortion. On a guitar that doesn't come with good pickups in the first place, though, it would absolutely be worth the price paid-- which happens to be on the low end in terms of upgrade humbuckers, many are over $100, well past that if they're actives.

- High Output dual coil passive Hambucker
- Mine is "creme" color
(high out impedance, because high level)
- Adjustable individual pole piece with an Allen Key.

- I have a 1975'US Fender Strat, and i put it instead the bridge single coil PU (a fiend help me to make the bigger "hole" in the Strat body !)
- As this Strat had only a 3Ways selector (PUs choice= 1,2,3), I put 2xSwitches in addition, to have the following possibilities (SD= Super Distorsion, SW= Switch)
** Actual Fender SW= 1,2,SD
** With the Add of a new1 SW, in combination= 1+SD, 2+SD, SD
** With the Add of a new2 SW= 1-SD,2-SD, SD

NOTE: to have a good overall balance between the 2 types of PU,I had to increase the distance between the strings & the SD, in order of "lowering" the SD level output: so, it match with the Strat single coil (The SD Hum noise will be a little higher, but it remains very low)

- SD alone= Super Hot !! (great for "high-medium sounded" solo like Santana), lot of "fat" sustain, noise is low: not as clear as a 57', but exactly what i needed.
- SD+ SingleCoil= big sound, well balanced, with harmonics (ideal for melody, fingerPicking)
- SD- SingleCoil= special ! lot of trebble, ideal for Old'Disco Riff (Shaft !)
- Single Coil= classic Strat: Sharp bass, Clear & brillant !

- If it was destroyed, i would buy it the same !
- No problem, I put it for approx 20 years on my 1975'Strat; I play ballad & 1970's Rock, on a MesaBoogie MarkIV & Marshall JCM900 (w/5881). I own also a PatMetheny PM120 Archtop Ibanez & acoustic Yamaha LL16, plus some late 1970's vintage MXR, Electro-Harmonics and other effects.

Humbucker,passive.

Dean Dime O Flame.Neck position.Replacing Dean humbucker.Dimarzio Super 3 bridge.Artists,Vivian Cambell,Dave Looney.Wanted a HOT neck pickup.

!!!Very HOT!!!I use a Crate BV120HR Red Voodoo head loaded with a quad of E34Ls and ECC83 preamp tubes,5150 slant cab,power brake and a GT-6.Tone is very balanced with the Super 3 in the bridge.Great in the neck,not muddy at all.I play all styles of Metal.No cover tunes.This is a great pickup combo.I have never used it in the bridge.It is a GREAT neck pickup.

I would buy another.I have been playing 26 years.If you are into Heavy Metal you need to try this in the neck.Just make sure your bridge pickup is louder the the Super Distortion.