# Dimarzio Super 3/Super 2 set ??



## ThrashMonger (May 13, 2011)

Recently got myself a Randall V2. I'm stoked with the amp, but I've noticed that my pickups are letting me down a bit. (My main guitar is a Washburn X-35 with 'headhunter' pickups).
I'm after a tone similar to the rhythm sound on Iced Earth's album Horror Show. 

Any opinions on the Dimarzio Super 3 bridge/Super 2 neck setup for thrash type tones ??


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## Kamikaze7 (May 13, 2011)

A buddy of mine turned me on to using the Super 3 Bridge, and an Evo Bridge model in the neck. I know what your thinking - "a bridge model in the neck???".I know, I said the same thing when he told me whathe was doing and what he wanted wired into his guitar... But because of the output difference and the dc resistance between the two, the Evo Bridge model in the neck and the Super 3 in the bridge sound amazing! It is by far one of the best pickup combo's I've ever heard. And my buddy is into stuff like Yngwie, Gilbert, and all kinds of shit. So clean and distorted, that pair is by far the best I've heard yet for a 6-string. Give it a shot, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by the results!!!


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## Toshiro (May 13, 2011)

Schaffer recorded a ton of those old records with the stock Gibson pickups in a Les Paul. They aren't hot pickups, it's mostly the Larry amp getting that tone.. His sig "Icebuckers" are more of a PAF-type pickup as well.

The Super 3 is a very dark and thick/compressed pickup. If that's what you're looking for tonally, I say go for it. Bill Steer used one in Carcass, BTW. 

I had a Super 2 in the neck of an S540, with a SuperD in the bridge, and hated it. Thin thin thin!


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## sell2792 (May 13, 2011)

Finally! I've been looking into a Super 3 for so long, but no one seems to know a lot about em' or use em'. 

The dude from Motor City Pickups really does suck dick at responding to emails, so I've gone back to looking at DiMarzio's. Being that this is a "dark" pickup, would it sound good in the bridge of my all maple Rampage, aswell as when coil tapped?


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## Toshiro (May 13, 2011)

I have a Super 3 in basswood and alder, and it's pretty dark in those, if I had a maple guitar I'd probably have one in there too. 

Definitely more of a "chunk-chunk" pickup, rather than a "screamer". Riffs have enough treble to stay coherent, but soloing with it feels really smooth, like a neck pickup sometimes.


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## Kamikaze7 (May 13, 2011)

sell2792 said:


> Finally! I've been looking into a Super 3 for so long, but no one seems to know a lot about em' or use em'.
> 
> The dude from Motor City Pickups really does suck dick at responding to emails, so I've gone back to looking at DiMarzio's. Being that this is a "dark" pickup, would it sound good in the bridge of my all maple Rampage, aswell as when coil tapped?



From what I've played on the Super 3/Evo bridge combo mentioned above, The Super 3 was not dark at all. Very tight, if not the tightest pickup I've played out of for a 6-string. That combo was installed first into an RG350 w/ a maple fingerboard, then into a JEM77VBK. While the tone was brighter on the RG w/ the maple fingerboard, the tone on both was very clear, clean and articulate. Even when coil tapped on both the JEM and the RG, it still retained it's characteristics and was just as clean, clear and articulate both clean and distorted. I would also think that being in an all maple guitar, it will help bring more brightness and clarity to the whole tonal spectrum.

For a 6-string, I vote the Super 3 bridge and the Evolution Bridge model for the neck all day, hands down best!!!


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## Toshiro (May 13, 2011)

Clean? You sure you're using the same pickup I am? Because a 25k, 435mV, pickup is not 'clean' IMO. Damn thing drives the shit out of everything. 

It's darker than a Breed, Tone Zone, Crunchlab, pretty much every Dimarzio I've owned, and that's a lot(probably 3/4 of their humbucker line).  I also use normal output neck pickups with it, the Breed neck, or in the case of my Charvel a Fast Track 2. Shouldn't need a huge output neck pickup to keep up.


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## sell2792 (May 13, 2011)

I'd assume it's a good match for a guitar as bright as mine, and being that I mainly play rhythm on it, it seems to be perfect for me. I want something really thick and chunky with good harmonics and sustain. Plus, from the sound clips I've heard and what you've mentioned, I really like the sweet rounded high end to it. So it sings more than screams? Awesome (the Brandon Ham sound clip DiMarzio has sounds so good. I'd love to get that tone)!
I also need some tasty cleans out of it to, split or not, being as the guitar has one humbucker.
Would it be better to use 250k or 500k pots?

Side note: According to people at the SD Forum, the Seymour Duncan PATB-2 Trembucker "... wipes the floor with it (Sup. 3) It has about the same output but better top end definition." 
Does anyone have experience with them either?


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## Toshiro (May 13, 2011)

Not big on the Duncans, had a couple(JB/59/Full Shreds/Blackouts) but never a PATB. Sorry.


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## Kamikaze7 (May 13, 2011)

it was infact very clean when I played it. it 's one of the cleanest things I've ever played thru, in either guitar they were in. And again, I thought the same thing when my buddy told me what he was running for a combo and thought he was smoking some cheap poor-town brown shwag weed. But once they were wired and installed, I was amazed at what they were capable of in both clean and distorted, humbucker and coil-tapped modes. 

And I don't have that issue in using the 460mV, 11.40K D-Activator 7's and them driving the hell out of everything... I've never had that problem with any of the pickups I've tried and played, in 6, 7, or 8-string format...


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## Kamikaze7 (May 13, 2011)

sell2792 said:


> I'd assume it's a good match for a guitar as bright as mine, and being that I mainly play rhythm on it, it seems to be perfect for me. I want something really thick and chunky with good harmonics and sustain. Plus, from the sound clips I've heard and what you've mentioned, I really like the sweet rounded high end to it. So it sings more than screams? Awesome (the Brandon Ham sound clip DiMarzio has sounds so good. I'd love to get that tone)!
> I also need some tasty cleans out of it to, split or not, being as the guitar has one humbucker.
> Would it be better to use 250k or 500k pots?
> 
> ...



Can't say I do either. I'm not really a Duncan guy either, as I prefer DiMarxio's over the Duncans. As for your question about which pots to use, I'd call Dimarzio and ask them. They could answer that better than I personally could. They sounded great with normal 500k pots when I played them...


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## Toshiro (May 13, 2011)

Kamikaze7 said:


> it was infact very clean when I played it. it 's one of the cleanest things I've ever played thru, in either guitar they were in. And again, I thought the same thing when my buddy told me what he was running for a combo and thought he was smoking some cheap poor-town brown shwag weed. But once they were wired and installed, I was amazed at what they were capable of in both clean and distorted, humbucker and coil-tapped modes.
> 
> And I don't have that issue in using the 460mV, 11.40K D-Activator 7's and them driving the hell out of everything... I've never had that problem with any of the pickups I've tried and played, in 6, 7, or 8-string format...



What are you playing them through? Because the clean channel on a tube amp distorts with high output pickups.  Pretty gritty cleans with a Super 3 through my amps.


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## Kamikaze7 (May 13, 2011)

I don't know what the complete rig consisted of, but he was running it thru a Rocktron Prophecy, Behringer UltraCurve DEQ2496 and a few other things all rackmount into a set of powered Carvin 15" monitors.


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## Rook (May 14, 2011)

The Super 3 is a pretty cool pickup, if a little too thick sounding.

I'd be wary of putting the Evo bridge in the neck, not because it's a bridge pickup, but it's incredibly hot, it may come out louder than your bridge pickup by quite some way. If you want something that bright in the neck but with less power then something like the D-Activator neck would be better. I'd probably go for an Evo Neck or PAF Pro.

The Parallel Axis Trembucker is probably one of the worst pickups I've ever encountered. The Super 3 has a lot of punch and character, the PATB is just a screeching nightmare mess. Avoid.


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## snowblind56 (May 14, 2011)

Toshiro said:


> I had a Super 2 in the neck of an S540, with a SuperD in the bridge, and hated it. Thin thin thin!



I have a Super Distortion/Super 2 Combo in my RG2550 and they flat out wail. Definitely not thin by any means. The Super 2 is like they say, it's basically a tweaked Super Distortion for the neck position. I find it to be slightly too hot of a neck pickup.

If you want thin, try the Humbucker from Hell in the neck. That pickup sucked.


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## Toshiro (May 15, 2011)

snowblind56 said:


> I have a Super Distortion/Super 2 Combo in my RG2550 and they flat out wail. Definitely not thin by any means. The Super 2 is like they say, it's basically a tweaked Super Distortion for the neck position. I find it to be slightly too hot of a neck pickup.
> 
> If you want thin, try the Humbucker from Hell in the neck. That pickup sucked.



Well, it was definitely thin compared to the pickups that were before and after it in that guitar, the stock IBZ/USA F1, an Air Norton, and a Breed Neck. 

I don't see the point of super hot neck pickups at all, the guitar is naturally louder by the neck, so you don't need the output.


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## Kamikaze7 (May 15, 2011)

Fun111 said:


> I'd be wary of putting the Evo bridge in the neck, not because it's a bridge pickup, but it's incredibly hot, it may come out louder than your bridge pickup by quite some way. If you want something that bright in the neck but with less power then something like the D-Activator neck would be better. I'd probably go for an Evo Neck or PAF Pro.



Again, was very weary of the combo once I was told about it and doubted it in every aspect. But when you compare the output of the Super 3 compared to the output of the Evo Bridge, it actually pairs surprisingly very well. I'm almost tempted to get a 6-string again just to have that pickup combo in it. And also, the hieght of each pickup will affect the output as well. But if you adjust them correctly, the output level is balanced and very effective.


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## ThrashMonger (May 16, 2011)

Thanks to everyone for the input. 
I think the Super 3 is the bridge pickup I'm gonna go for.

Any other suggestions for a neck pickup ?
I don't like neck pickups that are too boomy in the bass department or too scratchy on the treble side of things.
I'd like something 'vowel like' or violin-ish.


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## sell2792 (May 16, 2011)

PAF Pro maybe? Should sound good IMO, and it pairs up pretty well with the Super Distortion, so It'd prolly go pretty well with a Super 3.


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## Toshiro (May 16, 2011)

LiquiFire might be a good choice.


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