Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

[crafty]

I picked up an Ibanez RGAR42MFMT (enough letters?) last summer and have had about six months to noodle around on it. The guitar is mahogany with a bolt on maple neck and a pot metal Floyd. It's pleasant sounding and playing guitar with the nice mahogany low end and maple snap, but the Quantum pickups are lacking in articulation and quality of construction. Seriously, several of the hex screw pole pieces are stripped and they move up and down in the bobbin. I can hit harmonics that I can hear acoustically but are completely dead on the output.

I have a D-Activator set in the baritone I built a year ago, and I love the sound for drop tuning with the tight bass, and the neck pickup is very articulate. I've been considering picking up another set for this guitar, OR going with a Super D/Super 2 set. The Super 2 looks like a great neck pickup on paper for a mahogany, 24 fret guitar, and the Super D is a classic, but I've never owned or played either of them.

My other guitars are a Strat with EMG-SAs, a hombrew Tele with no-name single coils, a Toronado with the JB/Jazz set (meh), and a Les Paul with the discontinued PAF Classic set (my favorite), so I'm pretty well covered on most of the tones except for a good '80s-'90s metal beast. With the exception of the D-Activator set, I've always been of the vintage-output school for articulation, but I'm intrigued by the Super set. If there is a Duncan set that could compare as well, I'm all ears. I'm not particularly interested in actives because I want to keep the coil splits and parallel neck wiring. My amp is a Blackstar Club HT40. Thoughts?

[crafty]

Re: Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

One thing I should mention, and what started the whole Super D/Super 2 thought, was the Phil Collen video on the DiMarzio website. I really liked the sound in his demo with the Xtroyer, and Larry DiMarzio posted on the YouTube channel that he was using the same amp I have when they recorded the video.

[dominus]

Re: Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

Paf Pro in the neck, Super 2 in the bridge.

Or Evo set.

[singlecutarmy]

Re: Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

I like the Super 2 in bridge as dominus suggested, but if you want to check out duncan the SH-5 is like a more vintage/smooth take on the same sound, it's a ceramic mag with lower output, so it's like a hotrodded PAF I guess, fatter and with more output, but without losing the definition or smoothness.

Personally I prefer the Super 2 though as I like more high end.

[dominus]

Re: Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

I missed this part:

and parallel neck wiring.

So...

Thoughts?

Glad you know how to wire a neck humbucker properly.

[crafty]

Re: Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

I like the Super 2 in bridge as dominus suggested, but if you want to check out duncan the SH-5 is like a more vintage/smooth take on the same sound, it's a ceramic mag with lower output, so it's like a hotrodded PAF I guess, fatter and with more output, but without losing the definition or smoothness.

Personally I prefer the Super 2 though as I like more high end.

I think I just like the sass of the Super 2 watching some of these videos, and with the mahogany body it already has a darker sound. TBH, the current sound isn't too far off what my LPC sounded like with the stock 496/500 pickups, but those sounded WAY better than the Quantums. In fact, I'm kicking myself now for selling those because they would have been great for this application with a 4 wire conversion, but I don't necessarily want to pay Gibson prices for a new set in a $500 guitar.

[crafty]

Re: Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

I missed this part:



So...



Glad you know how to wire a neck humbucker properly.

TBH, it's the first guitar I've had with a parallel neck on the switch. It's actually the only position where the Quantum sounds excellent. I might add a push-pull to the LP and see how the PAF Classic sounds in parallel on the neck too. It sounds good enough that I don't want to lose that option by switching to actives.

[Bowtomecha]

Re: Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

Have you thought about the Super 3 in the bridge?

[crafty]

Re: Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

Nah, I really didn't consider the Super 3. The EQ listed wasn't quite what I was looking for, but if the Super D doesn't work out, it might be something I consider an exchange for if it's too bassy.

Well, I went ahead and called DiMarzio today, and they recommended the Super D/Super 2 combo for what I was looking for. They thought the Super 2 would brighten up the neck compared to the Quantum and it'd be a good match with the Super D in the bridge. I went ahead and ordered F-spaced pickups for both, so I can experiment with the Super 2 in the bridge and a no-name PAF-style humbucker at 7k in the neck too if I want, or I can exchange them with DiMarzio in the next 30 days if I think they're too hot or wooly. GC has a really good coupon going on right now, so it was a good time to pull the trigger.

[crafty]

Re: Super Distortion/Super 2 set vs. D-Activator set

Well, I finally got the pickups installed over the weekend and they were exactly what I was looking for. I was a little concerned because the magnets are substantially taller than the stock Quantums, and they are direct mounted, but the legs are shorter on the DiMarzios and they just fit when screwed all the way down.

First impressions are that the pickups are as loud as the D-Activators with a shade less articulation. A little looser and "brown". I'm okay with that and it's exactly what I was going for with this axe. Harmonics are good and they'll provide as much gain as the amp will dial up. I was a little concerned about the ceramic magnets affecting sustain, but to the contrary, this thing has sustain for days now even with a locking trem. The neck is brighter than before and the bridge has enough lows and upper mids right where I like it. Classic scooped mids on the amp will give me the '80s metal sound, selecting the Fender voice on the clean channel gives me cleans that are almost as good as my Strat or Tele. It's dirty when it needs to be and cleans up really nicely.

All around, Super D/Super 2 are a good set for this axe. The only thing I didn't need was an F-spaced pickup in the neck. The guitar has a 43 mm nut, but I could have gotten away with a standard spaced neck pickup.

The stock wiring was okay, but there were a few corners cut. They didn't solder the wires through the eyelets on the switch, and there was a big bubble of solder on the volume pot for the main ground. They did paint the cavities with conductive paint and connected them all with wires and eyelets. The Quantum pickups were a disaster. Two of the hex polepieces were stripped out in the baseplate and fell out when I took the pickups out. Very cheaply made, but it was a cheap guitar.