Re: DiMarzio Super 3 Opinions?
Okay, I tried the Super 3 in my EBMM Morse and here's my review. First let me give you the specs on the guitar itself.
Poplar body
25.5" scale maple neck w/hand-rubbed oil/wax finish
22-fret rosewood fretboard
2-piece bridge with stop tail-piece
3 other pickups on the guitar
The stock Morse bridge pickup has a reading and EQ similar to the Super 3. The Morse bridge pickup is higher output with a ceramic magnet. It's middy and accepts gain well. It also cleans up well when needed. It wasn't that the Morse pickups were bad, it's that I thought the Super 3 sounded interesting.
After I installed the Super 3, I noticed the overall output was about the same. The EQ was about the same. There were slightly more mids and bass with the Super 3. One thing that did stand out was the highs. The Super 3 had significantly less highs than the Morse bridge pickup; even after replacing the stock 250k volume pot with a 500k pot. Overall, I like the Morse bridge pickup better than the Super 3.
Okay, having said all that, I went ahead and threw my Air Zone in the bridge position. I kept the 500k in and tried it out. The difference, this time, was tremendous. This pickup had so much more soul to it. The highs sang. the mids were nice and warm; with a thickness that was very comfortable. The bass was tight but not harsh. the output from the Air Zone was higher and the tone had this cool crunch, under gain, that the other two didn't.
Bottom line? Benjy, I'm sending your Super 3 back to you with many thanks of allowing me to try it out. The Air Zone is staying. and I even took out the Morse neck pickup and replaced it with an Air Norton. The tone pot is a 250k push/pot for splitting both pickups. I like this setup...
Now, for the single coils.....
