Help me match a pickup

[gregsuarez]

:banghead:

I hate trying to choose new pups... it seems needlessly complicated since there are so **** many on the market. Anyway...

I am trying to find a SD pup that most closely sounds like a DiMarzio Super 3 bridge pup. I know, I know... "Just buy a Super 3," you might be saying. Well, I love SD pickups, so please help me find the closest SD match. Here are the Super 3's specs:

Ceramic magnet
4 conductor
DC Res. - 25 K

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen uses a Super 3, and I am trying to get a foundation of tone close to the song "Promises" from the DL album Euphoria. His tone on that song is really grinding and sizzling, yet articulate.

Also, I'd appreciate advice on a neck pickup that would be a good match. I'm looking for a PAF-like pickup with an emphasis on accurate articulation for soloing.

BTW, these will be going into a Fender Strat with a Floyd Rose bridge.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Help me match a pickup

Phil's guitar has a mahogany body with maple cap and maple neck with maple fretboard - that is if he's not using his Les Paul Custom, or his Original Phil Collen Jackson Archtop, which is Alder body wings with a maple through-neck and ebony fretboard.

As well, the necks on his personal PC-1s are FAT. Baseball bat-like, according to a Phil Collen geek I know who actually has a couple of Phil's actual guitars.

That said, the Super3 will not sound like that in your Strat (unless you got lucky and scored a mahogany/maple Strat?)


As for a matching Duncan - I had a Super3 once, and couldn't wait to get rid of it. The only Duncan I had like that is the JB, so start there and play around with pickup height, and maybe a magnet swap.

 

[gregsuarez]

Re: Help me match a pickup

The song I referenced was recorded in the late '90s before his current PC-1 mahogany/maple model. He probably used the older PC3 model with the alder wings (or maybe some other guitar he uses for recording but does not take out on the road). And, no, I do not have a mahogany Strat; it's an alder body, maple neck, rosewood board. I figured that the alder body of my guitar would come closer to matching the tone of maple on top of mahogany, although alder will have more midrange.

I suppose, when you get down to it, I'm looking for a bridge pup that will grind and sizzle. I don't want something that sounds growling or dark. Or a pup that buzzes like a swarm of bees like a DiMarzio Tone Zone. I'm looking for that articulate grind. I use Native Instrument's Guitar Rig 3 as my "amp," so I can produce pretty much any amp sound I want. What I need now is to get the guitar electronics sorted out.

 

[GoDrex]

Re: Help me match a pickup

Duncan Distortion

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Help me match a pickup

the closest (passive) match specs-wise would be a PATB distortion bridge, i would think

i think JB when i think def leppard stuff tho

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Help me match a pickup

the closest (passive) match specs-wise would be a PATB distortion bridge, i would think

i think JB when i think def leppard stuff tho

Me thinks too

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Help me match a pickup

The Super 3 is pretty dark and compressed, at least that's how I heard it when I owned a HM Strat with one in the bridge. From Duncan, I haven't played anything that matches it, but then again, I haven't played the PATB-2 yetm

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Help me match a pickup

Come to think of it, the El Diablo has a similar feel to the Super 3, though it has a dip in the mids and is a bit more articulate in the high end.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Help me match a pickup

didn't think of the el diablo. don't know why, but i'm imagining that would sound good in a strat
just guessing, tho

 

[gregsuarez]

Re: Help me match a pickup

Thanks for all of the responses, guys! This really gives me a good place to start.