Les Paul with Super Distortion

P

pskorz

New member
I have a Les Paul Studio with a 59 in the neck and a 59/custom hybrid in the bridge. It’s one of my favorite guitars to play. I love the neck, and it sounds good. I find the bridge pickup to be a tad on the bright side, but in a typical setting I keep the vol on around 8 or so, and it’s about perfect. It has factory 300k pots that are push/push to split.

I really have no need to change anything in it. But I’ve got other guitars with just a bit more oomph, and it hit me that I think this specific guitar is inherently a bit mid-scooped. For a while I’ve been thinking that the Duncan Custom would be just what the doctor ordered. It’d keep a similar vibe to what I’ve got now, but juice up the output and mids a little.

But then I start thinking that the answer has been staring me in the face for decades—long before I ever owned this guitar. But when I first heard KISS, Boston, Pyromania, the list goes on and on. A Les Paul with a Super Distortion in the bridge!!!! So simple, so right. It’s been hiding in plain sight, yet eluding me this whole time.

if I have any worries, it’d be:
1. That it won’t gel with my 59 neck
2. it won’t gel with my 300k pots (I know that’s an easy fix, but I love the push/push). But that’s not a deal breaker- I rarely split them, so if I’d need a diff pots, no biggie.
3. That it’ll just be too much. You know what I mean? Just too aggressive or edgy or something.

any thoughts or experiences?
 
jeremy said:
just try it. i have a sd that kicked so much ass in a lp special, i sold the guitar but kept the pup cause it will find a new home.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I probably will. :)

Just so I’d know a couple alternatives right off the bat:
1 if I were to find it too trebly, would I want to move to a 500k vol, tone, both, or would a different cap do the job?
2 same question but if it were too “dark” or bass heavy? Is there a common pot value besides 250 that would go in that direction that’s enough lower than a 300 to be noticeable?
 
if you find it too trebly, 500k would make it worse. with a 300k pot, i doubt itll be too bright. a lower value pot wont add bass, but it will dampen more treble. if its to bassy, then a higher value pot, again, wont cut bass, but will load the pup less and give a brighter sound which. in some cases, appears to moderate the low end
 
jeremy said:
if you find it too trebly, 500k would make it worse. with a 300k pot, i doubt itll be too bright. a lower value pot wont add bass, but it will dampen more treble. if its to bassy, then a higher value pot, again, wont cut bass, but will load the pup less and give a brighter sound which. in some cases, appears to moderate the low end
Click to expand...

Ah thanks-I should have know I had it backwards. I’m stoked!
 
That’s a match made in Heaven. I had a SuperD in my Les Paul until I decided to put a Custom Custom in it. I kept the SuperD though. It will not be too bright with 500k pots. As far as height goes, set it one nickel thick from the strings on the treble side and two nickels thick on the bass side. That’s a good starting point. Adjust to taste.
 
I’ve got a maple-neck Les Paul that’s sounded great with every pickup I’ve tried in it (498T, 498T with an A8, Alternative 8, Custom 8, Burstbucker 3, Dimarzio Norton, PATB-1, and probably more I’m forgetting), but the Super Distortion was the only pickup I couldn’t pull out of it fast enough. It was just way too dark for that guitar. It probably would’ve been great on an inherently bright guitar, or if my other guitars were dark too so I could EQ the crap out of it to compensate.

Lots of people love the Super D in a Les Paul, and you may too, but I wanted to give you a heads up that it is inherently a dark-sounding pickup.
 
Keep in mind that while it may be a dark pickup, think about when it was first available. In the early 70’s, it was not uncommon for many amps to be naturally bright, like the old Marshalls, Fenders, and the like. Without clipping out the bright cap, the Super Distortion solved all that so the amp could be driven hard without an ice pick going in your ears. I’ve never found it too dark in any of my guitars.
 
ErikH said:
Keep in mind that while it may be a dark pickup, think about when it was first available. In the early 70’s, it was not uncommon for many amps to be naturally bright, like the old Marshalls, Fenders, and the like. Without clipping out the bright cap, the Super Distortion solved all that so the amp could be driven hard without an ice pick going in your ears. I’ve never found it too dark in any of my guitars.
Click to expand...

That’s a good point. Mainly I’ll be playing it through a Peavey classic 50. Definitely it’s a brighter amp, and it also has a “bright” input. I typically just use the normal input, but if this turns out to be a real dark beast, maybe that’ll make it just right.
 
I'd definitely try a Super D in a LP. It's a warm, friendly pickup that really doesn't do much wrong when you need a high output pickup. Could it be tighter? Yeah. Could it be louder? Sure. Is it going to make you pull your hair out when you hear it? Very likely not.
 
Since your guitar has 300k pots, try it anyway and if it’s too dark, though I doubt it will be, disconnect the tone pot and run it with the 300k volume only. If it’s still not to your liking, swap the volume for 500k. If you want the tone pot hooked up, do that with the stock tone pot. Change it to a 500k if you don’t like it.
 
pskorz said:
Yeah, I think I’m certainly going to pull the trigger on it. I’ll probably get a couple 500 k pots in case. If it’s too dark, maybe switch out the vol or tone pots.
Click to expand...

I would try it out first. If too dark, give your bright input a try. My C50 can get quite bright. Then if still too dark, buy some pots. Try what you got before buying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

misterwhizzy
What a difference a cap makes
Replies
16
Views
175
freefrog
freefrog
Lucky Eastwood
Pickups For My Epiphone Casino
Replies
2
Views
67
GuitarStv
GuitarStv
S
Neck Pickup for 59/Custom Hybrid
Replies
12
Views
114
orpheo
O
Chris EmCee
Who’s using the HyperSwitch? Yay or nay?
Replies
15
Views
132
jeremy
jeremy
Chris EmCee
RTM neck pairing question
Replies
8
Views
89
Overlord
Overlord
Back
Top