Super D and JB - output and midrange.

[CarlosG]

Hi!
Which pickup has more output and compression? JB or Super D?
Everyone says the JB has a lot of mids, but in this comparison to the Super D, the jb sounds like it's cut in the middle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSMZM8Y88Kk&t=118s&ab_channel=MichaelNielsen-BigHairyGuitars
What do you think?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Output, Super D, IMO. Compression, JB, IMO.

On that comparison, sounded to me like the Super D did have more of those nasty vocal mids that many DiMarzios have, but I'm not surprised. I don't like those, personally. But it did sound like the JB had more of the cutting upper mids that it's known for. I prefer those, personally. I find the JB "cut through" better in that clip without bloating everything up.

 

[orpheo]

The JB sounds more open to me to be honest, the SD sounds very thick and mid heavy.

 

[Chistopher]

The JB has a lot of upper mids in a very narrow bandwidth, the SD's mids tend to be spread out more

 

[Top-L]

Prefer the Super Distortion. JB sounds thin in comparison. When you start soloing, JB might sound screechy.

 

[freefrog]

Apples and oranges to me... SD = double thick ceramic, eddy currents due to its brass baseplate and big hexa screw poles, lower DCR and inductance than JB. JB= single thickness A5, nickel silver BP, normal slugs and screw poles... The first one appears to me as a Hulk version of Filter'Tron. It's not risky nor original to describe the other as a Gibson HB with twice more muscle.

Output, compression and EQing largely depend on the usual external factors (pots resistance, cable capacitance, input impedance), so I'll pass on this one.

But let's share below the frequency response of both played in chords direct to the same board through the same cable, from unfretted strings to 12th fret.

 

[Aceman]

I think the JB actually has more output, but the SuperD sounds bigger. Maybe not.

The SuperD has its mids all from low mids to middle mids, in a broad hump. The JB is more of a spike type mid punch, and higher.

The JB is really built for soloing, IMO, whether intended or not. The SuperD is more all around.

 

[marcello252]

The JB is really built for soloing, IMO, whether intended or not. The SuperD is more all around.

this

 

[Juanhanglo]

Apples and oranges to me... SD = double thick ceramic, eddy currents due to its brass baseplate and big hexa screw poles, lower DCR and inductance than JB. JB= single thickness A5, nickel silver BP, normal slugs and screw poles... The first one appears to me as a Hulk version of Filter'Tron. It's not risky nor original to describe the other as a Gibson HB with twice more muscle.

Output, compression and EQing largely depend on the usual external factors (pots resistance, cable capacitance, input impedance), so I'll pass on this one.

But let's share below the frequency response of both played in chords direct to the same board through the same cable, from unfretted strings to 12th fret.

Question for you:
how would the tone change on the SD if you changed the brass baseplate to nickel silver?

 

[freefrog]

Question for you:
how would the tone change on the SD if you changed the brass baseplate to nickel silver?

According to my experience, it would / should / might become a wee bit cleaner... All the THD / IMD measurements in my archives show a higher distortion with brass BP's than with NS.
Conversely, I've recently tweaked a modern X2N with fiber baseplate: initially, it was a bit too "clinical" sounding to my ears. Once there was brass under it, the tone got closer to the warmer raunchier voicing of vintage X2N's.

 

[ErikH]

I think the JB actually has more output, but the SuperD sounds bigger. Maybe not.

The SuperD has its mids all from low mids to middle mids, in a broad hump. The JB is more of a spike type mid punch, and higher.

The JB is really built for soloing, IMO, whether intended or not. The SuperD is more all around.

Spot on.

 

[Aceman]

The Super Distortion is not as hot as people think, I don't care what the mV DiMarzio rating is. I mean, yeah - it IS Hot. But it isn't scorching molten metal hot by today's standards at all.


Think about a ceramic mag pickup at ~13k in 1975 compared to T-Tops, PAF's and Fender Singles at the time. Accidentally overwound Gibson PAF's were considered "Sporty" output wise back then...

Today? Distortion, Invader, Dimebucker, X2N, and so on...A Super D is like the very entry level of "Hot" as hum buckers go. And I think that's a generally good thing.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I've always wondered how hot is the Super Distortion in the grand scheme of things. The Super Distortion was the first aftermarket pickup I ever tried, and I remember at the time I tried it, I was like WOAH. I also remember I later swapped out that that Super D for an EMG 81, and I was disappointed to find out the EMG 81 was actually not as hot as the Super Distortion. But these days that I've tried more pickups, I know for a fact the 81 is not all that hot to begin with.

That being said, I wonder how it compares to the JB. The way you describe it, Ace, as "entry level hot" is exactly the way I'd describe the JB. Like, yeah, it's frickin' 16K, but it's also Alnico. But I'd still say the JB is either towards the very lowest end of "hot" levels of output, or at the very top of "medium" levels of output.

 

[Chistopher]

"Hot" is a bad term because it's both relative and a little murky. I view hot as a combination of "warm" and "loud". I view warm as meaning "a emphasis on a really wide band of the midrange from like 3 Khz to probably 500 Hz, with rolled off treble and loose midrange". And if you want, we could split hairs a little more on some of those definitions.

The Super D is kind of loud, but really warm.