Opinions on the Super 3 tone???

[jacksonpc1]

I am curious if it is just me or not. Is the Super 3 a muddy sounding pickup? I didn't notice this until I did the A - B test between my Soloist Archtop (SLATM) & My PC1. The Soloist Archtop (SLATM) has Seymour Duncan Mini Buckers in it & WOW they Sing , but the Super 3 sounds like crap with the same EQ settings on my Marshall. It has no mids or highs so I put a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in it & it sounds great now. Opinions please.

[neilli]

Comparing mini-humbuckers to regular hums is always gonna be like comparing apples to oranges. However, I agree with your summary of the Super 3: I had a PC1 and hated the tone from the bridge pickup. It was just really dead sounding...

[Rich#6]

It has a really high mid range, but I have it in a mohagany bodied guitar and I am not digging so much. very muddy to me too.

[DonP]

I am curious if it is just me or not. Is the Super 3 a muddy sounding pickup? I didn't notice this until I did the A - B test between my Soloist Archtop (SLATM) & My PC1. The Soloist Archtop (SLATM) has Seymour Duncan Mini Buckers in it & WOW they Sing , but the Super 3 sounds like crap with the same EQ settings on my Marshall. It has no mids or highs so I put a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in it & it sounds great now. Opinions please.

I've not played one, but I have one for putting my Fender HM Strat back together.

From what I know of it, you want to put it into a bright guitar. Rich and Neilli mentioned the guitars they had one in. What type of guitar did you put yours in?

That is one of the things with guitars - it's easy to make a bright guitar darker by using the tone control, but it's not easy to brighten a dark guitar.

[jacksonpc1]

It was stock in my PC1. It sounded okay until I did the A-B compare to the Soloist. The PC1 sounds great with the S. Duncan Pearly Gates. I was very surprised at how flat & muddy the DiMarzio sounded. I guess it shows that I am a Duncan pickup user. I really wanted to know if it was just me or if other people didn't dig the tone. So far it seems it isn't just me, so that's good.

[toejam]

It was stock in my PC1. It sounded okay until I did the A-B compare to the Soloist.

The Super 3 is voiced with less treble and more mids and bass. The Pearly Gates has a little more treble. Though, you do know every guitar is going to sound different, too, right? That's why there's tone controls on your amp. You're just going to have to adjust your amp's controls for every guitar, even if you have a couple of the same guitars with the same pickups. And, of course, it's not really fair to compare a humbucker to a mini-humbucker's sound anyway.

[scotty]

My star (alder) came with a super 3. That guitar sounds great. I liked it so much I bought another and installed it in a Model 3a. It did not sound the same in the basswood body.

[rjohnstone]

Tone is subjective.

I dig the Super 3 in my PC1, but not so much in my Model 5A.
It really depends on the guitar and the amp settings.

I did defile my PC1 and try a Custom Custom in it, but it killed the PC1 tone that I loved.
To harsh, so the Super 3 went back in.

[DonP]

I guess it shows that I am a Duncan pickup user.

Bashing a company on one pickup isn't very fair. What if the PC1 came loaded with an Invader? Would you say you are a DiMarzio user just because you hated an Invader?

As long as a pickup is "good value" and sounds good, it's on my list. I like them all, except for BKP's because of the price. If BKP's sold for the "usual" pickup price of around $50 shipped, I'd give them a try.

[jacksonpc1]

Bashing a company on one pickup isn't very fair. What if the PC1 came loaded with an Invader? Would you say you are a DiMarzio user just because you hated an Invader?

As long as a pickup is "good value" and sounds good, it's on my list. I like them all, except for BKP's because of the price. If BKP's sold for the "usual" pickup price of around $50 shipped, I'd give them a try.

I'm not bashing DiMarzio... They have great pickups. Our store is a DiMarzio dealer & they have some greats like the Evo, Fred , Super Distortion , PAF , PAF Pro , etc... I agree that every company including Seymour Duncan has greats & not so greats (to be honest I don't like the invader). I have to disagree with people thinking the mini bucker sounds different from the Humbucker because the Soloist has that thick sound like a Les Paul or a PRS. For example, when I play out I usally take my Soloist Archtop , my PC1 , my Big Apple Strat & my PRS. Every guitar has a little different tone but the PC1 with the Super 3 just sounded muddy & flat. It is a day & night & it sounds very close to Soloist with the Pearly Gates. I agree totally it is great to be open minded ,however I am just curious if it is just my pickup or not.....

[shreddermon]

Tone is subjective.

+1. Either you like a PU's tone or you don't. That doesn't mean that the PU "sucks". Different strokes for different folks.

I dig the Super3. It's one of my favorite pickups. And I'm not typically a guy who likes heavy low-mids, which is the that PU's strong point. I think the Super3 is very well suited to mahogany bodied guitars with a maple cap, like the PC1. Goes well with swamp ash too, though.

Sounds like you might prefer something a little brighter, like an Evolution. Also one of my favorites, but very different tone characteristics.

BTW, the Dimarzio website has very useful features for specs, tone charts, and sound clip examples for each of their PUs.