DiMarzio DP101 Dual Sound

The Super Distortion is a classic icon in the world of pickups. Dimarzio has been making aftermarket pickups since the 70s and the Super Distortion is what put them on the map. Back in the day when PA's werent used as much amps had to fill the whole arena with their sound. Having this much wattage and headroom meant it was hard to really push the amps hard because they were so powerful. There were not many overdrive pedals back then either so you had to try really hard to drive the amps. When the Super Distortion came out it really helped the players at the time get more drive out of their amps. This Dual Sound is a more versatile version of the Super Distortion. It has the ability to split its coils which is something the original Super Distortion did not have. In its normal mode the pickup is pretty fat and has lots of low end grunt. It can really thicken up guitars with thinner sounds and in already thick guitars it will give you a nice heavy tone that still has a vintage feel. Being that this is such a raw and rudimentary pickup it does not clean up very well. It is always hitting as hard as it can. This is what people wanted from a pickup back then. At the time no one knew you could make a hard hitting pickup that had a good clean tone. Everything was a compromise when the knowledge people had of pickups back then. The split tones in this pickup are alright. When you split a humbucker you will never get optimal single coil tones but if the pickup is good they can be passable. If you are looking for an old school high output pickup that can get some passable single coil tones when split the Dual Sound is one of a few options you have.

I purchased an early nineties Ibanez RT650 that had one of these pickups loaded in the bridge position. It's basically supposed to be (from what I'd read), a Super Distortion with a coil splitter switch. It is essentially that from my experience, so basically it's meant to be a hotter take on the PAF, good tone but with attitude. The Dual Sound took this pickup and added a coil splitter to broaden the tonal palette which helped quite a bit. I'm not normally a huge fan of higher output pickups but the Dual Sound was a very good sounding pickup that allowed a good range of dynamics when you used the splitter.

Clean tones with the humbucker mode weren't my favourite by any means. They were a little bit too hot and compressed for my liking (due to the pickup output most likely). However, when I split it, it provided a really cool twangy sound that reminded me a lot of a Telecaster. Obviously being an Ibanez superstrat guitar, the country cleans weren't flawless but it was a pretty good approximation for sure.

The drive tones were why this pickup was as good as it was. I really liked the nice top end "sizzle" that it had. That sort of sizzle is something I really look for in a guitar meant for LA rock or metal and this pickup definitely has it. This sizzle is mixed with a good chunky low end and a nice flat midrange which allowed the guitar to shine for both rhythm based metal riffage and faster Paul Gilbert esque lead passages, alternate picked at speeds of fury! When the coils were split it provided a nice set of Stratty tones that reminded me a lot of Ritchie Blackmore's tone, very thick and overdriven, but punchy and with that classic Strat top end chime.

All in all I feel that the DiMarzio Dual sound is a great sounding pickup for hard rock/metal music, and when combined with the coil split, there are many other tonal options which make the pickup more desirable. Not recommended as a super versatile pickup, but just as a great hard rock machine.

This pickup is EXACTLY the same as the Super Distortion. The only difference is that it contains a push/pull pot to split it. Therefore, I'll just reword the original review I did for the Super Distortion so you don't have to look up another review.

DiMarzio was one of the first aftermarket companies to form, and the Dual Sound was one of the world’s first high output pickups. During the 70s and 80s, it gained tons of popularity for those wanting to drive their amps even harder.

The Dual Sound is one of those pickups that, even though it’s old, it’s still somewhat relevant today. It’s a high output pickup that doesn’t clean up too well, but it can still do that oldschool hard rock vibe no problem. Plugged straight into a Marshall, it’ll give you that famous KISS style sound – enough breakup but not too much over the top distortion. It’s a fairly compressed pickup, but it still retains the character of the guitar, unlike certain other pickups on the market.

This pickup works best in guitars that are a bit lacking in the bottom end, IMO. It’s a fat pickup with lots of midrange. If you have a single pickup guitar, I’d say your best bet would probably be either this or a Seymour Duncan Custom. The low notes are fat without sounding flubby, and the high notes sound very round. You don’t have to worry about your treble strings getting too harsh when using this pickup.

The adjustable pole pieces help make this super versatile when it comes to dialing in the magnetic string pull. If you’re finding there’s a bit too much output with this pickup, try lowering it. As it gets lower, it helps clean everything up. It’ll also ghost note less.

Those of you looking to try out a new pickup for your guitar, this is still worth checking out. It’s a bit more compressed than most boutique pickups, but since the market is saturated with these, you can find them real cheap on eBay or online forms. If you don’t like it, it should be easy enough to flip, unlike certain other rare pickups.