« More versatile Super Distortion »

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.