Grateful Dead Music Forum

I've ran super 2's in everything I ever modded.. my favorite tone is summer 89 - about 13 years ago when I did the mods I was under the impression from dozin that tiger always had super 2s.. wasn't until Jay Faires pointed out to me about the switch in july 88 back to dual sounds..

I REALLY am digging the dual sounds - the fattness.. the snap but fullness..

back when I was more active on this site it seemed more poeple were leaning toward super 2's.

what are you playing on today?

Does the extra grit of those summer gigs come from jerry blasting his mac because of being outdoors? I don't know if it's in my head but those summer tones always hit different.

For me:

- Dualsound in the bridge position;

- Super 2s in the middle and neck positions.

I recently put a Dual Sound into one of my guitars (middle position) and i am LOVING it. Depends on the player i guess

The Super Distortion/DualSound is perhaps my favorite bridge pickup for classic and hard rock. Truly a fantastic design. I have a DualSound in the bridge slot of my Philtone Jerrycaster and a Super Distortion in the bridge slot of my '98 USA Reverend Avenger. Now that's the sound of rock 'n' roll!

Pictured below is my Avenger. BTW, I bought its Super Distortion new in '76 back when Dimarzio WAS the boutique pickup industry.

From Wikipedia:

DiMarzio released the Super Distortion humbucker in 1972. It combined a brighter ceramic magnet with smaller-gauge wire that allowed for more turns per coil, thereby significantly increasing its output. The pickup was designed to fit standard Gibson humbucker mounts to avoid installation problems and used open-coil, cream-colored bobbins, a style that was distinctive to DiMarzio pickups, and which the company later trademarked. The Super Distortion was quickly embraced by guitarists upon its release, with early adopters like Ace Frehley of Kiss—who was introduced to DiMarzio by DiMarzio's college classmate Gene Simmons—and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. In the '80s, the pickup was used by many metal and hard rock players, including Dimebag Darrell, Kerry King, and Randy Rhoads, while Kurt Cobain and Kim Thayil adopted it in the '90s. Emerging guitar companies like B.C. Rich, Charvel, and Hamer used the Super Distortion in their early guitars.

got dual sounds in middle and super 2 in bridge, dual sounds for most my playing but all the real country sounds I have to put bridge and go super 2, like all over now or new mingle, it sounds much more bright and punchy.

The tone I hear in my head, the one I’ve been chasing most of my life, is fall ‘89. When I first had my wolf built I went with Super 2s with coil taps, but found out early on that 1) they were “thin”, and 2) not historically accurate.

Replaced them with Dual Sounds and changed the taps to series/parallel and bam, that was it. Middle pu on parallel is it, for me at least.

That’s the great thing about pickups- you can always change your mind and try something new.

Jon S. wrote: ↑Tue May 26, 2026 9:08 am The Super Distortion/DualSound is perhaps my favorite bridge pickup for classic and hard rock. Truly a fantastic design. I have a DualSound in the bridge slot of my Philtone Jerrycaster and a Super Distortion in the bridge slot of my '98 USA Reverend Avenger. Now that's the sound of rock 'n' roll!

Pictured below is my Avenger. BTW, I bought its Super Distortion new in '76 back when Dimarzio WAS the boutique pickup industry.

Im curious- no tone knob?

Tacosauce wrote: ↑Tue Jun 23, 2026 10:17 am Im curious- no tone knob?

I HATE the placement of any knob right below where I (and many others) strum hard. It is unacceptable to me. I had the option - still do - of using a dual both-in-one volume and tone knob. I decided to first try it with just the volume knob. I found that the guitar works fine for me as is.

My Tele - no way could I live without its tone control. But the Avenger is "forgiving."

FWIW, my PRS Custom that I bought new in 1986 also lacks a tone control. (It does include the sweet switch PRS included on its earliest guitar instead of a tone control; the other knob is a 5-way pickup selector.) I don't miss the tone control there, either.