Super Distortion

[Gex]

Is it just me, or is this not a very smooth pickup? I cant tell if its the pickup or the cheapo guitar its sitting in.


I have it wired in Series, BTW. I need a good pickup for my RG560, the V2 is nice for a stock pickup, but rather fuzzy sounding.

Im thinking about taking the Super Distortion from my Cheapo and putting it into my RG560 and wiring it in PARALLEL instead of Series (a la Paul Gilbert)

Will this give me nice SMOOTH (emphasis on smooth) pretty tones that are not too overly bassy, and with enough prescence to do some shredding with? (I assume so, Gilbert used them I believe)

I have the Super Distortion lying around, and Im just trying to figure out if I want to keep it or sell it.

Thanks for any help!

[steve]

The Super-D should be pretty smooth (always depends on what it's in for certain aspects of the tone, of course)... there's quite a bit of output there, and it's got a lot in the midrange department (it's the same as a Dual Sound, and this has been my bridge pickup of choice for many years on my 6-strings).
If you do wire it in parallel, you will find somewhat less output, and an emphasis on a lot of treble frequencies - something closer to a single coil sound, though not as 'thin' as that...
You may find it a bit too biting for your liking, especially if you're expecting smooth...
You can always try it to see - it's a simple enough wiring scheme to try, then reverse if you don't like it...
That's my take on it, anyway...
=]

[Dr. Funkenstein]

Putting the pickup in parallel will probably make it less 'smooth' than series. The treble roll-off of a pickup is largely defined by the pickup's inductance, and putting a pickup in parallel has a much lower inductance reading than it does in series. This means that it will have more clarity and bite as compared to a pickup wired in series. That's not to say it won't sound as good or better - I prefer parallel mode for almost everything except full on metal because of the increased clarity. But to me it's slightly more single-coil sounding and a bit more cutting at the expense of some output as noted already.

Cheers,

Dave

[Ibateur]

For me the smoothness of the SD was affected a lot by how close it was to the strings. The closer it was, the harsher the sound.