Brownbucker vs. Super Distortion - clips inside

[rockstah]

Mark did you ever do an A/B with a Duncan Distortion versus the Super Distortion?

I have not tried the Duncan distortion.

 

[rockstah]

I prefer the SD/ash combo for sure.

You've got that Eddie stuff nailed bro!!

I'm assuming you dial in the reverb/delay in your DAW. What settings do you use and which plugin ??

I use d-verb in protools. Plate verb, 150ms predelay, 1.5ms decay mix is around 27%.

 

[chumbucket]

Mark did you ever do an A/B with a Duncan Distortion versus the Super Distortion?

I have not tried the Duncan distortion.

I liked the older Super Distortions but the new ones just don't sound the same to me. The DD is supposedly a JB with a ceramic magnet, and it doesn't exhibit the JB mid spike. I think the DD sounds similar to an SD but more open and not as compressed sounding. YMMV. I may have one laying around that I could loan out for a demo recording.

 

[rockstah]

Cool offer and as lame as it may sound I'm not interested in Seymour pickups. Can't stand the JB for that weird mid spike it has.
As well I recently acquired an old Dimazio super distortion and it didn't sound as good as my new one that I have messed with, swapped magnets etc.

 

[LP Freak]

If you do another comparison clip, you should have both guitars in the same clip back to back.

 

[richedie]

Don't hear much difference.

 

[rockstah]

If you do another comparison clip, you should have both guitars in the same clip back to back.

If you are trying to cut down the amount of time between hearing each of them you can, with the Soundclick player, toggle between the two sound files.

 

[Chubtone]

At work, on my laptop I couldn't really tell much of a difference. At home on my studio monitors I could hear much more nuance. The Brownbucker is just under 9k with an alnico 5 magnet, the Super Distortion is under 14k with a ceramic magnet. There is a big difference in output between these two pickups.

The Super Distortion clip you can tell definitely works well with the gain in your mods. That makes sense as it's the pickup you have been using while shaping your mods to sound the way you want them to. It's a very good match that seems to have enough distortion when combined. It's also smooth and maybe a bit compressed sounding.

The Brownbucker on the other hand sounds like it's a little underpowered, which it would be in comparison. To my ear it has better articulation and clarity, though it sounds a bit "spitty" in the distortion, like the ends of the distortion are jagged instead of smooth. I think that you can arrive at the same thing though. I have never been happier with my EVH inspired tones than with the Brownbucker, a stock Super Lead and another what I feel is extremely key ingredient to the VH sound.

And now the poll is off by one number. I mistakenly voted for the Super Distortion.... duh. And I bought a cool looking old Super Distortion off of Ebay a week or so ago to throw in an old Charvel to test out and the darn thing doesn't work.

 

[chumbucket]

Cool offer and as lame as it may sound I'm not interested in Seymour pickups. Can't stand the JB for that weird mid spike it has.
As well I recently acquired an old Dimazio super distortion and it didn't sound as good as my new one that I have messed with, swapped magnets etc.

I used to think the same thing about Seymours until I tried the Distortion and loved it.
So, your Super Distortion has a different magnet?

 

[Gainfreak]

IMHO:

The Charvel is to polite sounding. Very compressed and it's almost like the attack comes after you hit a note.

I actually get a bit of that with a duncan 59 in some of my guitars.

The ash strat has the snap and even though it has some of that Compression, it still has the a quicker attack IMHO.

at least That's what I'm hearing.

good ears my friend.
the alder lends itself to that more "polite sound" even the neck is softer sounding than the rosewood on my ash strat. (i always thought it was the other way around with maple versus rosewood but not from what i have found.)
yeah the 59 again is a paf and has that jagged scooped mids that i don't prefer in any pickup i try that is a paf in its makeup.

Danka!

Yup, I hear a lot of scoop with PAF type pickups but I think that works with some amps and speakers and not so much with others.

You can really drive yourself nuts with this stuff hahahaha!

all the best!

~R~

 

[gtrwun]

I didn't read thru all the posts, but I liked the SD much more. The other picked sounded like it was missing something in the midrange . Mismatched coils or just low windings? But you make it sound good anyway, but it sounds like the brownbucker would be a great blues pickup maybe? The super just sounded great to me.

 

[codyjarrett]

I like the DSD better but your doesn't sound like my 80's DSD.
Your's is a little spikey sound in the mids compaired to my older DSD which is more warmer & compessed sounding like in this recording I made using my Ibanez RG with the older DSD.

 

[rockstah]

I like the DSD better but your doesn't sound like my 80's DSD.
Your's is a little spikey sound in the mids compaired to my older DSD which is more warmer & compessed sounding like in this recording I made using my Ibanez RG with the older DSD.

I really think this is apples an oranges my friend.
not only are you making the comparison with a different amp but your basswood ibanez is a softer warmer more compressed sounding guitar than my ash rosewood neck guitar.

Mark

 

[rockstah]

Cool offer and as lame as it may sound I'm not interested in Seymour pickups. Can't stand the JB for that weird mid spike it has.
As well I recently acquired an old Dimazio super distortion and it didn't sound as good as my new one that I have messed with, swapped magnets etc.

I used to think the same thing about Seymours until I tried the Distortion and loved it.
So, your Super Distortion has a different magnet?

Maybe I'll check it out sometime

I'm back to the original ceramic mag.
The a2 I tried in it, mellowed out the highs too much.
With an a5, it carved the mids and even some of the bottom end out too much.

 

[rockstah]

Agreed on all accounts!

IMHO:

The Charvel is to polite sounding. Very compressed and it's almost like the attack comes after you hit a note.

I actually get a bit of that with a duncan 59 in some of my guitars.

The ash strat has the snap and even though it has some of that Compression, it still has the a quicker attack IMHO.

at least That's what I'm hearing.

good ears my friend.
the alder lends itself to that more "polite sound" even the neck is softer sounding than the rosewood on my ash strat. (i always thought it was the other way around with maple versus rosewood but not from what i have found.)
yeah the 59 again is a paf and has that jagged scooped mids that i don't prefer in any pickup i try that is a paf in its makeup.

Danka!

Yup, I hear a lot of scoop with PAF type pickups but I think that works with some amps and speakers and not so much with others.

You can really drive yourself nuts with this stuff hahahaha!

all the best!

~R~

 

[rockstah]

I didn't read thru all the posts, but I liked the SD much more. The other picked sounded like it was missing something in the midrange . Mismatched coils or just low windings? But you make it sound good anyway, but it sounds like the brownbucker would be a great blues pickup maybe? The super just sounded great to me.

Totally agree at this point. When I get a chance I'm going to do clips with each pickup in the same guitar.
Thanks!

 

[Chubtone]

I like the DSD better but your doesn't sound like my 80's DSD.
Your's is a little spikey sound in the mids compaired to my older DSD which is more warmer & compessed sounding like in this recording I made using my Ibanez RG with the older DSD.

How could you possibly tell that his newer DSD doesn't sound like your vintage DSD? We are listening to two different guitars made out of very different sounding woods, two different amp heads, two different types of speakers, possibly two different types of mics and two different mic preamps. To draw any sort of conclusion from that makes me

Your clip sounds great though. What is done to that amp? It doesn't sound like any stock 2203/2204 I have ever heard.

 

[Chubtone]

Mark,
Did you do the clip with the exact same settings on the amp?

 

[codyjarrett]

I like the DSD better but your doesn't sound like my 80's DSD.
Your's is a little spikey sound in the mids compaired to my older DSD which is more warmer & compessed sounding like in this recording I made using my Ibanez RG with the older DSD.

How could you possibly tell that his newer DSD doesn't sound like your vintage DSD? We are listening to two different guitars made out of very different sounding woods, two different amp heads, two different types of speakers, possibly two different types of mics and two different mic preamps. To draw any sort of conclusion from that makes me

It's too bad that people have to question me like I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.
oh well
I never posted here to offend anyone just to talk about pickups.

I have found that a DP100 sounds wicked in an Ibanez RG (basswood) and that there is a slight difference bewteen the new DP100 and the old DP100. I have owned both new & old and that's my opinion.
If you are a tone chaser like myself, these slight differences mean a lot.

 

[codyjarrett]

Totally agree at this point. When I get a chance I'm going to do clips with each pickup in the same guitar.
Thanks!

It's the only way to hear the differenes in both pickups but it's a pain in the ass.