DiMarzio Super Distortion 7

The Super Distortion 7 has pretty big shoes to fill. As the progeny of the historic DP100 Super Distortion, few would dare try to meet that standard. Lucky for us, DiMarzio did. Let’s look at the results!

As we know, 2024 is the golden anniversary for the legendary Super Distortion. The Super D is the iconic sound heard for five decades on platinum records, played by artists as diverse as Ace Frehley, Al Di Meola, Phil Collen, Tom Scholz, Kurt Cobain, and Paul Gilbert – to name just a few. 

But we are also over 30 years in to the era of the 7-string guitar. Player might want to expand the range, but they also want to have a pickup with a voice they can count on to be consistent.

Installation

This humbucker is going into an Ibanez Universe 7-string. That’s a basswood body, 24-fret maple neck, 25-1/2″ scale rosewood board, and Edge 7 locking tremolo system. The harness is original, as is the middle Blaze single coil and the Blaze neck model. The guitar has a standard tuning of low B on the 7th, using 09-54 strings.

The Ibby Universe switching that I’ll be covering is as follows:

As you can see, there is an auto-split situation going on in between the bridge and middle position.

Evaluation

Where to start? LOL! No really! The original Super Distortion is a legendary tone. And there will be those that want to hear about comparisons. Who can blame them?! However, what if it comes down to a single bullet point? If so, I’ll go with the notion that the Super Distortion 7 keeps that classic voice while improving the nuances. How so? Let’s look!

It’s no secret in the 7-string world that the tone is the goal line, and we work back from there. It’s not just about putting the same number of turns on the bigger bobbin. That’s how you end up with all sorts of unintentional bugs in the system that spread through and corrupt all the parts that we want to keep the same. In this instance, it’s like what DiMarzio does with the X2N 7, in that aiming for the tone delivers more than one might expect.

Going full series into a clean amp tone is a winner. There is a little presence, but not so much of a push that it gets into breakup. If you have a similar HSH config as this, you’re in between position is straight-up down-right snappy, quacky, and plucky!

Comparison

The core Super D tone is there. The deliberately firm high end, with powerfully strong mids and lows. Yet, it’s how the 6th string works in to the 7th that gets the magic going. It doesn’t just take the next logical step down to an even lower timbre that might risk a lack of definition. In fact, that 7th string comes to the party with a clear definition and an open character reminds you that not all 7-string humbuckers are the same. I mean, if you’re going to name it after an existing model, maybe make sure it sounds like that exiting model? Amirite? HaHa!

Specs

And just for giggles, let’s have a peek at the specs for the iconic 6-string Super Distortion

Demo

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Conclusion

If you are a die-hard Super D disciple and your tone will not be the same without it, you are in luck. You can branch out in to the 7-string world and comfortably know that DiMarzio has your back with the Super Distortion 7. DiMarzio is great at translating the tone across different formats and the Super D 7 maintains that legacy.

The Super Distortion 7 is going to be good for hard rock, shred, metal, grunge, progressive rock and metal, garage, thrash, classic rock, and punk. It is available in 5 solid colors and 4 zebra colors, as well as with a half dozen options for covers. As usual, pole piece color choice are nickel, gold, and black.

For reference, this DiMarzio Super Distortion 7 humbucker pickup evaluation was conducted with the following: Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ featuring Celestion Impluse Responses and Fractal MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller. ADA MP-1 Tube Pre-Amp loaded with Tube Amp Doctor ECC83 Premium Selected tubes, using the ADA MC-1 MIDI Controller. Fryette LX II Stereo Tube Power Amplifier. Physical cabs use are Marshall 1960B, Mojotone British, and Peavey 6505 cabs loaded with Celestion Classic Series Vintage 30s and Classic Series G12M Greenbacks.

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