DiMarzio SUPER DISTORTION vs TONE ZONE - Passive Bridge Guitar Pickup Comparison Tone Demo

[@WyattScott]

Best pickup comparison channel on YT!

[@chad6326]

Man... I'm always amazed at how the first aftermarket pup ever made is still, imo, king. Both great pups... the SD has that thick/sizzle that if you like it... you LOVE it.

[@FloBorge]

Thanks! You saved me from buying a SD vs my current Tone Zone :) very helpful

[@goodmustwin]

I've got the Ibanez RGT with the Tone Zone and there's just something it does that I love, gotta be my favorite pickup so far. It reaches out like none I've ever had, after 40+ playing all sorts of guitars and pickups. Sustained notes on it just sing. It's my pick here 1000%.

[@heikosinus]

Man, thank you SO MUCH for your videos, they really help a lot!!! Well, I would say... Tone Zone: more Elegance; Super Distortion: wilder, more Dirt! Love both of them!

[@jimmyjames7946]

Great job brotha !! Great comparison videos you put out and After 20 years of only using Duncan JB in bridge I'm going to the tone zone because your your comparison demo. I must have watched it five times!! .. thank you

[@sEaNoYeAh]

Makes sense they're related pickups. Famously Van Halen's favourite pickup was a broken JB he'd damaged playing live and Dimarzio was asked to make a production pickup for him that was equal to or better than the damaged JB to serve as the pickup in his signature model. It came down to Tone Zone and another. The Tone Zone used an innovative design to achieve the same emphasis with a little more volume and overall range. The other pickup was a bit warmer and more focused like the damaged JB. EVH loved them both and couldn't decide, ultimately he asked Steve Lukather to weigh and Lukather had a slight preference for the pickup that became the EVH pickup, while Dimarzio released the Tone Zone later that year as a retrofit pickup. So the Tone Zone's lineage is an improvement over a particular JB example that EVH liked a lot better than a normal JB.

[@stopthehate1749]

​@@sEaNoYeAh 💯 correct.

[@wisnusakti2224]

I used Super distortion on my Ibanez RG. Sound is amazing

[@ILLRICARDO]

What pickup height did you set for the bridge humbucker.

[@DropDee44]

Great comparison! Would love to hear a few comparisons of the Air Zone :)

[@eduardwilliams1245]

Tough choice. The EVH fan in me likes the balance of smoothness and aggression of the tone zone. But, the super distortion is just so much fun! Great videos by the way.

[@doogdoogdoogdoogdoogdoog]

Doing the lord's work, thanks Mike!

[@cynthia6389]

I have both, I like them both, but really , the super distortion is king 👑, now and forever.

[@maurocruz3527]

They really are similar. I'm biased towards the Super Distortion. It's always been my favorite.

[@AHGrayLensman]

The Tone Zone to my ear has a tiny bit less bass and treble and more upper mids than the Super Distortion, but it's pretty subtle.

[@MichaelDespairs]

Exactly.

[@kshitizd707]

I have the tone zone in my ibanez and I'm tired of those heavy mids always coming up and kinda back those highs and lows.

[@kiillabytez]

According to their web site, the opposite is true.

[@Arcturian1111]

Great job man. The SD is sweeter cleaner in my opinion. With Overdrive it's the Tone Zone.

[@craigharrison5406]

The Super Distortion wins this round for me. Every time I hear that pickup I'm amazed at how good it sounds.

[@angusorvid8840]

I'd love to hear Mike demo the Norton and Air Zone sometime. Two of my favorite pickups. My favorite DiMarzios are the Tone Zone, Air Zone, Super Distortion, Super 3 and Norton.

[@mikestamper]

I had no chance yet but count on that for the future, :)

[@afzpuppet]

I used Dimarzio Super Dist. in my les paul custom in the late 70's around the time VH released their first album = VH = but the Tone Zone pickup has a cleaner bite and would get you closer to EVH tone.. 🎸

[@ehacker39]

Very similar though I would say the SD is a little looser with a bit more vintage sizzle. The TZ sounds a bit more modern and focused with a touch more upper mids.

[@stopthehate1749]

Exactly what my ears heard...💯

[@kevinsturges6957]

What a cool, useful channel! Subscribed!😊

[@ltxr9973]

As I thought, they're extremely similar. The Tone Zone is a bit warmer. They both have a ton of output.

[@UncleYoshi]

Super Distortion definitely has a bit more output & fuller sounding. But overall very similar b.c they have the same kind of bite.

[@Kirk1795]

Both are awesome but i like the richness and punch tone zone has. For me its more clear sounding

[@glen4326]

They are 90% identical. Super distortion has more high frequencies. The difference is only mild but I prefer the rounder, warmer sound of the Tone Zone. Vinnie Moore used the Tone Zone and EVH was behind the development. I go with those guys!

[@mattiamontato8414]

Am i wrong or the tone zone was the pick up Paul Gilbert use back in the day? I have one in my strat and its a blast of low frequences my lord...

[@johntuss802]

IM a zone guy freaking love it so even and thick . Every note separated and perfect .Just cant get away from it . My ear loves it like Phrygian lol

[@Dawnseeker]

I feel like you could just bump the mids on your amp a little more with the SD and they’d be identical.

[@saltyassassin]

My Tone Zone sounds AWESOME in my Ash bodied Ibanez. It’s paired with an Air Norton in the neck. I would NEVER change them out. I have an SD in a self built Warmoth, and like it too. I just think the Tone Zone has that secret something

[@countrylapi9245]

Super Distortion … or Tone Zone? Uhhhhhhh… YES! DiMarzio dominates 😮

[@jambo383]

It’s crazy how differently people hear things. To me, they sound fairly similar running clean. Both have a decently pronounced high end, with a slight edge to the SD. When pushed into overdrive, the TZ just sounds a little thicker. The pronounced highs of the SD lend to the presence of having more power, but I’ve used both and the TZ sounds more massive in person. I actually mod my TZs to tame the harsh highs and bring down the massive lows a bit. I’m going to experiment with adjustments more, though.

[@StewartBrand85]

Surprised to see you say they sound similar clean to be honest. A lot of pickups do sound very similar but the Tone Zone is quite significantly less bright.

[@guitar_gnome]

I'm the opposite. I hear differences in the clean tones. I can't tell any difference in high gain distortion.

[@akhileshsonawane8828]

I'm curious, how do you mod pickups? I've never heard of it before. I wanna tray it too. Please answer

[@sinking1902]

To my ear the super distortion is pushing higher frequencies and the tone zone is pushing more mids…Both are incredible pickups. I have both in Ibanez RGs. Can’t pick a favourite…I could never pick an active pickup such as a Fishman or EMG over these bad boys. Bare knuckles sound good though.

[@kiillabytez]

Super Distortion and Tone Zone are both equal, but the Tone Zone sounds a bit thicker during palm mutes, while the Super Distortion sounds brighter on higher notes, to my ear. I believe I'll go with the Tone Zone for my Les Paul Custom. I may pick up an SD for the Neck to even out the brightness, and the TZ for the Bridge to soften the thickness.

[@bstree1]

First round of hearing i preffered the SD because it had more low end so it sounded bigger and fuller But then i replayed and got that TZ has more high end so it is clearer, less muddier and open in higher notes, it is not thin at all, and if you roll back the tone knob you maybe come close to SD character

[@knowitall1694]

Great video. In clean mode, the Super Distortion has a mid-range spike. I know so as I have one. The Tonezone is more even sounding with less coloration of sound. The reason they sound the same in overdrive mode is because a distortion pedal removes and adds frequencies, compresses and does stuff to the signal so that the things that set these two pickups apart have been removed, ergo, they sound the same.

[@fernandoatorre]

Conclusion, for cleaner tones tone zone sounds better, specially in higher notes (I noted the SD to be harsher). With distortion, both made the job very well.

[@newoization]

I think the TZ is just a little crisper. Great video thanks

[@TheRealBarshonk]

So close its a tough call but its easy to hear on the last riff that the Super wins, as it does everything the TZ does but is more punchy.

[@dangiven2686]

I think the TZ have a thicker, rattier, more chunky sound. I love them on my Ibanez.

[@Donnie_Thornberry]

The Super Distortion is hotter and tighter and has more high end. I prefer it

[@bonsummers2657]

SuperD is fatter-punchier,… is how I'd describe in comparison to the ToneZ

[@bonsummers2657]

SuperD is fatter-punchier,… is how I'd describe in comparison to the ToneZ

[@antilaw9911]

To my ears the tone zone sounds brighter. I had the tone zone stock in the first run usa reissue charvel so cal. I tried other pickups and they were muffled sound. I like beefy powerful pickups but I hate that muffled blanket sound. The tone zone was best of them for not having that muffled sound.

[@StewartBrand85]

Love the sound of the Tone Zone but if we're being honest, turning the tone knob down on an average pickup (like the SD for example) would get a long way there

[@Vestu]

TZ has just a tiny bit of more mid-range body to it, which I like. SD has a bit more sizzle. Both are awesome.

[@stopthehate1749]

Agreed

[@spaceavenger54]

I've used both of these before in alder and mahogany bodies,loved both, but now I've got a guitar with a maple body and a Seymour Duncan JB in it,it's just got way too many highs, overly bright. What does anyone suggest for the maple body,fingerboard is also maple.

[@ebandzekan]

Do you have maybe Kramer baretta vintage I am planning to buy that guitar with full maple body and JB duncan is in it. Kramer baretta vintage. I heard that Tone Zone sounds very good in bright sounding guitars. Maple equals brightness. I am planning to buy Kramer Baretta vintage and put Tone Zone in it.

[@muukaanbienesraices]

Just put 250 k volume pot to that JB.. ..

[@nicholastotoro7721]

The gain on the SD is just eeeeeeever so less, but just enough to hear back-to-back. It's amazing how similar they really are!

[@bluwng]

Pickups , passive one are just a magnet and wire, most pickups are similar what most people notice is the output difference.

[@ashscott6068]

@@bluwng Well, that ain't really true. They also have capacitance and bleed treble to ground. The more windings, the more capacitance. Then there's how they're wound. Cheap pickups always used to be wound by machines that got all the coils parallel, so there was a lot of capacitance. Hand wound pickups were scatter wound, so less treble was lost. But yeah, there's not the huge variety of possibilities the pickup makers would have us believe. A high output, scatter wound pickup, is going to have every sound in it, that any lower output pickup has. You just have to use the controls on your amp, to remove, what's lost naturally in those pickups. That's why the first ever after-market pickup - the super Distortion - is so good. They nailed it first time. No further work was really needed. If you want it to sound like a PAF, just turn the tone and volume down a little bit. But then marketing took over, and you got pickups promising more crunch, or a more velvety sound, or buttery warmth, or a bunch of bullshit terms that mean nothing.

[@bluwng]

@@ashscott6068 treble bleed caps are on the volume pot and not the pickups. The fact that they have wound wire it will have stray capacitance and inductance but it is negligible.

[@wayne3340]

Very bright, articulate highs from the TZ. Hotter mids from the SD to my ear.

[@albecenex4890]

THX !! I love this comparision demo. I'm only sorry that there is no comparison even on a sound in the middle between this extreme clean and this extreme distortion: a nice British classic crunch. In this kind of amps (plexi tone) where the gain is built only on 2 pre stages. The result is that the character of the pickup is much more recognizable and therefore the characteristics between different pickups are much more pronounced.

[@VitoVitali]

Tone zone us just the best humbucker period imo. Air zone is nice too. Cant find anything that competes in general.

[@dherdy9205]

They complement each other, I find the SD has a built in muff for cleans and od for drive , I'm guessing the tone zone would take pedals like a shoe shop on sale , The super distortion ready out the box for stage

[@tymanngruter1808]

I have a super distortion from the year 1988, does it make a difference?

[@mickolestra]

brilliant video, thanks!

[@iamu2247]

Hi Mike! @mikestamper what pots do you use? ❤ Thank you for the hard work you do for us.

[@mikestamper]

500K CTS pots on this test guitar. I always use CTS or Bourns, :)

[@iamu2247]

​@@mikestamperthank you so much! Subbed!

[@MikeMCT]

How would either do in an all mahogany explorer for classic metal and hard rock? Thinking of swapping out my 496/500t pickups

[@jayz6008]

Super distortion is the way to go . TZ can get pretty dark in the wrong guitar and I would only install them on bright guitars or a guitar that’s lacking low end

[@MrLibedinsky]

Podría decirse que suenan iguales. Sólo un oído muy entrenado puede notar la diferencia

[@miket2646]

To me… even though the differences are very slight… on cleans, the sd has a more taught bottom end while the tz has a touch more bloom to the bass notes. Top end is identical On distortion the tz has a more forward upper mid. But that’s it lol. Two very slightly different flavors of the same thing

[@jessereyna7408]

Was that an Ibanez guitar?

[@mikestamper]

Nope! A custom alder strat.

[@BillyBlaze7]

I like the Tone Zone the best out of this and others compared to it. Its got a sweet mellowness but still bites through without being overly harsh

[@MrUmandMrEr]

FRED for the win!

[@МихаилИванов-ь2с8п]

🔥

[@mattb383]

These sound so similar I cannot tell the difference.

[@axeslinger44]

I read somewhere that the tone zone is basically a super distortion with an alnico magnet instead of ceramic. Don’t know if that’s true.

[@Morte_Deus]

@@axeslinger44 I don't know if it's true but i have 5 super d's from the 80s and i took one and put an alnico 5 magnet in it and it sounded identical to my tone zone in my Ibanez....but Then i put an alnico 2 magnet in it and it sounded glorious, it was more open sounding and not as loud but i could crank the map more and get a shit load more gain.

[@1979GenXdude]

Super Dist has somewhat more output, more mid and less high.

[@kenwayaiden4535]

@@1979GenXdude no, according to the official website, super distortion have less mid and more high

[@TheLizardskin]

​@@kenwayaiden4535I have thr tone zone in the bridge position of my strat and it's rich in bass and mids and less treble than the previous bridge pickup. this pickup has a lot of "room" and punch, but the attack is smooth.

[@seanbarker4610]

Distinct difference in this one, the tone zone has a softer edge to the sound also tone zone has a bit less clarity

[@Morte_Deus]

From a recoding guitarist the TZ cuts in the mix belter, but you're really splitting hairs here.

[@HamRadioOps]

Tone Zone has increased mids in band´s mix, it's more pronounced in mids than Super Distortion. Super Distortion sounds too scooped for me, and have more harsh highs.

[@allenvelasquez8260]

The SD has more clean chime while I feel the TZ lacks life in clean mode. Distorted and driven both very similar except the SD exhibits more bottom end thump. SD all the way....

[@VahnFardani]

Thank you, been waiting for TZ and SD comparison. Btw, can we get a Duncan JB vs DiMarzio AT-1 next?

[@Deac0n_Blues]

Yes please

[@someoneelse101]

The difference between those is the bass mid and treble levels. Higher bass and mids would be my thing personally

[@MFKitten]

Tone zone has more midrange push, more lower mids thickness.

[@AmpAHolic-wn6mr]

Tone Zone is clearer and more articulate. Perhaps a bit less bottom end which could be the reason. I prefer it

[@Danthehorse]

Good demo, thanks. What guitar did you use?

[@SparkyGoldsmith]

They sound nearly identical to me here. SD might just be slightly hotter but they have nearly identical tones. Sometimes the SD seems a hair brighter, sometimes the TZ does. That "loud then compress" thing going on at the beginnings of these sound samples isn't helping.

[@lechstryzewski9350]

SD for cleaner stuff ....... TZ for the heavy stuff

[@joshsolo9398]

both too similar to make a difference really. the SD seems a little tighter, but not much.

[@MrNumber1gator]

SD TO THE END!!!!!! With and original Bill Lawrence (Bill n Becky).

[@jonathanpaek8459]

Don't know why, but the TZ sounds whiny to me...

[@XChristianNoirX]

Super biased towards the Tone Zone here. Totally hoses the Suoer Distortion IMHO. Less fizz, more punch/clarity. If the Tone Zone doesn't have enough output, you got problems. A slight tweak to the Tone Zone for a little low end clarity could make it the ultimate pickup. In fact, the BKP Juggernaut is very similar, with those tweaks.

[@pio738]

Tone Zone - Fender strat standart - kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6m0ZaV7oLVnp8U

[@jagadsenifranco8949]

"what is your choice? Super Distortion or tone Zone?" "Yes..."

[@7STRING]

In all the pickup reviews on this channel, all the guitars sound from the exact same track (the track that has been recorded before). Whether it's a clean sound or a distortion sound. The question is, how to record the sound of guitar strings into a track that will be captured by different pickups, which will be reviewed. Meanwhile, what is being reviewed is the pickup itself, where the pickup is the first tool and can only record the original sound of the guitar strings played directly by the player, not the recorded sound of the guitar. I was surprised and couldn't make sense of it. Is there a technical explanation, or this is simulation only?

[@mikestamper]

Hi! I don't understand what you try to mean. What I do is really simple: Each pickup sample is recorded once, playing the same riffs in the same order everytime. That sample is used in all the videos that imply that pickup, so, that sample will always sound the same for every video for that pickup model (because it's the same sample!). These videos are basically "pickup model 1 sample VS pickup model 2 sample", which is totally legal and simple to understand. I split each pickup sample track to match each riffs with their position and timing on my video template, and... voilà! No simulation, no strange theories.

[@alexandrefigueiredo7541]

I can't hear difference between them

[@Donnie_Thornberry]

The Super Distortion is hotter and has more high end. If you played them side by side they sound totally different and feel different as well.

[@bucknasty69]

They’re very similar pickups, the main difference being their magnets, and whether you prefer ceramic or alnico tone and feel wise. I’ve come to learn I like alnico magnet pickups as they’re “rounder” sounding and feeling than ceramic magnet pickups, which to me are more “pointy”, if that makes any sense. Neither is better than the other, it just depends on what you like best.

[@OrkhanJulfa]

For me the only pickup that can beat Super Distortion is Evolution.

[@giorgosk2884]

Clean cant spot any major difference but in the gain mode Tz is bassier for sure

[@bonsummers2657]

SuperD is fatter-punchier,… is how I'd describe in comparison to the ToneZ

[@iOnRX9]

tone zone wins

[@guitarplayer1434]

I would say the tone zone was just a repacked super , to sell something' different'

[@srficarra]

I’m beginning to “think” that the TZ may just be a SD with A5 magnet? But what gets me is how similar they sound with different magnets?! I have a BKP ceramic warpig and wasn’t really digging it. I took the A5 out a spare TZ I had and put it in the warpig. It changed the sound a lot but changed the feel immensely. For the better I might add. I learned that I definitely like alnico over ceramic. I found ceramic has a flat sound and are a little too stiff for me. But I’m sure they have their place. I know guys get great sounds out of them but it’s just never worked for me

[@gigmandrew8975]

Super distortion for me

[@geomusicmove]

The Tone Zone is definitely more buzzy on the top end and has a little thinner low end than the SD. The SD is the better choice for note separation at high gain .

[@bonsummers2657]

Super Distortion has a fatter-punchier tone, which I prefer.

[@carlodevivomusicontent2138]

They both sound very "honky" on clean, tone zone is tighter with distortion. I have a super distortion, it's strange that i don't use it and prefer a cheap pickup that sounds better. Sometimes we are fooled by the name of the pickup

[@Синергетикс]

It doesn't differ at all, in my opinion.

[@michaelallen981]

The tone zone sounds way too anemic to my ears

[@visatojr]

#mikestamperofficial @mikestamperofficial 🙏 tonezone dimarzio vs Sh5 seymour duncan.

[@mikestamper]

Seymour Duncan Custom / SH-5 comparison series start tomorrow! :)