Larry DiMarzio and Earl Slick's Conversation " In the Beginning"

Earl Slick was one of the first musicians to use the Super Distortion guitar pickup on tour and recordings. Others include Ace Frehley, Al DiMeola, Paul Stanley, Kurt Cobain and Rick Derringer to name a few.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• david bowie
• john lennon
• yoko ono
• dimarzio pickups
• super distortion
• pickups
• the cure
• guitar player
• guitarist
• Kurt
• Cobain

[HoleHeadedLiar]

Mr DiMarzio,

I'm currently considering purchasing a very good Les Paul copy, (alder body, rosewood fingerboard) and replacing the stock p'ups with a DiMarzio Super Distortion at the neck, and a Super 3 at the bridge.

Do you have any advice on this combo?

I want a tone that is rich and bluesy, yet overdriven without a lot of work from any of my few pedals, that I can, with some extra oomph! from the pedals get a decent Glam Metal tone out of.

Will a super distortion be okay at the neck?

[LarryDiMarzio]

@HoleHeadedLiar

It's pretty old school, but many players use a Super in the neck, and it should be OK with a Super 3 in the bridge.

The only thing to be careful about is to avoid a muddy sound by not dialing in too much bass with your amp.

[goldeneagle701]

Mr. Di Marzio, why did you use 12 hex screws on the Super Distortion instead of the 6 traditional ones? Thanks.

[LarryDiMarzio]

Hi,

Three primary reasons:

1) I had already started removing the covers and realized that I liked the of the sound of the pickups better with the covers off.

2) My pickups couldn't be confused with standard Gibson pickups because of the double cream coils.

3) The coils and magnetic fields were more identical in the pickups which also effected the sound in coil switching modes.

Hope that helps,

Larry DiMarzio

[ewkeegan]

Mr. DiMarzio,

I fell in love with Earl's guitar skills after hearing "David Live". I continue to feel that his distortion on songs like "Suffragette City", "Cracked Actor" and "The Jean Genie" on this album are the best I have ever heard. Did he use your pickups during these shows? I have spent a lifetime trying to match his sound on "David Live"!

[LarryDiMarzio]

Hi,

Yes, Slick was using DiMarzio Super Distortions. I had rebuilt his SG guitar when he first got the job with Bowie. I think most of this was also played on an old Marshal 100 watt amp with G12m Celestion speakers.

Hope that helps,

Larry DiMarzio

[reallyguitarhero]

Randy Rhoads used this pick up

[ewkeegan]

Larry,

Thanks for your quick response. The introduction (A chord) in Suffragette City on David Live is the best distortion ever recorded in my humble opinion. I have come close with my G&L, Ibanez Tube Screamer, and a 100-watt music man. I am happy to learn that you had a hand in the amazing sounds he produced on David Live. If he had used off-the-shelf gear I would have been a little miffed. Anyway, thanks for letting me know and thanks for helping Earl fill my world with distortion!

[carmenstuff]

r u kidding???????? no comments? wut the hell r ppl doing?

this is geat shit.