New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

[Lindahl]

What can you recommend to a Ibanez RG560 made in Japan with a HSS setup. I am looking for the best Blues sound. Mainly Texas Blues ?

[Rockstar216]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

Hi and welcome to the forum. Before I can make a recommendation could you tell us what amp(s) and/or pedals your using in your set up?

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

I'm guessing a basswood body?

[DreX]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

There's definately a sweet spot for blues oriented single coils. If you get something too vintage, like 42awg with a resistance of less than 6k for neck and middle then it doesn't push hard enough sounds a little weak and bright, but if you go too far in the opposite direction and approach a resistance of 7k with 42awg, then the tone becomes fat and round, less dynamic and with less highs, and that's not good either. Most pickups in this range use 42awg, so if you see a resistance between 6 and 6.5 K with alnico 5 magnets, they're going to sound pretty similar. My favorites for blues in that range are, in this order, Fralin Blues Specials, Texas Specials, Lollar Blackfaces.

SD has a set called the Antiquity Texas Hots, they are like Antiquity IIs with alnico 2 magnets. I have these in a guitar now, and they're very dark due to the use of A2 magnets, so I wouldn't recommend them. They need a bright guitar. The Antiquity IIs sound great, but they sound bigger and fuller than what I look for in blues pickups, think Hendrix. I'm told the SSL-1's are hard to tell apart from the Antiquity IIs, so I imagine you'd get the same result. They're very versatile though, very dead center strat. All these that I've tested were in Strats, some with steel and others with pot metal trem blocks that release different amounts of high end into the mix. I'm not sure how any of this translates to a Floyd Rose equipped guitar.

The only other pickup I can think of that I haven't tried which is highly regarded for blues in particular is the BNP Irish Tours, which I have on hand and I'm going to install in the next day or two.

[Edgecrusher]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

Yeah its basswood... My main road guitars for a lot of years were a pair of Ibby RG750's. You can cover a ton of ground with them. If it was me I would go with a pair of 5-2's http://www.seymourduncan.com/product...vetwo_for_str/ and a SH55 http://www.seymourduncan.com/product...55_seth_lover/ in the bridge.

Set up would be for low power blues but really you can do it with many pickups.

[DreX]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

I'd stay away from darker pickups if you have a basswood body.

[Edgecrusher]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

I'd stay away from darker pickups if you have a basswood body.

Its a 24 fret RG with a floyd... ive never heard one of these that didnt at least lean to the bright side basswood or not. The pickups are in different positions than on a strat. The neck pickup is probably 2 inches or more farther back and the middle is about an inch farther back.

Ive ran RG's for a long time what works in a strat doesnt always work in an RG.

[Rockstar216]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

I'd stay away from darker pickups if you have a basswood body.

Depends on if he's looking for a dark tone and also Bass wood tends to be pretty neutral sounding.

[DreX]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

Most of my stats are basswood, the antiquity texas hots and quarter pounds are dark as night in them. They have a Rosewood fingerboard and the stock pot metal trem paired with them though, that doesn't help matters. good for many things, but not Texas blues.

[Lewguitar]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

SRV didn't use hot Strat pickups - nor did he use a humbucker for a bridge pickup.

6 - 6.4K is what I like. And alnico 5.

The Antiquity Surfers are my favorite Duncan Strat pickups.

If it was my guitar I'd get three Surfers and a new pickguard.

[DreX]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

SRV didn't use hot Strat pickups - nor did he use a humbucker for a bridge pickup.

6 - 6.4K is what I like. And alnico 5.

The Antiquity Surfers are my favorite Duncan Strat pickups.

If it was my guitar I'd get three Surfers and a new pickguard.

Even though SRV used stock pickups, I think the idea is that hotter pickups give out a similar sense of aggression without having to rake your pick against heavy gauge strings.

How is it that so many players can 'hate' Texas Specials when they're but a few winds away from such beloved SSL-1s and the like.

[Lewguitar]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

Even though SRV used stock pickups, I think the idea is that hotter pickups give out a similar sense of aggression without having to rake your pick against heavy gauge strings.

How is it that so many players can 'hate' Texas Specials when they're but a few winds away from such beloved SSL-1s and the like.

I like the Texas Specials. So does Mark Knopfler. They're fine pickups. I could gig with them easily - and have.

I like the Fralin Blues Specials too, although they're less glassy, slightly thicker sounding and smoother sounding than real vintage Strat pickups. I think Lindy winds great pickups - especially if you want a smoother than vintage tone that eliminates much of the sharp glassy edge of some Strat pickups.

Lindy calls it the 'Ice Pick in the Ear" treble. Hard to eliminate without throwing the baby out with the bath water though.

I like Antiquity Surfers because they sound like the pickups in the '63 Strat I owned from 1975 until just last year. I have them in two Strats.

And I have Lindy's Vintage Hots in several guitars too. They're very pleasant. I do find the Surfers to have a little more throat and a more textured/complex tone but the Vintage Hots are a nice change when I want it.

Personally, rather than have overwound Strat pickups that fatten up the tone but lose some of the glassy chime, I'd rather have vintage output alnico 5 pickups and use a Klon Klone when I want a fatter, thicker and smoother tone.

I hate to say it, but I've never heard a Strat with two singles and bridge humbucker where all three pickups sounded "right".

I'd rather have two humbuckers or three single coils. I don't like mixing them on one guitar.

[Stratman]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

Don Mare makes pickups that will work quite well in your MIJ guitar.

[Rockstar216]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

I hate to say it, but I've never heard a Strat with two singles and bridge humbucker where all three pickups sounded "right".

I'd rather have two humbuckers or three single coils. I don't like mixing them on one guitar.

They usually never do to most older players who grew up with traditional sounding instruments.

My second fav setup is a HSS right behind a HSH set but I'm not a traditionalist or purist in any way.

I was going to hold my recommendation till the OP told us what his rig was but I'll go ahead and suggest a JB or CC in the bridge and two Alnico 2 singles in the neck and middle. If your like me and can't stand the 60cycle hum get the stk version.

[DreX]

Re: New pickups. What choose for blues setup ?

They usually never do to most older players who grew up with traditional sounding instruments.

I'm not that seasoned and even I don't like SSH or HSH - but I do like HHH Strats. I mostly jam with friends, and generally speaking I like a jam to end sort of how it begins, like book ends, and a single coil and a humbucker sound different enough in all respects that I don't find it at all smooth to use both types of pickups during a single jam. The way you play single coils is going to be different than the way you play singles, so it's not just requiring that you flip a toggle, it's requiring that you change the way you play, and it can possibly change the whole mood of the song, mid flight.

On my HHH strat I have a single S-1 switch that splits all three humbuckers at once, that's a pretty nice option.