Antiquity A2 vs A5 single coil tone differences

[JB6464]

I want to build a traditional SSS Stratocaster and use real single coil pickups but unsure where to start off with, A2's or A5's.
I know single coils can be really thin and bright so I'm leaning towards the Antiquity Texas set with A2's right now.

What major tonal differences will I hear between the two?

The two I am looking at are the Antiquity A2's or A5's.
I'm going to be using the strat for blues like Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and push it into some rock stuff like early JB stuff or JM.
Amp wise I'll be using my Soldano's with EVM12L loaded cabinets.

 

[jeremy]

i love both sets, but think the surfers nail the classic fender tone. ive had both sets in guitars and overall, i prefer the surfer set. at least in the neck and middle, bridge is a toss up. both are vintage wind single coils so fairly low output and bright. the a2 set has a softer top and bottom, with a little more chewy mids. surfers sound like a strong 1963 strat pup to my ears

 

[GuitarStv]

A2 is a little more rounded in the highs and a little more middy, A5 is a bit more scooped. You can get nice strat sounds out of both (my preference is A5 though) .

Whichever one you go with, the key to avoiding thin/bright strat sounds is in dialing more mids at the amp or by using a middy distortion pedal (that's why tubescreamers and SD-1s are so popular with 'em).

 

[Clint 55]

The surfers are mega tone rich. It would be hard to not favor those. With vintage single coils you can just knock down some of the spike with ur pots or resistors if you need to. Here are some 220k pots.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3916310981...Er6PCfY8bsQAB7nDOSqWpy8BTNp8|tkp:BFBMgNbnvdRh

 

[Mincer]

This is exactly the kind of issue that the Five Two pickup was intended to solve- great piano-like lows with no-ice highs.