Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

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flinch

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I'm sorry if there have already been similar posts before. But i would just want to know what the general overall consensus is regarding which is the best overall single coil bridge bucker from these 3 choices. Hot rails, JB Jr. or lil 59. Or if there is a better one, what is it? When i say best overall i mean good thick lespaul like clean tone, for strumming chords or blues and jazz leads, to crushing distortion sound for metal, punk, hardcore and alternative.

I am well aware that one of each of these 3 would suit a certain genre better (e.g. Hotrail for metal), but my question is what is the best OVERALL pickup. Well balanced enough to play the mentioned genres. And pls compare and contrast these pickups with any other random knowledge about them i should know. Any thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

My guitar is an american deluxe strat alder body with maple neck.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

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Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

Exactly what kinds of tones are you looking for? Examples?

Is there any reason why you're limited to those three pickups? Given the variety you're trying to achieve you might be best served by a pickup with a more moderate output, say along the lines of the Cool Rails, Lil 59, or Lil Demon. The Hot Rails will never give you that fat and warm clean tone you desire (you'll never get that kind of clean tone out of a strat bridge anyway). The trade off is that they hit an amp very hard and are decently tight, making them a very sold choice for heavy styles of music.
 
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Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

He's looking for a SCHB that can fit multiple genre's. What is the Swiss Army knife of single coil humbucker pickups? Which ONE could do multiple genre's from cleans, blues, jazz, and and still be up to crushing distortion sound for metal, punk, hardcore and alternative.

Which ONE pickup SCHB can do it all?

I think the answer may well be anyone of those will be fine. I think maybe the Lil '59 might be better.
 
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Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

I got that, but I was hoping he'd narrow it down. You can play any style on any pickup you want. It's difficult to make suggestions without a little more information.

I still say the CR, SD, or 59 are the most versatile of the bunch, but the user must take into account that a jack of all trades type pickup might not fully fill his needs on the days he decides to play thrash.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

flinch said:
I'm sorry if there have already been similar posts before. But i would just want to know what the general overall consensus is regarding which is the best overall single coil bridge bucker from these 3 choices. Hot rails, JB Jr. or lil 59. Or if there is a better one, what is it? When i say best overall i mean good thick lespaul like clean tone, for strumming chords or blues and jazz leads, to crushing distortion sound for metal, punk, hardcore and alternative.

I am well aware that one of each of these 3 would suit a certain genre better (e.g. Hotrail for metal), but my question is what is the best OVERALL pickup. Well balanced enough to play the mentioned genres. And pls compare and contrast these pickups with any other random knowledge about them i should know. Any thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

My guitar is an american deluxe strat alder body with maple neck.
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Flinch, what amp are you using and what effects do you have?

Food for thought...SD offers the following in the Everything Axe Set:
Everything Axe™
Combines an SJBJ-1b JB Jr. for the bridge position with an SDBR-1n Duckbucker and SL59-1n Little ’59 for the middle and neck positions. This is an extremely versatile set that will coax everything from vintage to heavy tones from a Stratocaster. It works with all musical styles, and each of the pickups is hum canceling.
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The above quote is from the SD main page.

Seymour Duncan seems to be suggesting the Lil 59 in the bridge position for versatile tones.
 
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Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

It's all a matter of opinion (of course) because we all like different sounds. In my opinion, the real trick is getting any good cleans from the bridge pickup, which is tricky for strats. As much as people think of Hot Rails as a one-trick, metal pickup, I think that its extended mid response make it a better sounding pickup for many different styles in the bridge position. The JB jr., to me, was totally unusable for bridge cleans. I haven't used a lil '59 bridge, but from what I've heard others say and from my experiences with the lil '59 neck, it could conceivably be the most versatile bridge bucker of the three you are asking about.
 
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Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

I cant stand a hot rails. It sounds like your guitar is running through a megaphone when clean. Same with the invader.

I think the virtual vintage solo sounds pretty decent. Has some balls and it totally looks like a single coil, which is cool. But not a full bucker sound. Seems like nothing is tho', cept the real thing.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

I love my lil'59. It kicks some crazy ass!
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

Lil '59. It has a warmth that the other two don't have. Not only does it handle distortion really well, if you ask me, it's the only one of those pickups that can actually do cleans.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

+1 for the Lil '59. I had one and it's a great pickup. Very diverse and out of the Lil series, IMO, it's the only one that actually sounds like it's full-size counterpart.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

MikeS said:
Exactly what kinds of tones are you looking for? Examples?

Is there any reason why you're limited to those three pickups? Given the variety you're trying to achieve you might be best served by a pickup with a more moderate output, say along the lines of the Cool Rails, Lil 59, or Lil Demon. The Hot Rails will never give you that fat and warm clean tone you desire (you'll never get that kind of clean tone out of a strat bridge anyway). The trade off is that they hit an amp very hard and are decently tight, making them a very sold choice for heavy styles of music.
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I play, george benson type jazz stuff, some bb king and hendrix for the light stuff also joe sat stuff. For the heavier stuff distorted stuff, im looking for a good palm muting pickup with good lead work and distinguishable notes yet still with the metal fatness. All in all bands like chevelle, slick shoes, protest the hero, nofx, anberlin. An clean strumming stuff for transition into clean after heavy distortion.And i am only looking asking about a brigde pickup. My neck and mid are fine.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

Guitar Toad said:
Flinch, what amp are you using and what effects do you have?

Food for thought...SD offers the following in the Everything Axe Set:

The above quote is from the SD main page.

Seymour Duncan seems to be suggesting the Lil 59 in the bridge position for versatile tones.
Click to expand...
Hi thank you, you actually figured out my question perfectly. I am in fact looking for the swiss army knife of Single coil buckers. I have a peavey classic 30 tube amp. But sometimes i use a marshall jcm 800 or fender 40 watt deluxe. My peds are all boss, DS-1, OS-2, Super Chorus, DD-6. And im getting a keeley mod DS-1 soon.

So a lil 59, would be the swiss knife? How does it's distortion compare to a hotrail? I actually have a hotrails, i does sound good distorted, however it lacks that bright bite needed for punk styles of music.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

Folo said:
It's all a matter of opinion (of course) because we all like different sounds. In my opinion, the real trick is getting any good cleans from the bridge pickup, which is tricky for strats. As much as people think of Hot Rails as a one-trick, metal pickup, I think that its extended mid response make it a better sounding pickup for many different styles in the bridge position. The JB jr., to me, was totally unusable for bridge cleans. I haven't used a lil '59 bridge, but from what I've heard others say and from my experiences with the lil '59 neck, it could conceivably be the most versatile bridge bucker of the three you are asking about.
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Thank you for that. How does a little 59 do when distorted, does it have a decent chug for palm muting while still good for progresive type of leads?
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

flinch said:
Thank you for that. How does a little 59 do when distorted, does it have a decent chug for palm muting while still good for progresive type of leads?
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Yes, it does the job just fine under distortion. It's not high output but if your amp has plenty of gain on tap, it'll sound really nice. I'd post links to clips I made some time ago but I did some cleanup on my webspace and removed them.

FYI..you asked about its distortion vs. the Hot Rail. Pickups don't have distortion in them. They'll cause distortion in the amp based on if one is hot enough to do so. Between the two, to cover a lot of ground, I'd pick the Lil' 59 every time.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

I've had both the Hot Rails and JB Jr in the bridge of a coupel of guitars. I didn't like either one. I'd go with the Li'l 59 for sure.

Not on the list, but I replaced a Hot Rails with it and I really like the results, is the Li'l Screamin Demon. Sounds great for rock.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

flinch said:
sorry im new, what's a bump?
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Your thread was about to go to the second page. I "bumped" it back to the top to increase visibility in hopes of getting more responses.
 
Re: Best OVERALL Single Coil Bridge Bucker. HR vs. JB jr. vs. Lil 59

Erik H is an encyclopedia when it comes to gear. I'd trust his judgment. But I would like to put in a vote for the Cool Rails. It is an underrated pickup IMHO.
 
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