Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

[philthis]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

I am super happy with my Eric Johnson pickups on my EJ strat. The neck is snappy clean but not too bass heavy. Its very usable and versitile. the middle is completely out of the tone control circuit so its wide open. Its got a wonderful punchy midrange quality. Its a got a very cool punchy clean tone and I prefer its clean tone to most strats clean neck tone. I can control it with the volume knob but again, it has no tone knob so its just wide open. the bridge pickup is clean but suprisingly good with high gain amps. it doesnt chug chug hard like a JB pickup but its bottom end is tight while the lead tones are clear with a high gain amp. its a great pickup. I think the res is 300k instead of the usual 250k on most strats. I will warn anybody that the neck is quatersawn and this add snap and midrange to the guitar so the same pickups in a different guitar with a thin flatsawn neck and polyester finish will sound different.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

I had the Klein s-7 set which were repros of the EJ set
They were warm and with good mids and a little darker bridge pickup that feels in between ssl-1 and ssl-5 but closer to the SSL 1 and yes sounds very good driven

To me they can be a little smooth, I had them in an ash strat and often found myself engaging the no load tone control to get that extra bit back that I'm used to from like a5 scooped sounding pickups

 

[Juanhanglo]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

I am digging the lace holy grails I installed a while ago.

They are not dead on single coil, but drive really well as a result.

I think the clapton midboost circuit influences my decision more though.

The holy grail bridge is the stand out in the set.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

Soooo... I reinstalled the got dang blasted .022 you happy.

Hah

Hey, whatever works for you!


The lowest I've ever found useful for a tone cap is .015. Less than that and there just doesn't seem to be much point in using the tone control. Usually I find that a .022 or .033 is the sweet spot.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

i have one guitar with a .01 tone cap and it works fine but obviously doesnt roll off much more than the highs. i usually like .015 or .022 as well.

I am digging the lace holy grails I installed a while ago.

They are not dead on single coil, but drive really well as a result.

I think the clapton midboost circuit influences my decision more though.

The holy grail bridge is the stand out in the set.

the clapton circuit is actually two boosts, an always on preamp boost and the adjustable mid boost. cool circuit but it definitely changes things even with the mid boost off

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

That’s cool. My point was more that I’ve had more success playing a variety of Strat-based music when all three coils were about the same output. The Antiquity hot bridge just made my ‘66 Strat sound more like a Tele, which is not a bad thing and it rocked pretty hard as needed, but when I had all three the same output, I was able to cover even more musical territory.

Do you output in terms of volume or in terms of DCR? I have Texas Special which have very even volume with a DCR from 6.3 to 6.7 to 7.4k of 42awg PE.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

Do you output in terms of volume or in terms of DCR? I have Texas Special which have very even volume with a DCR from 6.3 to 6.7 to 7.4k of 42awg PE.

Volume. I can tell my 10k Ant hits the front of my amps harder than a 6-7k bridge does. Breakup point changes and the base tone darkens notably. The amp (tubes and speakers) smooths out the overall level, so it doesn’t sound like it’s louder, but the response changes.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

I agree that having dissimilar pickups gives you some very non-stratty tones, and that having identical pickups gives the most quack in 2/4 pos

 

[znanjeiimanje]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

My current main SSS setup is CS'69/CS'69/Antiquity Surfer II Custom Bridge in an American Deluxe Strat (took out those SCN and never looked back).

Currently contemplating in my second Strat CS'69/Five-Two (non-RWRP)/Twang Banger

 

[Jacew]

Re: Favorite SSS combo in a strat or strat-like guitar?

I like SSL-5 / SSL-7T combo in my main strat, very versatile.

However I have Twangbanger that does cover a lot of same territory as that combo on itself. A brilliant pickup.

I'm currently wiring that guitar for APST / APST / permanently tapped SSL-7 combo.