HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

[Baraky]

Hi,

I want to build a guitar that has enough output on the humbucker to play heavy stuff like Alice in Chains and other alternative rock/metal with decent gain.
And I also want single coils good enough to keep the strat-like sound both in the clean and crunch channels (Hendrix, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd).
I already have a high output guitar, so I have basically excluded the JB from my possibilities, as it's hard to find single coils with high enough output to match it and still keep the strat sound.

What do you guys suggest?

edit: it's a basswood strat with rosewood fretboard

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

The screamin demon and 59/custom hybrid seem like the best medium output humbuckers.

Vintage flat strats are great if you want traditional strat sound. If you want more power, the custom flat strat is great.

 

[Baraky]

Re: HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

The screamin demon and 59/custom hybrid seem like the best medium output humbuckers.

Vintage flat strats are great if you want traditional strat sound. If you want more power, the custom flat strat is great.

Thanks Clint.

I was thinking exactly about the screaming demon, but I found this sound a little thin? Too much Iron Maiden/Jake E Lee sound if you know what I mean. What do you think?
I would like a fatter sound like Alice in Chains; I know Jerry Cantrell uses JB, but something that could come closer to that would be enough.

Very nice these vintage SSL-2 pickups. Do they match a medium output humbucker well? The SSl-6 I found people only using it as bridge.

Edit: 59' indeed seems to do the job

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

The SSl-6 I found people only using it as bridge.

Yep people are conservative. On that green strat of mine I have an SSL-5 in the bridge and SSL-1s in middle and neck. I have a switch to run them series which would be around 12k like an SSL-6. It sounds nice and fat, I don't have any problem with definition. All you have to do is bump up your pots.

So I guess you could go vintage output for neck and middle and medium humbucker bridge. Or you could go hot single coils for neck and middle and high output humbucker bridge.

 

[Baraky]

Re: HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

Yep people are conservative. On that green strat of mine I have an SSL-5 in the bridge and SSL-1s in middle and neck. I have a switch to run them series which would be around 12k like an SSL-6. It sounds nice and fat, I don't have any problem with definition. All you have to do is bump up your pots.

So I guess you could go vintage output for neck and middle and medium humbucker bridge. Or you could go hot single coils for neck and middle and high output humbucker bridge.

That's very nice. I'm thinking about going with a high output humbucker again. I enjoyed alternative 8 sound more than JB's (gonna have to wire 500k pot for humbucker and 250k for singles here right?); for that I'm going to need high outputs singles to match.
Even though I want both worlds (strat and heavy), I can't really get both, so I'll prioritize heaviness as I play mostly heavier stuff. For the singles I'll get the most strat-like I can get that has enough output. I'm leaning towards the quarter pound for middle and neck. What do you think?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

That sounds like a great set up! I was actually going to get that same thing - 2 quarter pounds and a fat humbucker - but went with the vintage set at the last minute. Honestly, I don't hear any drawbacks as far as strat character with the quarter pounds. They sound pretty good to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogBHwkZNWIk So does the Alt 8.

For the pots, you should be fine with a master 500k volume pot plus 250k tone pots - 1 for neck and middle and 1 for bridge. Single coils sound good with higher value pots to me. It isn't that big of a deal. It gives you more definition and glass that you can easily roll off with the tone knob if you need to.

 

[Baraky]

Re: HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

That sounds like a great set up! I was actually going to get that same thing - 2 quarter pounds and a fat humbucker - but went with the vintage set at the last minute. Honestly, I don't hear any drawbacks as far as strat character with the quarter pounds. They sound pretty good to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogBHwkZNWIk So does the Alt 8.

For the pots, you should be fine with a master 500k volume pot plus 250k tone pots - 1 for neck and middle and 1 for bridge. Single coils sound good with higher value pots to me. It isn't that big of a deal. It gives you more definition and glass that you can easily roll off with the tone knob if you need to.

Great. I'm very happy with this choice, I think it will really match what I expect. This set also doesn't have a very big output difference (17.9k humbucker and 13.4k quarter pounds) so I think it's going to be great.

Regarding the pots, that's something I don't know anything about. Definitely putting a 500k for the humbucker; probably going to do the way you suggested me, because everything you said in this post was correct. Thanks a lot man!

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

No prob!

For volume: 250k = medium; 500k = bright; 1 meg = crazy.

I always use 250k for tone pots because they taper the best and to keep things simple.

 

[rumblebox]

Re: HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

Air Norton with a pair of Cruiser bridge models

Sent from Samsung Galaxy S5 Active using Tapatalk

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: HSS Strat, medium output humbucker, help me out!

^^ Yeah, Cruisers are cool noiseless units. They sound great in the Andy Timmons Ibanez.

My experience is mostly with SDs. I wanted vintagey tones in my HSS, so I put in SSL2s and 59/C and the setup works very well. Having adjusted the pu heights appropriately, there's a very small output difference between the bucker and the singles. I am using 500k for both volume and tone, and no, the single coils aren't piercing, they sound like they should .

Other buckers that would work well in this config include the Screamin' Demon, PATb 3, WLH, and even 59b. For singles, SSL5 for a slightly beefier sound and more output. Classic Stack Plus for noiseless.