I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

[DreX]

The deal is, I really like Texas Specials. People say they're brittle sounding, but I like that about them, and I'm able to exploit it for my purposes.

I'd like to get more pickups with a similar quality to the, but the problem is they're often merely described as "hot pickups", I've seen some say they're closer to humbuckers than standard pickups. I think that's utterly untrue, at least in the case of the Texas Specials I have on hand. If anything, they sound thinner and more glassy than stock pickups. They also lack the thick, roundness of typical strat single coils. A caveat is my Texas Specials are 15 years old, the magnets were weak and I recharged them with neodymiums, so they're not brand new Texas Specials.

So I go and buy "hot strat pickups", I've got the Lollar Special S and Duncan Quarter Pounds, and they're not like Texas Specials at all, they actually live up to the promise of getting closer to humbucker territory, they're moving in the opposite direction of Texas Specials, more roundness and prominence rather than a scooped, sharper tone. The Lollar Special S sounds like even bolder Blackfaces, and the Quarter Pound is more or less humbucker tone. I even have Lollar Teeds, very low powered, and they too have a rounder, more traditional tone relative to the Texas Specials.

Are there any pickups out there for strats that come closer to that glassy, "brittle", mid range lacking tone of Texas Specials?

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

Uhhh, can I ask where your reference is from? Like what pickups were you familiar with in your guitar before the TS set? In my experience compared to most vintage spec strat pickups they have a barkier midrange and more output as advertised. If you had a mexi strat or something like that those would be overwound ceramic strat pickups, much hotter and fatter sounding.

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

At any rate, keep checking out D. Allen pickups. Very quality stuff. There is a new set coming out based on SRV tone called the Texas Flood set. He just brought it up recently so it might take a while before they are out for sale, but check D. Allen strat pickups. They really are some of the best.

 

[synzzzer]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

I really liked the Dimarzio Blue Velvets. Now they have the True Velvets, and I haven't tried them. But funny enough, I have a Blue Velvet right beside a Texas Special in a Strat of mine. They are really close. You can pick up old stock or used Blue Velvets on the Bay. Good luck.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

texas specials to me still sound like vintage strat pups but with a definite extra midrange bark and grind.
If you want a recommendation for sweet glassy fat sounding strat single coil pickups without a heap of extra midrange (balanced eq) i think the regular SD ssl-1's are very hard to beat. I much prefer them to texas specials.

 

[DreX]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

Uhhh, can I ask where your reference is from? Like what pickups were you familiar with in your guitar before the TS set? In my experience compared to most vintage spec strat pickups they have a barkier midrange and more output as advertised. If you had a mexi strat or something like that those would be overwound ceramic strat pickups, much hotter and fatter sounding.

You're probably right, my ears are probably deceiving me a little. I think what I'm going for is the prominent highs relative to the mids, and the "tight bass", and the Lollar Special S has a rather full sounding bottom end I'd say, like a bigger Blackface. I just didn't want to end up purchasing that same profile over and over. It looks like the DiMarzio Red Velvet might deliver what I'm looking for, higher output with lots of emphasis on the upper end.

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

You're probably right, my ears are probably deceiving me a little. I think what I'm going for is the prominent highs relative to the mids, and the "tight bass", and the Lollar Special S has a rather full sounding bottom end I'd say, like a bigger Blackface. I just didn't want to end up purchasing that same profile over and over. It looks like the DiMarzio Red Velvet might deliver what I'm looking for, higher output with lots of emphasis on the upper end.

I mean, you're right. Who ever is calling their tone similar to humbuckers is out of their element. They are overwound but retain the stratty sound. VERY bright and clear still.
Check out some strat winds with early 60s specs, the ones with formvar copper wire and alnico V magnets. Those should do the trick.

 

[Texas Slim]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

Check out the Texas Blues from Dragonfire. i have a set in one of my strats, i like them a lot, and the price is hard to beat, too.

 

[glepko]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

Are there any pickups out there for strats that come closer to that glassy, "brittle", mid range lacking tone of Texas Specials?

You want more mid emphasis than TS represent???? Or maybe just a frequency shift in where the midrange peak on a TS is? My ears hear ALLLLL midrange on the TS I just ripped out of a Strat like an ugly pimple on the nose of a teenage girl. Matter of fact, I'm about to toss those damned things into the trash with her tear filled tissue and my earplugs.

Okay ALLLLLLLLl is only a small exaggeration - but man the lows are narrow and the highs are spiked and the mids are full and round on the set of TS's I can't find better use for than weighting my trash bags.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

To me it sounds like you need a reference point for 'classic Strat' tone - in my mind that says SSL1/2.

 

[DreX]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

I mean, you're right. Who ever is calling their tone similar to humbuckers is out of their element. They are overwound but retain the stratty sound. VERY bright and clear still.
Check out some strat winds with early 60s specs, the ones with formvar copper wire and alnico V magnets. Those should do the trick.

Thanks, the Texas Specials use formvar 43 gauge wire with alnico 5's, the problem is very few of the pickup makers advertise all that detail in order for me to cross shop, and I'm not sure I want to start custom ordering pickups just yet.

 

[DreX]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

To me it sounds like you need a reference point for 'classic Strat' tone - in my mind that says SSL1/2.

I have quite a few pickups now, but my baseline reference is Lollar Blackface and SD Aniquity IIs, they aim for the 'best stock pickup ever' sounds, piano like, rich and bold to a fault, IMO. I think I perceive the Texas Special as being weaker because it's so much less balanced EQ-wise, very top heavy, you turn the volume down on your amp to maintain a polite volume and what's technically a higher output pickup is perceptively weaker, at least to my ears.

 

[DreX]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

You want more mid emphasis than TS represent???? Or maybe just a frequency shift in where the midrange peak on a TS is? My ears hear ALLLLL midrange on the TS I just ripped out of a Strat like an ugly pimple on the nose of a teenage girl. Matter of fact, I'm about to toss those damned things into the trash with her tear filled tissue and my earplugs.

Okay ALLLLLLLLl is only a small exaggeration - but man the lows are narrow and the highs are spiked and the mids are full and round on the set of TS's I can't find better use for than weighting my trash bags.

I thought the same of Texas Specials fifteen or so years ago, I hated them to death and thought I'd never use them. I pulled them out of a box after all those years, the magnets were significantly weaker, they had been stuck together. I'm willing to bet they were less than A2. They had a thin softer sound, when I charged them back up to maximum the shrill sound people hate came back and I was a little reminded why I hated them in the first place, but I worked with it and now I feel I can summon vibes out of it that most strat pickups are too full bodied and heavy handed to accomplish. I see a lot of people treat "balanced" output as being objectively better, but I feel I can exploit unbalanced outputs for their characteristics as well.

With regard to mid range, they're upper mid range to high. When I think of "mid range" strictly speaking, I'm thinking of that fat, unmistakable girth you get from almost any full sized humbucker. Texas Specials have a large, empty hole where a humbucker's tone would usually reside.

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

So are you trying to find another pickup that sounds like the TS, or move away from that kind of sound? If it's the former, then there's an obvious response. If away from it, then I'm not sure I'm clear on exactly what you're looking to change about them, nor in which direction.

For what it's worth, I had a pair of TS in my Strat (Middle & neck), but I changed them so long ago that I'd be hard pushed to tell you what I didn't like about them - the term 'thin' comes to mind though. They were replaced originally with Kinman 69's, but it now has SSL Five-Two's on it, which suit me far better, as it's taken the abrasive nature of the high end out of the sound.

 

[DreX]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

I like variety, I bought Lollar Special S thinking it would be similar but different to Texas Specials, and I was surprised to find that they were so different. If I had only one Strat though, it would not put Texas Specials in it, it's a special circumstance guitar, not real versatile. In fact if I had to choose just one I'd probably go for Antiquity II's (I prefer them slightly to the Lollar Blackface) or the Lollar Special S for something that genuinely feels like a "fat Strat".

 

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

I like variety,

Just buy one of everything then...

 

[DreX]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

If by everything you mean pickups that are proximate in sound to Texas Specials, then yes, that's the idea.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

Two things:

Experiment with the height of the Texas Specials, lower them relative to the strings and really dial them in with the amp. (Like a quarter turn at a time) Check out your action as well, I've been digging into my Strat setup lately and 1/32" of raising the action brought back the big Strat "spank" that I lost when I lowered the action...

If that still results in harshness, checkout the D. Allen Austin Blues. (Not the new Texas Floods) I haven't used them, but the reviews all point to them as "Texas Specials that sound good". The other option may be Bare Knuckle Irish Tours.

Good luck on your Strat tone quest, personally I know mine is just beginning!

 

[LReese]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

+1 on the adjustment. I typically like mine really low.

Otherwise the SSL-1 is a great starting point. My preference is all 3 the same wind/polarity/resistance.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: I'm looking for alternatives to Strat Texas Specials

You might want to try an under wound set to gain some perspective. Even the SSL1s at 6.5k are wound strong compared to many original 50's and 60s strat pickups. I ended up with a set of old strat "pulls" that were sub 6k in one strat, the strongest being 5.7k. I was surpized by how lush they sounded. The thing about strat pickups is that they can sound very different from one strat to the next.