Hello everyone. I have an hss strat and am thinking about changing my current single coils for a vintage hot stack and custom stack. Would these pickups give me the in-between sounds in positions 2 and 4? I only see it mentioned along with rwrp on the classic stack pickups. Thanks.
In-between sounds with Strat Stacks
- Thread starter LukeW
- Start date
donaldr
Well-known member
FYI, I had a Vintage Hot Stack in the neck and found it very dark with 250k pots. It's a bridge pickup, so I move it in the bridge position and put a Classic Stack + in the neck and wow! I cannot comment about positions 2 and 4 as I have a dummy in the middle and 3-way switch.
IMENATOR
Well-known member
Agree with Mincer, the best quack is when all pickups are vintage output. Being that said using a vintage output single coil in the middle helps a lot with the quack in notch positions when using stacks in neck or bridge. In my personal experience I have used STK-S6 in neck or bridge with an actual SSL-1 in the middle and the quack was very usable. And I always mention I use autosplit wiring to get noiseless in position 2 and 4.
Thanks Imenator. I have Fender Tex-Mex pickups in the neck and middle right now and a SD JB Trembucker in the bridge. I use a freeway switch that auto-splits for position 2. I have listened to Youtube videos of the Classic stacks and they sound a lot better to my ear than the sound samples from SD on the website. I'm not sure why they sound so different. One video did a back to back between Fender single coils and Classic Stacks. They sounded close but maybe more output than the Fenders.
IMENATOR
Well-known member
I have never tried the Vintage Stack for Strat but having a bit more output than vintage fender ones does not sound like a problem to me. I do not use modelers so something I have learned is that even if I cannot really have the sound of your favorite band or album you can always find good sound that you can enjoy. I don't need to perfect match the tone, I just need to be in the same ballpark. But if you are super picky about tone chasing I am convinced direct to PA modelers with the same guitars/pickups/pedals are the way to go because the sound we love from albums is a recorded one, even live albums.
freefrog
Well-known member
For those who would want more quack in 2d and 4th positions: a superswitch enabling an inductor / choke in parallel with the pickups would do the job, whatever are the PU's involved.
If the technical background and/or gear necessary to measure inductance is/are lacking: a Bill Lawrence Q filter has the proper specs (ultra low DCR and impedance, low inductance, tiny coil giving low noise).
If it harms the output level too much or makes the sound too quacky, just put in series with a resistor (4.7k to 24k, depending on your needs and tastes).
FWIW.
If the technical background and/or gear necessary to measure inductance is/are lacking: a Bill Lawrence Q filter has the proper specs (ultra low DCR and impedance, low inductance, tiny coil giving low noise).
If it harms the output level too much or makes the sound too quacky, just put in series with a resistor (4.7k to 24k, depending on your needs and tastes).
FWIW.
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UPDATE: I installed the neck and middle of the Classic Stack Plus stk4. They sound good. I now get no hum even with overdrive and flanger on. I'm still experimenting wIth pickup heights and amp settings since I think these are hotter than what I had. Thanks for your help everyone.
Awesome! It sounds like it would be a great combo. I have a Classic Stack Plus in the neck of my Warmoth Strat, and I swear, it is my favorite Strat pickup.