New Pickups for Strat HH?

R

Rob Insomnicide

New member
So the stock pickups in my Fender Blacktop Strat are too muddy for my liking, I'm hoping to get new ones. I am thinking Black Winters or Full Shread SH-10 and TB-10. But the sound I want is like Slipknot's "Gently" from the Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat album (It was their "demo" as they now know it), and they used the same tuning I like. I don't want active pickups, as they would be far out of my price range with installation. I would send this to customer support, but want to see everyone's opinions. I like to downtune, the lowest I would go is B standard, usually I stay in Drop C. Here are the specs to my Strat;
-Alder Body
-Maple Neck, Rosewood Fretboard
-Standard Strat Tremolo
-5-way selector for coil splitting
-Using Ernie Ball 11-guage strings

In case anyone is wondering my amp is an old Fender Frontman, it's a 25 I think. Again, I want to try to get as close as possible with that tone while avoiding active pickups.

The example of tone I want.

Thanks in advance!
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

Welcome to the forum. I know you're looking for pickups, but my personal recommendation would be to save whatever money you had for a pickup set and put it towards a new amp. I know you feel it's the pickups that are muddy, but I can promise you that an amp more geared towards the higher gain sounds you want will make a world of difference. Depending on where you are you can find good deals on used amplifiers that will fit your criteria. If your usage is strictly bedroom playing, you can even mess around with VSTs such as the LePou plugins or iOS apps that will sound great for the sounds you're looking for.

If you're set on getting pickups for whatever reasons you might have, I'd suggest learning to solder the stuff yourself. It's simple and it pays off over time. Mick and Jim used EMGs for the longest time, so if you really want actives and the price of installation is the only thing deterring you from getting them, you can get a basic grasp on how to install them and just go for it. You can even get a solderless kit which is pretty painless. If they have to be passive, then I'd maybe look into D-Activators but don't be fooled by the name, they're not quite actives.
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

I agree with TC. You will never get the brewtalz out of a ****ty amp, no matter how good the pickups.
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

dotsdad said:
I agree with TC. You will never get the brewtalz out of a ****ty amp, no matter how good the pickups.
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+1 hate to jump on the bandwagon but I would also start with a new amp. That being said Black Winters would get you closer to the tone you are looking for. I would be very surprised if you could nail it with that amp.
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

So what amp do you think I should upgrade too? As of now, I am on a VERY tight budget, and would be lucky if I could even get a decent trade for my current amp. Maybe a Fender Mustang?
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

Both of Slipknots guitar players used EMGs for a long time. I have an 81/60 set and it nails Jim's tone and sound. But a good amp will get you a lot closer to their sound than shelling out the cash for a set of actives. If you want to play some heavy stuff like they play, Jim likes to use orange style amps and things on that direction, I also see a lot of people around where I am play on Line 6 amps and they get some great tones out of them.
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

I know actually Mick used his custom Blackouts, but the tone I'm talking about is from their demo album, Mick and Jim never were on it. The only members on that demo that were still in the band were Clown (Percussion), Joey (Drums), Paul (Bass), and then Josh Brainard on the majority of Self-Titled (replaced by Jim). Josh and Donnie Steele (filled in for bass after Paul's death) were guitarists in MFKR. I do not know what amps they used, and I doubt I'll ever get to ask. Now what I'm wondering is, would Duncan have any pickups that would get me closer to that tone, Black Winters seem like a good option consider I also play Black Metal at times, but D-Activators were mentioned and I never had any expirence with DiMarzio, so I'm kinda unsure what pickup to get? I know I should upgrade my amp, I'm thinking of a Fender Mustang since I can preprogram all my sounds while at a good price, and I like Fender quality.
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

Rob Insomnicide said:
So what amp do you think I should upgrade too? As of now, I am on a VERY tight budget, and would be lucky if I could even get a decent trade for my current amp. Maybe a Fender Mustang?
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just start saving up. In the meantime, practice your chops and go to a few music stores and start trying different amps so you get a feel for which type would suit you best.
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

I wouldn't go out and buy any pickups yet, go try out the amps you're looking at and see if you like them, I'd save up for one of those and then work on the pickups. Your amp will have a much bigger impact overall (at least in my opinion, and in this situation) than the pickups will right now


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Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

I'd look for a used Fender Pro Junior amp. Like Jeff Beck has used. Saw a used PJ for $269 at Guitar Center.

Maybe spend another $63 on a EH Soul Food pedal. Best buy on a Klon pedal there is.

Then start looking at new pickups.

Personally, I'd go for vintage output pickups and a EH Soul Food through a Fender Pro Junior.

Pretty hard to beat.

Check out Jeff Beck playing through a Klon through a couple of Pro Juniors:

 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

The Pro Jr seems a bit out of my price range. How does it sound for alternative, nu, thrash, and sometimes black metal? A Mustang seems like best bet for me, dynamic, and I can record easily with the USB for my band. My co-guitarist uses one and it's nice. For pickups it's narrowed down to two options, Black Winters or D-Activators, what do you think would sound closer to the tone I described above?
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

Rob Insomnicide said:
The Pro Jr seems a bit out of my price range. How does it sound for alternative, nu, thrash, and sometimes black metal? A Mustang seems like best bet for me, dynamic, and I can record easily with the USB for my band. My co-guitarist uses one and it's nice. For pickups it's narrowed down to two options, Black Winters or D-Activators, what do you think would sound closer to the tone I described above?
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There's nothing there. Just a white square.

But I would tend to think you need a nice amp and a nice pedal.

A Pro Junior and the Soul Food are hard to beat, IMO, especially for the price.

Spend less and all you'll get is junk - but that's just my opinion.
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

Wow...that's some grim stuff.

But you do need a better amp than the Frontman and you need the right pedal - after a brief listen to what you're into, the Soul Food is probably not it.

Good luck!
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

I tried that song with a basswood body Strat, and it sounded pretty close though my amp, but it was a cheap Squire that has a variety of problems. I'm thinking with the right pickup to give a brighter sound will maybe compensate for the lack of such a light body. What do you think?
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

A distortion pedal? I'm not exactly sure about it, you think that with it I won't need new pickups? It has great tone, but don't think it fits the sound I want, maybe if it was tuned to Drop C. I have a limited budget so that may be difficult, I think we've kind of strayed from what I was talking about with what I want, the question is, is there any pickup that I can put in an Alder Body Strat to get the tone in the recording?
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

Rob Insomnicide said:
I think we've kind of strayed from what I was talking about with what I want, the question is, is there any pickup that I can put in an Alder Body Strat to get the tone in the recording?
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No. At least not with the gear you're using now.
 
Re: New Pickups for Strat HH?

Well, I tried a Basswood Squire Strat HH, all stock except strings, had same kind I use now on it, it sounded really good through my amp, probably 9/10 compared to that song, maybe a pickup with the treb and mids boosted would work? I heard Alder bodies have more bass and mid that Basswood so maybe pickups can fix that?
 
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