Pickup Advice Needed.

Amplex

Amplex

New member
Hello I am new to this forum, I play guitar and I am buying new pickups within the next few days.

I was interested in purchasing some Livewire hot pickups for my Fender Strat.

However it looks like they have been discontinued and replaced by the Blackout single coil size humbuckers.

I play Metal and Death metal and I really want that really chunky heavy rhythm sound and that like searing metal lead tone...

So the question is which set would be a better choice.

Thanks,

Tony
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Welcome to the forum!

If your Fender Strat is SSS then the very first thing to check is whether it is HSS routed under the pickguard like mine was (S = Single Coil, H = Humbucker).
IMO there's no chance in hell you can get the tones you describe out of a Single Coil bridge pickup.

Now, as for the LiveWires VS the Blackouts, the way I understand it the new Blackouts Metal/Singles are both re-vamped versions of the older LiveWires, re-voiced taking advantage of the innovations SD used with the original Blackouts.

Now as for which, the Blackout Singles could be great for the neck and middle of your Strat but for the bridge I'd STRONGLY recommend getting the Blackouts.
Which Blackouts depends on EVERYTHING you play.

The Blackouts Metal will do Thrash/Death/Drop Tunings especially good but absolutely nothing else. Don't even THINK of trying to use them for clean while they won't sound all that great for just Heavy (Maiden/Priest etc) tones.

The original Blackouts on the other hand will handle everything you've learned to love that used EMGs 81/85.
They will have good cleans, will do great for Rock/Heavy Metal and they're great for Thrash and Death as well. After all, that's what everyone that played those styles used to use until two years ago...

So, in short, if your guitar is routed for HSS under the pickguard then:
- Get the Blackouts Metal if you plan on ONLY playing Black/Death
- Get the original Blackouts if you plan on ALSO playing anything else
(Personally I'd just get the original Blackouts either way but that's just me).

If under the pickguard your guitar is routed for SSS then just forget about it and get a new guitar, ideally a Schecter or a B.C. Rich if you like pointies...
That'd be better IMO...
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

A strat isn't the best choice for the music you want to play, but have you thought of hot rails for a pickup choice?
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

It is easy enough to rout a HB hole in your Strat in reference to KeeperOS's post, or to at least have someone else do it.
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Well, yes, technically you can chop one up no sweat, but exactly like DonP said, a Strat would probably be the last choice (well, 2nd to last after an ES-335 or a Tele) for those kinds of music.

If he can make this work without inadvertently changing the guitar then this should be cheaper for now and he could still sell it later if he'd want after bringing it back to stock.

However (and always IMO) if this will require permanent mods to make it work he might as well go for a new guitar like a Schecter Demon (which I cant' find on the site right now so it could even be discontinued :9:) or sth to that effect that's relatively cheap and will do what he wants out of the box...
 
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Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Thanks for all the responses, my strat is an aerodyne which was a model they made, that is black and has the binding around the edge of the body. Mine is only routed for sss so that means no full size humbuckers.

I was just looking into the sets of three humbucker size blackouts or livewire hots.

Yes sadly a strat isn't the best guitar to have for metal, well....in stock condition.

I dont want to route it out, cause that would mean new paint and I can't afford that.

Yeah I have thought about hot rails but i want a really high output pickup set.
 
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Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

My suggestion would be a Hot Rails in the bridge and a pair of Cool Rails in the neck and mid. I'd then lose one of the tone pots and install an EMG SPC circuit.
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

In all honestly, that's a good Strat, I would feel kinda bad to hack it up like that.
If you DEFINITELY MUST use that then probably Benjy's suggestion might be your best bet HOWEVER personally I think that with just a TAD more money you can buy a new relatively cheap guitar that will do what you want from the get go.
It won't do much else but for EVERYTHING else that Strat should have you covered.

Like above I'd personally suggest the Schecter Demon (which I think just got discontinued so make haste).
It's cheap and has the Duncan Designed equivalents of the Blackouts. In short it'll do EXACTLY what you want, and for a price you can't beat...
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Thanks for the responses. however yes I think I can only use this guitar.

Really that will get me a better sound, then the blackout single coil sized humbuckers?
 
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Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

I have a hot rails/cool rails/cool rails setup like Benjy mentioned in a fender starcaster (cheap strat). I play mostly heavier stuff even though I do like to clean it up a bit sometimes for some blues. It is not as in your face as my full HB setups but it is still heavy. It is a smoother type of heavy if that makes sense. I used 250K pots on this setup and am happy with it but I'm sure 500k's would work also.
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

KeeperOS said:
Well, yes, technically you can chop one up no sweat, but exactly like DonP said, a Strat would probably be the last choice (well, 2nd to last after an ES-335 or a Tele) for those kinds of music.
Click to expand...

hey!:grumble: ive used both in my metal bands! my semi was in my more priest/maiden sounding band, and my tele custom with '59n and a invader bridge ripped for our black/death metal stuff!:firing:

plus, dont forget maiden with their strats!:chairshot:wall:
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

For classic Heavy Strats rule, no doubt about it.
Now, Black/Death, well I could be hard pressed to imagine one playing it with an ES-335 while a Tele, well, that's a different story.
Ya see, the typical Tele isn't any better but a Tele-Gib equipped with an Invader, now that's a completely different beast altogether. In fact it's something I've been meaning to try out for quite some time...


As for the H.Rails vs Blackouts Singles, well, the thing is that the BO Singles will be debuting right about now so people don't really know how they sound...
If you're hell bend to go active then yes, I can't imagine something better than the BOs, however, Benjy's scheme should work well enough and it's simpler to boot...

Your choice...
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Ah, a Strat style, w/no pickguard, I presume...routing would suck then...
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

That's brutal NevermindUs, hmm yeah that's part of the problem, is I can't hear the setup cause they are brand spankin new.

Yeah routing would suck specially since the paint is fine if it was really beaten up it would be an excuse to get new paint =P. Plus I don't really want to hack it to shreds.
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

The problem with the blackout singles is that they are still singles. While they do have a high output, they still won't have that humbucker tone. I would recommend the hot rails or super distortion S for the bridge especially. These are true humbuckers where the blackout singles aren't.
 
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Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Oh, well then are the livewire hot pickups better? Cause they were "single coil sized humbuckers".
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Actually, with actives the lines get blurred really easy...
Read this:
From SDs description page said:
Blackouts Singles have a unique dual pin configuration on the underside of the pickup for two modes of output: moderate and high-gain. With the jumper removed, you have a moderate output that’s still comparable to passive pickups. However, with the jumper in place, the output is significantly boosted, making Blackouts Singles compatible with full-size Blackouts humbuckers. The pins can also be wired to a mini-switch or push/pull, for an on board boost!
Click to expand...
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Oh ok, so those blackouts for strats are single coils....kind of disappointing.
some sort of setup with hot rails is looking good, I also want a good clean sound such as in some as i lay dying songs stuff like that... so I was thinking possibly something like this.

Hot Rails in the bridge position, SVR-1 Vintage Rails in the middle position, and a Cool Rails in the neck position. I am also into playing some classic rock and just modern hard rock progressive stuff. Benjy-26 mentioned an EMG SPC pot, would that be necessary if i had those pickups in there?
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Dunno man, for those other styles I think perhaps a real single coil (or a Stacked SC) could work better.

Thing is you want one Strat to do both what it does best AND what it doesn't do as good all at once.
That's not easily accomplished...

First of all, the SPC in essence makes a typical single coil sound kinda like a humbucker (both in tone and output).
AFAIK it can be used both in passive and active circuitries...

To narrow things down, at what percentage do you want to play what with this guitar?
 
Re: Pickup Advice Needed.

Yeah well i'm pretty sure it can be done with the right setup though.
that's just a guess........

k so i shouldn't need one of those.

Well I play something around 90% metal, 5% hard rock and 5% classic rock.
 
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