KeeperOS
New member
Hi.
-*The truly important stuff, read only this and you’ll still know what I’m asking for*-
So, a Standard Mexican Fender Stratocaster, Maple neck on Alder body, came out of the factory in the year 2000 (in case it matters), now has the rails-for-Strat type "DiMarzio Fast Track 2" pickup
(Wiring: 4 Conductor, Magnet: Ceramic, Output: 321, DC Resistance: 17.53)
at the neck position and the original ones at the other two (and yes, I kept the old one).
In case it matters my amp is the Line 6 Spider II 30 (A hell of a good amp for its' low-end price...) but I will also be playing on a Peavey (I think it's named 112, a 100sth watt amp) at the studio for our rehearsals.
I want to make this Strat play Heavy/Power Metal; I’m talking about tones from Helloween, Savatage and Riot to Iced Earth and Angel Dust as well as everything in between.
(And still have at least one position/setting with a respectable tone for the clean channel, preferably resembling my old Neck/Middle position tone).
A rather big range but not too big (I hope…).
So, if anyone knows what tone I’m talking about and thinks he has an idea of how I can make my Strat sound roughly like this then please, do drop a line or two!
Obviously suggestions utilizing my Fast Track 2 (on any position) would be preferred since it means not throwing away my money but if it was such a bad decision then don’t hesitate to say so as well.
Naturally, the fact that this one is a DiMarzio doesn’t mean that the others will have to be as well (otherwise why post here), just as long as they work good together to give me 5 great, balanced tones instead of 3 completely unrelated ones…
Now, if you are wondering why I got my guitar like this then perhaps you should read on to
-*The useless stuff, only read if you want to understand better what I’m talking about*-
6 years ago I decided I wanted to learn to play the electric guitar and finally bought a Mexican Fender Stratocaster. I never read a book, I was never shown anything.
I simply took the guitar in my hands and started learning.
Now I play (semi-respectably) Traditional Heavy / Power Metal and a little of everything around that but know little beyond hitting the strings with a pick.
Now, I will move on to a heavier guitar, sth around a “Schecter Omen FR Extreme” to a “Carvin DC-400”, depending on how confident I will be about my playing when the time comes (meaning, when I have the money as well as how much money I will have).
However these past 6 years I have come to love my Strat. It has taken me further than what I thought it would.
So when the time comes I don’t want to replace it with a new main axe but rather get another to compliment what I have in mind for it: To make my Strat give me the best tone possible for what I need.
So, changing pickups was the obvious choice, right?
Here is when I did the n00b’s most basic mistake: I went to the shop and said “I want to make my Strat play metal” (that is, I want to make it so that it is configured to play Metal especially well...).
- “Which pickup do you play with the most?”
- “The Neck and Middle, mainly the neck, for the clean channel though my favorite tone is when I set the selector to “2”, meaning, when I play in the Neck/Middle position”.
It seemed that a humbucker (but for a single coil slot) was the obvious choice. After all I complained about how when I play together with a humbucker guitar mine is completely phased out. I simply cannot be heard...
So the guy makes a call and tells me:
“Ok, what you need is the DiMarzio Fast Track 2 pickup (it’s a rails humbucker for Strat) for both the neck and middle positions and the Tone Zone (for Strat) for the bridge.
Since you mostly play with the neck pickup only change this for now and move your way down later.”
So I did and now I have a guitar that gives me distortion even when I am at the clean channel which makes the bridge pickup sound more like a tin can (in comparison) than it did before...
Have I screwed sth up?
I like the new pickup better than what I had before but I still get the feeling that sth isn't right...
So, yeah, AFTER I made the change I remembered to ask around. (idiot)
I asked 10 different persons and got 10 different answers, however what they all seemed to agree on was that I should have changed the bridge pickup instead...
That and that the Fast Track 2 turned out to be a pickup designed for the Bridge position after all... (FREAKIN' IDIOT!!!)
Now, I really don’t know much about brands, I didn’t even choose the pickup to be a DiMarzio nor would it have mattered to me if it was a Seymour Duncan instead (again, because of ignorance, not taste).
So, instead of asking people who see themselves as omnipotent but know little to nothing about the tone I want my guitar to have I decided to ask here.
The End...
-*The truly important stuff, read only this and you’ll still know what I’m asking for*-
So, a Standard Mexican Fender Stratocaster, Maple neck on Alder body, came out of the factory in the year 2000 (in case it matters), now has the rails-for-Strat type "DiMarzio Fast Track 2" pickup
(Wiring: 4 Conductor, Magnet: Ceramic, Output: 321, DC Resistance: 17.53)
at the neck position and the original ones at the other two (and yes, I kept the old one).
In case it matters my amp is the Line 6 Spider II 30 (A hell of a good amp for its' low-end price...) but I will also be playing on a Peavey (I think it's named 112, a 100sth watt amp) at the studio for our rehearsals.
I want to make this Strat play Heavy/Power Metal; I’m talking about tones from Helloween, Savatage and Riot to Iced Earth and Angel Dust as well as everything in between.
(And still have at least one position/setting with a respectable tone for the clean channel, preferably resembling my old Neck/Middle position tone).
A rather big range but not too big (I hope…).
So, if anyone knows what tone I’m talking about and thinks he has an idea of how I can make my Strat sound roughly like this then please, do drop a line or two!
Obviously suggestions utilizing my Fast Track 2 (on any position) would be preferred since it means not throwing away my money but if it was such a bad decision then don’t hesitate to say so as well.
Naturally, the fact that this one is a DiMarzio doesn’t mean that the others will have to be as well (otherwise why post here), just as long as they work good together to give me 5 great, balanced tones instead of 3 completely unrelated ones…
Now, if you are wondering why I got my guitar like this then perhaps you should read on to
-*The useless stuff, only read if you want to understand better what I’m talking about*-
6 years ago I decided I wanted to learn to play the electric guitar and finally bought a Mexican Fender Stratocaster. I never read a book, I was never shown anything.
I simply took the guitar in my hands and started learning.
Now I play (semi-respectably) Traditional Heavy / Power Metal and a little of everything around that but know little beyond hitting the strings with a pick.
Now, I will move on to a heavier guitar, sth around a “Schecter Omen FR Extreme” to a “Carvin DC-400”, depending on how confident I will be about my playing when the time comes (meaning, when I have the money as well as how much money I will have).
However these past 6 years I have come to love my Strat. It has taken me further than what I thought it would.
So when the time comes I don’t want to replace it with a new main axe but rather get another to compliment what I have in mind for it: To make my Strat give me the best tone possible for what I need.
So, changing pickups was the obvious choice, right?
Here is when I did the n00b’s most basic mistake: I went to the shop and said “I want to make my Strat play metal” (that is, I want to make it so that it is configured to play Metal especially well...).
- “Which pickup do you play with the most?”
- “The Neck and Middle, mainly the neck, for the clean channel though my favorite tone is when I set the selector to “2”, meaning, when I play in the Neck/Middle position”.
It seemed that a humbucker (but for a single coil slot) was the obvious choice. After all I complained about how when I play together with a humbucker guitar mine is completely phased out. I simply cannot be heard...
So the guy makes a call and tells me:
“Ok, what you need is the DiMarzio Fast Track 2 pickup (it’s a rails humbucker for Strat) for both the neck and middle positions and the Tone Zone (for Strat) for the bridge.
Since you mostly play with the neck pickup only change this for now and move your way down later.”
So I did and now I have a guitar that gives me distortion even when I am at the clean channel which makes the bridge pickup sound more like a tin can (in comparison) than it did before...
Have I screwed sth up?
I like the new pickup better than what I had before but I still get the feeling that sth isn't right...
So, yeah, AFTER I made the change I remembered to ask around. (idiot)
I asked 10 different persons and got 10 different answers, however what they all seemed to agree on was that I should have changed the bridge pickup instead...
That and that the Fast Track 2 turned out to be a pickup designed for the Bridge position after all... (FREAKIN' IDIOT!!!)
Now, I really don’t know much about brands, I didn’t even choose the pickup to be a DiMarzio nor would it have mattered to me if it was a Seymour Duncan instead (again, because of ignorance, not taste).
So, instead of asking people who see themselves as omnipotent but know little to nothing about the tone I want my guitar to have I decided to ask here.
The End...
