Looking for a Telecaster bridge that can do both clean and high gain. Currently playing in a band that calls for both. For cleans looking for something that is still dynamic and expressive without the stiffness I associate with high output pickups, bit of twang a plus. For High gain just want something that can still be punchy enough to not fizz out with high gain and has a tighter low end. Prefer single coils but willing to try humbuckers. Open to any brands but I am on a bit of a budget.
Recommend a Telecaster bridge for good cleans and high gain
- Thread starter SimpleT
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strat dude
Active member
I have the SD vintage stack Tele bridge pup in a couple guitars and love it. It does clean and dirty tones, it’s better for the cleaner stuff but will take gain, I just roll back the tone knob a bit.
Mikelamury
New member
BG1400 can't go wrong
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I have a Quarter Pound in my Esquire. It doesn't do fantastic cleans, but it's the only Tele pickup that I found doesn't sound absolutely terrible under high-gain.
The Hot Rails is alright if you're in Standard tuning, but it's too dark for anything lower... or if you have any other pickup on any other guitar and you directly compare it, LOL. But it does split decently (not fantastic, though) and has decent cleans.
The Hot Rails is alright if you're in Standard tuning, but it's too dark for anything lower... or if you have any other pickup on any other guitar and you directly compare it, LOL. But it does split decently (not fantastic, though) and has decent cleans.
Also a great choice. It doesn't sound like a standard Tele, but it doesn't sound like that's what you are after.
Definitely like Donahue, but my experience is somewhat different... I've had lots of great crunch out of stock tele bridges.
But noise canceling is certainly important in somebody above mentioned the hot rail.. Hotrail it would be way too much in my opinion, however a cool rail will give you a really good modern stratish bridge, and it seems like I'm pointing this out a lot these days, it works incredibly well with a spin a split to drop down towards a single rail depending on noise, and it also works incredibly well parallel to self which gives you more classic tones.
Of course, none of these are totally authentic telly bridge tones but I've had a lot of customers like these options.
But noise canceling is certainly important in somebody above mentioned the hot rail.. Hotrail it would be way too much in my opinion, however a cool rail will give you a really good modern stratish bridge, and it seems like I'm pointing this out a lot these days, it works incredibly well with a spin a split to drop down towards a single rail depending on noise, and it also works incredibly well parallel to self which gives you more classic tones.
Of course, none of these are totally authentic telly bridge tones but I've had a lot of customers like these options.
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theres no tele cool rails that ive ever seen, though im sure the cs could do it
strat dude
Active member
The Hot stack has tempted me in the past, the A-5 bar magnet makes me want one. I wonder how similar it is to the hot stack for Strat? I know they are different but I still wonder.
Hot rails are definitely very hot... I have never been able to get them to clean up anything like a tele or even a really useful clean sound but they do sound good in many different guitar when you want significant punch.
But as Jeremy said, I think you'd have to get a custom hot rail or cool rail, for mounting purposes.
Also just to be clear on nomenclature, the cool rail is not cool at all... it will gladly push a preamp and that's why I usually offer spin a split or parallel to get them down to a more classic tone.
But as Jeremy said, I think you'd have to get a custom hot rail or cool rail, for mounting purposes.
Also just to be clear on nomenclature, the cool rail is not cool at all... it will gladly push a preamp and that's why I usually offer spin a split or parallel to get them down to a more classic tone.
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ToneFiddler
New member
i don't like the normal bright tele bridges like the duncan STL-1, STL-52 or STL-1B. The Donahue is much better, but it's still quite bright and with high gain i only can take it, if i roll down the tone noticable (else too fizzy). i don't think it excels there. i use it for low gain stuff with great results
The Quarter Pound is very compressed, so the cleans are not what you want.
Best i could think of is the Zhangbucker Paul Bunyan. It's fat enough to sound good with quite some gain and not packed with mids so the cleans are still good and some twang left.
Not hum canceling though.
Dimarzio FastTrack (hum canceling) might be what you want too, but never came around to try it myself.
The Quarter Pound is very compressed, so the cleans are not what you want.
Best i could think of is the Zhangbucker Paul Bunyan. It's fat enough to sound good with quite some gain and not packed with mids so the cleans are still good and some twang left.
Not hum canceling though.
Dimarzio FastTrack (hum canceling) might be what you want too, but never came around to try it myself.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I honestly don't think the Hot Rails does very good cleans. Personally, I don't think it does high-gain all that well either, but that's just me being controversial. At least not if you like some attack and aggression to your high-gain.
alex1fly
Well-known member
Don't know but in mine it is classic hot Tele sound. Hot, thick, clear.
there is a hot rails for tele, just not a cool rails. i have a strat loaded with hot rails neck and bridge. 500k volume, 250k tone, and a switch to select series/split/parallel. i think a tele hot rails bridge with series/parallel options can cover a lot of ground.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
For a Hot Rails Tele, I'd go for 1 Meg volume, no tone.
Seriously. My Esquire is super super super bright acoustically (it has a pine body, a maple fretboard, and brass saddles), and even my Les Paul with an X2N (one of the darkest full-size hums I've ever tried) had more sizzle and aggression.
The one thing I did like about the Hot Rails is that it is stupid hot. Like almost Black Winter/X2N hot, which was surprising to me considering it's a tiny pickup with just a little strip of Ceramic in it. Then again, I did have mine wired to just a single volume knob, no tone loading/watering it down.
Seriously. My Esquire is super super super bright acoustically (it has a pine body, a maple fretboard, and brass saddles), and even my Les Paul with an X2N (one of the darkest full-size hums I've ever tried) had more sizzle and aggression.
The one thing I did like about the Hot Rails is that it is stupid hot. Like almost Black Winter/X2N hot, which was surprising to me considering it's a tiny pickup with just a little strip of Ceramic in it. Then again, I did have mine wired to just a single volume knob, no tone loading/watering it down.
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