Replacement pickups for HSS setup

M

markmann

New member
I’m looking for advice on which replacement pickups to use for HSS setup on a strat.

Here are the criteria:

HB at bridge must have good clean tone as well as excellent distortion tone (tube amp distortion) with good definition and good mid punch for cut through.

Singles at neck and middle must be noiseless with as good of a stratty tone as possible. Should have nice articulate tone without extra bass or muddiness.
Singles and HB must sound good together and be well balanced.

How pup’s will be used:

Singles will be used for clean tones similar to clean Hendrix (clean blues lines), jazz, funk and some country-ish sounding stuff. I’m not into the “Texas” tone (as much as I love Stevie Ray I was never really into his tone).

HB will be used for some clean but mostly rock, hard rock and ZZ-Top sounding blues leads. Will NOT be used for scooped metal or any super high gain metal.

The guitar to receive the new pup’s is a Deluxe Strat Plus that currently has red, silver and blue Lace Sensors. I’ve had this guitar for a while but as time goes on I like it less and less and now it just collects dust. The blue at neck is too bassy and muddy sounding. It could be used for some jazz but not the sound that I use. The silver at middle is the best of the three and has decent tone but is a little lifeless. The red at bridge is harsh, not thick enough and sounds terrible with tube distortion. All three have the “blanket over the amp” sound.

I’m thinking of converting this guitar to HSS because I have yet to hear or hear of a stacked single that can do what a full size HB can do and that’s what I’m after for the bridge. Plus, I recently played an American Deluxe HSS with the SCN and H-1 pup’s and liked it a lot. IMO, I thought it was very versatile and all 5 settings were usable but maybe just lacked a little something that’s hard to put my finger on. Lack of clarity or crispness are words I can use to describe it but it’s very close to what I could live with.

Also, I’m not a Strat purist so I don’t need this guitar to sound exactly like an old single coil model (although I do think that is an awesome tone). Actually, some of the non-noiseless may be a tad glassy for me.

So what do you think? Can you recommend a set of three pup’s that could bring this guitar out of retirement?

Thanks a lot,

Mark
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

dont know about the single coils , but for the bridge i would say a jb
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

I think it's gonna be hard to get the single coils to match the humbucker output and still have a very vintage strat tone. I would say Dimarzio HS-2's and a TB-4 at the bridge, but you would need a megaswitch to get the notch positions sounding like a real strat. Or you could split the HS-2's and the JB with push/pull pots.
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

rombola said:
dont know about the single coils , but for the bridge i would say a jb
Click to expand...
What is the tonal and output difference between the JB and the JB Jr? I can use either one but I am assuming without hearing them that the JB sounds more like a typical full size HB than the JB Jr since the Jr picks up narrow string area?
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

DracoAran said:
I think it's gonna be hard to get the single coils to match the humbucker output and still have a very vintage strat tone. I would say Dimarzio HS-2's and a TB-4 at the bridge, but you would need a megaswitch to get the notch positions sounding like a real strat. Or you could split the HS-2's and the JB with push/pull pots.
Click to expand...
Did I miss those pickups you suggested in the product section? I'm afraid I don't know what an HS-2 or a TB-4 is. Sorry for my ignorance but can you give a little more info?

Thanks,

Mark
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

Dimarzio HS-2 is a stacked single coil sized humbucker. In full mode it will keep up with a full size humbucker output wise. When you split it though, it has a remarkably good vintage tone and output. Eric Johnson used them like that a lot.

And the Duncan JB TB-4 is just the F-spaced version of the Sh-4, and it will give you better string alignment. By the way, JB's are famous for having a very decent tone when they are split.
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

Was my post too long? I thought I'd get a little more action than this. Feel free to answer what you can. Responders often need more info so I thought I'd give as much as I could up front.
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

I thought your post was very well detailed. Might just be because its the weekend. I'm sure some more recommendations will be along shortly. ;)
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

I have this posted on another forum and so far the recommendations have been mostly for Dimarzio VV 2.1 + PAF Pro and Bill Lawrence L280s + L500L. Not one for Classic Stacks which surprises me.
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

Hey Markmann, Welcome to the Forum!!

I can give you some recomendations, your detailed post is the kind that makes it easiest to help folks out, so don't apologize for length.

For neck and Middle

In the realm of humcancelling that sounds like singles Duncan has 4 choices.

Classic Stack---the classic stack is going to look like a regular single and have approx. the same magnetic field as a single. There are different ways to wire these, so as to get differend tones.

Hot Stack---like the classic stack the hot stack is going to look like a regular single and have approx. the same magnetic field as a single. The differences are going to be more output, and a ceramic bar magnet. This will result in slightly more string pull, and a brighter sound with more highs, and high mids.

Duckbucker---The folks who have used this pup love it dearly. It has a unique design which gives it the quack of a strat single with no hum. It also has adjustable polepieces as well, so you can fine tune your sound

Vintage rails---This pup will sound somewhat similiar to the duckbucker but without the adjustable poles. The rails make the pup more bending friendly, due to have even dispersement of the magnetic field.

For the bridge pup you have a few options.

JB---This pup calls many strats home. It is high output, but isn't dark brittle sounding. It has a large upper mids spike, with lots of highs as well. This is the most popular SD, as well as the most popular after market pup. Lots of guys use a 250k pot with this pup to tame the high end.

Custom Custom---Like an overwound A2 PAF. It has a warge mids spike with smooth highs, and round lows. This pup can be as aggressive, or amicable as you like. It can even do some chikin pikin!

PAF Style--If you want lower output, and a more quacky sound this is the route for you to go.

Check out my posts on this thread for a SD PAF style breakdown, as well as a Custom series breakdown, and a bit on the JB

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=32475&page=2&highlight=alouu

Luke
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

I am a fan of the JB dirty, but I do not care for it played clean. If you aren't going to be playing high gain rock/metal, you can definatly consider lower output pups.

My first reaction is similar to Twilight's... the Screamin Demon is IMO an often overlooked yet still outstanding pickup for fat strats. It's not too hot, so it should balance well with just about any hum cancelling single coil. My favorite match to it is the cool rails.

You may also look into other PAF style pups. The '59 or PGb should both balance well with single coils and still pull off the sounds you are looking for (I say should because I have no experience using those pickups in a strat).

For single coils, I'm a huge rails supporter. I can't say enough about the cool rails, and the vintage rails are also very solid pickups. The VR, like the name suggests, does have vintage strat qualities to the tone, although you will never mistake them for vintage strat single coils.
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

JacksonMIA said:
Also, do you know what kind of wood your guitar is? It might help narrow things down a bit.

And welcome to the forum, Mark.
Click to expand...
Thanks, glad to be here! My strat is alder.
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

Luke Duke said:
Hey Markmann, Welcome to the Forum!!

I can give you some recomendations, your detailed post is the kind that makes it easiest to help folks out, so don't apologize for length.

Luke
Click to expand...
Thanks, Luke. That pickup breakdown is excellent... so many choices, so little time. The descriptions of the Duckbucker and V-Rails don't give tonal examples like the HB descriptions except to say that they quack. Is there any way yo can explain how they sound? Like I tried to explain, I'm really not into a Texas type hot sound but more of a chimy bell tone when stroked lightly but has a nice bite when stummed hard.

Mark
 
Re: Replacement pickups for HSS setup

MikeS said:
I am a fan of the JB dirty, but I do not care for it played clean. If you aren't going to be playing high gain rock/metal, you can definatly consider lower output pups.

My first reaction is similar to Twilight's... the Screamin Demon is IMO an often overlooked yet still outstanding pickup for fat strats. It's not too hot, so it should balance well with just about any hum cancelling single coil. My favorite match to it is the cool rails.

You may also look into other PAF style pups. The '59 or PGb should both balance well with single coils and still pull off the sounds you are looking for (I say should because I have no experience using those pickups in a strat).

For single coils, I'm a huge rails supporter. I can't say enough about the cool rails, and the vintage rails are also very solid pickups. The VR, like the name suggests, does have vintage strat qualities to the tone, although you will never mistake them for vintage strat single coils.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Mike. I'm glad you mentioned that about the JB because the HB needs to sound great clean as well as dirty, if that's the case I'll be looking closer at the PG or Demon. Of those two which would have a tighter bottom and nice cutting tone when used with moderate tube distortion? Also, how far off the mark are the Cool Rails and VR's from traditional single coils? Like I said, I'm not looking for exact duplication but if they are muddy or muffled sounding is a definite turn-off.

Mark
 
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