Single Coil Variations
- Thread starter ehdwuld
- Start date
Why dont you have slug coil strat pickups with ceramic magnets on the bottom on the list.
Thats my vote.
They sound nothing like a classic strat which is why I like umm.
Ive been through
Fender CS 69
Fender Fat 50s
Fender Texas Specials
DiMarzio Blue Velvet
DiMarzio Blue Velvets I peeled down to 5.8k
DiMarzio HS3
DIMarzio FS1( kinda liked that in bridge)
DiMarzio Area 58
DiMarzio Area 67(?) ( both area pups were absolutely trash i tgrew um out)
2000s Amr Standard pups( bridge was decent)
Fender 1970s X2
Fender 70s flat poles
Duncan APS1( not bad)
Although the DiMarzio SDS1 is intetesting me lately.
Thats my vote.
They sound nothing like a classic strat which is why I like umm.
Ive been through
Fender CS 69
Fender Fat 50s
Fender Texas Specials
DiMarzio Blue Velvet
DiMarzio Blue Velvets I peeled down to 5.8k
DiMarzio HS3
DIMarzio FS1( kinda liked that in bridge)
DiMarzio Area 58
DiMarzio Area 67(?) ( both area pups were absolutely trash i tgrew um out)
2000s Amr Standard pups( bridge was decent)
Fender 1970s X2
Fender 70s flat poles
Duncan APS1( not bad)
Although the DiMarzio SDS1 is intetesting me lately.
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freefrog
Well-known member
In Area's, signal coil and bottom noise cancelling bobbin are asymetrical. This mismatching causes a comb filtering effect present with most stack pickups but in this case, unpleasingly focused in the high harmonics. DiMarzio has tried to minimize this side effect by using a shield between coils but it doesn't suffice to give a natural high end roll off.
Indifferent side note - I've worked on a way to avoid this downside on a similar design... ;-)
Also: the two models sticking out in your list are the FS1 and 2000s Amr Standard pups. Like "slug coil strat pickups with ceramic magnets on the bottom", what they have in common is their higher inductance compared to normal Strat pickups.
Guitar heroes of yesteryears compensated the lack of inductance of classic Strat models and made them less trebly / warmer sounding by using high cable capacitance. There's a famous interview where Cesar Diaz talks about that. Here is an excerpt:
"Anyway, I sent messages to both Lenny Kravitz and Eric Johnson that part of the secret to getting great tone was using weaker pickups and coil cables. The coil cables add a lot of capacitance and inductance to your signal chain, therefore, when you’re playing through a Marshall, you’re cutting back on the high frequencies. When we were doing the In Step album with Stevie, I had an endorsement with Monster Cables. They would send me all of this free stuff and I was very excited because I could manage these things for a guy like Stevie, who really didn’t even know how to wash dishes. All he knew how to do was play the guitar, but God bless him for that, because he really did something with what he knew. Anyway, I took these cables we got to Stevie and he said, “I hate these things.” I asked him, “Why, man, they’re the best cables in the world?” He said, “They pass to much electricity.” Those were his exact words, and I’ll never forget it as long as I live. “They pass too much electricity.”
They were too efficient…
"Yeah, so he sent me out to the local Radio Shack and told me to buy every gray coil cord they had – not the black ones, only the gray ones. And I thought, “Hhmm, this freakin’ hick from Dallas is telling me this?” I got them and ran them through my capacitance meter and found out that they added like almost .05 mfd to the signal chain. That made it sound solid – it was like having a tone control, and the brightness and harshness that the Marshalls had was eliminated. There isn’t a single picture of Hendrix…back then they already had high-end cables, but there isn’t a single picture of Hendrix where you see him playing with a straight cable. Why? This is something I brought up to Eric Johnson – whether he heard me or not I don’t know, but it could be the second coming of coil cables."
As I've repeated it in one of my last rambling sessions, the effect of coily cables can be emulated by a simple cap from hot to ground, as explained a long time ago by Bill Lawrence and illustrated in a recent video:
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freefrog
Well-known member
As high capacitance cables also tend to increase the Q factor of passive pickups, the Super D through a coily or super long / highly capacitive cable should sound super cocked wah... In fact, that's what I used around 1981 (a Super D bridge in a guitar, a Dual Sound neck in another one) and I remember to have wondered why the sound was so "mid centric" through the awful orange coily things that I had bought as first cables... I had yet to understand what parasitic capacitance does to the tone of passive pickups.
That said, my rambling about high capacitance to soften Strat tones was not only for you: it was a general observations to put in perspective the differences between single coils...
i really need to get a capacitance meter...
for classic fender/strat tones, i want a5 rods. they can be staggered, or flat, even reverse staggered, but i prefer flat if i have a choice. for noiseless, i really like the stack+ series of pups. classics for vintage, but all the models are really good at what they do. again, a5 rods. in one of my most gigged strats, i have a set of antiquity II jaguar pups. neck in the neck, bridge in the middle, bridge with baseplate in the bridge. it sounds like a great strat. kinda like a flat pole surfer set. in my other most gigged strat these days i have hendrix pups neck and middle with a 5/2 bridge. cleaner and brighter, but it also sounds like a great strat. the neck/middle on that guitar is fantastic!
i also like the cool rails, hot rails, red devils, lil 59s, ssl6, qp, fs1, aps2, twangbanger, blackout singles, ssl3, texas hots, strabro90s, and others.
if i dont know what im getting into, i usually grab my blackout loaded strat or the hr neck/strabro90 middle/hr bridge loaded strat with lots of switching options. either of those will give me plenty to work with but arent the classic fender strat tone
for classic fender/strat tones, i want a5 rods. they can be staggered, or flat, even reverse staggered, but i prefer flat if i have a choice. for noiseless, i really like the stack+ series of pups. classics for vintage, but all the models are really good at what they do. again, a5 rods. in one of my most gigged strats, i have a set of antiquity II jaguar pups. neck in the neck, bridge in the middle, bridge with baseplate in the bridge. it sounds like a great strat. kinda like a flat pole surfer set. in my other most gigged strat these days i have hendrix pups neck and middle with a 5/2 bridge. cleaner and brighter, but it also sounds like a great strat. the neck/middle on that guitar is fantastic!
i also like the cool rails, hot rails, red devils, lil 59s, ssl6, qp, fs1, aps2, twangbanger, blackout singles, ssl3, texas hots, strabro90s, and others.
if i dont know what im getting into, i usually grab my blackout loaded strat or the hr neck/strabro90 middle/hr bridge loaded strat with lots of switching options. either of those will give me plenty to work with but arent the classic fender strat tone
GuitarStv
Sock Market Trader
I've found that A5 poles sound best to me. A2 can work OK in brighter guitars, but have never wowed me. I've got some cheaper singles with ceramic magnets at the bottom under steel poles, and they don't sound bad . . . but I'd prefer A5 or A2 to them.
Traditional stagger doesn't work for any of the guitars I have, I prefer flat poles. The strings balance better.
I haven't tried enough rails single coils to form strong opinions on them, but I generally prefer an overwound single coil in the bridge and vintageish winds in the neck and mid.
The singles I've tried for extended periods:
SSL-2 - My favourite clean neck and mid sounds. Little bit of scoop, but not so much that they get strident with gain. Rich lows and high highs.
SSL-6T - Works great in the bridge for me, little volume and mid push and when tapped it sounds very much like a low output single coil (but it's a little underpowered when tapped compared to the SSL-2s)
Dimarzio Injectors (neck and bridge) - These don't feel quite like singles to me. They can do nice sounds, but there's something different going on with the high end. I like 'em, but more for higher gain stuff than clean. Dead silent hum cancelling pickups, which is nice.
Dimarzio Area '67 - Similar to the injectors with the weird thing going on in the highs, just a tad lower output and brighter. Also dead silent for hum.
D. Allen Echoes Set - On paper this sounded like it would be very similar to the SSL-2/SSL-5 combo I usually like . . . but I couldn't get along with them at all. They just seemed overly scooped and bright in my setup. The bridge didn't give as much gain as the SSL-5 full on, tapped it sounded too bright.
Low Wind Ceramic Singles with steel pole pieces that came with my Godin Exit 22 - Totally usable, sound fine. They're a bit middier than normal single coils, and seem to work better with gain. Don't sound as nice clean though.
Duncan Designed SC101 set - Great pickups. These sound very similar to the SSL-2 / SSL6T set that I usually use. Bridge is a tad lower output and sometimes I liked that better than the SSL-6 full on.
SSL-4/SSL-4T Quarter Pounder for Strat - I really like these pickups - they have a unique voice. Definitely single coil and capable of some nice glassy cleans with low mids that I really like, but more powerful than the SSL-5 or 6. The bigger pole pieces are more even sounding when you're bending strings. Throw 'em in the neck and middle and they'll match nicely in aggression to a super distortion or JB in the bridge. Throw 'em in the bridge and they'll work as a lead pickup with enough mids to cut through on a heavy solo. Tapped they sound beautiful and sparkly. Honestly, I think they rival the SSL-2 for me as a favourite single sound. But they're noisy as hell regarding hum.
APS2 (Alnico II Flat) Set - These are nice sounding lower output pickups, especially in a brighter guitar. There's something going on with the lows that I didn't gel with as much as the SSL-2s though. It's softer and not as clear to my ears.
Traditional stagger doesn't work for any of the guitars I have, I prefer flat poles. The strings balance better.
I haven't tried enough rails single coils to form strong opinions on them, but I generally prefer an overwound single coil in the bridge and vintageish winds in the neck and mid.
The singles I've tried for extended periods:
SSL-2 - My favourite clean neck and mid sounds. Little bit of scoop, but not so much that they get strident with gain. Rich lows and high highs.
SSL-6T - Works great in the bridge for me, little volume and mid push and when tapped it sounds very much like a low output single coil (but it's a little underpowered when tapped compared to the SSL-2s)
Dimarzio Injectors (neck and bridge) - These don't feel quite like singles to me. They can do nice sounds, but there's something different going on with the high end. I like 'em, but more for higher gain stuff than clean. Dead silent hum cancelling pickups, which is nice.
Dimarzio Area '67 - Similar to the injectors with the weird thing going on in the highs, just a tad lower output and brighter. Also dead silent for hum.
D. Allen Echoes Set - On paper this sounded like it would be very similar to the SSL-2/SSL-5 combo I usually like . . . but I couldn't get along with them at all. They just seemed overly scooped and bright in my setup. The bridge didn't give as much gain as the SSL-5 full on, tapped it sounded too bright.
Low Wind Ceramic Singles with steel pole pieces that came with my Godin Exit 22 - Totally usable, sound fine. They're a bit middier than normal single coils, and seem to work better with gain. Don't sound as nice clean though.
Duncan Designed SC101 set - Great pickups. These sound very similar to the SSL-2 / SSL6T set that I usually use. Bridge is a tad lower output and sometimes I liked that better than the SSL-6 full on.
SSL-4/SSL-4T Quarter Pounder for Strat - I really like these pickups - they have a unique voice. Definitely single coil and capable of some nice glassy cleans with low mids that I really like, but more powerful than the SSL-5 or 6. The bigger pole pieces are more even sounding when you're bending strings. Throw 'em in the neck and middle and they'll match nicely in aggression to a super distortion or JB in the bridge. Throw 'em in the bridge and they'll work as a lead pickup with enough mids to cut through on a heavy solo. Tapped they sound beautiful and sparkly. Honestly, I think they rival the SSL-2 for me as a favourite single sound. But they're noisy as hell regarding hum.
APS2 (Alnico II Flat) Set - These are nice sounding lower output pickups, especially in a brighter guitar. There's something going on with the lows that I didn't gel with as much as the SSL-2s though. It's softer and not as clear to my ears.
ehdwuld
A Ficus
I was just in Harbor Freight yesterday and they have a Centech DMM with capacitor tester.
Just in case you are interested
Stay far away. When my good meter died i bought one as a hold over. Cant even take a resistance reading they bounce all over the place.
And after a short tine Id have to wiggle the leads were they go in the meter to get it working.
BAck to pickups. Ive noticed I prefer flat poles also.
I did have a set of plastic bobbin A5 pups I pushed the poles flat on that I liked.
And I have a cheap set of ceramic strat pups that are flat and they sound fantastic...better than your average ceramic which I prefer anyways.
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uOpt
Something Cool
Well, fretboard radius is different now, and the G string is usually not wound.
Chistopher
malapterurus electricus tonewood instigator
Yeah, with a flatter modern radius and a non-wound G, I've started flipping my Strat pickups
justFred
Well-known member
I have an SSL-5 with a modern stagger in my Strat...guessing there are other modern stagger pickups out there.
Middle and neck are Texas Specials with traditional stagger. The biggest thing I notice is bends seem to have a volume drop off that flat ones don't seem to have, SSL-5 doesn't have the bend issue either....don't know why this might be but it don't bother me much.
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ehdwuld
A Ficus
So my newest strat style has the staggered A5 mags and it sounds good
On my Donner and Squire have flat slugs with ceramic magnets
I was wondering if there was any value in swapping them
And if so what for.....
Flat seems to be the consensus
Both the Donner and Squire have 9.5 radius boards
On my Donner and Squire have flat slugs with ceramic magnets
I was wondering if there was any value in swapping them
And if so what for.....
Flat seems to be the consensus
Both the Donner and Squire have 9.5 radius boards
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I used to have a DiMarzio SDS1 in the neck position of my old Road Worn Partscaster. It was alright if what you want is non-traditional Strat sound that still sounds unmistably single coil, but I personally didn't find it was amazing. I suppose part of why I didn't like it was becauase it's advertised as being P90-ish, hot, and beefy, but I didn't find any of thsoe statements to hold true, but YMMV.
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Ah good to know.
That is what I like about allot of ceramics. Its kinda like P90 meets strat.
I have 3 strat with ceramic. One is fsntastic...one is good( but i also wont adjust those pickups as it was one of my dads guitars so I keep it as is) and another with no tobe controls..that one is thin and nasely.
ehdwuld
A Ficus
Its good to have options
Like I said, I mostly play clean and when playing the three I have side by side
They sound so close as to be indistinguishable if not looking
Maybe the Donner is a bit darker
More middy
I never have been impressed by the Squire pickups. As I said , its just not inspiring to play. I think this is the way Ascension described it when I got it from him years ago.
My buddy held it for about 4 years and he felt the same way. Its beautiful
Plays nice
Feels good
Trying to find something to get ride of the meh
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