Single Coils to match my JB

[straterverb7]

I'm looking for single coils to match a JB for my alder fat strat. I would prefer them to be noiseless but I'll choose great tone over noiseless any day. So far, it seems as if the sd stk-s6 and the ssl-4 are my best options.

I'm looking for a nice bluesy neck pickup tone. Has anyone used a noiseless pickup that can deliver that? If there is a noiseless pickup that has the tone I'm looking for (bluesy and warm), then I would ultimately end up going that route.

I play hard rock/older metal but I love jamming to the blues.

 

[jumble jumble]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

I have 2x Classic Stack Plus and a JB in an ash Strat. Perfect combination. I even get decent quack in position 2 - the middle stack and the JB, both split (the JB split to the screw coil).

I'd say the Classic Stack Plus neck pickup is similar to an SSL-1, or a Fender CS69 pickup. I consider that quite bluesy, but it's vintage output. If you want something to drive it a little harder, then a Vintage Hot stack plus might be better.

I run the stacks split in the in-between positions (the middle is RWRP when split), and have a resistor wired in on all 4 positions except the full bridge humbucker position, which changes the pot value down from 500K to 250K, for normal single-coil sounds and then a wide open humbucker.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

I like the STK-S4. classic single coil tone in a stacked noiseless pickup with enough output to stand up to the JB.

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

I'm a fan of the Areas, Injectors and the Heavy Blues 2.

Area 67's match the treble detail of the JB and have great single coil tone... plenty of juice for soloing

Area 61's match the low end of the JB, have a little less juice than the 67's (despite being higher in output and resistance) but have much more body and low mids than the 67's.

those both have a vintage vibe.

The Injectors are a perfect match for the JB (they are actually a bit hotter and have a bit less vintage vibe) and the VVHB2 is great for someone who wants the vintage vibe and feel of the 61 but more of the output of the Injector.

The Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 sounds like exactly what you want.

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

I've been advised to have a true single in the middle position as they sound better in positions 2 and 4 of the 5 way and then a noiseless in the neck ( Kinman Impersonator 54 in my case ).
I'm actually picking up my Anderson with this new configuration tomorrow afternoon.
The guy told me today it sounds incredible.

Tom Anderson advised me to try this set up as he says position 4 is always weak if you have 2 noisless singles.
Position 2 sounds great but you compromise pos 4 he said.
Can't wait !!!!

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

I'm a fan of the Areas, Injectors and the Heavy Blues 2.

Area 67's match the treble detail of the JB and have great single coil tone... plenty of juice for soloing

Area 61's match the low end of the JB, have a little less juice than the 67's (despite being higher in output and resistance) but have much more body and low mids than the 67's.

those both have a vintage vibe.

The Injectors are a perfect match for the JB (they are actually a bit hotter and have a bit less vintage vibe) and the VVHB2 is great for someone who wants the vintage vibe and feel of the 61 but more of the output of the Injector.

The Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 sounds like exactly what you want.

I agree with most of that but I might use a '67 in the middle and a '58 in the neck. Those will split just fine, no need for a noisy pickup in the middle. Here's another tip: Order the middle pickup RW, and in middle+bridge position of the switch, split both the JB and the middle such that the screw coil of the JB Is on (wire red hot, green+black together (ground this to split), white ground). That will give you very authentic strat quack in that position, and still be noiseless.

 

[straterverb7]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

Is the virtual vintage heavy blues extremely noisy?

Would it be better to do (neck to bridge) 61/67/jb or 67/61/jb?

I'm definitely preferring noiseless after doing more research. I have a somewhat similar setup to Jake E. Lee's. I remember reading an interview where he said he liked the dimarzio sds-1's but they were just too noisy.

He made it work but I don't think I have the skills for handling noisy single coils in a high gain rock setting.

 

[straterverb7]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

Is the virtual vintage heavy blues extremely noisy?

Would it be better to do (neck to bridge) 61/67/jb or 67/61/jb?

I'm definitely preferring noiseless after doing more research. I have a somewhat similar setup to Jake E. Lee's. I remember reading an interview where he said he liked the dimarzio sds-1's but they were just too noisy.

He made it work but I don't think I have the skills for handling noisy single coils in a high gain rock setting.

 

[straterverb7]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

Is the virtual vintage heavy blues extremely noisy?

Would it be better to do (neck to bridge) 61/67/jb or 67/61/jb?

I'm definitely preferring noiseless after doing more research. I have a somewhat similar setup to Jake E. Lee's. I remember reading an interview where he said he liked the dimarzio sds-1's but they were just too noisy.

He made it work but I don't think I have the skills for handling noisy single coils in a high gain rock setting.

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

Is the virtual vintage heavy blues extremely noisy?

No, and that is discontinued; they now have the Heavy Blues 2 based on the Area technology. Both are far quieter than a humbucker.

Would it be better to do (neck to bridge) 61/67/jb or 67/61/jb?

I'd probably put the '67 in the middle, but I wouldn't put a '61 in the neck, I find them too dark there. YMMV depending on your amp and what gauge strings you use; if you use something light like 9/10/11s, you might find it ok. I'd be more inclined to use a '58 in the neck if I wanted something darker than a '67.

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

I never use the mid single on its on with any kind of drive so noise isn't an issue.
I much prefer to have really authentic tones in positions 2 and 4 and you simply won't achieve that if you're splitting a noiseless pickup.
They're not designed for that purpose. ( At least that's what I'm told )
The tech says my new set up ( which includes a JB in the bridge ) is totally authentic and noiseless in 4 out of 5 positions and that's good enough for my needs.
I'll let you know later on tomorrow after I've set the heights and played for a few hours.

I'm just offering another alternative

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

By the way, I'm running all mine with 250k pots and a separate mini switch to coil tap the JB independent of the 5 way so I get a decent single coil tone in the bridge.
( I have this in my Silhouette Special already and it's a fantastic tone )
I set my heights based on the bridge split tone matching the other singles, so that's my Strat, then I use the full humbucker as a sort of lead boost.

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

I much prefer to have really authentic tones in positions 2 and 4 and you simply won't achieve that if you're splitting a noiseless pickup.
They're not designed for that purpose. ( At least that's what I'm told )

No part of that statement is true, so whoever is feeding you that line either doesn't know or is doing you a disservice with misinfomation.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

Blues as in Stratocaster Blues? Or PAF Blues?

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

Once I asked a similar question and got some specific coments about different hum canceling single coil models, and a suggestion from Frank Falbo too.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=216037


I went for the STK-S6 in the neck and it has the bite to match a full JB in the bridge. The quack improved when I removed the ssl-6 and installed a true single coil and split the STK-S6 in the notch position. Since my middle pickup is the stock ceramic quack should be even better with a ssl-1.

 

[RayBarbeeMusic]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

I should qualify my previous statement to say, the problem with stacks quacking isn't true of the Area series. They quack just like a real single. Kinman Woodstocks and 54s quack pretty well to. None of the other noiseless I've tried quack properly, including Kinman's other stuff, the Lawrence stuff, older DiMarzio stuff, Duncan stuff, Fender noiseless, etc. They can sound ok as single pickups, but they fall on their face in parallel where the quack should be. The rail types like vintage rails actually do better than most of the alnico rod noiseless in terms of parallel quack.

As far as splitting them and having them not sound right, that is hogwash for most stacked singles I've used. They split just fine and sound great that way when in parallel with another single or split bucker. Even the old HS series sounded good split, in fact Eric Johnson used to use HS-2s split to single coils as his main pickup.

In all my HSS guitars, I split the bridge bucker and the middle noiseless to single coils. In fact, I'm fond of using a RW middle noisless and splitting that and the bridge or neck when in parallel. Doesn't make as much difference in the neck/middle combo as it used to since the dummy coils are such low DCR now, but there is a slight volume increase when the pickup is split to single coil and that makes the normal volume loss in strat positions 2&4 that you'd get with any other pickup less than it would otherwise be. That is a trick only the split noiseless ones can pull off.

You can only do that with DiMarzios since they offer the RW option on Areas and have 4 conductors. Kinmans are off the table for that since they will not offer that option and splitting them requires adding TWO wires to their circuit board, making it a pain to split them anway (although I do when in combo with a humbucker, 24 pole switch required). They would greatly benefit from it. The Woodstock dummy coil has a larger DCR than the Areas or the '54, and while they quack somewhat ok as is, they'd do a whole lot better with both dummy coils removed from the equation.

 

[straterverb7]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

So, I spoke with the guitar tech who works on my guitars. He advised that I look into lace sensor holy grails. I have heard nothing about them.

As far as blues tones, I'm fine with either paf-ish blues sounds or fender blues tones. If I lose a little bit of volume, I'm not worried. I just don't want the drop to be too noticeable.

I need a neck pickup that will sound good clean and when playing screaming leads.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

The Holy Grails are probably closest to a real Strat pickup in the noiseless fields, but unfortunately they are very weak sounding, they permanently sounds like they are too far away from the strings (which some like).

I don't think that matches a JB

 

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

I've matched a JB with just about every DiMarzio VV and Area pickup out there.

I actually really like the sound of a noiseless middle combined with the full output of the humbucker... it adds a single coil flavor to the JB and you don't lose as much power when splitting the bridge.

I also like high output noiseless picklups cranked waaay down in the middle so my picking isn't hampered by a pickup getting in the way. You get the same quack and chime with a high output stacked single cranked far away from the strings... it's really rather perfect.

 

[wolf5150]

Re: Single Coils to match my JB

Had my guitar back today with the set up I mentioned and it sounds absolutely incredible.
The tone from position 2 is spectacular, no other word for it and silent.
Position 4 sounds superb too but not as quiet, but I was aware of that anyway .
I'm arranging to have a true single fitted in all my Strats based on this.

Love this new Kinman Impersonator 54 by the way.
Def more vintage sounding than the 69's I have in my others.
I think that's prob why position 4 now sounds so much better.