Strat Bridge Recommendation: SSL-6T or Pearly Gates ?

[Edu]

Hello!, all knowledgable forum elders, I appeal to you to help me decide between 2 pickup options. I understand that ultimately it's a matter of taste, but maybe someone experienced both.

Music style I play:
Chill blues (B.B.King style) and some rock classics. More power 90s punk/rock every once in a while. I play at home, as a hobby.
I play with my fingers as I also play classic guitar with nylon strings (long nails on right hand, so strings hit skin then nail. Usually use nail as a pick when palm muting).

My guitar:
Unbranded Stratocaster from the 90s, modded over the years. Low ccurvature fretboard, so I use flat pole pickups. The pickup area is shielded (conductive paint, aluminum foil, etc), so no noise on single coils. It's also a "swiming pool", so no need for routing.
I have 3 push pulls as i have piezoelectrics as well as some other experimentation. I won't shy away from soldering or replacing parts.
It has SSL-2 on neck and middle, and a JB jr on the bridge.

What I want
I want to replace the bridge JB jr. I'm looking to get more dynamic range, but don't want to loose too much power for rock leads.

The dilema
I'm undecided between:

• An SSL-6T (11202-08-T), tapped version of Custom Flat Strat SSL-6. A bit harder to come by than the normal model (I think I saw it earlier on the page, but now I only see the tapped SSL-5, which is the same but staggered poles). The tap seems right to ensure position 2 doesn't overpower the mid SSL-2.
  
  
• Going HSS with a Pearly Gates Trembucker. It's more of a P.A.F. as I understand, it has quite lower resistance than most humbuckers, closer to the SSL-2 (other humbuckers have 2 or 3 times more), and apparently provides more dynamic range and attack than other humbuckers due to the use of Alnico 2.

Example videos I found
SSL-6 (and the same 2x SSL-2 I have)

Pearly Gates

What would you recommend I go for?

Thanks!

 

[jeremy]

welcome to the forum!

do you want more of a single coil sound or humbucker sound? both are great pups, david gilmour used the ssl5 in the bridge for many years. the pg pairs nicely with single coils

 

[Edu]

Thanks for the welcome.

I suppose that's the main issue, i've played guitar for 30 years but only had this one, and only with these pickups after the stock ones. So i don't have much experience with other pickups.

I'm planning to go to a guitar store on Saturday to see if i can try something similar, but it could be tricky, because though i could find a strat with a hot single coil bridge, not sure i could find one with a "vintage/PAF" humbucker similar to the Pearly Gates.

Wish me luck i guess

 

[Mincer]

Feel free to ask a lot of questions here before you buy. Also, there is a lot of content for research on the main SD site as well.

 

[GuitarStv]

Neither options sound bad, I guess it just depends what you want.

I like the SSL-6 quite a bit. Tapped, it does a pretty good plinky traditional strat bridge sound (which I find I don't use all that much . . . just not the bridge sound I'm looking for usually), and full on it is a beefier single coil sound that works well for leads. It's definately thinner sounding than a regular humbucker though. While louder and middier than a regular single, it's going to be a bit lower output than a JB Jr. I find that it works well with a 250k volume pot and balances reasonably well with the singles.

In my experience, full sized humbuckers tend to be higher output than high output single sized 'buckers. My bet is that the PG would be around the same output level as your JB Jr. - should still get a kick in the seat of the pants switching from the SSL-2 to the 'bucker. It's pretty bright for a humbucker, so would probably get along OK with your 250k volume pot too but you might want to wire it to a 500k tone as well.

 

[kjrocks]

Please consider a Jazz bridge. I've got them in two Strats and they can do almost everything ,imo. Nice cleans and can easily handle od/distortion

 

[justFred]

Pearly gates with an A5 magnet is my favorite…

 

[hamerfan]

The tap on my ssl-5T did not do much for me. Its right in the middle of the windings and make a very gutless plinky sound, maybe a bit like a out of phase. Not useful for me.

 

[Edu]

Hi all,

The idea of the tap in the SSL-6 was only for position 2, so it didn't overpower the SSL-2. I would have used it untapped for position 1.

After further investigation, and a back and forth with the AI, I decided to move forward with the Pearly Gates, now I'm trying to decide between normal white coils or the nickel cover (I have sunburn with white pickguard and black neck).

The SSL-6, according to AI, won't match me playing with my fingers: "While the SSL-6 is great for a heavy rock player using a pick, its high compression works against a classical fingerstyle technique. It compresses your dynamics early. Your delicate nail strokes and hard finger pulls will end up sounding a bit too similar in volume, robbing you of that expressive dynamic range you are used to on nylon strings."

Apparently, a contender was the Lari Basilio model, as the music style and finger playing matched more what i do, but it seems it uses Alnico 5 and the Pearly Gates with Alnico 2 is better for the dynamics of my play style. It also seems that Alnico 2 in the bridge and Alnico 5 in mid and neck is a common combo.

Overall, it seems the Pearly Gates has a good reputation and has been tested in similar combinations, so I'll give it a try once i decide between using a nikel cover or not.

Thanks,

 

[GuitarStv]

AI (as usual) is full of shit.

The SSL-6 works great when playing with your fingers. I find it less compressed that your typical full sized PAF. Nothing wrong with the pearly gates for fingerstyle playing either though. Both pickups will work fine for that.

 

[Mincer]

AI hasn't really caught up to the usefulness of a forum with direct experience. I think in very general terms, it might- stuff like specs and output level, but when it comes to recommendations, its suggestions are all over the place.

 

[Edu]

Hi,

I didn't mean to open the can of worms that could be a discussion about AI usefulness. It will most certainly derail the topic.

I asked in here to rely on your hands on experience. Apparently both options were good, and it would be a matter of taste. I couldn't find a place to test them where I live (town in Europe), so I started brainstorming with AI as well to see if there were any hard technical reason to discard one of them that I may have missed, it obviously can't account for actual playing feel as a human could.

Just for the sake of completeness, here's the reply I got from it when comparing the SSL-6 and Pearly Gates regarding dynamic range:

---------------------------
The SSL-6 (Overwound Single Coil)

To make a single coil "hot" like the SSL-6 (13.3 Kohms), you have to squeeze an immense number of wire turns onto one tiny bobbin. Because the space is small, Seymour Duncan has to use much thinner wire (43-gauge) to get it all to fit.

* The Compression Trap: Winding that much thin wire onto a single coil creates very high inductance. High inductance acts like a natural, built-in compressor. It heavily cuts the high frequencies and pushes the midrange forward.

* The Result: Because it is naturally compressed, your softest nail strokes and your hardest thumb plucks will be pushed closer together in volume. It "levels out" your playing—which is great for a rock player using a pick who wants a smooth, sustaining solo, but it chokes out the wide dynamic range a classical fingerstyle player relies on.

The Pearly Gates (Vintage Humbucker)

The Pearly Gates (8.2 Kohms) distributes its coils across two larger bobbins using thicker wire (42-gauge).

* The Dynamic Freedom: Because the wire is thicker and divided across two coils, its total resistance and inductance are much lower than the SSL-6. It behaves like a low-output, vintage pickup.

* The Magnet Factor: It uses Alnico 2 magnets, which have a much weaker magnetic pull than the Alnico 5 magnets in the SSL-6. A weaker magnetic pull allows the string to vibrate more naturally and freely. When you play softly, it sounds whisper-quiet and airy; when you dig in hard, the pickup breathes and lets the note "bloom."

The Output Paradox: Even though the Pearly Gates has a lower resistance number (8.2 Kohms vs 13.3 Kohms), it sounds just as "loud" as the SSL-6 simply because it has a wider physical footprint that senses a longer portion of the string. It gets its volume from its size, whereas the SSL-6 gets its volume from choking the coil with wire.

How It Translates to Your Hands
If you hit both pickups with a hard pick stroke, they both sound loud. But when you play with skin and nails, they respond differently:

* On the SSL-6: If you change your hand pressure from 20% to 90%, the pickup might only translate that to a 40% to 80% volume jump. The soft details get eaten by the heavy midrange, and the loud hits get squashed.

* On the Pearly Gates: If you change your hand pressure from 20% to 90%, the pickup will faithfully translate that from 20% to 90%. It gives you the headroom to whisper or scream just by changing the angle of your nail.

You are completely right that lower output gives you more dynamic range—it's just that the Pearly Gates is actually the lower-output, less-compressed pickup in this matchup, despite being a humbucker!
---------------------------------

I challenged the "compression" aspect of high inductance saying it would be more of a low pass filter, but told me the psychoacoustic effect would be the same, and there were also the Alnico 2 to consider as translating range better than the 5 due to the lower magnetic field.

Thanks,

 

[Teleplayer]

I like the AI response above. I agree about the psychoacoustic effect of high inductance pickups sounding compressed.

However I’d like a bit more detail about why the weaker A2 magnet in the Pearly gates translates dynamics better, compared to a more powerful magnet. Is there a technical explanation for that?

 

[donaldr]

If you like your SSL2, I would suggest a STK-S7 in the bridge. It's a really nice extension sound/volume wise. Just make sure it has its own tone pot. I can play anything with that pickup, from clean to blues to hard rock, just with volume and tone knobs.

 

[jeremy]

oh lord, i hate that ai bs.