Strat pick up choice.

R

Rogue4

New member
Hi all. First Post here so all help will be greatly appreciated. I have an American standard stra circa 2000. I play in a classic rock covers band and strat doesn't get much use. It plays great and would love to use it more but need more of a humbucker tone especially in the bridge. I am considering placing a Red Devil in the bridge which I presume I can split coils to use with stock middle pick up for typical quack tone. For the neck I was considering a custom stack plus S6 or hot stack plus S9.
I will mostly play bridge or neck PUs so these will need to balance in output volume as best as possible. For positions 2, 4 and middle I will balance the volume with amp channels or low gain drive pedals.
Thanks
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

This isn't helpful at all, but just to provide a different perspective -- are you playing classic rock covers where the originals used Strats? The reason I ask is I was much happier with my Strat once I learned to let it be what it is instead of trying to cover AC/DC or Thin Lizzy or whatever. Strats don't do Les Paul into Marshall tones all that well. A bridge humbucker will close the gap, but I'd still rather just use a Les Paul for that.

The one suggestion I can make is the one I've tried -- the SSL-5. It gets a much thicker, hotter, more girthy tone than a stock Strat bridge, but it still sounds pretty Stratty. More like a P90 or a Tele than a real humbucker. It worked for the time I used it. But I'm still in the "if you want a hotter bridge, you need a different guitar" camp.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

It sounds to me like in your current situation you don't
have much use for a Strat. The best I can reccomend for you is a Hot Rails in the bridge and a Custom Stack Plus for the neck. In the middle an STK-S4 could work pretty well with the other two, but going back to my original, statement, you probably don't use it all that much because you don't have much use for it.

The best way to get more use out of your Strat isn't to change it in the way that you propose, but to either add a wider variety of songs to your set list to make it more "Strat friendly" or lean into your modding so that it doesn't share so much in common with a normal Strat. A Pearly Gates neck and Custom Custom bridge will get you the best humbucker tones IMO, but at that point you won't have much of a Strat anymore.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

Welcome to the forum!
The Red Devil is a great choice for the bridge pickup, but I might go with more vintage sounding pickups for the neck & middle so it still sounds like a Strat...maybe the Classic Strat Stack Plus.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

Thanks for the feedback. I guess I'm happy to retain strat tone in all positions except the bridge. I would definitely like a fatter tone and more output across the board and got to be hum free/noiseless. Looking at the SD pickup booster seems to get good reviews, would this work with some hot stacks/classic stacks to give more options? I'm still very tempted by a Red Devil in the bridge but open to suggestions.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

The Pickup Booster works very well with the Classic Stacks- that is how I used it. Combining the Hot or Custom version with the Red Devil might be an issue- the Red Devil has a lot of high end, which you don't have on the Hot or Custom Stacks. A good, hotter variation is the Parallel Axis Stack, which has more power but keeps the high end in there.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

SSL-5 bridge. You get to keep the single coil sound, but have a louder, middier strat bridge that sings nicely for leads. Almost P-90ish.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

Thanks
I would like noiseless PU so the custom stack would be the obvious alternative to the SSL5. I presume this would give a warmer tone with more body to the stock bridge PU. If I used a PU booster to give more of a HB flavour when required this could work well.
I am a little puzzled with the Red Devil and custom/hot stack comparison as the tone profiles on SD website don't seem too far apart. Maybe it is the pick up design and I'm showing my ignorance here. I have quite a bright amp so wouldn't want to emphasise treble frequencies too much. Parallel axis PU seems to have a very prominent treble output. This may be too unbalanced for my rig.
Really enjoying playing my Strat more recently, forgotten how well it plays. Maybe I just go for some noiseless warmer, fatter output PUs and just gig the damn thing.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

To my ears, the Red Devil has more treble and less mids than the EQ chart seems to have.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

I would also suggest a SSL-5 for the bridge. It's a really great sounding pickup. And the price is hard to beat.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

For noiseless Strat with extra beef for the bridge I would suggest STK-S9b/STK-S4/STK-S4. The Rad Devil is a great bridge pickup, and would still work with the STK-4s. For more at the neck you may consider the STK-S6.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

I'm gonna go off the rails here, but if rock is your thing and the stock Strat sounds aren't for you then I suggest a Red, Silver, Blue set of Lace Sensors.

I think you'd be happy.
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

i run the stk-s9b with the stks4 neck and middle and its a great setup. the stk-s9b is a fat warm single coil sound, no noise, and strong output. the red devil is much more humbucker sounding with more compression but also a very cool pup
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

i run the stk-s9b with the stks4 neck and middle and its a great setup. the stk-s9b is a fat warm single coil sound, no noise, and strong output. the red devil is much more humbucker sounding with more compression but also a very cool pup
Click to expand...
What was the total cost for this setup? I have a remote control toilet and I have some problem with it. Smart toilets are expensive and thus looking for a solution.
 
Last edited:
Re: Strat pick up choice.

i have no idea off the top of my head. one stks9, one stks4m, one stks4n, two 250k pots (master volume, master tone), a 5way switch and i used a pickguard i had layin around. $250?
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

Thanks for he replies. Been off grid for a while taking holiday in California, what a trip!!!!
I like the idea of the stk-s9b or red devil in the bridge combined with stk s6 or 4 in the neck and middle. Would they match in volume when switching positions?
 
Re: Strat pick up choice.

Going to take a different approach. Ever thought about setting it up with master volume, master tone and a Clapton style mid-boost? That will get you a thicker tone and more output but allow you to retain the overall nature of a strat. You probably still want to go noiseless, but some Areas or classic stacks should work just fine.
 
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