Strat w/Pearly Gates, '59, and Duckbucker

[pookey]

I have a Texas Special Strat with two texas special singles and a SD Pearly Gates full size humbucker in the bridge. I like the Pearly Gates, but not the texas special singles. They sound too bright for me. So, I was thinking of putting a duckbucker in the neck and a lil '59 in the middle. Is this a good combo, output and tone wise? Or should I just put duckbuckers in both the neck and middle, as suggested elsewhere? I typically use the neck single for clean and the bridge pearly gates for crunch/leads. I don't use the middle position now, but thought it might be tasteful for chording as a humbucker (lil '59). I'm hoping the Pearly Gates won't be too hot for the other two. I was also told that the "Fender" SD Pearly Gates is different from the SD factory Pearly Gates. I play mostly pop covers in a band (new wave, pop, funk & disco, some classic rock, etc). Thanks for any opinions/advice.

 

[Naps]

Re: Strat w/Pearly Gates, '59, and Duckbucker

Do you like alot of mids? What amp do you use and who's tone's do you like best?

It'll be hard to give you advice without knowing some of the variables :bigthumb:

I have a lil59 in the neck of my strat with a lil JB in the mid and a C-5 in the bridge. The lil59 is good for some cleans, it's not at all bright IMO, I think you could get some ok funk tones out of it, but I'm no expert and I've never tried it in the mid position. I don't think you'll have any output problems with the lil 59 and the Pearly Gates.

The fender Pearrly gates is called a Pearly Gates Plus, It only comes on certian fender guitars and it is different from a Pearly gates pickup.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strat w/Pearly Gates, '59, and Duckbucker

its different because it has an alnico V magnet, where the normal pearly gates has an alnico II giving it a little less output but a middier tone.

if you like a brighter tone use a neck version of the lil 59 in the middle, warmer tone and more output the bridge version. either will work fine with the pg+.

 

[pookey]

Re: Strat w/Pearly Gates, '59, and Duckbucker

I'm mostly using a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp with a Boss overdrive and an Ibanez tube screamer for lead boosting. I never use "distortion" pedals, just overdrive. I think I'm sold on the duckbucker at the neck, since I like single coil neck for a clean sound. With the lil '59 BRIDGE version in the middle position, I hope it won't be hotter than the stock Fender Pearly Gates + in the bridge position??? The Fender texas special is a little thin and bright for me in the middle position, so I "assume" the duckbucker in the middle might have similar characteristics. If I go with a lil '59 in the middle, I guess I should split it for the 2 and 4 switch settings like a typical strat? (I hope I'm making sense here?). I guess what I'm trying to say is, I hope I'll get a usable Strat "quack" in the middle-neck combo position even though the middle pickup is now a humbucker (lil '59). Thanks for your input.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Strat w/Pearly Gates, '59, and Duckbucker

If you need quack in the middle, and a nice, stratty sound at the neck, I'd say a pair of Classic Stacks (for a bright, jangly strat tone) or a pair of Hot Stacks (for a louder, fatter, and more muscular strat tone) would work nicely alongside the PG+ in the bridge.

 

[pookey]

Re: Strat w/Pearly Gates, '59, and Duckbucker

Now I'm really getting confused. How do these stacks (classic, hot) compare to the duckbucker in tone?