What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

N

nrvana8775

New member
I'm looking to replace my neck and middle pickup. I have a c5 in the bridge of my strat and love it, but the little 59 in my neck position sounds too sterile for my tastes. I am looking for something with a normal amount of single coil output but I am trying to stay away from a lot of the single coil hum. I am looking for that warm/glassy tone that strats are known for. I want a clear and distinct sound that is good for mostly cleans but sounds fine distorted. Any recommendations? I would prefer to stick with duncans but will venture outside of them if i have to.
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

I forgot...I don't want anything with ice-pick highs or flabby lows. I mainly use my bridge pickup but would like some pups that blend the neck+bridge, and mid+bridge well. I can get 9 sounds out of my strat and want all of them to be useable.
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

The Antiquity Texas Hots would be great but they're single coils...not humbuckers.

Single coil sized humbuckers with close to a vintage tone would be Duckbuckers and Classic Stacks.

I can only live with 100% vintage tone myself and for that you have to be willing to accept some hum.
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

I'm not looking for a completely vintage sound. I just want something that has the glassy/warm sound that strats are known for. Whether that is vintage, I don't know. I play modern punk and I don't want to emulate some specific persons sound from the 50's. I just want something that will give me a clear/warm/glassy sound in the 2-5 positions.
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

Classic Stacks are probably closer to what you are looking for and they have slightly more mids than the Vintage Rails so they will sound a little warmer.
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

What about the aps-2? I'm more concerned about tone than the amount of hum.
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

nrvana8775 said:
What about the aps-2? I'm more concerned about tone than the amount of hum.
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Cool! Fatter, smoother, chunkier tone than alnico 5 SSL-1 or 2 and a little more output too. I use 'em and like 'em alot. Lew
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

I have heard the aps-2 mixes well with the c5? The only real time I would not use my bridge is for neck+bridge or mid+bridge.
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

nrvana8775 said:
I have heard the aps-2 mixes well with the c5? The only real time I would not use my bridge is for neck+bridge or mid+bridge.
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I think it does mix well with humbuckers because the APS-2 has flat poles and more mids and thicker tone with a little more output than a pickup like the SSL-1 or 2.

If it was my guitar, with APS-2/APS-2/C-5 pickups I'd go: master volume, master tone with .O2 tone cap and a Fralin Blender pot to add the neck pickup to the bridge pickup and bridge pickup to the neck pickup. I'd also consider going with a push/pull tone control that would allow switching the C-5 from humbucker to a single coil. Lots of versatility there. Lew
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

As of now I have the following pickup combos
1)Bridge
2)Bridge split
3)Bridge+Mid
4)Bridge+Mid split
5)Mid
6)Mid+Neck
7)Mid+Neck split
8)Neck
9)Neck split
10)Neck+Bridge
11)Neck+Bridge split
12)All 3 pups
13)All 3 pups bridge split
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

From what you are describing I have to agree with Robert's suggestion of the Classic Stacks - No hum, but very similar to a vintage tone but a little warmer and thicker than true vintage.

It sounds like you are sort of contradicting yourself when you say "glassy, warm" tones. When I think of a glassy tone I think more in terms of bell like highs and good lows but less mids. When I think warm, I think of more midrange with smoother, thicker overdriven tone. I still think the Classic Stacks are closest to what you are describing to get the best of both worlds and no hum. You ought to take a listen to the sound clips on the Seymour Duncan Products Page and see if that helps. It won't give you an exact idea of what the pups will sound like through your specific axe and amp but it will give you a basic idea of the tonal differences from pup to pup.
 
Re: What pickup will give me the "strat" tone?

the aps2 sounded nice to my ears. I had an alnico pro in my tele, sounded good but lacked a lot of the output I needed for the style of punk I do. I really loved the warm sound it gave me in the bridge, so I am thinking it might give me that same musical tone with a strat. I always though of glassy as positions 2-3 and warm as 4-5
 
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