Strat Pickups.

Si_

I'm looking for a good bridge pickup for my Strat, it had ToneRiders fitted when I bought it but the bridge was a bit too weedy for me so I replaced it with an Iron Gear Smoke Stack 2 (with a little switch to engage the 2nd coil), but it's still not doing it for me (I'm after a decent rock sound). 

Has anyone used a hot rail or equivalent Single coil sized 'bucker.. so should I just bite the bullet and fit a bridge humbucker?

mike_l

Dave Murray of iron Maiden uses a Hot Rails in his current Strat, so a listen to the song "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg", where he plays the lead intro licks and main riff should give you a broad idea of what they sound like.

A mate had Texas Specials in his American Strat, and, while they sounded awesome, I'm not sure they're what you want (more Stevie Ray Vaughn, than Iron Maiden)

boogieman

For straight rock sounds I'd say go with a Hot Rails. Texas Specials are more for overdriven bluesy stuff.

bertie

said it many times  on here MR and Inter -  very please with the JB-Jr,  but it has to be split for pos 2 duties

xSkarloey

I had the Irongear rails type. That's good.

Were I in your position now I'd be tempted by the hotter SD pups like the SSL5 but sounds like you're after something heavier.

stickyfiddle

Rio Grande Halfbreed or Muy Grande - wider polepieces make for fatter tone. You still get the singlecoil-ness but absolutely not weedy.

xSkarloey

stickyfiddle said:

Rio Grande Halfbreed or Muy Grande - wider polepieces make for fatter tone. You still get the singlecoil-ness but absolutely not weedy.

Is one of those a Strat-Tele hybrid pup? 

siraxeman

bertie said:

said it many times  on here MR and Inter -  very please with the JB-Jr,  but it has to be split for pos 2 duties

This...got this in one of my Strats...along with the duckbucker and the lil 59 to make it a HHH Strat...it does indeed rawk!

breakstuff

I've got an Irongear Jailhouse Rail in one of my strats and it really is a pretty good rock and metal pickup especially for the price.

drwiddly

breakstuff;169020" said:

I've got an Irongear Jailhouse Rail in one of my strats and it really is a pretty good rock and metal pickup especially for the price.

This - I have one in my Eggle LA Plus and I'm really impressed with it. Better than 'pretty good' I'd say.

monquixote

I have a strat with an SD single sized bucker and a proper HSS strat. Only the latter sounds like a proper bucker (not that the former sounds bad)

Fez

If you want to stay single coil the Oil City Hardman is damn good. I also have a strat with a Seymour Duncan Hot rails at the bridge and that is way powerful.

siraxeman

monquixote said:

I have a strat with an SD single sized bucker and a proper HSS strat. Only the latter sounds like a proper bucker (not that the former sounds bad)

I'm in the same boat and only half agree. I have 2 USA Series Strats - oly white with maple - this is JB (full sized) and the stock middle n neck singles..and another oly white with rosewood with the 3 lil single coil sized buckers JB Jnr / Duckbucker / lil 59. And it sounds thick and rocks really well. Yes a full sized JB is a bit thicker sounding than a JB Jnr (maybe down to the narrower magnetic field around the strings ?) but they both sound like humbuckers to my cloth ears. So..my take is yes a full size bucker is better like for like but well...you only have to listen to Iron Maiden to know the single coil sized buckers some of those guys use don't sound thin or bad at all. In a mix I doubt you could say "oh yeah that's a single coil sized bucker...sound too thin to be otherwise"

Only thing I'd say about the hotrails is they sound dark and too hot to me to the point where they're useless for cleans in the bridge position..that said they might split ok with the middle but on their own too dark and grunty. The JB Jnr is brighterer so more to my liking. Loads of folks really like the lil 59 bridge pickup as its warm and balances well with single coils.

stickyfiddle

Skarloey;168880" said:

stickyfiddle said:

Rio Grande Halfbreed or Muy Grande - wider polepieces make for fatter tone. You still get the singlecoil-ness but absolutely not weedy.





Is one of those a Strat-Tele hybrid pup? 

Yeah, I guess, but without he baseplate. I haven't tried the Muy Grande but the Halfbreed in my strat is just a really ballsy-but-still-stratty pickup. The MG is even more so, apparently. A good option if you still want to stick close to the regular strat look and sound

dindude

Seymour Duncan SSL-5 is an awesome Strat bridge pickup which sounds beefy, great with drive, absolutely no shrillness, yet still has a single-coil vibe.

Good enough for Dave Gilmour as well as me

Bellycaster

You could do worse than Harry Haussel pick ups, they're worth a look.

http://www.haeussel.com/

I have them in my VSOP and they sound Killer, I don't know many Guitar tone terminologies or onomatopoeics, sorry.