If you play mostly rock / heavy rock....

stratman3142

HSS Strat for me. The humbucker in the bridge position just sounds thicker and less noisy at higher gain settings

I also sometimes like to use S1 switching to put the neck and middle in series, but that's more to keep noise under control.

timmypix

I use my SSS Strat for some songs if it suits the riff, and the other guitarist in my band is on a humbucker-equipped PRS, so it helps differentiate the parts too. That said there are some songs/riffs where a humbucker just works better.

Like all these things, ultimately, it's down to taste and what you think works, both sonically and in terms of feel.

Funkfingers

NelsonP said:

Is a Fender Strat a good guitar for that? 

A shed load of Rory Gallagher live concert DVDs suggests that it could well be.

Alternatively, ask Jeff Beck.

Cols

You can certainly get into hard rock territory with a single coil-loaded Strat, plenty of players mentioned above have managed it. 

It’ll be easier with humbuckers though.  Frankly, getting a Strat into hard rock territory without some kind of boost or distortion pedal is going to be tricky.

monquixote

The main problem you get with a vintage strat is that you need a tone control on the bridge pickup which they generally don't have.

If you get it wired up right you can get some great sounds with the tone on about half but then the bridge ends up being lower output than the neck which is probably the opposite of what you want.

Having something like an EP boost to beef it up a bit works well to compensate.

TeleMaster

stickyfiddle said:

TeleMaster said:

stonevibe said:

Billy Corgan gets some big sounds out a Strat. 

They're Dimarzios and are super high output and he uses a Reverend with humbuckers now.

Yeah, but all the classic stuff was recorded with regular single-coil Strats, and one with Lace Sensors. Nothing humbuckery

You're right. I thought you meant at this time. 

He did use cranked Marshalls and Big Muffs though. And humbuckers aren't really as good through those fuzzes. 

But ultimately, yea, you can use single coils for anything. You might just need a few extra pedals. 

TTBZ

I think the mileage you get out of a stock SSS strat depends on your definition of heavy rock and the kind of sound you'd want to play it with too. For me the heavy rock gold standard tone is Jerry Cantrell on either Dirt or his solo Degradation Trip. A normal strat just won't get that kind of chunk and saturation without a lot of help from pedals. A Tele won't either imo, too percussive and "hard" which conversely is also what can make them a great modern metal/djent guitar.

Balrog68

Surely it depends on whether your creating your own sound or re-creating someone else's. 

cbilly22

Balrog68 said:

Surely it depends on whether your creating your own sound or re-creating someone else's. 

This.
Isn't the answer to this down to whether you like the sound you are getting with a SSS strat when playing that style. If yes, great crack on, if no then have a look for something beefier.

fastonebaz

Charvel pro mod ftw.

gordiji

listen to 1.35 for strat, epic.

jeztone2

I think if you want to play heavy stuff on a Strat with SSS pickups, maybe up the gain. If not HSS is prob the way to go. 

thegummy

I don't believe there's any "need" when it comes to guitar tone choices but sometimes one option is a lot more preferable for a situation than another.

Might depend what you class as heavy rock - some would say Deep Purple were heavy (their guitarist used a single coil Strat) but in some people's collections they might be one of the least heavy bands.

Is the question about "need" because you want to have the 3 single coils for another sound/genre or just because the specific strat you want isn't available stock with humbuckers and you want to avoid buying a pickup?

If the latter, I'd say it's definitely worth paying for one because it does make a big difference to how a distorted guitar sounds and feels to play. You might not prefer that sound but I think there's a good chance you will.

Sassafras

I used to have a pedal called a Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster that had a switch that could approximate the horrible sound of a humbucker. Not that I ever used that option.

slacker

I was reading this last night while practising (randomly playing stuff) and had my strat and ric already on a stand. So i played a heavy riff on both of them and they were fine. The riff was smoke on the water a) played correctly in fourths and b) not near any guitar shop staff.

However when I was in a heavy band I only used my les paul. Certain guitars do certain things well and can cover other genres. If you (op) only like playing strats then set up the gain and tone with amps and pedals. 

WiresDreamDisasters

I've never made it work for me really, the single coils thing. But a strat with a humbucker, then yes of course.

Jetfire

guitarmangler said:

All the rage against the machine riff stuff is a single coil neck pickup. Tom Morello only use the bridge pickup for soloing. 

Citation is DEFO needed for that. 

skullfunkerry

Jetfire said:

guitarmangler said:

All the rage against the machine riff stuff is a single coil neck pickup. Tom Morello only use the bridge pickup for soloing. 

Citation is DEFO needed for that. 

I read an interview with him a while back where he said he only ever used the neck pickup. If you listen to the last Audioslave album it's fairly obvious for a lot of it.

Ooh, look at that: I've literally just become "a bloke on the internet who said something"

Rocker

Of course you can use a Strat for Rock music.  You can use nearly all electric guitars for most types of music.  The question you need to ask is what amplifier to use and what pedal(s) to use to distort the guitar signal to get the sound you want.

CountryDave

  Tone control to the bridge pickup.  Slightly warmer, up to a hot single coil in the bridge (mine has an SDS-1).  Sounds nearly as good as my tele.