It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
I find that I can get a fatter drive tone from the bridge pickup by boosting the mids and cutting treble and presence on the amp, use a pedal such as a Tube Screamer to thicken the tone and roll back the tone on the bridge pickup but when I get it soundng right the neck pickup sounds mushy.
if I set the drive and tone to match the neck pickup then the bridge sounds too thin.
I used to own one of the original Fender American Deluxe HSS Strats around 2009 and could get much more pleasing bridge pickup drive tones, but, the inbetween setting between bridge and middle pickup didn't sound as good as with two single coil pickups.
I think it's tricky to get really satisfying drive tones on a Strat bridge single coil, but it can be done with the right pickups, amps and pedals. The Edge got it right live around 1983 with his black Strat and David Gilmour gets a great bridge pickup drive tone sometimes too. I like Crispian Mills tone with Kula Shaker as well.
I think a beefier bridge pickup than a typical 50s style wind helps for a great drive tone.
like you I am thinking about either a pickup swap on my Strat or even trade out for an HSS
Blink 182's 'All The Small Things' is my view of a great Strat drive tone, and that's a humbucker
My MIM Sambora is the guitar I have said I'd be buried with. It runs a DiMarzio PAF Pro in the bridge and it ROCKS. In position 2, it splits to combine with the middle, and it still gives that wonderful quacky, bell like tone Strats are renowned for. It is a guitar that for me covers all bases.
My 60th MIM Anniversary Strat (57/62 pups) also sounds good with a driven amp, but in a different way, it's stereotypical 60's overdrive tones, not quite as thick, but definitely more articulate than a HB tone.
If I want a drive tone I'll use P90's or Humbuckers.
The HSS Strat American Standard is my main guitar and the only guitar I used at gigs. I can approximate any sound I need. It has S1 switching which also enables a (rough) approximation of a neck humbucker by putting the neck and middle pickups in series.
The only sound I missed was a bridge single coil sound which isn't available from the S1 switching even though it's coil tappable to give bridge (S) and middle in parallel. I have considered adding an extra switch, but bridge (S) on its own isn't a sound I'd use much from a Strat. I prefer to get the bridge single coil sound from a Telecaster.
Generally a slightly hotter humbucker than a standard PAF-type works best. If you really want to get as close as possible, you need something like the Oil City Brassknuckle, which is actually built like two Strat (or Tele) pickups on a humbucker baseplate. With that, splitting it to the bridge side coil sounds like a Strat, to the neck side coil like a Tele.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
As regards the original question, I'm not sure an HSS Strat is more versatile - it's just different. To be fair though, the only HSS Strats I've tried have been MIMs which don't have the option of splitting the HB.
There's another argument though that having pickups matched in terms of output makes the guitar more versatile without touching any amp/pedal settings. To an extent I've sometimes found HSS setups a bit of a compromise due to the volume mismatches, however it can work if you want to utilise that output difference.
Personally I've come to the conclusion I like matched pickups/outputs so S[/S]/S or H[/H] for me regardless of guitar style.
I find a good humbucker sounds great in the bridge position, but the 'out of phase' combination with the middle pick up never sounds right, so is to big a compromise for me - So SSS with a good boost option and a touch of EQ accordingly, this way I can SSS all the time and HSS when I need a touch more
IIRC the Jeff Beck thing with the bridge single coil on a strat is to turn the guitar down - never have it full on 10 so it naturally knocks the spikey top end off.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
When I gigged regularly I had a HSS Schecter which allowed me to retire my vintage Strat and not to have to grapple with a Les Paul's ergonomics on stage. When I stopped gigging, I'd didn't have any need for a guitar which was always a compromise, so I sold it.
“Theory is something that is written down after the music has been made so we can explain it to others”– Levi Clay
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a263/sir-axeman/my 3strats_zpszckjkjzp.jpg
my 3....the SSS one has this on its way to go on it.
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/vagAAOSwXeJYHJoe/s-l1600.jpg
That way you don't get a huge drop in volume when you change Pickups and it's more balanced.
But yeah personally if I were only playing on the one guitar I'd prefer HSS to SSS, though I'd likely prefer HSH to either.