strat bridge pickup talk

tt0511 · #1 02-19-2008, 10:24 AM

I have a 70's reissue strat (MIM) with a birdseye maple neck on it from warmoth. I have the Dimarzio YJM pup in the neck position and the tone is just a devastating experience. I'm really into that kind of tone, ...real woody, phaaaat, smooth.

I have the Dimarzio HS-2 in the bridge and I just feel like it is very lack luster to me. I'm trying to figure out if it's just the bridge position of a strat that I don't like or if I should try another pup and move the HS-2 to the middle (stock crappy MIM single in there now). The bridge position is just too small and treble sounding for my tastes. It could be because I've gotten so used to my JEM and RGT320, which I LUV, that I'm not taking to that bridge sound. I'm not liking it clean or distorted to be honest.

What do you think? Is there a pup I could pop in that would help that out or is it just me not liking the bridge position of a strat?

Oh yeah, ...I sometimes forget that the electronics are wired so that all knobs are volume control for each pup. Perhaps if I wired it standard I might be able to dial the tone back to help but I'm unsure if this would get it where I'd be happy or not.

rty13ibz98 · #2 02-19-2008, 12:08 PM

check to see what type of pots you have, 250k or 500k. 500k will give you more high end. i swap all of my strats 250k to 500k and replace the bridge pickup with a hot rail and a push pull to coil tap. i don't put the bridge on a tone knob either, just the neck and mid and use the volume as a master volume. i am not a fan of regular strat bridge pickups as they are whiny and thin. if i want that type of tone, i just coil tap the hot rail to make it a single coil, granted the hot rail as a single is more agressive than a regular strat as it is ceramic, but i prefer that to cut through better.

rich

tt0511 · #3 02-19-2008, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rty13ibz98

check to see what type of pots you have, 250k or 500k. 500k will give you more high end. i swap all of my strats 250k to 500k and replace the bridge pickup with a hot rail and a push pull to coil tap. i don't put the bridge on a tone knob either, just the neck and mid and use the volume as a master volume. i am not a fan of regular strat bridge pickups as they are whiny and thin. if i want that type of tone, i just coil tap the hot rail to make it a single coil, granted the hot rail as a single is more agressive than a regular strat as it is ceramic, but i prefer that to cut through better.

rich

Cool. I'll check the pots tonight and see. I believe they are 250k. If 250k warms it up though, that might be what I want. I have been considering putting a Tone Zone S in there to see if that helps any. Do you know anything about that pup? The HS-2 is a bucker from what I understand.

LuredMaul · #4 02-19-2008, 01:56 PM

Virtual Solo in the Bridge

rty13ibz98 · #5 02-19-2008, 02:00 PM

the hs-2 is a low output stacked hum. i'm personally not a fan of the hs series of dimarzios...yjm included. tried the tone zone single, but it was thru a rig that was so-so. so can't fully give an opinion. i do know that the regular tone zone sounds great in alder guitars, as the super strats i own in alder that have hums, really smoke with the tone zone. in those guitars i have had the duncan jb and custom, and the TZ was a last resort. which ended up staying. so if the TZ single is anything like that, i would be down, but i just love the hot rail for my strats. neck and middle singles usually come down to what strat it is, but my 2 personal faves are the rio grande vintage tallboys and the fender 57/62.

rich

tt0511 · #6 02-19-2008, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuredMaul

Virtual Solo in the Bridge

I just compared the HS-2 EQ specs versus Virtual Solo and Tone Zone on dimarzio's website. Gosh, ...no wonder I don't like the HS-2 in the bridge. The high's are way up there comparing to these two. Looks like the TZ and VS are actually pretty similar in tone. Thanks for that recommendation. I think I'm going to try the virtual solo. It will match the other two pups well, retaining the pole pieces over the rails. I like the sound clip dimarzio has for the TZ (don't have one for the VS). Too bad I can't tell which position it's in on that clip.

LuredMaul · #7 02-19-2008, 09:16 PM

I used to have the TZ single and Virtual Vintage solo....the VV Solo slayed the TZ

tt0511 · #8 02-19-2008, 09:59 PM

well, I can't speak to slaying the VS or the TZ, ...but I went to the store this evening and they didn't have either. I wanted to try "something", so I did. They had a Fast Track 2 and I looked it up on the net from the store and the EQ of the pup is pretty close to the TZ and VS so I took a chance on it. WOW! I gotta say that this had made the biggest difference in any pup switch I've ever done! I'm astonished at the change.

My tone is almost exactly where I want it to be. I don't know what your impression of the Fast Track 2 is, but I'm slayed by IT, lol. I'm also using a Peavey Classic 30 and I'm sure it depends on which amp you use, but based on Dimarzio's description of the pup I'd say it blends with my amp style perfectly. If you think there's a big difference in the VS and the FT2, let me know. Right now I'm uber impressed.

The only thing I'm not happy with is the HS-2 that I moved to the middle position to eliminate the crappy stock single coil and get rid of the hum. The 2 position on the switch is way to treble sounding because of it! However, full on middle position with only HS-2 sounds quite good. But, looks like I'll be after a middle pup to go with the YJM and FT2 now.

rty13ibz98 · #9 02-19-2008, 10:22 PM

the fast track 2 was basically the super distortion in a single before they made the super distortion S. never tried one, but have heard great things about it.

rich

tt0511 · #10 02-19-2008, 10:31 PM

As I'm sitting here playing, I'm not sure the YJM goes with this pickup because of the output difference. There's a noticeable difference between the hot output of the Fast Track 2 and the vintage output of the YJM, ...not as much volume related as the way the amp breaks up on the bridge, but when I switch to the neck the tone totally changes, ...kinda like the family of tone or something. As much as I like the YJM, I may end up trying something else in the neck position that goes with the FT2 better. Interesting fun stuff, wheee, lol. The FT2 sounds really great to me.

LuredMaul · #11 02-20-2008, 12:08 AM

yeah see, now you need 2- Fast track 1's to go with the 2 in the bridge.

LuredMaul · #12 02-20-2008, 12:09 AM

or Cruiser necks .which will sound old school singlecoil with added volume

tt0511 · #13 02-20-2008, 01:06 AM

I was thinking about the dimarzio recommendation of a pro track neck and a FT1 or Cruiser middle. They claim you end up with an incredibly versatile rig that way. If you have experience with these, please let me know. It's hard for me to decide with 4-5 options, ...and I don't know the pups. Is it better to go with two of the same thing for the neck and middle or mix it up? Thanks. I think I'm just discovering that I really like hot pickups and HB's more than singles.

CityofBlindingLights · #14 02-20-2008, 02:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tt0511

I have a 70's reissue strat (MIM) with a birdseye maple neck on it from warmoth. I have the Dimarzio YJM pup in the neck position and the tone is just a devastating experience. I'm really into that kind of tone, ...real woody, phaaaat, smooth.

I have the Dimarzio HS-2 in the bridge and I just feel like it is very lack luster to me. I'm trying to figure out if it's just the bridge position of a strat that I don't like or if I should try another pup and move the HS-2 to the middle (stock crappy MIM single in there now). The bridge position is just too small and treble sounding for my tastes. It could be because I've gotten so used to my JEM and RGT320, which I LUV, that I'm not taking to that bridge sound. I'm not liking it clean or distorted to be honest.

What do you think? Is there a pup I could pop in that would help that out or is it just me not liking the bridge position of a strat?

Oh yeah, ...I sometimes forget that the electronics are wired so that all knobs are volume control for each pup. Perhaps if I wired it standard I might be able to dial the tone back to help but I'm unsure if this would get it where I'd be happy or not.

HS-3.

tt0511 · #15 02-20-2008, 10:24 AM

Thanks. But, ...I guess I'm now committed to going all out rail pups after loving the Fast Track 2 so much. I'm going to have to buy 2 pickups either way, ...if I keep the FT2, I'll need to match it in the neck and bridge. If I were to keep the YJM in the neck, ...I hate the HS-2 in the middle and in the bridge so I would have to find 2 pups to put in there that I like. Since I am coming to the conclusion that I must just like hot pickups, ...I'm heavily leaning towards keeping the FT2 and going full rail buckers. I'll be getting a neck pup to match the FT2 soon and that will tell me whether or not I'll be happy with that setup.