single coil pickups?

[tonluvara]

sigh.. i seemed to ask for lots of opinions here.. im sorry guys.. kinda habit, i get curious a lot..

anyway, i wanted to modify my old first guitar.. it has 2 single coils.. now i need suggestions for pickups here.. what you have to keep in mind before giving suggestions is that i dont like trebly sound.. so if you're suggesting something that is high in treble, think twice before you recommend it.. i know it maybe your favourite but.. im not a fan of trebly sounds.. :P

anyway, i have some pickups in mind, what do you guys think about:
- seymour duncan hot rails
- dimarzio tone zone s
- dimarzio fast track 2
they have similar specs for the treble, mid and bass but which one do you guys think is the best among the 3?

and what will be an excellent pair for the one you chose?

thanks a lot

[Gresh]

I have some Lindy Fralin pickups in my strat, vintage hots to be precise. They sound beautiful. Very very warm clear tone, bell like but not bright at all. The top end is very round, not spikey or piercing like so many single coils can be...if that makes any sense at all.

[bpd111]

Originally Posted by tonluvara

sigh.. i seemed to ask for lots of opinions here.. im sorry guys.. kinda habit, i get curious a lot..

Don't be sorry! That's what the forum is for, right? Anyway, I apologize in advance because I can't be very specific with my reply. My Ibanez s540 (late 80s) has two single coils and their clean sound is just incredible. I get more positive comments on my clean sound. One description has been that they sound "bell-like". My friend and I fell in love with the guitar because of it's clean tone. He said he was going to buy it if I didn't. The pups are only marked with "IBZUSA". I don't know who actually made them or anything.

If you're looking for distortion, you can disregard my post, because they sound muddy when more than minimal amounts of gain are applied.

Rich or someone else here may be able to tell you more about them if you're interested.

[tonluvara]

hahaha.. yeah.. thanks bpd111..

yeah.. im not really into clean sounds but.. i'll consider your suggestions i usually play with high gain distortions.. influenced by my past rock music playing i guess.. :P

what i want is actually pickups for my old guitar.. (only has 2 single coils..) im getting a new DBK with evos on it.. but i dont wanna put my first guitar to gather dust.. so i wanna change her pups..

i need single coils with clean distortion sound.. (not muddy) n preferably high in mid n bass.. i dont prefer trebly sounds either :P (kinda fussy eh..)
so.. anyone have any suggestion?

[Gresh]

Typically high gain and single coils don't mix well, at least in my opinion...sort of wrecks the whole point of going single coil in the first place.

If you're not after the clean/blues spectrum, maybe your best bet would be to consider some of the stacked coil models, both dimarzio and duncan make them I think. I even think that there is a single coil sized version of the Tone Zone. That might be right up your alley.

[Lauri M]

Gresh, listen to Yngwie

[Gresh]

No offense meant to anyone, but I just don't really like his tone. Great player, no doubt about it.

Eric Johnson would the only exception to my statement, but I don't view his sound as one that is overly saturated with gain...it is very dark and thick, but sounds like there really isn't that much gain going on inside of that. More of a different texture of sound rather than gain heaped on his clean tone.

I guess what I really mean is that if you take a strat and blast it through a boogie rectumfrier set on stun....no thanks, I'll take humbuckers every day of the week.

Again, this is all just my opinion....that and a nickel will get you....... well, a nickel.

[Mr Orange]

If you go single coil, check out the aforementioned Fralins and Seymour Duncan's stuff. It's usually only the cheapo pups that sound over-trebley.

A quality sc pup sounds sweet.

I can't help loving the sound you get with a strat's neck pup...

If metal/heavy stuff's your cup of tea, stick with the humbuckers though.

[EnigmaUV7]

Originally Posted by tonluvara

hahaha.. yeah.. thanks bpd111..

yeah.. im not really into clean sounds but.. i'll consider your suggestions i usually play with high gain distortions.. influenced by my past rock music playing i guess.. :P

what i want is actually pickups for my old guitar.. (only has 2 single coils..) im getting a new DBK with evos on it.. but i dont wanna put my first guitar to gather dust.. so i wanna change her pups..

i need single coils with clean distortion sound.. (not muddy) n preferably high in mid n bass.. i dont prefer trebly sounds either :P (kinda fussy eh..)
so.. anyone have any suggestion?

Try the DiMarzio HS-3 stacked single coil, it is hum cancelling and sounds awesome, clear even when pushed but not too bright.

[pinto79]

Try a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails. They have tone for days and simply scream. Perfect for metal. Had one in my Tele before I put the EMG's in. Wicked loud, clear and not too bright. You can split the coils and the "supposed" to sound like modern singles...