SSS is more versatile than HSS?

[JasonE]

Hm, dunno. Especially on Strats, I sometimes find bridge single coils to be quite a lot too harsh (unlike on a Tele - most bridge PUs sound considerably thicker on Teles, maybe because of the metal bridge frame combined with the pickup being a little further away from the saddles...).
Especially for country stuff, I'm getting along quite well with bridge humbuckers, at least in case they're not too powerful and rather balanced.
Posted this elsewhere already (sorry), but I think the sound is working pretty well:


Fwiw, I pretty much don't use Strat positions 2 and 4 anymore, and as all of my kinda strat-ish guitars are equipped with a super switch, I have the neck/bridge combination available on all of them, usually either in middle position or in position 2. For that combination, I find a humbucker in bridge position to work much better than a single coil, too.

Sounds great to me!

The pickups in Brent Mason's Tele are not single coils and he sound fantastic, always.

 

[State of Epicicity]

The Rio Grande Tallboy is supposed to split to a genuine, proper Strat pickup tone; so is the ZexCoil Tribucker.

 

[Sascha Franck]

The pickups in Brent Mason's Tele are not single coils and he sound fantastic, always.

Oh really? Didn't know that. I always thought the bridge and middle pickups were real single coils. So which models are those?

 

[metropolis_4]

Hm, dunno. Especially on Strats, I sometimes find bridge single coils to be quite a lot too harsh (unlike on a Tele - most bridge PUs sound considerably thicker on Teles, maybe because of the metal bridge frame combined with the pickup being a little further away from the saddles...).
Especially for country stuff, I'm getting along quite well with bridge humbuckers, at least in case they're not too powerful and rather balanced.
Posted this elsewhere already (sorry), but I think the sound is working pretty well:


Fwiw, I pretty much don't use Strat positions 2 and 4 anymore, and as all of my kinda strat-ish guitars are equipped with a super switch, I have the neck/bridge combination available on all of them, usually either in middle position or in position 2. For that combination, I find a humbucker in bridge position to work much better than a single coil, too.

Sounds great! The place where humbuckers fall apart for me in country is on the low notes with less gain than that.

Stuff like this I find humbuckers too compressed and round for:

Sounds great to me!

The pickups in Brent Mason's Tele are not single coils and he sound fantastic, always.

Eh, that’s pretty gray. I used SD Vintage Stacks for many years and they just sound like noiseless single coils to me. Nothing at all like a humbucker

 

[Sascha Franck]

The place where humbuckers fall apart for me in country is on the low notes with less gain than that.

I absolutely agree on that. In fact, I'd really like a pickup with that low note glassy twang and less of that for the higher strings.

 

[Sascha Franck]

And fwiw, if you guys have any recommendations for noiseless pseudo-single-coils to be used in neck position, I'm all ears. I'm through Kinmans, Andersons, Fenders, OBLs, Kent Armstrongs, you name it. None of them ever really did the neck job nicely.

 

[norminal]

And fwiw, if you guys have any recommendations for noiseless pseudo-single-coils to be used in neck position, I'm all ears. I'm through Kinmans, Andersons, Fenders, OBLs, Kent Armstrongs, you name it. None of them ever really did the neck job nicely.

I went down the noiseless rabbit hole and nothing did it for me except for true single coils and the Ilitch backplate. I’m finally content for the time being.

 

[metropolis_4]

I absolutely agree on that. In fact, I'd really like a pickup with that low note glassy twang and less of that for the higher strings.

Same. I’d love a pickup that is a PAF on the GBE strings and a Tele on EAD

 

[Sascha Franck]

I went down the noiseless rabbit hole and nothing did it for me except for true single coils and the Ilitch backplate. I’m finally content for the time being.

I'm afraid I'll have to do just that one day, too. Pretty bad as I really only need more or less authentic single coil tone from the neck pickup.

 

[metropolis_4]

Noiseless single coils are perfect for me. They’re typically just a bit flatter with a touch less “sparkle” and not as glassy.

All those qualities make them a lot more versatile to me than traditional vintage sounding single coils. I can still bump high end when I need it and I’m not battling the glassy highs with higher gain levels.

They’re the Goldilocks pickups for me that do it all

 

[Sascha Franck]

Noiseless single coils are perfect for me. They’re typically just a bit flatter with a touch less “sparkle” and not as glassy.

I absolutely agree for the most part - if only it wasn't for the neck position. That's where I'd really love all the sparkle there is, at least for one guitar.

 

[JasonE]

Oh really? Didn't know that. I always thought the bridge and middle pickups were real single coils. So which models are those?

• Neck PickupSeymour Duncan Vintage Mini Humbucker
• Middle PickupSeymour Duncan Hot Stack Strat STK-S2 Single-coil
• Bridge PickupSeymour Duncan Vintage Stack Tele STK-T3B Single-coil

 

[JasonE]

I went down the noiseless rabbit hole and nothing did it for me except for true single coils and the Ilitch backplate. I’m finally content for the time being.

I am in this camp. There just isn't a substitute for a true single coil pickup. The neck pickup on a Tele is one of the best sounds there is IMHO.

 

[la szum]

Same. I’d love a pickup that is a PAF on the GBE strings and a Tele on EAD

Wide Range Humbucker as designed for the Tele Deluxes in the early '70s?

About as close as I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[la szum]

Noiseless single coils are perfect for me. They’re typically just a bit flatter with a touch less “sparkle” and not as glassy.

All those qualities make them a lot more versatile to me than traditional vintage sounding single coils. I can still bump high end when I need it and I’m not battling the glassy highs with higher gain levels.

They’re the Goldilocks pickups for me that do it all

 

[la szum]

I am in this camp. There just isn't a substitute for a true single coil pickup. The neck pickup on a Tele is one of the best sounds there is IMHO.

I grew up fighting the snarl of Marshalls and the noise of Single-Coils... because I was dumb, naive,
and didn't know any better. Now I mostly do. Maybe. Sort of.

 

[Eagle]

Snake oil. Magnets and copper wire. No more, no less.

There is good reason for the Throbak being very expensive but it is about replicating the materials exactly.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Noiseless single coils are perfect for me. They’re typically just a bit flatter with a touch less “sparkle” and not as glassy.

All those qualities make them a lot more versatile to me than traditional vintage sounding single coils. I can still bump high end when I need it and I’m not battling the glassy highs with higher gain levels.

They’re the Goldilocks pickups for me that do it all

1000% feel the same. At this point the only true singles I'd use would be a lipstick tube type, because they have distinctive thing. There are just so many great humbucking singles nowadays.

 

[Sascha Franck]

There are just so many great humbucking singles nowadays.

So, which are the ones you'd recommend for a semi-authentic Strat neck pickup sound? Should deliver a bit more than vintage output and possibly somewhat more mids, too (but pretty much all pseudo single coils do that anyway).

 

[Eagle]

So, which are the ones you'd recommend for a semi-authentic Strat neck pickup sound? Should deliver a bit more than vintage output and possibly somewhat more mids, too (but pretty much all pseudo single coils do that anyway).

Alnico 2/3 magnet will do that and still keep the “air” in the tone that is killed by a noise cancelling system.