SSS is more versatile than HSS?

[jellodog]

Anybody tried the shadowy in-between world of the single coil sized humbucker in the bridge?

I've had my eye on the allegedly PAF-like SD Red Devil for a while.

So many of the DiMarzio offerings want 500k pots, whereas more of the SD options are good with 250k.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Anybody tried the shadowy in-between world of the single coil sized humbucker in the bridge?

I've had my eye on the allegedly PAF-like SD Red Devil for a while.

So many of the DiMarzio offerings want 500k pots, whereas more of the SD options are good with 250k.

I use the Dimarzio rails, love the Super Distortion S version in the bridge. But Chopper and Fast Track 1 are also great there.
Other than that I've used the Seymour Lil' '59 which I like and the Hot Rails not at much. I have a single size parallel axis too but have only used in the neck position. Lil' 59 sounds better to me with 500K pot fwiw, as do all of them.

 

[Sascha Franck]

That said, I enjoy a full HB in the bridge too, but minus the middle pickup and just a single at the neck.

See my last post, this is precisely what I learned to love during the last years. Very easy to operate, very flexible, too.

 

[Sascha Franck]

On my new guitar I went HSH with a 3 way switch and a push/push switch that turns on the middle pickup so I can choose to add it to any combo.

For a while, I thought about something like that (and I had a similar switching on some guitars), but if I used the middle pickup at all during the last years, for whatever reasons it had always been just on it's own. I do sometimes like that for some kinda quacky but not too thick stuff (think Reggae offbeats and the likes). But then, even that got so rare I simply decided to deactivate it in the Nick Johnston last month. I'm like 6 gigs in so far (in addition to using it at home), pretty varying stuff, didn't miss a single thing.

 

[jellodog]

I use the Dimarzio rails, love the Super Distortion S version in the bridge. But Chopper and Fast Track 1 are also great there.
Other than that I've used the Seymour Lil' '59 which I like and the Hot Rails not at much. I have a single size parallel axis too but have only used in the neck position. Lil' 59 sounds better to me with 500K pot fwiw, as do all of them.

Aye, I should have been more clear to specify my question was about the non-rails offerings. But of course your Lil '59 experience is exactly that.

 

[FuzzyAce]

See my last post, this is precisely what I learned to love during the last years. Very easy to operate, very flexible, too.

It's a great setup with not a lot of fuss. My no.1 has that layout with a Cruiser neck and Steve's Special bridge. I threw in 2 mini switches for series/parallel selection which adds to the versatility.

One of my HSS strats has a 3-way switch. So no combinations of pickups. I really like the sound of a middle pickup strat too, and I've gotten more away from the quack positions last few years.

 

[maguchi]

Anybody tried the shadowy in-between world of the single coil sized humbucker in the bridge?

I've had my eye on the allegedly PAF-like SD Red Devil for a while.

So many of the DiMarzio offerings want 500k pots, whereas more of the SD options are good with 250k.

I been using SSS Strats forever. Don't think I ever tried or played a HSS Strat before yet. Maybe I'll check it out one a these days. So far I been able to get everything I need from SSS Strats, including metal. Just gain up the amp, turn some tone knobs and ready to roll.

 

[greatmutah]

See my last post, this is precisely what I learned to love during the last years. Very easy to operate, very flexible, too.

My G&L Fallout is like this. Full size HB in the neck with a push pull for splits and a P90 at the neck. It’s awesome. The middle position with both pickups gets some cool sounds with the HB full and split. Super awesome guitar.

 

[DrewJD82]

Pretty much every time I see/hear Andy Wood and Andy Timmons play, I want to make an HSS pickguard for my Old Man Strat. I think it’d be tricky for me to find something that still retains some ‘Strat-ness’ due to my picking hand being a bit more aggressive than I’d prefer at times, I almost need the low-output single coils to work against it so Strats still sound like Strats.

 

[HomespunEffects]

Anyone else feel this way?

Every time I’ve had a HSS Strat I’ve ended up frustrated that I can’t get the tones I need out of the bridge for stuff like country and surf, and the position 2 tones aren’t as good.

But getting heavy crunch out of a SSS bridge is no problem.

I was just playing The Glass Prison on my SSS Strat and it sounded great to me.

Single coils in general seem so much more flexible to me.

Yeah. I like single coils in just about every situation. My SG has humbuckers but i play them split just about 95% of the time.

The last time I had HSS, I only ever used the bridge humbucker. Mostly because they just don’t sound balanced between the pickup positions.

 

[the-trooper]

What are you all smoking?
HH for life.

 

[HomespunEffects]

What are you all smoking?
HH for life.

Yeah. I got HH in my SG. Then i split then when I play.

 

[Aelred]

Fwiw, I couldn't get the "balance" right on my HSS Strat - when the bridge HB sounded good, no other pickup selection did and vice versa. Even the middle+bridge selection wasn't great to my ear, so I limited myself to it being a 3-way pickup slector instead of 5. Mostly neck+middle.

My Ultra SSS is sounding fantastic to me, and getting so many more tones. Neck+Bridge wasn't possible for me before.

 

[Will Onyx]

All of my strats have been HSS or HH. I finally decided a couple months ago to try the traditional SSS route and went with some Fender pure vintage 65s. I was like . Why the f*ck did I wait so long to do this?????

 

[GuitarBilly74]

I think HSS is way more versatile. Add a series/parallel switch for the HB if you need clean tones in the bridge.

A common mistake is to wire a coil tap to the bridge humbucker for cleans. That never sounds as good as a real single coil. But a parallel wired humbucker blends with single coils really well and sound great on its own.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Fwiw, one "mistake" with most splitted bridge humbuckers IMO would be that the remaining active coil is that next to the bridge. Which a) often overly bright and b) pretty low in volume. In case the remaining active coil is the other one, both issues quite sometimes are efficiently cured. I can get very nice single coild sounds out of my Anderson that way (whatever Duncan designed humbucker in there, snagged from a Framus Diablo).

 

[vino_buono]

HSS can be great with right pickups and balancing. Also make sure you’re splitting to the right coil. You want to keep the one closest to the bridge on for proper twang, which is usually your pole piece coil. Slug coil not so much. Thsts the thin and muddy sound. No quack. Also personal favorite HB for splitting in this manner is the DiMarzio PAF Pro.

Oh yeeeah, strat with a PAF pro, the Sambora thing. I like that and I have wired one of my strats like that. Sounds great, but the coil split is just a bit meh as usual… it works if I really need it but I always hope I don’t.

My new strat am pro ii has v-mod ii pickups that everyone seems to dislile on the interwebs… except that I find them really good… if you are willing to actually use the volume and tone controls.

Versatile… probably HSS if you want one guitar to do it all. I always bring two and usually lean towards an SSS strat because the other guitar already covers me on the humbucker side.

 

[Whizzinby]

All of my strats have been HSS or HH. I finally decided a couple months ago to try the traditional SSS route and went with some Fender pure vintage 65s. I was like . Why the f*ck did I wait do long to this?????

Same thing. I’ve had nothing but HH or HSS and my experience with the NJ SSS has really been awesome. There are just some tones you cant get without the single coil, and even for chunkier stuff if has its own unique cut and vibe that is fun to offset my other chughead guitars.

 

[EOengineer]

I love SSS and HH but have never been able to make any combination of the two work for me. Strats and teles alike.

I either end up with shitty single coils or a shitty humbucker tone. I want to try again with a low output PAF in the bridge.

 

[ucnick]

Which is still nice too. There's a beautiful clarity to that kind of setup.
My favorite SSS (non blade, but still hum cancelling) is the Mojotone '67 set. Bridge sounds proper, like a fat tele. So not exactly vintage spec but still very close with some benefits.

Heh. I put Mojotone 58 Quiet Coils in one of my HSS Strats in neck and bridge. Still get the essential single-coil type tones, but they seem meatier and fuller then the pups they replaced. As well as no hum. I really like 'em. Guys in the band dig 'em as well.