SSS is more versatile than HSS?

[James Freeman]

HSS for me. Gotta have the humbucker at the bridge for anything with gain.

 

[laxu]

It's weird that P90/S/S or Jazzmaster+Strat/Tele single coils have never become a thing. I guess the humbucking functionality is the idea here, but the P90 or proper JM pickups would be closer to the Strat/Tele singlecoils tonally - just more beef than those.

 

[Eagle]

I’ve tried them all. The best I’ve ever gotten was… OK-ish.

But I still find it way easier to get the humbucker sounds I need out of a single coil than to get the single coil sounds I need out of a humbucker.
And the humbucker sounds I get out of single coils are much better than the single coil sounds I get out of humbuckers

Humbuckers have baked in qualities you just can’t get rid of. With single coils I feel like I’m just adding something to what’s there to get into humbucker territory. But with humbuckers you have to try to take something out, and that doesn’t work as well

I'm pretty sure I have humbuckers that you would be happy with in the bridge . I find that if you get the balance or tone right on HSS or SSS then I am happy either way. BUT I hear a LOT more badly balanced SSS that HSS guitars. Weedy thin bad sounding oscillating distortion on the bridge even when they have the output levels matched . My all time shit overrated strat bridge pickup is the utter garbage Texas Special. Nothing like the pickup in SRV's No1 when they actually measured it.

 

[FuzzyAce]

What's cool about Dan Armstrong's wiring scheme is that you can blend in as much series or out of phase parallel sounds with the stock sounds that you like.

I may end up trying this mod.

 

[metropolis_4]

I'm pretty sure I have humbuckers that you would be happy with in the bridge . I find that if you get the balance or tone right on HSS or SSS then I am happy either way. BUT I hear a LOT more badly balanced SSS that HSS guitars. Weedy thin bad sounding oscillating distortion on the bridge even when they have the output levels matched . My all time shit overrated strat bridge pickup is the utter garbage Texas Special. Nothing like the pickup in SRV's No1 when they actually measured it.

I’d be curious to hear what humbuckers you would recommend.

I’m with you on Texas Specials, never liked them. Especially for anything with gain.

I tend to go for less traditional Strat pickups because I get a lot more versatility out of them. I know it’s getting into a gray area since they’re stacked coils, but one of my favorites is the DiMarzio HS-3. They don’t sound anything like traditional Strat pickups, but I find them incredibly versatile.

HSS for me. Gotta have the humbucker at the bridge for anything with gain.

Not saying I don’t like humbuckers, but this is a Strat with an Area 61 in the bridge and this is all the gain I’ll ever need:

 

[JasonE]

I’d be curious to hear what humbuckers you would recommend.

I’m with you on Texas Specials, never liked them. Especially for anything with gain.

I tend to go for less traditional Strat pickups because I get a lot more versatility out of them. I know it’s getting into a gray area since they’re stacked coils, but one of my favorites is the DiMarzio HS-3. They don’t sound anything like traditional Strat pickups, but I find them incredibly versatile.



Not saying I don’t like humbuckers, but this is a Strat with an Area 61 in the bridge and this is all the gain I’ll ever need:

That sounds pretty good. I think that is possibly one of the best sounding single coil bridge pickup on a Start that I have ever heard.

 

[DrewJD82]

I'm almost at the point where I think the choice of Guitar and Pickup Configuration comes down
to the gig---and that means what kind of music is it, and what is the band configuration?

Context is so important.

Indeed. In both the last cover bands I was in I was trying to figure out which Strat would work better, the one with EMG’s or the one that’s more subtle and subdued. One would work great if I was the only guitar player, but the other would definitely be the better choice with 2 guitar players.

 

[FuzzyAce]

I’d be curious to hear what humbuckers you would recommend.

I’m with you on Texas Specials, never liked them. Especially for anything with gain.

I tend to go for less traditional Strat pickups because I get a lot more versatility out of them. I know it’s getting into a gray area since they’re stacked coils, but one of my favorites is the DiMarzio HS-3. They don’t sound anything like traditional Strat pickups, but I find them incredibly versatile.



Not saying I don’t like humbuckers, but this is a Strat with an Area 61 in the bridge and this is all the gain I’ll ever need:

I've said it before, i'm a DiMarzio ho, the stacked offerings are really nice. I'm sure Eagle has some good insight as well.
I have the area 58's and I really love those in the neck and middle positions. Also have the Injector neck which is fat and powerful but still has the clear and open single qualities. The Heavy Blues 2 in the middle, same deal, and a nice quack when needed. I have a virtual vintage 54 pro on the way so looking forward to that one. Cruiser is still ace and it's more balanced overall but the area 58 is wonderful.
Another really good option if you want a SSS set would be Mojotone '67 quiet coil set with the hot bridge. Excellent set, highly recommend.

 

[Eagle]

I’d be curious to hear what humbuckers you would recommend.

I’m with you on Texas Specials, never liked them. Especially for anything with gain.

I tend to go for less traditional Strat pickups because I get a lot more versatility out of them. I know it’s getting into a gray area since they’re stacked coils, but one of my favorites is the DiMarzio HS-3. They don’t sound anything like traditional Strat pickups, but I find them incredibly versatile.



Not saying I don’t like humbuckers, but this is a Strat with an Area 61 in the bridge and this is all the gain I’ll ever need:

Tom holmes paf, Throbak 101, Lollar Imperial ,Duncan antiquity. All have clarity, warmth and only around 7k so no balance issues.

 

[TimOwens316]

I grew up playing Les Paul style guitars, it's all I knew for over 30 years. Fast forward 35+ years, I was in a band with another guitarist who played Strats, something about his tones caught my attention so I bought an American Deluxe SSS Strat. It's still my main axe to this day. I went back and forth between SSS and HSS so many times that the screws on my Strat are about wore out. I settled on the Lollar Low Wind Imperial Humbucker in the bridge position, it just seems to match/work with the single coils in the Strat. I also tried several variations of coil splitting, nothing ever worked for me, a humbucker will never be a single coil and a single coil will never be a humbucker, the fancy switch on the Fender American Deluxe is fun to play with, but no, single coil and dual coil are not the same.

 

[la szum]

Didn't Humbuckers partly come to be because Single Coils were thought to suck Donkey Balls.

Big fan of both Donkeys and Balls. Just not together.

 

[la szum]

Indeed. In both the last cover bands I was in I was trying to figure out which Strat would work better, the one with EMG’s or the one that’s more subtle and subdued. One would work great if I was the only guitar player, but the other would definitely be the better choice with 2 guitar players.

Yup. I am kind of over absolutes and all-the-times and all the alwayses that get tossed
about on Forums (totally guilty of it myself in the past).

Tell me what I am playing, and how big the band is, or isn't, and then I'll choose among
a variety of options to get the best result for that situation. Because not all situations are
the same or equal.

Right tool for the job at hand and all that jazz!

 

[metropolis_4]

Yup. I am kind of over absolutes and all-the-times and all the alwayses that get tossed
about on Forums (totally guilty of it myself in the past).

Tell me what I am playing, and how big the band is, or isn't, and then I'll choose among
a variety of options to get the best result for that situation. Because not all situations are
the same or equal.

Right tool for the job at hand and all that jazz!

Well yeah, of course. I never said anything about absolutes or needing to choose just one.

I just said SSS seems more versatile to me than HSS in a Strat and single coils seem more versatile to me than humbuckers

 

[KHAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!]

Yup. I am kind of over absolutes and all-the-times and all the alwayses that get tossed
about on Forums (totally guilty of it myself in the past).

Tell me what I am playing, and how big the band is, or isn't, and then I'll choose among
a variety of options to get the best result for that situation. Because not all situations are
the same or equal.

Right tool for the job at hand and all that jazz!

That's dangerous thinking.

We must choose a side, and cling to it tenaciously.

 

[Eagle]

HSS came about when there was a difficulty getting a decent amount of controllable gain.

 

[la szum]

Before there was HSS there was just H. Just sayin'.

 

[FuzzyAce]

Hum...bucker.

 

[Stone]

Throbak 101,

 

[norminal]

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

 

[Sascha Franck]

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.

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.