Best strat pickups for high gain?

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I just picked up a strat style guitar that has a JB jr. in the bridge position and two old Jackson J-100 singles in the middle and neck positions. Compared to a full size humbucker (like a Super D or JB) in the bridge, the JB jr. (at 16.2K output) is really anemic sounding. The J-100 singles sound weak too...

Give me some ideas on strat pickup sets you love for high gain. Especially interested in single coil sized bridge humbuckers that don't sound weak, but looking to replace the neck and middle as well... Don't care about vintage strat tones for this guitar - want the neck and bridge positions to sound more like full size hums... Doable even???

Steve
 
Duncan JB Jr ? I have one and I like it in the bridge. Also have a Lil Screamin Demon that's ok and some Duckbuckers.
 
duesentrieb":1fiha9uo said:
http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/strat/hum-canceling-strat

I have a couple of these blade pickups, Steve.
Just look at the output and treble chart/value to get the idea.
Click to expand...
Which ones have you tried, Olaf?

Steve
 
Does it have a bathtub route? If so drop a prewired pickguard w/ a full size humbucker and 2 singles. I was gonna stick a JB Jr and two Lil 59's in my Jeff Beck Strat for hotter tones. Can always go hotter. A Hot Rails or the DiMarzio equivalent.
 
sah5150":13ii6k2l said:
duesentrieb":13ii6k2l said:
http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/strat/hum-canceling-strat

I have a couple of these blade pickups, Steve.
Just look at the output and treble chart/value to get the idea.
Click to expand...
Which ones have you tried, Olaf?

Steve
Click to expand...
I have the Air Norton, Chopper and Tone Zone, Steve. It really depends a bit if the guitar is more on the bright side or not which you may like.
Personally I like the Air Norton the best and it still is in a Fender Road Worn. The Chopper was replaced with one of the virtual series, but that was because I was more after
a Strat sound - humfree. They are not too expensive as well . . .
 
duesentrieb":n1rkcqof said:
sah5150":n1rkcqof said:
duesentrieb":n1rkcqof said:
http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/strat/hum-canceling-strat

I have a couple of these blade pickups, Steve.
Just look at the output and treble chart/value to get the idea.
Click to expand...
Which ones have you tried, Olaf?

Steve
Click to expand...
I have the Air Norton, Chopper and Tone Zone, Steve. It really depends a bit if the guitar is more on the bright side or not which you may like.
Personally I like the Air Norton the best and it still is in a Fender Road Worn. The Chopper was replaced with one of the virtual series, but that was because I was more after
a Strat sound - humfree. They are not too expensive as well . . .
Click to expand...
Guitar isn't super bright - it's alder. JB jr. just sounds weak and harsh...
 
mrcak":4w2ffbpa said:
Does it have a bathtub route? If so drop a prewired pickguard w/ a full size humbucker and 2 singles. I was gonna stick a JB Jr and two Lil 59's in my Jeff Beck Strat for hotter tones. Can always go hotter. A Hot Rails or the DiMarzio equivalent.
Click to expand...
No pickguard. It's a 3 TITE strat body...

Steve
 
sah5150":3462zavy said:
duesentrieb":3462zavy said:
Guitar isn't super bright - it's alder. JB jr. just sounds weak and harsh...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Well Carl knows much more about Strats than I do, I just have three, two of them with DiMarzios, which (to me) have much more bass and fatter mids than a JB jr - but that experience with a JB jr is ages ago.
I'd try a Chopper or so for the start, as I've said, IMO they are cheap. Just give them a try.
 
duesentrieb":1icnaix4 said:
Could it be that your JB jr is hooked to a 500k pot?
Click to expand...
I'll check that tonight. The guitar has only one volume, no tone and a 5 way switch:
s-l1600.jpg


Steve
 
OK... I'm thinking:

Neck: Air Norton S
Middle: Chopper
Bridge" Tone Zone S of Super Distortion S

Having a hard time deciding between the Tone Zone S or Super D for the bridge. The Super D is my favorite full size humbucker and the S has more output than the Tone Zone, but the Tone Zone may be warmer for this guitar, which seems to have plenty of treble...

Decisions decisions...

Steve
 
Lollar Special S is my fave but it sounds like a cross between a Tele and a PAF. Love it, but the Chopper is pretty cool.
 
The Duncan lil '59 sounds pretty good in the neck position, pretty fat sounding!
 
I tried the chopper and cruiser. Best single hum I found was Dimarzio Fast Track 2. Closest thing to a real humbucker IMO.
 
Tone Zone in a Strat bridge doesn't disappoint, or even better, the DiMarzio Billy Corgan BC2... which is a tweaked TZ.
 
I intstalled a JB junior in a strat in the bridge. It sounded good, not weak. A little bit lacking compared to full size humbucker, but a huge improvement over just a single coil.
 
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