Pickup suggestions for a Strat: Hot and sizzly Ceramic firebreather?

[Rex Rocker]

Tried something different since I was rewiring the guitar. Black Winter! I love it. LOL.

It actually sounds brighter than the Super 2 since I replaced the pot with 500K.

HOWEVER... I would still like it moved closer to the bridge. And I'm not conviced with the tortoise shell pickguard.

 

[JohnnyGtar]

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Tried something different since I was rewiring the guitar. Black Winter! I love it. LOL.

It actually sounds brighter than the Super 2 since I replaced the pot with 500K.

HOWEVER... I would still like it moved closer to the bridge. And I'm not conviced with the tortoise shell pickguard.

I'd like to try one of those. I like really bright pickups. What are the mids and lows like?

 

[Rex Rocker]

I'd like to try one of those. I like really bright pickups. What are the mids and lows like?

It's bright in the sense that it's got more upper-mid cut rather than sizzle. I don't think it's actually brighter than the Super 2, it's just that since I was changing the pot to 500K, I changed all of the electronics altogether. And so BW+500K seemed brighter to me than S2+250K.

The mids are super emphatic. It's not nasal, though. And it's not stuffy in the low-mids like the JB can be. The pickup is all about mids, but at the same time, they're voiced just right. It is a pickup supposedly inspired by Scandinavian Metal, so expect some rasp and nastiness to the attack.

The low-end is rolled off which gives it a very tight and modern vibe.

It's a HOT pickup too. Like X2N levels of hot.

 

[harddriver]

My vote is still for the Dimebucker, Mighty Mite 1400/1300 or SH6N considering you want hot and sizzly.

 

[Rex Rocker]

My vote is still for the Dimebucker, Mighty Mite 1400/1300 or SH6N considering you want hot and sizzly.

I was actually considering the standard SH-6B. I kinda want this guitar to sound nastier whan with the BW, but the output of the BW is good, for the most part. I wouldn't mind a bit less, though, and the SH-6B would kind of do that.

Honestly, I thought I wanted sizzly and "wide". I still want sizzly, but I realized the BW sounds much more like me because it has some midrange muscle and cut. Maybe Distortion would be the logical next step. Sizzlier, slightly less focused, but still pretty mid-focused in itself.

 

[braintheory]

My vote is still for the Dimebucker, Mighty Mite 1400/1300 or SH6N considering you want hot and sizzly.

Yeah I’d also go more in that direction and try other varieties than just Duncan’s or Dimarzio’s. I’d still lean toward various vintage BL’s, but the Mighty Mite 1400 and vintage Dirty Finger’s are also killer. They’ll at least be successful in being more raw and imo nasty

 

[Rex Rocker]

Honestly, the Might Mites might not be a bad idea. They're not super expensive, and I've had Duncans, EMG's, Fishmans, Dimarzios, Gibsons, but never anything from MM.

Not overly expensive either. And would fit well with the Rat Rod Faux-Frankenstrat vibe.

 

[Rex Rocker]

Just checked... OOS and only available in black.

 

[Rex Rocker]

Alright, reporting back... still looking for suggestions.

So Super 2 I thought was too bland, but I did have it running through 250K knobs, so I'm sure that watered it down.

Black Winter through a single 500K volume is better, but still not what I want. It was a good experiment, and it did get me closer to what I want, but I found the following:

1. It's slighty too hot. Not much. But I'd say 10-ish % hotter than I want for it to work compared to my Gibson with the 500T.

2. It is not sizzly enough. It has a lot of midrange grind. It might actually have slighty more detail up top than the 500T in the Gibson, but the 500T's upper mid spike is more pronounced, making it seem more up-front and aggressive. I need more, even.

3. It's too tight. The low-end is rolled-off, and it makes this guitar sound a bit too focused and slightly thin.


Soooooo... I'm now looking at the Dimebucker or Duncan Distortion or maybe a DiMarzio D Activator.

Maybe Bare Knuckle something?

I would switch back to the Super 2, but I would prefer it to be F-Spaced and either zebra or double cream for aesthetic reasons. At that point, I might as well buy a new pickup altogether and try something different.

 

[MetalThrasher]

I dig the pickguard! What are you tuning this guitar to? I'd try the Dimebucker but If you don't tune low (nothing lower than D) I would consider a Custom SH-5. Another crazy recommendation, what about an EMG 81 in red.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I dig the pickguard! What are you tuning this guitar to? I'd try the Dimebucker but If you don't tune low (nothing lower than D) I would consider a Custom SH-5. Another crazy recommendation, what about an EMG 81 in red.

Thank you! It's tuned to Drop C.

I actually have a set of Fluence Moderns and KSE's around. But those aren't nearly as hot as the 500T. EMG 81's are more or less the same output level as Fluence Moderns.