Advice me on pickups for a strat?

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Hey guys!

I have a Fender USA Deluxe strat that I just LOVE. But I've never really been able to get on with the sound. I like the neck pickup, but the other positions just don't sound good to me at all. I believe the Fender vintage noiseless pickups may be the culprit.

The rest of my guitars are PRS, all with high output pickups (PRS Tremonti, and Suhr Aldrich)...it's basically what I do most of the time, but I LOVE the variation this strat gives me.

I'm looking to get some good clean and rock sounds out of the guitar, along a different variation of high gain should I need it. I don't think I need a vintage strat tone...just a kick ass rock tone!

What kind of pickups would you recommend I look into for it? Other than the tones I described, I have two criteria
-I'd still like the pups to still be noiseless...I really hate single coil noise.
-I want to keep the SSS pickguard, so the pickups, whether regular single, stacked, or junior humbucker, must be singlecoil sized.

Thanks!

Eric

 

[mboogman]

Dimarzio Virtual vintage.

I would say Texas specials, but they're true single coils. The Dimarzio Virtual vintage got me really close to the vibe of the TSS's but not al the way.

I also break all the rules, and use at least a 500k pot even for singles. I like the extra bite, especially on the neck pickup. I think I even have a 1Meg pot in one of my guitars that's HSS. The neck pickup absolutely kills for blues breakup! (It's a Texas Special, as far as I can tell)

 

[SFW]

Duncan Everything Axe set. JB jr, Duckbucker and lil 59. buddy of mine just put this set in his strat and it sounds great!

 

[brain21]

These aren't noiseless, but you didn't mention a budget so you could probably pickup a Suhr noiseless system in addition.

For true vintage tone, either Don Mare "Josie wind" Sports, or a set of Sliders (only available on eBay - search for slider pickups strat).

For more modern tones, check out Klein pickups. Really good price, and he has a great number of variations from Hendrixy pickups to John Mayer/SRV-style to Eric Johnson voiced, etc.

 

[Dave L]

+1 on the Virtual Vintage stuff... I use a Virtual Solo in the bridge with two VV Blues for neck and middle. Not a vintage strat tone, since it´s fatter and not as bright in the top highs, but they retain a single coil sound and are awesome for both clean stuff and high gain. Kick ass rock tone is right where they´re at.

 

[blackba]

+1 on the Virtual Vintage stuff... I use a Virtual Solo in the bridge with two VV Blues for neck and middle. Not a vintage strat tone, since it´s fatter and not as bright in the top highs, but they retain a single coil sound and are awesome for both clean stuff and high gain. Kick ass rock tone is right where they´re at.

+2 on the Virtual vintage, heard alot of great things about those.

The Bill Lawerence L280's and L290's are nice too.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

SD Cool Rails
SD Hot Rails
EMG David Gilmour set (my 1st choice)
EMG SA
EMG SV

If you ever decide to go HSS
EMG Steve Lukather set
EMG 81/SA/SA combo

 

[ke2]

Suhr?

 

[guitarslinger]

I LOVE my Virtual Vintage VIrtuAL2 pups.

You ought to try the Area '57 or whatever.