Strat pickups: recommendations?

[milkchickenbomb]

Looking for some low noise pickups for strat. I might end up going with an HSS configuration, but wanted to consider single coils first.

Would prefer relatively high output (8k+ bridge), but still want lots of clarity/note separation. My amp is a Mesa Tverb. I'm not a single coil purist, but I want to preserve the strat "quack" if possible. In band and recording I play punk and funk, but when I'm noodling at home I mostly play metal. Other than the hum, my strat sounds great (Fender Select Series pups), with a ton of harmonics and good clarity with the current setup. Want to preserve clarity and harmonics, but get more output and reduce noise. I'd prefer to pay less than $200, but I can pay more for the right set of pickups.

I've considered the following and am still considering all of them except the YJM Fury:

• YJM Fury: High output and humbucking. In the clips I've heard, they sound great for single notes with a lot of pick attack and low end, but chords sound muddy and farty.
• Bill Lawrence Microcoils: Not noiseless, but reduced noise. They sound nice and clear, but not sure if the output will be enough. No information on this in their website.
• Bill Lawrence NF singles: I like the sound clips I've heard. Not sure if the L280S or the L298S would be better for me. Again, the website provides no useful information.
• Dimarzio Area: Maybe a little too low output?
• Dimarzio Virtual Solo
• Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Blues
• GFS Trucoil
• GFS Neovin
• Mojotone Quiet Coil 67: Sound clips sound awesome at low gain. Not sure how they’ll deal with high gain stuff.
• Lace Sensors: Not really sure which ones would fit the bill, but I hear good things.
• Kinman: Don’t really know much about these other than the price is high, people on TGP like them, and the company seems a little shady.
• Fender SCN
• Fender Hot Noiseless

What do you recommend?

 

[SpiderWars]

I'm about to replace the pickups on an old HSS Kramer and was going to try the Dimarzio Choppers in neck/middle with a Suhr Aldrich in the bridge. I think Andy Timmons uses Choppers in his Strat and gets a nice quasi-Stratty tone in neck/middle.

 

[thunda]

I've considered the following and am still considering all of them except the YJM Fury:

• Bill Lawrence NF singles: I like the sound clips I've heard. Not sure if the L280S or the L298S would be better for me. Again, the website provides no useful information.


What do you recommend?

I use Bill's L200 series in neck/middle position and L290 in the bridge of my strat; sweet noise free single coil sounds in neck and middle with nice quack in 2/4 positions. The bridge is hotter and has a nice lead tone. The 298 will be even hotter and more P90 sounding

 

[Dave L]

I love the Virtual Solo along with two Blues in the neck and middle. Not your typical strat tone, but still plenty bright and quacky even if the basic tone is a lot fuller.

 

[milin_im]

I'm about to replace the pickups on an old HSS Kramer and was going to try the Dimarzio Choppers in neck/middle with a Suhr Aldrich in the bridge. I think Andy Timmons uses Choppers in his Strat and gets a nice quasi-Stratty tone in neck/middle.

Andy actually uses Dimarzio Cruiser bridge version on both the neck and middle positions.

 

[SpiderWars]

I'm about to replace the pickups on an old HSS Kramer and was going to try the Dimarzio Choppers in neck/middle with a Suhr Aldrich in the bridge. I think Andy Timmons uses Choppers in his Strat and gets a nice quasi-Stratty tone in neck/middle.

Andy actually uses Dimarzio Cruiser bridge version on both the neck and middle positions.

Yep, my apologies. If you go to ~2:20 on this video for a quick pickup demo, it shows the stratty character to the Cruisers.
https://youtu.be/qahEbfRW4sw

 

[grooveHT]

I've tried a few noiseless singles; Dimarzio Areas, EMG SLV set, SD Classic Stack plus, SD Vintage rails, Kinman Blues and Woodstock Plus. My favorite has far and away been the Woodstock Plus from Kinman. Single coils with authority; roll off the volume, and great traditional strat sound, but with the vol knob max'ed, really full and good output (for a single coil) while still sounding like a strat. The bridge in the Woodstock Plus set is more P-90-ish than exact vintage strat, but it never gets ice-picky like a normal strat bridge. I ordered it with the K9 harness as well; second tone knob becomes a blend so you can get neck and bridge together, and also has a push/push pot which toggles middle and bridge in parallel/series. Very versatile, and all the positions sound great. In comparison, all of the others have either had a funny top end in relation to traditional single coils, like the Area 61s that I had, or in the case of the Vintage Rails, just didn't sound like real singles. Again, just in my experience.

 

[bigangryguitar]

If you like your tone but want the noise to go away why not get one of the Suhr back plates? That's supposed to kill most of the hum.

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Manlius studbucker does a cool noiseless strat type sound that can do metal.

 

[milkchickenbomb]

I use Bill's L200 series in neck/middle position and L290 in the bridge of my strat; sweet noise free single coil sounds in neck and middle with nice quack in 2/4 positions. The bridge is hotter and has a nice lead tone. The 298 will be even hotter and more P90 sounding

I will keep this in mind. How is the clarity? Is there much muddiness on the low end with these?

I love the Virtual Solo along with two Blues in the neck and middle. Not your typical strat tone, but still plenty bright and quacky even if the basic tone is a lot fuller.

I just found out about these and Injectors. The virtual solo seems like a great fit for me, it's a little hotter than the injectors, corect?

I'm about to replace the pickups on an old HSS Kramer and was going to try the Dimarzio Choppers in neck/middle with a Suhr Aldrich in the bridge. I think Andy Timmons uses Choppers in his Strat and gets a nice quasi-Stratty tone in neck/middle.

Andy actually uses Dimarzio Cruiser bridge version on both the neck and middle positions.

Yep, my apologies. If you go to ~2:20 on this video for a quick pickup demo, it shows the stratty character to the Cruisers.
https://youtu.be/qahEbfRW4sw

Those sound great when Andy's playing them. Too many choices from Dimarzio I'll definitely add these to the list.

I've tried a few noiseless singles; Dimarzio Areas, EMG SLV set, SD Classic Stack plus, SD Vintage rails, Kinman Blues and Woodstock Plus. My favorite has far and away been the Woodstock Plus from Kinman. Single coils with authority; roll off the volume, and great traditional strat sound, but with the vol knob max'ed, really full and good output (for a single coil) while still sounding like a strat. The bridge in the Woodstock Plus set is more P-90-ish than exact vintage strat, but it never gets ice-picky like a normal strat bridge. I ordered it with the K9 harness as well; second tone knob becomes a blend so you can get neck and bridge together, and also has a push/push pot which toggles middle and bridge in parallel/series. Very versatile, and all the positions sound great. In comparison, all of the others have either had a funny top end in relation to traditional single coils, like the Area 61s that I had, or in the case of the Vintage Rails, just didn't sound like real singles. Again, just in my experience.

Am I mistaken or does Kinman not make the Woodstock Plus anymore? Why did you like them better than Kinman blues?

If you like your tone but want the noise to go away why not get one of the Suhr back plates? That's supposed to kill most of the hum.

Doesn't look like they make them anymore. I considered the Ilitch backplate, but it's mucho $, and from what I understand it's not totally hum cancelling?

Manlius studbucker does a cool noiseless strat type sound that can do metal.

Do they offer that in a single coil size format?

 

[thunda]

I use Bill's L200 series in neck/middle position and L290 in the bridge of my strat; sweet noise free single coil sounds in neck and middle with nice quack in 2/4 positions. The bridge is hotter and has a nice lead tone. The 298 will be even hotter and more P90 sounding

I will keep this in mind. How is the clarity? Is there much muddiness on the low end with these?

no muddiness on the low end. Mucho clarity no matter which pickup. Neck middle and bridge all sound great with OD/distortion too.

 

[ElectricVoodoo]

I literally just purchased the YJM bridge for one of my strats as a replacement for the vintage noiseless which is also hum cancelling.

The YJM just has that extra bite and depth which is a perfect fit for a strat that wants to take off..without being compressing, lifeless, and sterile like my Hot rails in my other strat.

I should have mine in a few days and cannot wait. I will definitely let you know.

 

[rstites]

My only SSS strat-type (old Jackson strat actually) has a set of Joe Barden pickups I installed in the 90's in it. They're completely quiet and sound like singles with lots of clarity. I swapped a ton of different pickups into that guitar at one point. These were by the best match, at that time, I found and I've never looked at anything else.

Having said that, this guitar is pretty dark so a brighter sounding guitar might be pretty piercing. Also, they'll blow your budget. I really wanted to like something less expensive at the time, but these were it. They're great for recording as they sound like real singles.

 

[grooveHT]

I've tried a few noiseless singles; Dimarzio Areas, EMG SLV set, SD Classic Stack plus, SD Vintage rails, Kinman Blues and Woodstock Plus. My favorite has far and away been the Woodstock Plus from Kinman. Single coils with authority; roll off the volume, and great traditional strat sound, but with the vol knob max'ed, really full and good output (for a single coil) while still sounding like a strat. The bridge in the Woodstock Plus set is more P-90-ish than exact vintage strat, but it never gets ice-picky like a normal strat bridge. I ordered it with the K9 harness as well; second tone knob becomes a blend so you can get neck and bridge together, and also has a push/push pot which toggles middle and bridge in parallel/series. Very versatile, and all the positions sound great. In comparison, all of the others have either had a funny top end in relation to traditional single coils, like the Area 61s that I had, or in the case of the Vintage Rails, just didn't sound like real singles. Again, just in my experience.

Am I mistaken or does Kinman not make the Woodstock Plus anymore? Why did you like them better than Kinman blues?

The Woodstock Plus set is still on their page? https://kinman.com/model-products.php?p ... med%20Sets

I liked the Blues set plenty! However, the Woodstock Plus set is a little brighter, a little more output, as compared to the Blues which is targeted at that Texas Blues sort of sound. The bridge in the WP set is great as well; in fairness, I only had neck and middle Blues pickups, so I can't compare. I do like the way the Woodstock Plus pickups roll-off and clean up a bit better, though.