software

Ok, so forget about balancing with other pickups or keeping the Strat vibe or whatever, and yes I know it will never sound exactly like my LP.

Thing is, I love my Strat (Lite Ash Strat btw, so ash body, maple neck and SD A2P pickups), I love the neck and the feel, but 95% of what we play calls for the LP (2000 Standard) for that chunky bridge pickup tone. If I could get 90% of that chunk with my Strat, I could play it more often and be happy. Doesn't have to be high output, just similar to the stock Gibson h/b. And please no pickup with a high-mid spike (JB anyone?), my Marshall has a quot;high-mid spikequot; built-in (kind of), I'm more interested in boosting the low-mid and keeping the quot;twangyquot; highs under control (ash body has a somewhat scooped resonance to it).

Full size or SC size doesn't matter, the body is routed H-S-H, I'll just get a new pickguard. Previous experience with a Lil' 59 in an Am Std Tele has not been favorable (loud but boring tone, no character) so I'm kinda leaning toward the full size ones.

So far I've been eyeing the CC

AIR ZONE or BREED bridge

Maybe the Screamin Demon? It's got a great crunch to it and some amazing clarity, and I personally don't find it to be a mid heavy pickup. I'd like to say one of the customs, but I don't have one yet, hence no experience.

You'll never get a true LP sound out of a strat... WAY too many variables. But I don't think that you are looking to sound like the LP, just get some of the crunch that the LP has, am I correct?

Bareknuckle Crawler pickup is made to beef up a Strat to almost LP style tone

Craig

Air Zone.


Originally Posted by MikeSYou'll never get a true LP sound out of a strat... WAY too many variables. But I don't think that you are looking to sound like the LP, just get some of the crunch that the LP has, am I correct?

Exactly, those two guitars are way different (tremolo vs TOM bridge, 24.75 vs 25.5 scale, bolt-on vs set neck, ash vs mahogany, maple vs rosewood, etc).

I just want to get a deep tone with lots of mids and keep the high-end under control (ash body 25.5 scale maple fretboard = BRIGHT). I don't feel like changing the settings on the amp everytime I switch guitar.


Originally Posted by MikeSMaybe the Screamin Demon? It's got a great crunch to it and some amazing clarity, and I personally don't find it to be a mid heavy pickup.

Sorry. This is not the answer at all. It will sound good, but nowhere near a Les Paul. The sound is much brighter than a LP.

Maybe a 59 or an Alnico II, I've just got a set of Golden Age buckers from Stewmac (9k)and they make my Tele sound the closest to a LP that I've heard. I just traded my JB for an Alnico II, I'll let you know how that sounds when I put it in my Tele tonight!


Originally Posted by StringmachineSorry. This is not the answer at all. It will sound good, but nowhere near a Les Paul. The sound is much brighter than a LP.

That was part of my previously stated point... and we've found out since that the topic of the thread was not his real question. He wanted a pickup with more crunch with maybe a bit of PAF tone, so I gave him one option. Fact is, NO pickup can make a strat sound just like a Les Paul. This forum has discussed that topic MANY times.

FWIW, my JB loaded LP w/500k pots is almost as bright as my strat copy with a Demon and 250k pots. The pickup is only part of the equation.

Maybe the Blues Saraceno ?


Originally Posted by HardtailedI just want to get a deep tone with lots of mids and keep the high-end under control.

It really sounds like you need an Air Zone with a nickel cover. I used to have one in my ash (quite bright-sounding!) Strat. It delivered a very dense and fat, but airy tone. It really had a friendly and singing quality. I only changed it because I wanted to try a low-output Bare Knuckle set.

What about the Alnico pro? The smoohtness of this pup would move your guitar to a warmer territory.

The APII it's medium output bucker and balances quite well with the single coils (sometimes even overpowering them). Also will balance in tone since both are alnico II pickups.

Alnico II buckers have less highs and less bass for a more ballanced tone. I think an alnico pro pup will help to tame some of the highs that comes from a bolt on ash guitar. Sometimes this pups have a very smooth bass response but that also would be compensated with the 25'5 scale punchier bass.

I think this it's your pup!!!

nomatter what pickup you put in it, your strat will NEVER sound like a Les Paul.

2 pickups will get you in the area you want. First and foremost is the CC. I have one in the bridge of my double fat strat, and it will never leave. If you check out my soundclips, All Right Now was recorded with the CC in that strat. Also, Heavens Door was the CC in the bridge of that strat, and the APH in the neck.

The other pup that will get close, that I am going to try in annother HSS guitar is the Blues Trembucker. It was specifically designed to get the PAF sound out of a trem equiped guitar.

I suggest the Breed it is a fat enough pickup without being too harsh has enough low mids and bass and retains the bite you need in a bridge pickup. I have heard of a few people that have it in their strats on this forum and it is used with great success. I have one in the bridge of my sg, it fattens the sound and makes the bridge sound huge great vocal sound but also there is definetly enough bite to cut through and it can be very versatile when split.

For the duncans the Custom Custom would be a good choice to fatten up the bridge spot, it will be less compressed and aggressive than the breed.

Dills

Dimarzio Super 3

You'll never get an LP tone from a Strat, but a Rio Grande BBQ or Duncan Blues Trembucker will get you as close as you can possibly come.

Ryan


Originally Posted by MikeSThat was part of my previously stated point... and we've found out since that the topic of the thread was not his real question. He wanted a pickup with more crunch with maybe a bit of PAF tone, so I gave him one option. Fact is, NO pickup can make a strat sound just like a Les Paul. This forum has discussed that topic MANY times.

FWIW, my JB loaded LP w/500k pots is almost as bright as my strat copy with a Demon and 250k pots. The pickup is only part of the equation.

He also stated that he wanted more mids, and to keep the highs under control. Didn't mean to sound disrespectful, though.

I'd go with a TB-11 Custom Custom. The C-5 and 59 sound pretty decent too, but I think in your particular guitar, the CC would be the first direction to move in.
I've never owned a Blues Trembucker, only because I don't like the look of the bar pole pieces, but that would also be a good consideration.

Blues Saraceno Model PA-TB3, the description from Duncans site is this, quot;Old Les Paul tone for tremolo systemsquot;. Sounds like your pickup buddy.