Cobalt Noiseless Strat
BEST pick up for a stratocaster ?
Im looking to upgrade my strat (samiran cobalt noiseless stock)
...im looking for TONE,
i play blues, classic rock, rock, jazz, punk... etc NOT Death metal of any kind.
im looking to upgrade the bridge right now I want something thats noiseless and handles distortion well doesnt sound thin
I think there are three main alternatives for you if you want to stick with something that is single coil but noiseless - your options expand greatly if you're able or willing to use humbuckers.
For single coil noiseless, the Fender Lace Sensor (sp?), Seymour Duncan Hot Rails, or going active with EMG-SA's, or other similar active single-coil, since active pickups are hum-free (if wired correctly, of course! *grin*).
Come to think of it, there is also another option - going with a mini-humbucker. Seymour Duncan has the Lil' JB and a '59 in mini-humbucker, for instance.
My preference is to go with humbuckers. Not because I play lots of aggressive music, but because of the higher output and overall darker sound. I don't play a lot of blues, I'm more on the jazz/rock side of things, but every once in a while I mess around with it, and I want pickups that can do a little bit of everything. To that end, I've got a Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro humbucker in the neck position and an SD Alternative 8 in the bridge. Both pups are Alnico, so they both have that round, chimey, bell-like tone quality to them... the A2P's are Slash's choice, and are very much a large part of his sound - so that works out well for me, too.
The Alt-8 is a very high output pickup, but it still does cleans very well - very clear, expressive (albeit not like the snap of a single-coil, of course!), and crunches up extremely well. Again, though, high-output, it would easily unbalance a guitar loaded with single-coils.
In general, I think if you're going for a good all-around tone than going with a PAF-style pickup (if a humbucker, that is) or a P-90 if you want a single-coil would be the ideal way to go. In general, a lower DC Resistance will mean lower output and better tone.
SD's pickup list is linked below.
If you want a higher output tone, but have lower-output pickups, consider getting an onboard preamp. This will have the dual effect of keeping your highs (no tone suckage from long runs of cables) and potentially giving you a hotter tone. I prefer to use a lower-output in the neck and a higher-output in the bridge, it seems to balance volumes a bit easier (I *hate* a neck that's too hot), so I can get away with a buffer preamp, ie a preamp that doesn't boost so much as just gives me that low output impedance to offset the tone suckage.
An onboard preamp or onboard electronics can help you do things like get the Eric Clapton "woman tone" or a Brian Mays style treble boost - there are a number of kits like this out there.
Good luck!
Saul
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