T
The Clansman
Member
Help me choose which one of these 2 seymour duncan pickups i should get for the bridge position in my strat...
it's either SJBJ-1 JB Jr or Hot Rails
it's either SJBJ-1 JB Jr or Hot Rails
Light
New member
Well, I've always liked the hot rails more, but they are both good.
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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
zed32
Re-Attached Member
i have a Hot Rails on the bridge of my Strat and it's pretty cool. very very high output though, so make sure that's what you want. never tried the JB jr though, so i guess i can't really say much about comparing the two.
metalhead28
Hates Raymond
I would say just go ahead and buy whichever one you think sounds better. 
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
You're a great help!I would say just go ahead and buy whichever one you think sounds better.
metalhead28
Hates Raymond
T
The Clansman
Member
gvarko
New member
I had a JB Jr in a custom modded Tele, sounded sick.. I am a long time fan of the JB!!
zed32
Re-Attached Member
i mean they're extremely loud and crunchy, so not good for clean playing.
T
The Clansman
Member
oh i see
but as it's a single coil sized humbucker it has no hum noise in the background...
zed32
Re-Attached Member
yep, no hum. it's a pretty sweet sounding pickup if you plan on using a lot of distortion.
Anfontan
Banned by eurt
I have installed hot rail style humbuckers in the bridge position of a Fender Stratocaster and in a couple of Teles and I really like the sound of them. I also installed a coil splitting switch to give the paickups a single coil/humbucker option in all of the guitars.
The rails are great for lead playing as you don't have any drop out of the sound when stretching a string that regular single coils with pole pieces have.
The rails are great for lead playing as you don't have any drop out of the sound when stretching a string that regular single coils with pole pieces have.
T
The Clansman
Member
jimistone
long standing member
I tried a hot rails in my strat. I thought it was awful. I gave it to the other guitar player in my band. He tried it for a while and took it out also. We both came to the conclusion that the hot rails tone is just a shitty tone. That's just the opinion of 2 guitar players...I realise some guys love that tone.
I don't know about the JB's.
The vintage style strat pickups just sound better than the hotter strat pickups IMO.
I like the fender 57/62 reeissue pickups and also the Fender custom shop 69 pickups.
Those are 2 happenin' pickup sets IMO.
My personal favorite straocaster pickup set is a combination of 3 different fender pickups...a '69 in the neck position, a 57/62 in the middle position, and a texas special (set almost flush with the pickguard) on the bridge.
That combo is about as good as it gets.
I don't know about the JB's.
The vintage style strat pickups just sound better than the hotter strat pickups IMO.
I like the fender 57/62 reeissue pickups and also the Fender custom shop 69 pickups.
Those are 2 happenin' pickup sets IMO.
My personal favorite straocaster pickup set is a combination of 3 different fender pickups...a '69 in the neck position, a 57/62 in the middle position, and a texas special (set almost flush with the pickguard) on the bridge.
That combo is about as good as it gets.
T
The Clansman
Member
how can i tell what pickups my strat has? i have an American 60th Anniverssary strat
guttapercha
New member
I think the hotrails are great. However, I just got rid of a hotrails pickup in favor of the Duncan Twangbanger, which is like a high output tele-pickup for a strat. I had my humbucker guitar bases covered with a 335 and an Ibanez, so I thought I'd get something entirely different out of my strat, and I'm really glad that I did.
Obviously, a totally different beast than the hotrails, which you cannot go wrong with, but just my .02.
JD
Obviously, a totally different beast than the hotrails, which you cannot go wrong with, but just my .02.
JD
jimistone
long standing member
I'm not sure what pickups your guitar has, but, my guess would be stacked humbuckers like most of the new american strats have. You can goggle "American 60th Anniverssary strat" and find out.
The stacked humbuckers are....well...humbuckers, so, IMO not the best choice for a strat. I think single coil vintage wound pickups, on a fender strat, cannot be beaten in terms of tone, bite, definition, chime, and sparkle.
Hot overwound pickups NEVER sound as good to my ears...they just get louder and overdrive an amp more. Every "hot" strat pickup I have tried has a cheesy midrange sound to it (including the hotrail). When I tried the hotrail pickup i was expecting a Gibson PAF humbucker sound from a pickup that fit a strat.
It wasn't even close and I think the vintage wound single coils sound better, when overdriven, than the hot rails did.
Bear in mind that opinions about pickups, like mine, are a dime a dozen and tastes vary.
You can find the fender custom shop 69's or the 57/62 reissue pickups and most big music stores (and some small ones too)
T
The Clansman
Member
thanks.
anyway these are single coil pickups that i have... tex-mex perhabs??
i feel the same way as you about humbuckers for a strat... cant beat the single coils...
M
mrface2112
Well-known member
on my 83 strat, i've got Fender Customshop Fat 50's in the neck and middle, and a JB Jr in the bridge.
the fat 50's give me plenty of single coil strat goodness, and the JB Jr is one hell of a single-spaced humbucker. great harmonics, plenty of hotness, and none of that nastiness i've heard in a lot of single spaced buckers.
i've also got a Fralin Blender pot installed where the 2nd tone knob would be, which allows me to roll in either neck or bridge pickup into the mix. For instance, i'll be set to bridge pickup, and using the blender, i can roll just a little bit of the neck pup into it which helps smooth it out just a little. i can do the same for the neck--roll a little bridge in there to rough it up.
if you want your strat to be 100% "classic strat", then go all single coils. but if you want an incredibly versatile guitar that could easily pull off AC/DC and most metal, i can't recommend the JB Jr enough.
cheers,
wade
the fat 50's give me plenty of single coil strat goodness, and the JB Jr is one hell of a single-spaced humbucker. great harmonics, plenty of hotness, and none of that nastiness i've heard in a lot of single spaced buckers.
i've also got a Fralin Blender pot installed where the 2nd tone knob would be, which allows me to roll in either neck or bridge pickup into the mix. For instance, i'll be set to bridge pickup, and using the blender, i can roll just a little bit of the neck pup into it which helps smooth it out just a little. i can do the same for the neck--roll a little bridge in there to rough it up.
if you want your strat to be 100% "classic strat", then go all single coils. but if you want an incredibly versatile guitar that could easily pull off AC/DC and most metal, i can't recommend the JB Jr enough.
cheers,
wade
D
Dani Pace
New member
I prefer the crispness and bite that single coils have (to me that is the classic Strat sound) but as others have said it depends on the sound you like and want. I suppose if you are more into metal or grunge then the humbucker sound would be fine, but it just wouldn't be the same as a "pure" Strat sound. To me, even the stacked humbuckers that many newer Strats have don't seem to have the purity of a Strat with singles.