Can single coils rock hard?

[vondran]

Jimmy played alot of tele on the early Led Zep albums.

Don't know his stuff but isn't John5 really into tele.

Udi Roth played a strat in the early Scorpion's stuff.

[Grandturk]

Adrian Smith played Strats altho the pups were switched to rails. It was still a strat. Jeff Beck played strats, Tom Scholz Played an LPC with super D's in it. Plusim sure he modded his marshalls to get that tone. Plus the Rockman stuff later.

Rails don't count because they sound very close to full size humbuckers (hot rails, lil 59, lil jb, Tone Zone for strat, Super D for strat).

[DonP]

Rails don't count because they sound very close to full size humbuckers (hot rails, lil 59, lil jb, Tone Zone for strat, Super D for strat).

Exactly.


For the last time, I'm talking true vintage style single coils. I think I've fallen mostly into the Blackmore camp, with Rainbow and Deep Purple.

[Grandturk]

For the last time, I'm talking true vintage style single coils. I think I've fallen mostly into the Blackmore camp, with Rainbow and Deep Purple.

No - old single coils do not rock hard - in fact they suck - they like... hum... and they sound glassy... if you find any of those old things in your Gramma's attic - I'll gladly swap you some killer imported full size humbuckers.



I think the answer is yes, you can rock hard with singles. And these days, modern amps can get you any sound you want, so you can use the preamp, rather than the pickup, to get your distortion. Back in the day, people NEEDED hummers because single coils just didn't have the output to get lots of distortion.

Or they used a booster or a fuzz box, or 4 stacks of 200 watt Marshall Majors. Blackmore's tone wasn't all that distorted, anyway.

[DonP]

Yep. It's a different type of sound, but as long as it's hard rock / metal, it's for me.

In my MIM Classic 50s strat, I have some Fender custom shop pickups in it. The issue is with sustain, the lack thereof

Can't have your cake and eat it too I guess.

[Grandturk]

In my MIM Classic 50s strat, I have some Fender custom shop pickups in it. The issue is with sustain, the lack thereof

Well... that's not the pickups...

[MartinBarre]

I don't understand how you guys can include people like Yngwie. He might be playing a strat but the pickups aren't single coils.
Single coil SIZED pickups doesn't = single coils.

The only people I can think of that might count here, genuinely, are of course Blackmore and Fast Eddie Clarke from Motorhead. Didn't he use single coils?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4yHyHdJK5g&feature=fvw

Philthy was some fucking drummer BTW.

[roodyrocker]

Lets not forget David Gilmore of Pink Floyd. Nice tone with singles there too. Also, I have a set of pickups in my Strat Elite from back in the 80's which are no longer made. Duncan Hot Live Wires. Those are an 18v active system which are very high output

[MartinBarre]

Lets not forget David Gilmore of Pink Floyd. Nice tone with singles there too. Also, I have a set of pickups in my Strat Elite from back in the 80's which are no longer made. Duncan Hot Live Wires. Those are an 18v active system which are very high output

Duncan do single coil sized Blackouts too.

[Grandturk]

I don't understand how you guys can include people like Yngwie. He might be playing a strat but the pickups aren't single coils.
Single coil SIZED pickups doesn't = single coils.

Technically you're correct, but then you'd have to eliminate any non-traditional single coil pickup, including EMGs, Livewires, Lace Sensors, etc.

However, I disagree - it goes back to the tonality of the pickup. Stacked singles have traditionally been designed to mimic the tonality of traditional single coil pickups. Pickups like the Dimarzio HS's, Duncan stacks, Fender Noiseless and EMG S's sound a lot like a traditional single coil.

Rail, and side by side single coil sized humbuckers are traditionally not designed to mimic single coil sounds - Hot Rails, lil JB's, Dimarzio's rails, etc. They sound much closer to full sized humbuckers than they sound like regular single coils.

Again, I'm generalizing. I understand Joe Barden rail pickups sound a lot like trad singles. I understand some Dimarzio rails sound like "hot" single coils.

[DonP]

Even though I haven't heard them, I think we could allow vintage rails into the camp.

[superbadboy2]

Single coils can rock... harder than anything else. I'm not joking. Bare knuckle pickups the sinner. Search for sound clips on their forum. I was completely blown away when i first heard them. I'm going to buy a sinner set for sure. And they are true single coils. Their output is about 21k.

[Grandturk]

Even though I haven't heard them, I think we could allow vintage rails into the camp.

I had Duncan Cool Rails for years - those things sucked. Aren't the Vintage Rails the split rail system - its designed to sound like a single coil.

After trying Dimarzio's Super Distortion strat rail, I'm generally down on all Duncan rail (or side by side) pickups - Hot Rails, Lil JB, Lil 59, Lil Demon, Cool Rails - all of which I've tried over the years and none of which left me warm and fuzzy.

[MartinBarre]

I had Duncan Cool Rails for years - those things sucked. Aren't the Vintage Rails the split rail system - its designed to sound like a single coil.

After trying Dimarzio's Super Distortion strat rail, I'm generally down on all Duncan rail (or side by side) pickups - Hot Rails, Lil JB, Lil 59, Lil Demon, Cool Rails - all of which I've tried over the years and none of which left me warm and fuzzy.

I'd like to play a strat with Hot Rails in the bridge, considering Dave Murray played one like that for a fair while and didn't seem to suffer. I'd be interested to hear how it compares with a Super Distortion bridge.

[Grandturk]

I'd like to play a strat with Hot Rails in the bridge, considering Dave Murray played one like that for a fair while and didn't seem to suffer. I'd be interested to hear how it compares with a Super Distortion bridge.

Been there done it - wouldn't trade these new Dimarzio strat Super D's for a Hot Rail ANY day of the week.