Single Coil suggestions for high gain rock

[JerseyTrash]

I'm thinking of building a Fender Mustang w/ twin single coil pickups in it. However, I tend to play a lot of high gain rock/metal so I wanted something that had the LEAST amount of noise, but was hot and had plenty of punch to it.

I tend to like Bridge pickups with tons of Mids and Bass (so it sounds really thick). It's why I was considering the DiMarzio Tone Zone S initially, but have come to see that there are tons of other great options from Seymour Duncan and Bareknuckle as well.

Any experience with great single coils that can handle heavy rock music, yet still retain some unique character about them?

Thanks!

PS: The guys in Iron Maiden use humbuckers in their stats, right? They have a pretty sick tone.

 

[JerseyTrash]

Oh wow, I just came across the GFS stuff. The Lil' Killers sound pretty awesome (and the price seems great also). Any experience with these? How would they compare to the aforementioned Dimarzio or SDs?

 

[Logrinn]

I have no experience with any GFS as I'm in Sweden (shipping makes it too costly), but I put some Jailhouse Rails II by Irongear from UK on my strat.
Chances are that it's the same factory in Korea that makes all of these cheaper pickups.
And therefore chances are that they sound (are?) the same or similar to the GFS ones.
You can listen to some sounds I made here.

 

[Cagey]

Oh wow, I just came across the GFS stuff. The Lil' Killers sound pretty awesome (and the price seems great also). Any experience with these? How would they compare to the aforementioned Dimarzio or SDs?

I put a set of those in one of my brother's Strats some years back, and was pretty impressed with them. As I recall, they compared very favorably with the equivalent SD/DiMarzio offerings. But, every guitar is different so your mileage may vary. At the price, they're tough to beat, and there's no compromise in quality. If somebody didn't tell you, you'd think you bought one of the pricier offerings out there.

 

[zebra]

I had the single-coil size DiMarzio Air Norton in a 24" scale guitar (in the bridge position), and it was great.  Sounded nice clean and moderately driven, and still sounded somewhat single-coil-ish.  I can't speak to how it would sound heavily-driven, as I don't really do that sound, but I got a nice early-Sabbath crunch (think 'War Pigs') from it.  What I most liked about it was that the bass strings (the low E and A) were nice and tight-sounding.  I hate muddy, flubby bass strings.

 

[JerseyTrash]

Wow Logrinn, that clip sounds amazing! I think those Irongear PUPs might be the way to go.

Just curious, are they identical to the GFS Lil' Killers? I keep finding conflicting reviews/opinions online. If I bought these Irongear ones from the UK, it'd end up being about $30 extra (although I could get a pair still cheaper than the cost of one Dimarzio or SD).

Thanks!

 

[Logrinn]

I have not tried the GFS Lil killers, but I think that they will sound pretty much the same.
My first initial reaction when trying the Jailhouse Rails was that they had pretty low output. But since it's so easy to get massive amounts of gain from most amps today it didn't really matter.  :headbang1:
My advice: get the GFS Lil killers. If you're not happy with them you haven't spent a fortune and perhaps someone here will take them off your hands  :icon_thumright:

 

[Logrinn]

Some more - and quite different - sounds from my guitar with Jailhouse pickups:
http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=26688.0
or
[youtube]hF5IN4YjARg[/youtube]

 

[JerseyTrash]

Nice! I decided to buy the Lil Killers on your recommendation/clips!

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

+1 on the GFS SC's.
I've used a variety of them, and am really loving the NAL5 that I got from Cagey a while back.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

By the way, there's a 7k Lil puncher in their clearance section right now for $24.

Snag it while you can.