Opinions on single coil stacked pickups

[mightyboy88]

Hi friends,

I am currently thinking of experimenting with different pickup options on my strat(s/s/s)

The current pickups in there should be stock fender mij texas special pickups and they do sound great and i love how the single coil sounds and reacts to picking dynamics etc.

However, like all single coil pickups there is bound to be a little 50/60 cycle hum that gets into the amp abit, especially when playing at loud volumes or standing too close to the amp(in crammed jamming studios etc).

Hence i am thinking of trying out stacked humbuckers which claim to retain the single coil sound but eliminates the hum

One pickup that im particularly interested in is the seymour duncan classic stack plus. Does anyone have experience over these pickups? How do they sound in the "hum-cancelling" mode as compared to a classic vintage sounding single coil?

Thank you

 

[zesn]

I just put a Dimarzio Area T in my American Special Tele.
Selling my texas specials pickups though i kind of miss them.
Really love the texas specials but they could do with a little more punch.

Was initially disappointed with the sound of the Area T.
Stacked single coils sounds weird, the cleans a little too, different.
Yes the dirt has more output and is really humless.
My fingers took some time to adjust before getting the sound i want.
But still not quite there, it's just the humless that's keeping me on these.

Not sure if i'm keeping these Area T's.

 

[relinquish69]

I like the Dimarzio cruisers on my AT-300 (HSS configuration). The thing about this guitar is that it has 2 vol 1 tone as opposed to the typical 1 vol 2 tone strat. the middle knob (which in my case is the vol knob) actually controls the amount gain only for the 2 single coil pickups.

lets say if my master vol knob is full and i'm doing chuggy stuff on the bridge pickup. if my middle vol knob is set to about 5 and I switch to the neck pickup for solos, I would have a nice single coil type of sound (due to lesser saturation) which is different from just adding a push/pull switch to split the stacked single coils.

you can add a push/pull switch to the AT-300 wiring for added versatility but I feel that is unnecessary. I think the AT-300 is good as it is. however one thing to note is that the AT-300 has a Mahogany body whereas a typical strat is usually Alder. Cruiser sound great on mahogany that's for sure.

 

[mightyboy88]

hey bro tts great feedback there thanks,

The texas special/ or perhaps any good true single coil pickups have their own kinda magic dont they hahah. I really dig the current stock pickups i have on my fender jap strat too, seems to have alot of character and tonal variations

Do you split your coils in the area T? If you do, do they sound as good as the stock coils you had?

I just put a Dimarzio Area T in my American Special Tele.
Selling my texas specials pickups though i kind of miss them.
Really love the texas specials but they could do with a little more punch.

Was initially disappointed with the sound of the Area T.
Stacked single coils sounds weird, the cleans a little too, different.
Yes the dirt has more output and is really humless.
My fingers took some time to adjust before getting the sound i want.
But still not quite there, it's just the humless that's keeping me on these.

Not sure if i'm keeping these Area T's.

 

[CyanideJunkie]

The hum's part of the magic. Learn to live with it and you won't be disappointed.

 

[subversion]

i've always loved Duncan's Classic Stack Plus- great single coil tone + no hum. some people say this kinda pickups don't sound true but we can't dispute the fact that the CS+ sounds like a single coil through & through.

 

[mightyboy88]

nice photo sub, wow thanks for the feedback, now im serously considering getting the classic stack plus, or maybe even the hotter sounding stack

 

[zesn]

Gotta agree with hum being part of the magic.
Maybe i'll get something from ISP to solve that hum issue, or i find another lovely pair of pickups that's humless and still sounds true to me.

 

[mightyboy88]

right now im using noisegate too, from the pod hd500, it gets the hum away but there is a distinct sound that can be heard when the noise gate kicks in and shuts the hum down.

For humbuckers, the way the noise gate kicks in is smoother and more natural sounding.