Members Guitarist+ Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 Would you say an SSS Strat would be able to do tonez such as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, etc you know the earlier metal acts. I know people usually prefer humbuckers but would you say that Single Coils can work just as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members K3Fallout Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 Pretty sure one or more of the guitarists from Iron Maiden used a Strat with power rails. Or some sort of single coil sized humbucker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitarist+ Posted August 9, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 Pretty sure one or more of the guitarists from Iron Maiden used a Strat with power rails. Or some sort of single coil sized humbucker. right but I am talking about just traditional, out-of-the-box-strat single coil pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members honeyiscool Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 I've tried and usually there's a certain glassiness that stays with the tone that doesn't go away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thecornman Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 Much of old Judas Priest from the 70's was done on a Strat with single-coils before a Super Distortion was thrown in there! The first Black Sabbath album too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wulver Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 Stock single coils, I dunno. Something hotter and thicker would likely do it, SD's SSL-5 or -1 or similar perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members craigny Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 DiMarzio Injectors, the Paul Gilbert ones..although they are a "stacked" single coil, Like a SD Hot Stack, but not technically a bucker.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members solitaire Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 DiMarzio Virtuals perhaps; Solo, Blues and Heavy Blues. Coil tapped they perform as 'usual' single coils. Take distortion nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J-E-M Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 Sorry, I couldn't help myself... That does the job for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigtorquehemi Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 turn the tone knob all the way flat and crank it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mnhhngbfs Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 it can be done. turn the tone knob down but not off (somewhere between 4-7 depending on taste) and you're pretty much there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RogerF Posted August 9, 2011 Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 Tony Iommi recorded most of Black Sabbath's debut album with a Gibson SG Special with P-90's which are single coil pickups. 40+ years on and you can't get a better metal tone than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alex_SF Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 If you have a reverse-wound, reverse-polarity middle pickup, you can hook up a switch to let you put it in series with the bridge pickup. It then becomes basically a humbucker, just with the two coils spread farther apart than normal. As honeyiscool said, there's still a bit more articulation to the tone (he calls it "glassiness") than with a regular humbucker, but not so much as the regular stock parallel M+B setting. Run that through a distortion pedal and it's close enough for live work. Ritchie Blackmore used a stock Strat on early Deep Purple ... not "metal" by today's standards but it was considered "heavy metal" back then. Or at least "heavy rock." And yeah, Glenn Tipton & KK Downing used stock Strats on some songs back on their first couple albums -- but they used SGs when they wanted to get a little heavier. [video=youtube;CeR_gpbGrgw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeR_gpbGrgw [video=youtube;pBpARcnsG3Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBpARcnsG3Y Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StillRock Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 I tend to leave my strat behind when I play metal... I"m actually thinking of giving it the Dave Murray treatment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jairic Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 Tony Iommi recorded most of Black Sabbath's debut album with a Gibson SG Special with P-90's which are single coil pickups. 40+ years on and you can't get a better early hard rock tone than that. There ya go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrockbridge Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 I can get something passable with my Strat but I have an overwound bridge SC pickup with a beefy ceramic magnet + blender wiring. Sometimes, I like to use middle + bridge and then blend in some neck for fatness...but there is 'quack' to contend with...so, I dial back the tone control to reduce the quack. Also, I've noticed that using a good modeler can help you get even further toward metal tone with a Strat. But, it sure is easier to grab my Gibson MIII...which is voiced for metal. As far as single coils go, it's much easier to do metal with P90's IMO. They have their challenges too for certain things but the versatility of that design is pretty remarkable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members noisebloom Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 It's not like there's a rule against them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jairic Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 If you have a line 6 amp (Spider whatever) you can get a passasble (but not very good) metal tone with single coil pickups. Anything you plug into one of those inherrently has a bad metal tone (even the clean channel has a very 'static' sort of tone). I just got a Fender Mustang III, which really lets the guitar shine through so I can't get a real thick metal tone (I really consider this to be a good thing); with the line 6 I could probably have plugged a harp into it and gotten some cheesey pinch harmonics and djent. Sorry, I guess the short answer from my perspective is no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MyEmergency Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 Yeah I used a Fender Tele for metal for a long while, as long as you have a high gain amp head (I used a Mesa Dual Rec) and throw a noise gate in the loop they sound great imo. Hell I even get some good metal tones from Fender Wide Range humbuckers as well...... it all depends on the amp more than the guitar for me, that and being able to control any buzzing/feedback/noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members danswon Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 technically, a lace sensor red is still a single coil and has a lot of output. you could probably find one used quite cheap as a lot of people don't seem to like themi would think a seymour duncan quarter pounder could pull off some NWOBHM i think you need to describe the kind of metal tone you mean. there are many I'm really interested in trying/hearing that brisge-mid position on a strat in series. does anyone have any clips? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alecto Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 I suspect for noise reduction and to get the proper thickness for modern metal you'd need at least a stacked humbucker like the Kinman or the DiMarzio Virtual Vintage. Kinmans are especially good for keeping that single coil tone without the hum; worth every penny but bring a lot of pennies. As mentioned before, Jannick Gers of Iron Maiden uses a Hot Rails-equipped Strat. That gets plenty metal. That said, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine often uses a stock Tele and he sounds pretty heavy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tommy Gun Posted August 10, 2011 Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 Yngwie had one of the best hard rock tones in the 80s and used singles..I know that he might not meet your definition of "Metal" though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitarist+ Posted August 11, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 11, 2011 I can get something passable with my Strat but I have an overwound bridge SC pickup with a beefy ceramic magnet + blender wiring. Sometimes, I like to use middle + bridge and then blend in some neck for fatness...but there is 'quack' to contend with...so, I dial back the tone control to reduce the quack. Also, I've noticed that using a good modeler can help you get even further toward metal tone with a Strat. But, it sure is easier to grab my Gibson MIII...which is voiced for metal.As far as single coils go, it's much easier to do metal with P90's IMO. They have their challenges too for certain things but the versatility of that design is pretty remarkable. Do you think a guitar with a P90 in the bridge and neck could do good distorted tones on the bridge position and good cleans in the neck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HoobaStunk Posted August 11, 2011 Members Share Posted August 11, 2011 Much of old Judas Priest from the 70's was done on a Strat with single-coils before a Super Distortion was thrown in there! The first Black Sabbath album too! Toni Iommi's Strat broke very early on in the recording of the first Black Sabbath album. Iommi used a Gibson SG Special (with P90s) that was owned by the studio to record the whole first Sabbath album. Iommi liked the SG a lot and ended up buying that SG and using it throughout most of the 1970s. About a year and a half later, Iommi bought a white SG Custom with humbuckers. It got stolen a few weeks later. A few months after that, Iommi bought *another* (identical) white SG Custom with humbuckers to replace the stolen guitar. In no time, the second SG Custom was also stolen. He ended up staying with his original SG Special (with P90s) after the two SG Customs were stolen. Neither of the white SG Customs were used to record album tracks, though there is one TV video with him playing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Guitarist+ Posted August 11, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 11, 2011 Toni Iommi's Strat broke very early on in the recording of the first Black Sabbath album. Iommi used a Gibson SG Special (with P90s) that was owned by the studio to record the whole first Sabbath album. Iommi liked the SG a lot and ended up buying that SG and using it throughout most of the 1970s. About a year and a half later, Iommi bought a white SG Custom with humbuckers. It got stolen a few weeks later. A few months after that, Iommi bought *another* (identical) white SG Custom with humbuckers to replace the stolen guitar. In no time, the second SG Custom was also stolen. He ended up staying with his original SG Special (with P90s) after the two SG Customs were stolen. Neither of the white SG Customs were used to record album tracks, though there is one TV video with him playing it. Whoa, that entire first album was recorded with P90s? Must get a guitar with P90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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