Members Speeddemon Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 I got this Cort S2900, HSS guitar (2x SSL-1 Vintage Staggered and a JB trembucker (TB-4) in the bridge), Wilkinson trem, Sperzel locking tuners and roller bar, alder body + quilted maple top... anyway, while the SSL-1 in the middle position sounds nice and Stratty, the neck one sounded a bit too jangly, when used with medium/high gain distortion. Clean it was fine, although a bit on the tame side (I'm used to a Strat with Texas Specials). But I wanted something more towards the neck Texas Special sound too, a bit more output, beef and less shrill highs when using distortion. The description of the SD SSL-5 Custom Staggered fitted my needs and after a small bit of research I took the plunge. This night (around 1:30am-2:00am) I installed it in the Cort... Now the soldering itself is a piece of cake, but having to remove the strings, the 2 other pickups to make the wires of the new one go through the holes in the body... man! Anyway, I couldn't ofcourse test it at 2am, but today I did. For 95% it does exactly what I want it too. More output/beef, less brittle and distorted the tone sits between a nice round neck-singlecoil and a humbucker. Now the 5% it doesn't do is that magic high-end that the Texas Specials in my alder '68 RI Strat do have. Clean the pup is very good, especially when used with my Ibanez CP9 comp (modded for more low-end, because stock it's very thin!), but then it could have used a hint more high end, the way the Texas Special has. Distorted I'd say it's 98% there, because it's more useable with high gain than normal singlecoils, but even then that last 2% is that real Strattyness that my Texas Specials gave me. It's kinda stupid though, because it's needless to recreate a 2nd Strat with the exact same tones. This guitar is definately more versatile than the Strat, while retaining a face of its own (something my quite expensive Ibanez can't. A real jack-of-all-trades, master-of-non). Oh, and the strings are almost 2 months old (Slinky 0.10-0.46), so that 'missing' high end sparkle might return with a simple string change. You might say "why don't throw a Texas Special in there then?" I thought about it, but I don't know if you can buy them loose and whether there are like 'upgraded' Texas Specials, with lower noise and a tad more output... And ofcourse, the all-Seymour Duncan pup covers look nicer than with 1 different brand between it. I can definately recommend this pup to someone with a medium/bright guitar that wants Stratness with more balls (without insane output). I believe Seymour's description reads "SSL-5, for those who want SRV tone with 0.09's." My Strat definately brings me closer to SRV tone, but then again, I play 0.10's, not 0.13's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JuanPabloJr. Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 your PM box is full Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Speeddemon Posted August 11, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 11, 2005 It's been 2 weeks, the guitar has gotten a new set-up job (new strings, re-intonated, etc.) Anyway, I still love the SSL-5's sound. It really sits perfectly between a real fullsized neck humbucker and a Texas Special neck pup. With moderate/high gain I can nail the Yngwie Malmsteen sound (eventhough he uses low-output pups). It's great for Iron Maiden-like stuff too... the bloomy Dave Murray lead-tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mariosyjp Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 hi! i'm not very quick with this reply but here goes.i understand that you are comparing the neck texas special in your fender with your ssl-5 in the neck position of your cort.there is no neck version of the ssl-5 (that one might say is the ssl-1), it is a pickup made for the bridge position. so the missing highs mightbe because of that. for example if you used the bridge texas special in the neck position you could've gotten the same problemjust a thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 hi! i'm not very quick with this reply but here goes.i understand that you are comparing the neck texas special in your fender with your ssl-5 in the neck position of your cort.there is no neck version of the ssl-5 (that one might say is the ssl-1), it is a pickup made for the bridge position. so the missing highs mightbe because of that. for example if you used the bridge texas special in the neck position you could've gotten the same problemjust a thought Yep, it's made for the bridge and will sound best there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scolfax Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 hi! i'm not very quick with this reply but... Not very quick!? You're five years late! Since that post I had a kid and he's starting t-ball already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mariosyjp Posted February 5, 2011 Members Share Posted February 5, 2011 lol!! well i was checking for a comparison between the ssl-5 and the texas special and this is the closest thing i found! anyway, was my answer any help (that is if you even have those guitars still...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GilmourD Posted February 6, 2011 Members Share Posted February 6, 2011 Not very quick!? You're five years late! Since that post I had a kid and he's starting t-ball already! LOL Seriously... When the OP was posted I was about a week away from meeting the woman who has since become my wife and the mother of my child. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Josh S Posted February 6, 2011 Members Share Posted February 6, 2011 The SSL-5 is the best strat pickup I've ever played. I absolutely swear by it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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