Members clay sails Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 I've got max $100 to spend upgrading my Squier CV 50s strat pickups. The pickups are fine (woody, underwound, strat-like) but I want something with more balls for dirty blues and/or harder rock. I do NOT need massive over-driven sound like Texas Specials, just something that can get roughed up some and not sound like crap. Help me strategize! Give me your 2 cents worth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 Double-post much? :poke: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members clay sails Posted February 14, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 Damn. My browser reset during the posting and I didn't realize it had put up the first poll. Please post in THIS thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bsman Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 If you don't need "massive, over-driven" then you should definitely NOT be considering the hotrails. Other than that, for less than $100, I think you'll probably be hard-pressed to find anything better than GFS. If you want to try something "for the hell of it" and not be out a lot of $$, you may want to give these a try: http://www.rosepickups.com/apps/webstore/products/show/889577 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 I like the Tex Mex set. Personally, I prefer the Tex Mex set to the Texas Specials. But they both sound modern, Texas-y and SRV-ish. My favorite strat sets are the Fender Custom Shop 54s and the Duncan Antiquities, but mostly for the #2 and #4 position tones. Overall, the Fender CS69 is probably my favorite set. I really like how it sounds with the neck only pickup. Probably my very favorite strat tone is the neck CS69. To save some money, the GFS Premium Alnico V set is neck and neck (pardon the pun) with the CS69s. I actually currently have the GFS set in my #1 guitar and the 69s in another strat. The 69s and the GFS Premium Alnico V set are ballsy in a vintage way. I'v eread that the 69s were Fenders attempt at getting Gilmour's tone without actually reverse engineering the pickups from his black strat. Don't know if there's any truth to that, but I read it either on The Gear Page or TDPRI. Like I said, they are ballsy, but not modern sounding at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 Oh yeah... the Hot Rails is the worst sounding HB pickup I've ever owned. It has a funky pronounced mid hump which, to my ears, made everything I played sound like it was being played by the guys from Iron Maiden. I like Iron Maiden. If I was in an Iron Maiden cover band, I'd have Hot Rails on my #1 and #2 guitars but I'm not so I will never own another Hot Rails. Never tried an FS-1, but I do have an SDS-1 which is their slightly P90s sounding single coil. I'm not crazy about it either though it is fatter sounding than almost any traditional single coil I've owned. The Dimarzio HS2 is also another fatter sounding bridge pickup which might work if you play the bridge pickup with gain since it's noiseless. Next time I rearrange that strat, I'll put the HS2 in the bridge and check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ILikeGuitar Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 Texas specials actually aren't that hotBut for $100 I would say get a set of GFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members newbuilder Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 The GFS special clones that I just put into a build sound fantastic. They respond super well to volume decrease and have just a little extra in the bridge to handle some crunch. I would suggest them over most of your replacement options. Great sounding pups...IMHO better than the originals that I have heard for strats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rose Pickups Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 If you don't need "massive, over-driven" then you should definitely NOT be considering the hotrails. Other than that, for less than $100, I think you'll probably be hard-pressed to find anything better than GFS. If you want to try something "for the hell of it" and not be out a lot of $$, you may want to give these a try: http://www.rosepickups.com/apps/webstore/products/show/889577 Thanks for the mention. We haven't had anyone not like the Mariposa's. We get return folks because of them. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 this is the worst poll I've ever seen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 I'd say get a set of Seymour Duncan SSL-1 pups. You could have gotten a brand new set the other day for right around $110 shipped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BG76 Posted February 14, 2010 Members Share Posted February 14, 2010 I would stick to what you have and fiddle with your amp, pedals and knobs. Also try raising/lowering the pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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