Hey guys.
So I'm gonna choose some Dimarzio pickups for my strat but I've been thinking. Strats typically have the same pickup in all 3 positions, yet still have very wide tonal sweep. If I was to get a neck pickup which was quite a bit warmer than the one in the bridge position, then the tonal sweep would be inordinately wide wouldn't it?
This seems true of the artist models too. The Malmsteen model has an HS-3 in the bridge and YJMs in the mid and neck, but those are just slightly tweaked HS-3s...
So basically what I'm asking is - Should my pickups in all positions have (almost) the same EQ balance?
Before I was looking at getting the Heavy Blues 2 in the bridge, and the Virtual Solo in the neck
http://dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/
(check the sound section for the tone guide)
But given the nature of a strat, will the difference in tone between the two be too extreme when placed in their opposite positions? i.e. Not balanced?
I was also thinking of getting the very trebley Area 61 in the mid. But now... :?
I take it you are going to go with poles instead of rails, then. If you went with rails, I'd try a Cruiser in the Neck, Fast Track 1 in the Mid, and a Chopper in the Bridge. It really depends on how you have your tone and volume pots set when changing position to position. Are you going to change that much? Are you going to play one position mostly in rhythm and change to another for leads? Are you going to adjust tone and volume pots as you go, or step on an EQ pedal, boost, or overdrive?
It is a small world for metal fanatics. I welcome you fellow musicians, especially the metalheads!
Yeah i've decided to go with poles. I figured no point in gettin a strat if im just gonna change to a humbucker tone. And I don't wanna be bothering with EQ and OD pedals to compensate...As for the tone pots. Well I've no idea, I don't know about any of this technical stuff.
And yes, I do utilize all pickup positions quite a bit, although generally for rhythm I'll either use bridge or bridge and mid. For leads I'll use whatever I feel like. I would like a slightly warmer neck pickup than Fender standards, for smooth sounding sweep picking I do sometimes.
I was also thinking of getting the very trebley Area 61 in the mid. But now... :?
Area 61 probably won't go well with the Malmsteen pups because the impedance is so dissimilar. The low-impedance Area pup will dominate the sound in the blended positions.
I have an Area '58 in the neck of my guitar; it is not especially trebly, but it is certainly very single-coil sounding compared to a PAF, for example. Great pickup.
What type of sound are you going for?
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
Well i went with Bare Knuckles after all that. Dimarzios r good, but they just don't have quite what I'm looking for.
After talking with the guy at BK, I've gone with a Slow Hand at the neck and an Irish Tour bridge...Middle I'll decide another time. Probably another Irish Tour though to keep that classic strat sound.
