Swap ideas for stock Strat

[jazz475]

I have a friend who has a 05 alder strat with 2-TexMex single coils and 1-Diamondback Humbucker. He is looking for a tone with more bite and ballsy. Anyone out there been there done that?

[Agileguy_101]

The JB will sound amazing in an alder bodied strat. If you want something lower output, try the Pearly Gates, or the Pearly Gates +. SSL-1's would go well in the middle and bridge.

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Does he want more bite, but still w/a vintage vibe, or would he like the HB bridge to be hot?

I've always replaced the bridge pup in my Strats, but when I went to a full size HB, I've always gone for something hotter. The SD Invader and the DMZ X2N worked well, but they are best when using a fair amount of overdrive/distortion. The clean sound isn't that great unless you do a coil split. The coil split sound is good, but it is a single coil sound. If you want a HB sound in the bridge, that probably won't do.

Something along the lines of a PG will clean up nicely, and give more bite.