Need HB's for s strat... Help??

[Ju5t1n20]

Hey guys! I am new here and came for advice. I have heard so many good things about BKP that I want to give them a try. So I come for help.


I have an alder body, maple neck strat that I can't  gel with the sound of it. I play a mixture of rock, country, southern, rock, and sometimes metal. I have already have the items to route my cavity out and get it prepared for hbs, but I was curious as to what types you guys might suggest. I hate the overly harsh top end the stock pups have and want something more meaty, balanced, and warm, but yet still has a bite with high gain. I have also thought about having the new pups wired with a coil split to mock a single coil tone. I will post a sample video of my setup to give you an idea of my sound.

Excuse the mediocre playing, and the low quality of the videos... It was off of my phone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwXz_ZyT7pM&feature=player_profilepage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwXz_ZyT7pM&feature=player_profilepage

http://s1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee422/Crooktele/?action=view&current=video-2011-05-17-19-46-54.mp4&newest=1

[Miek]

Perhaps a Mule or Abraxas would be up your alley.

[Sancho]

I've been thinking about a set of VHIIs for a Strat of mine. Should be able to do what you describe.

[Brow]

I have 3 strats with humbuckers and even though they're all completely different, they can all cover alot of ground given the right amp:

USA Standard Strat - Alder body, Maple neck, Rosewood Fretboard and BKP Crawler/Irish Tour/Irish Tour pickups

JAP Strat - Basswood (so I'm told, not sure) body with maple neck and fretboard and BKP VHIIs with a shared coil tap

Brit/Jap 'bitsa' Strat - Ash body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard with BKP Cold Sweat and a volume control only.

The HSS Strat is the 'jack of all trades' guitar that I used to use alot with my originals band as it could cover alot of sounds when space was at a minimum and I couldn't take more than 1 guitar. The Jap Strat covers the rock stuff really well and cuts through a band mix with ease, but also sounds really good clean. The bitsa with the Cold Sweat is probably the least versatile of the 3, but cleans up surprisingly well with the volume control and is a real ebast when u throw it infront of an amp thats cooking.

Of the 1s I've tried I think the VHII would work out for you the best. You say you want some bite with high gain, and for me the Crawler doesn't really seem to do that as it's a very rounded sounding pickup to my ears.

Something like a HolyDiver could also work, but I don't know if you want to go that hot or not.

[Telerocker]

I have the Crawler/IT's in am MXG custom swampashstrat (Patrick Eggle made those) and the hb is quite beefy, warm, growling and has enough bite for me. It can do a lot of styles, also hardrock, nevertheless has some roundness/sweetness to it. I like it, but it's not everybody's cup of tea.
But, I have the VHII/MM's in an Fender American Series ashstrat. The VHII is really the dog bollocks with a bit of gain. Bite, yeah, but not brittle and annoying, enough meat on the higner notes, very clear and balanced pu. When you dig in it screams and overtones jump out, roll the volume down is surprises with a sort of singlecoilvibe to the notes. Great rockpickup. Could be the one for you.
There are more options: Abraxas, beefy PAF-ish-tones, say a really hot Mule. And the Holy Diver, which will def. beef up your strat, bec it has quite some mids. It's has a bit more modern hardrock/metal tone to it, and at the same enough pedigree to do classic rock and fat blues(rock).
Personally I think the Abraxas would cover a lot of your styles. It has a bit more chime, air, bite and PAF-character then the hotter, more compressed Crawler. It will provide the necessary beef to a strat.