Irish Tours vs Trilogies

[NikT]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and need some advice. I am planning on replacing the singlecoils in my American Strat and am torn between a Trilogy Suite set and set of Irish tours. I play a wide range of styles but primarily focus on Blues (SRV, Clapton, Hendrix), Hard Rock (Van Halen, Deep Purple), and a bit of Metal (Iron Maiden). I  have spoken to Tim about the Trilogies but didnt consider the IT's at the time. If anyone has any experience of these pickups I would greatly appreciate their opinion,

Thanks,

Nik

[Antag]

Hello & welcome to the forum.

I can't comment on the bridge (don't own any "proper" strats :)), but my recent Irish Tour/Trilogy/Slowhand shootout clip might help you with the neck.

FWIW, the difference in power between the Irish Tour & Trilogy isn't as great as the DCR stat might lead you to believe.  The Irish Tour probably has more top end "pop" & "sizzle", but the Trilogy has slightly more power, midrange & low end.

[AndyR]

Hi, welcome to the forum :D

I have no experience of the Trilogies, but I do have the ITs.

I use them mainly for blues type stuff. At the moment my strat has pure nickel strings on it, so it rounds them out a bit, but when it has nickel wound steel strings on, they happily do Deep Purple (ie Blackmore) type noodlings, and I guess they'd do Iron Maiden and Van Halen but I haven't tried :lol:

I'd say if you're heading more towards the blues/rock end, and you fancied a slightly hotter, but basically "vintage stratty sort of pickup", where you let the amp/pedals do the extra work required for more aggressive tones,  then the ITs would do you very well...

I'm not really sure what ball-park Trilogies are aimed at - hopefully someone else will wade in with words on them... :D

EDIT: Aha! Antag already has :D

[NikT]

Thanks for the replies. Would adding a zinc baseplate to the bridge position make the Irish Tours more suitable for the heavier rock stuff whilst maintaining the single coil clarity, or would the sound become muddy?

[gwEm]

Thanks for the replies. Would adding a zinc baseplate to the bridge position make the Irish Tours more suitable for the heavier rock stuff whilst maintaining the single coil clarity, or would the sound become muddy?

no, the baseplate doesn't make the sound become muddy in the slighest. as to wether an irish tour bridge with baseplate would be suitable for heavy stuff, i can't comment personally. my baseplated slowhand bridge can handle alot of gain though and still cuts, so i would have thought so.

[NikT]

How about using a combination e.g Trilogy in the bridge (with baseplate), and Irish Tours (or possibly even Mothers Milk) in the neck/middle position? Would that essentially combine the best of both worlds, or would the styles clash?

[AndyR]

I don't think it's a question of styles clashing - it's up to you what the pickups do in your guitar. I personally prefer "similarity" in the pickups and have different guitars for different jobs. But others prefer different pickups in the same guitar for different jobs.

But you might have issues with balancing output from different pups in a combination maybe? I don't know though, I've never mixed & matched across sets... and I've only got one set of strat BKPs so haven't got anything to compare against.

It does sound like you're going through what all of us do, especially on a first set, "I want to get it just right..." :roll:

The way I personally look at pickup choices is this - work out what ballpark I want to play in most on that guitar, choose the pups for that ballpark and "compromise" on the other sounds.

I've since found that this isn't too bad a rule of thumb for me - all the BKPs I've tried are actually more versatile than I was expecting. I needn't have agonised as much as I did over choosing ITs, for example...

I'd say, unless you want to go down the mix-and-match route (someone else will need to help there :D) you need to look at the range of styles you want to cover. Which is more important to you, the blues end of the range, or the metal end? If you said blues, then certainly the vintage hot (ITs, and I understand Slowhands as well) can cope enough with early metal stuff to keep you happy - happier than with what you're using at the moment. I suspect even Mother's Milks will do it if a more classic "vintage" tone is important as well.

Hope that helps - don't feel like I've explained it too well! It sounds to me like maybe another chat to Tim might help? I've not had to ask him any questions so far, but I understand he's very patient with us all :D (and you could use up the questions I haven't asked!! :lol:)

[The Sorbz]

I'm still looking for a set for my bitsa Hendrix Strat. The original Fender pickups are actually quite hot but I want more clarity and power - SRV meets Trower to Malmsteen and backt o John Mayer!!!

[AndyR]

Sorbz, what are the original Fender pups? My ITs replaced Texas Specials - the ITs are roughly the same amount of output it seems (at least how my amps behave), BUT they're more alive and have a lot more clarity to my ears.

Not sure about the Malmsteen, never really listened to him since he first appeared... but I can do the others with them (though I suspect that something less hot, eg the Mothers Milks, would do a better John Mayer)

[gingataff]

How about using a combination e.g Trilogy in the bridge (with baseplate), and Irish Tours (or possibly even Mothers Milk) in the neck/middle position? Would that essentially combine the best of both worlds, or would the styles clash?

If you can have a high output humbucker with ITs in HSS (which obviously you can) they I don't see why you couldn't do it with a Trilogy...  or even a Sinner.

[AndyR]

How about using a combination e.g Trilogy in the bridge (with baseplate), and Irish Tours (or possibly even Mothers Milk) in the neck/middle position? Would that essentially combine the best of both worlds, or would the styles clash?

If you can have a high output humbucker with ITs in HSS (which obviously you can) they I don't see why you couldn't do it with a Trilogy...  or even a Sinner.

That's a real good point - hadn't thought of that :D

[The Sorbz]

Sorbz, what are the original Fender pups? My ITs replaced Texas Specials - the ITs are roughly the same amount of output it seems (at least how my amps behave), BUT they're more alive and have a lot more clarity to my ears.

Not sure about the Malmsteen, never really listened to him since he first appeared... but I can do the others with them (though I suspect that something less hot, eg the Mothers Milks, would do a better John Mayer)

The originals are 70s standard Pickups - not Texas Specials I don't think. I may go for an IT in neck and middle and a Trilogy in the bridge!

[NikT]

The Trilogy in the bridge with IT's in the neck and middle sounds like a good idea. I thought the sets available were designed to go with each though, rather than mixing and matching.

One other thing, will the IT in the neck position give a warm smooth tone, or a harder edged tone (compared to stock pickups)? Thanks for all the advice, v. helpfull so far. :D

[AndyR]

One other thing, will the IT in the neck position give a warm smooth tone, or a harder edged tone (compared to stock pickups)? Thanks for all the advice, v. helpfull so far. :D

I don't know how they'd compare to the stock pickups, but from my experience of ITs, I'd personally  say the neck veers more towards the "harder edged". However, I sort that out with pickup height, amp settings and use of the guitar's tone control. From what I read on here, if you want a warm neck, I think that BKPs have better options than IT.

[Antag]

The Trilogy in the bridge with IT's in the neck and middle sounds like a good idea. I thought the sets available were designed to go with each though, rather than mixing and matching.

They are designed to work with each other, but there's nothing to stop you mixing'n'matching.  There are some good combinations to be had, but also some bad ones - I'll save you the story of my Miracle Man/Sultans' HSS set again (search for it if interested...)

One other thing, will the IT in the neck position give a warm smooth tone, or a harder edged tone (compared to stock pickups)? Thanks for all the advice, v. helpfull so far. :D

Harder edged IMO - the IT neck is quite bright & has a sort of "snap" to the notes when you first sound them.  That's not to say it's harsh, just that words like "sizzle" "snap" "pop" & "jangle" spring to mind.  If you want warm/smooth in a neck single coil then look no further than the Slowhand...