Bridge humbucker for strat!

[Alfi27]

Hello!

I am looking for a replacement for the JB in my strat, but I would love a pickup in the JB ballpark only "better". Tighter and clearer, but the overall tone and character is desirable. The Rebel Yell fit this description, but I don't know how it works with 250k pots. I know that it is almost definitely too bright with 500k pots, so it would be quite the lottery to rely on it working well with 250k, but at the same time I have to do some tricks with the wiring if I go with the usual strat humbuckers (VHII or Abraxas). The Rebel Yell has quite the upper mid spike like the JB, and I would imagine the 250k pot smoothing that spike it out a bit. I would prefer a higher output pickup nevertheless, because I have another HSS strat with a Thornbucker in the bridge and want some variation. I haven't received it yet, but it is more or less a VHII with an Alnico IV magnet.

Thanks a lot in advance!

[PK]

I tried a VHII and a Black Dog in my strat, with 250k pots. Just because I had them lying around and they were zebra, so I liked the look.
Both didnt do it for me.
I am actually considering going to a JB. I know they get a lot of hate for being ice-picky, but I think that is mostly with 500k pots, a 250k pot should lower the resonance peak both in frequency as in amplitude (is amplitude the correct term for a resonancy peak?)

But if there is a great BKP alternative, it might be worth trying.

With a 500k pot, the answer would be easy, a JB only better.............to me that is the Holy Diver, but I dont think the HD will work with 250k pots

[Alfi27]

I have the VHII in a Suhr Classic S, and it is a great pickup! However, it is very aggressive and bright which can be hard to tame, and you get instant brown sound through almost any amp (which can be good or bad). It is still one of my favourite BKPs, but sometimes you don't want to sound like Van Halen and want to sound a bit more massive rather than really cutting and in your face. It is never thin, but also never what I would describe as "massive". What is quite funny is that it is the ultimate 80's hard rock pickup, but so is the JB although they don't sound even remotely similar!

I went ahead and ordered some pickups earlier today: A-Bomb for my Telecaster in drop C, and Abraxas for the strat. The reason for that is that I don't want to risk losing harmonics with 250k pots, which are kind of absent with the JB and 250k. The Abraxas is a quite different animal, but it will be my only guitar in E standard so it has to be versatile. The Holydiver is also versatile, but I have never bonded with that pickup for some reason. It sounded very smooth with the guitars I tried it in, which is not what I want. The Abraxas is quite smooth as well, but it has a very unique mid range crunch to it that is super nice!