Squier John5 upgrade

[Lotower]

Hi everyone,

Apologies in advance for the lame request for hints, hopefully my "sound example" are not too blasphemous 

I've recently picked up playing again after a long hiatus.
As a "comeback" instrument I wanted to get something of a low-impact budget, and I got myself an old Squier John5 with rosewood fretboard.
Guitar is quite heavy, the weight feels nice though and gives a nice solid feel overall. Very comfortable to play I have to say.

Now that some time has passed and I am warming up to the instrument, I do feel the "lack" of better pickups, which I would love to use to maximise the overall wood and weight.

For the neck, from the clips I've heard I like a lot the Rebel Yell.
For the bridge instead, I'm looking to push a more high-voltage, but defined, distortion. If I had to give a "reference name", I'd say anything that can get me closer to Mick Mars or Alice in Chains-type sound, but I would rather stay clear of any "extreme metal" type distortion. So I am a bit confused if Rebel Yell for the bridge could be enough, or there's another solution that could allow me to also get a bit more options, like a Silo for example.

What do you guys think?
Thanks a lot!

[Dave Sloven]

I wouldn't be surprised if a Rebel Yell or Impulse might work.  They are quite similar to one another.  The Impulse neck has a single coil character it that you might like.  I have the Impulse set in a swamp ash / maple type telecaster style guitar and it is working well.  I imagine it would sound even better in a heavier guitar.

[ericsabbath]

rebel yell is pretty hot

[richard]

My Rebel Yell set is in a PRS S2 Singlecut. They are great 'rock' pickups and are a well matched set. The bridge pickup would suit you very well for a Mick Mars sound. I remembered seeing this clip which I think is the closest I've seen to a Tele-ish guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20zSjw98Gvg

[RobAbrams84]

It sounds like you should just get the Rebel Yell set if you like the neck pickup.  The bridge pickup is universally praised, caveat that it's quite hot as ericsabbath said. 

[Dave Sloven]

I remembered seeing this clip which I think is the closest I've seen to a Tele-ish guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20zSjw98Gvg

Yeah I remembered that clip as well, because I think the construction of that guitar is quite similar, other than having the FR

[Lotower]

Thank you all so much for your feedback! 

So I take the overall suggestion is to go with the set, rather than an "unbalanced" setup e.g. RY for neck, Silo or Warpig for bridge?
Is there a specific advantage for the balanced set against a "mixed" combo?

-- EDIT: for reference, this is the "Mick Mars" version of sound I'm looking for, a "Motley Crue '94" era sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZNk3eQWK-w
Of course, to consider that he's chaining three different heads together, so pickups are probably 10% of his sound, but still as a reference for what I'm looking for.

How would you compare Rebel Yells to Miracle Man?

[Dave Sloven]

Miracle Man has a bigger bottom end, less mids and more high end.  Quite different from the Rebel Yell

I don't think the War Pig or Silo will get you anywhere near Mick Mars.

An alternative pickup might be the Holy Diver.

[Lotower]

Miracle Man has a bigger bottom end, less mids and more high end.  Quite different from the Rebel Yell

Would you say this would sound closer to the clip, rather than RYs?

[Dave Sloven]

That recent clip you posted of Mick Mars, sounds like a thicker pickup in the low mids.  Miracle Man might be closer to that.

The classic '80s Mick Mars sound is more like a Rebel Yell, less bottom end more high mids.  Another band that the Rebel Yell reminds me of is Ratt.

Actually the low mids in that clip are really fat.  Might be closer to an alnico Black Hawk or something like that. A Holy Diver?

A lot of that sound would be in the amps, strings, even picks

[RobAbrams84]

That clip could be handled with the Holydiver for sure.  Of course, the amp, pedals, speaker cabinet, and on and on make up a huge part of the sound also.  I still think that a Rebel Yell set would be good for you, if you know that you like the neck pickup.  The Holydiver neck pickup is very cool, but it's pretty unique to me, sort of jangly and bright and almost single-coil like.