Can I get a metal sound with single-coil pickups?

[metalmaiden]

It's okay to laugh, I realize this question is probably really noob-ish.

I have an American made Fender Stratocaster (pretty bad-ass I know *deep sarcasm*)
and was thinking about getting a Boss MT-2 Metalzone or ML-2 Metalcore Pedal...(I am slowly saving up for an Ibanez guitar, but it's just not in the stars for me right now).

Can I still get a pretty cool sound with my single coil guitar? Any experience, insight or other suggestions would be helpful.

Thank you

 

[KAMI]

Sure!

All the sounds on my page so far are done with single coils!

https://soundcloud.com/torrential-skies

 

[WarMachine]

Give us some more input, amp, speakers, etc. I havent had a ton of experience with singles, but i can say that DiMarzio makes a pretty hot single pup called hot rails. had one in the neck of a guitar years ago and it had plenty of bite and gain.

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

I find it hard to get a good "chug" sound with single coils. Not saying it can't be done, but it's not the tool i would use for the job personally.

But hey, you may be going for a unique sound- if you like the way it sounds - that's all that matters!

 

[metalmaiden]

Sure!

All the sounds on my page so far are done with single coils!

https://soundcloud.com/torrential-skies

What kind of pedals do u use?

Oh yeah, I failed to mention I have a piece of shit amp, but it sounds great on a clean tone and loud enough for practice. It's a Frontman 15g (8" speaker). I can get some gain from it, but not that cool distortion sound. Like I said a new guitar is obviously the solution along with a new amp...but I'm just a noob and didnt want to invest a whole lot unless I knew I'd really get into it. So until then...is this a pedal worth using? Are others better?

 

[KAMI]

What kind of pedals do u use?

None

I use a Line 6 PODxt pro!

 

[ArtDecade]

I love single coils. They are my favorites - hands down.

Can you get metal sounds? That's subjective, but Page (first Zep album), Blackmore (Deep Purple), Dave Murray (early Maiden), Downing (early Priest) and Yngwie all crafted fantastic tones with single coils. Single coils sound better cleaned up, too!

I use singles in my Strat and I have a bucker tossed in the bridge position of my Tele (for John 5 moments). That said, I still think about dropping a single back into the Telecaster just about every day!

 

[tedtan]

The main problem will be getting the tightness you can from a humbucker; you may want to try boosting the mids before the distortion/fuzz to help with this.

Single coils seem to work pretty well with Big Muff type pedals. While its called a fuzz, it more like a distortion in terms of the tone. Any way, its worth trying out to see if it works for you before you spend any money.

Also, Strats are nice guitars. If doesn't have any problems/issues, you could look into putting a humbucker in the bridge position. I know Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan both make single coil sized versions of some of their humbuckers, so it might be a drop in replacement. And if not, its simple to switch pickguards and shouldn't cost much more than a distortion pedal.

Edit: You guys posted while I had this open in another tab. You may still need a distortion pedal with your amp depending on the type of tones you are going for.

 

[4Eyes]

yes, you can get metal sound with single coils

Cassini | Sithu Aye

 

[AkiraSpectrum]

You wont get as thick/warm/condensed of a sound with single coils in general but depending on the metal tone you're looking for single coils can be more than fine.
You can also consider changing the bridge pickup to a seymour duncan blackout single coil/ JB jr./Li'l screamin' demon/hot stack. I think Dimarzio also offers 'humbucker-like' pickups in single coil shapes and they seem to offer something VERY close to the humbucker sound from what I've heard.

 

[metalmaiden]

yes, you can get metal sound with single coils

Cassini | Sithu Aye

Dude, that is an epic sound...what kind of pedals, rig do u use?

So the consensus is to change the pickups rather than get a pedal?

 

[redstone]

Actually, both.. You need a better amp and a better bridge pickup.. What's your budget ?

 

[Basti]

As long as you stay away from those Boss pedals you'll be fine! First hand experience in impulse-buys right here

edit: mm, those Frontmen have a decent set of teeth on them for what they are IMO...maybe get an EHX Metal Muff? They're good but I'm not an authority on OD pedals. I wouldn't change the pups on your Stratocaster, surely it's better to preserve it as is rather than trying to turn it into a metal machine? Plenty of affordable Ibbys are worth saving up for that kind of thing

 

[redstone]

So, here we have the pickup DiMarzio Black DP226 BC2 Billy Corgan Bridge Pickup | eBay

 

[flo]

yes, you can get metal sound with single coils

Cassini | Sithu Aye

Not bad!!

And I like your Feynman diagramm

 

[KAMI]

Dude, that is an epic sound...what kind of pedals, rig do u use?

So the consensus is to change the pickups rather than get a pedal?

Not bad!!

And I like your Feynman diagramm

You guys do realize that this isn't his work, right?

It's the work of C2Aye!

 

[cardinal]

Soundgarden and Tom Morello use stock Teles for drop D work and sound heavy as hell, but it probably depends on what "metal" you're shooting for.

 

[4Eyes]

Dude, that is an epic sound...what kind of pedals, rig do u use?

So the consensus is to change the pickups rather than get a pedal?

it's not me, i just know that this guy recorded this album with strat with single coils.. also you can check out guy called mattrach

 

[metalmaiden]

As long as you stay away from those Boss pedals you'll be fine! First hand experience in impulse-buys right here

edit: mm, those Frontmen have a decent set of teeth on them for what they are IMO...maybe get an EHX Metal Muff? They're good but I'm not an authority on OD pedals. I wouldn't change the pups on your Stratocaster, surely it's better to preserve it as is rather than trying to turn it into a metal machine? Plenty of affordable Ibbys are worth saving up for that kind of thing

Thank you this is pretty helpful. Yeah I don't want to turn my strat into a metal machine, which was why I was hoping to find an alternative (a pedal mainly) that could give me a pretty badass sound with the single coils.
I love the clean sound on my strat, and not sure if I want to change the pickups tbh. Just wanted to get something (relatively cheap) to give me a heavy tone.
So no Boss Pedals huh...let me check out the Metal Muff.

 

[Esp Griffyn]

I used to get an awesome chuggy metal tone from my Fender YJM strat, that had the Dimarzio YJM singles in it. They were medium to hot, rather than out and out hot as far as singles go, and you could never get those meaty, heavy as a building falling over tones with it, but it was a good fun guitar to play and certainly sounded unique.

As far as tone goes though, I think you'd be better off upgrading your amp, as regardless of which type of pickup you have, what pedals you use etc, if you have a poor amp your tone will never be good. Amps can seem less exciting than a new guitar, but really I think the benefit to your playing and growth a musician would be far greater at this stage. You've got a solid, quality guitar, you could change the pickups in it if you really wanted, but get a good amp, then get the guitar you really want, like an Ibanez 7 or whatever. Having an awesome guitar and sounding just as lame as you did with a mediocre guitar because you are being held back by a lame amp is horribly frustrating.