Telecaster can have a good distortion?

[colddusk]

Hi everyone

I have an Fender Telecaster Baja and I want to make its distortion sound more actual or contemporary.

I know that is not a easy task but bear with me.

If I want to change the pickups what would be good ones for it ?

Also some pedal recommendations would be nice, all I have at the moment is an equalizer pedal.

 

[TedEH]

Realistically, a good distorted sound starts with a good amp or pedal or something to provide the gain and character that you want. Pickups definitely contribute, but won't do much if you're not putting them through a good amp or something.

I don't have much experience with single coils so I can't recommend anything. What kind of amp are you using?

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

You can probably get a passable distortion sound, but I find single coils, especially Tele pickups, can sound extremely harsh and muddy with high gain.

You need Tele pickup-sized humbuckers. The Duncan Hot Rails T and Chopper T will help.

 

[bnzboy]

I had the tightest music-store tone ever when I plugged in a stock Fender classic series 72 into a mark v25. I just love grabbing random in-store equipments and see how they turn out. Sometimes they are just not good but a lot of times I find it very fun to play compared to my HH pickup guitars into a Marshall/Mesa/Axefx/etc.

 

[ArtDecade]

John 5 and Jari Mäenpää use Telecasters... but they wouldn't be my first choice without beefing up that bridge pickup.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

John 5 and Jari Mäenpää use Telecasters...

They also use humbucker pickups, John using a Dactivator and Jari using a Hot Rails.

 

[ArtDecade]

John 5 and Jari Mäenpää use Telecasters... but they wouldn't be my first choice without beefing up that bridge pickup.

They also use humbucker pickups, John using a Dactivator and Jari using a Hot Rails.

Kinda like I said - before you erased that part of my quote.

 

[mongey]

Bkp pile driver or cobra t would do the trick I'm sure.

 

[Jaxcharvel]

I use a Hot Rail T in the bridge of my Tele. I love it. Granted, it's still not the ideal guitar for molten metal, but it fakes it very well. I'm with the other guys who said no single coils for high gain. To me it just sound thin, and basically sucks.

 

[akinari]

I would recommend a Dimarzio Super Distortion or Chopper T, or a Red Lace Sensor which is one of my favorite pickups ever.

 

[P-Ride]

I just dipped my two into the water with a Squier Telecaster Custom (for £100!).

Was initially disappointed with the tone, but raised the pickup significantly (as I tend to do!) and it sounded much, much better.

Telecaster with a bridge humbucker, set high, sounds great to me. Plenty of bite and a little more twang than a Les Paul, albeit with a little less beef!

 

[metallkrieg]

I agree that single coils won't give a very modern metal tone...

But the Seymour Duncan Hot Rail is a seriously single coil sized humbucker. Go for it, you'll see the difference!

 

[Metalman X]

Dunno what pickups Martin uses, but s'far as I know, even going back to his days in Pungent Stench, he uses a tele into a boosted JCM800. And his tone has always been pretty savage.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XpQkU2dwZI

(forgot how to embed Youtube here... I need to post more, lurk less)

 

[MatthewK]

One of my favorite tones EVER was a distorted stock Fender Esquire from the '50s classic series. It had a really unusual dry sound I guess is the best way I could describe it. Fat necks on those too. I hear the Bajas are great and have a chunky ass neck as well. Pretty much the only Fender I really fully dug was that Esquire, gotta get another one some day. I know a lot of people say you have to change the pickup or add a metal plate something on those, but I thought it sounded amazing the way it comes stock. So what I would do is rip out the pups and turn your baja into an Esquire.

 

[Spinedriver]

I just dipped my two into the water with a Squier Telecaster Custom (for £100!).

Was initially disappointed with the tone, but raised the pickup significantly (as I tend to do!) and it sounded much, much better.

Telecaster with a bridge humbucker, set high, sounds great to me. Plenty of bite and a little more twang than a Les Paul, albeit with a little less beef!

I have the same guitar and for a while had a Duncan Invader in it. Recently though, I took out the Invader to put in something else and replaced it with a JB. Gotta say, it still rocks pretty hard.

 

[bobbyprayogo]

a decent high output pick up would definitely help

 

[Fathand]

If you want a real single coil: SD Quarterpounder - if you can live with the hum it's as hot as most humbuckers and sounds like it. If I ever get a tele again I'm putting one of these in there. Brutal.

 

[Veldar]

Dead letter circus?

 

[P-Ride]

I have the same guitar and for a while had a Duncan Invader in it. Recently though, I took out the Invader to put in something else and replaced it with a JB. Gotta say, it still rocks pretty hard.

I've toyed with upgrading this guitar and a JB would definitely be on my shortlist.

However, given I can sell it for close to £200, I reckon I'll keep her a while then sellup for a Fender Telecaster, before getting into upgrades.

 

[BenSolace]

I have a Fender SE Lite Ash tele with a set of Bare Knuckle Flat '50 pickups, and even in drop Bb it is the tightest sounding guitar I own, both acoustically and plugged in. This is compared to an Ltd SCT-607b with a pair of Lundgrens M7's in it.

Really, the formula is great when you think about it - bright body and neck woods, bright low output pickups, chunky body. You won't get a deep, thick, chunky les paulish tone - what you'll get is bright, tight, and twangy with just the right amount of punch.

Classic Tele neck pickups, however, do not translate well to high gain and only really suit clean sounds. To me, the perfect Tele setup is classic bridge pickup with a hum in the neck.