I think I'm just not a single coil guy.

[Feely6]

P90s ftw

 

[Thomaswitch]

I wouldn’t recommend single coils for djent or death metal

 

[Upper Mids]

Anything with Distortion just sounds wrong to me coming out of a small single coil. It just sounds weak.

Whatever you say, dude.

 

[Strummerfan]

I'm the opposite. I love single coils, and only occasionally feel the need for humbuckers. I use singles with lots of different gain amounts, edge of breakup right up to high gain, and also fuzz. I rarely play fully clean, but when I do I can't stand the muddy sound of humbuckers. I love the articulate sound of single coils, and the way they ring.
That's why there are so many types of guitars out there, so we can all have the sounds that speak to us.

 

[Jugghaid]

Whatever you say, dude.

Thats a perfect example of what I mean. Terrible tone IMO.

 

[Upper Mids]

Thats a perfect example of what I mean. Terrible tone IMO.

If you say so.

 

[kinmike]

And by single coils, I mean telecaster and Stratocaster style single coils. I still very much dig a good P90 or a Dearmond style big fat single coil. It just seems that all the sounds I have in my head really don't go with a Tele or strat style guitar except for very very clean tones. Anything with Distortion just sounds wrong to me coming out of a small single coil. It just sounds weak. Lots a medium gain and even some higher gain stuff with a P90 sounds great but it just doesn't sound right on the Strat or a Tele when I'm playing it. When other people play it. I love it, but I just can't seem to find my sound on a strat or a Tele even though I own both unless it's very clean.

Am I the odd one?

Check your amp…

 

[Jugghaid]

If you say so.

The solo sound at the end isn't terrible but not good either. The rhythm track sounds like he's plugged into a 1950s transistor radio.

 

[Jugghaid]

Check your amp…

My amps are fine.

 

[Vanilla Latte]

I am ready for single coils........they're just not ready for me!

 

[ToneGrail]

And by single coils, I mean telecaster and Stratocaster style single coils. I still very much dig a good P90 or a Dearmond style big fat single coil. It just seems that all the sounds I have in my head really don't go with a Tele or strat style guitar except for very very clean tones. Anything with Distortion just sounds wrong to me coming out of a small single coil. It just sounds weak. Lots a medium gain and even some higher gain stuff with a P90 sounds great but it just doesn't sound right on the Strat or a Tele when I'm playing it. When other people play it. I love it, but I just can't seem to find my sound on a strat or a Tele even though I own both unless it's very clean.

Am I the odd one?

Anything from a thick crunch and beyond requires humbuckers for me. That said I absolutely hate humbuckers for clean tones unless I'm playing jazz on the neck pickup. I like singles for pristine cleans and maybe a tiny bit of hair but not much more than that.

 

[ToneGrail]

Thats a perfect example of what I mean. Terrible tone IMO.

Yup, buzzy and scooped.

 

[ErichA]

Yep. ‘Buckers are good!
I’ll coil split, but typically I’m blending a split coil with another ‘bucker.

O yeah, and they’re ceramics, too.
(No. I do not play metal.)

 

[tweedeater]

Single coil, humbuckers, etc... I like them all. They all have their own flavors. My broadcaster bridge p'up in my Tele loves drive pedals. But if I could keep only one guitar, it would be my LP Special with Lollar P90s. Such a variety of tones. At least that's the way I feel today.

 

[Stu James]

I think you need to let your ear adjust to single coils over time. I’ve been playing with my strats > Deville> couple of nice dirt pedals, exclusively lately. Slight EQing and just getting used to the tone. My strats sound awesome !!

 

[SavingThoreau]

And by single coils, I mean telecaster and Stratocaster style single coils. I still very much dig a good P90 or a Dearmond style big fat single coil. It just seems that all the sounds I have in my head really don't go with a Tele or strat style guitar except for very very clean tones. Anything with Distortion just sounds wrong to me coming out of a small single coil. It just sounds weak. Lots a medium gain and even some higher gain stuff with a P90 sounds great but it just doesn't sound right on the Strat or a Tele when I'm playing it. When other people play it. I love it, but I just can't seem to find my sound on a strat or a Tele even though I own both unless it's very clean.

Am I the odd one?

What kind of music do you play?

 

[Brent Hutto]

I never use distortion and mostly use just the neck pickup. For me low-medium output single coils (like the Alnico ones that came stock in my Player Tele) sound the clearest and, well, cleanest.

I have an Ibanez "super Strat" type guitar with humbuckers and they're just loud sounding and notes too easily get muddled together (probably says more about my playing that the pickups if I'm honest). I also briefly tried a Telecaster with a pair of humbuckers and it definitely lacked clarity although they weren't as loud.

That said, I demo'd one of those Epiphone 1959 Les Paul tribute whatever you call it in a local store and the neck humbucker on it had some very nice sounding tones in it for me. Maybe the shorter scale takes away some of the too-muchness of humbuckers on a longer scale guitar. Or maybe they were just nicer humbuckers.

Still, no looking back. I play the Tele every day and just figure I'm a single coil guy. I still have the Ibanez if for some reason I want to faff about with that humbucker sound for a while one day.

 

[redcrimson96]

I play a strat through a mesa mark v and it's freakin glorious. Low gain, EOB, medium gain, high gain. It all sounds fantastic.

 

[Dirty Strings]

I like to think I don't have a preference over the other but yeah, lately I like humbuckers better. I've also recently been getting drive from my amps rather than using clean amps and relying on pedals for drive.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I wonder if some of my "muddled" or "lack of clarity" complaints about humbuckers are due to the fact I've usually got two different delays, in series, running in a stereo setup. Along with some stereo tremolo as well. But the delays do thicken up and spread out the sound enough it probably puts a premium on clarity of the original signal.