The other day at band practice I let the other guitarist in my band play my Squier Affinity Strat equipped with Texas Specials through his new Line 6 amp because he broke a string on his Les Paul. He's really into metal and so he immediately switched his amp to the "Insane" setting and started shredding. Unbelievably, the Texas Specials not only handled the high gain, but they actually sounded better (IMO) than the usual humbucker equipped, shred style guitar. Maybe part of it was that the amp was a solid state modeling amp, but I'm convinced that it would sound just as good through a high gain tube amp. After he was done playing with it, my friend handed me back the guitar and said "Man, I need to get a Squier!" So the myth that Texas Specials are not for metal is busted!

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i do have a line 6 75 watt ss amp. my hwy 1 takes the insane extremely well, my am strat too but not as much.
i was surprised at how both my strat did with my friends marshall jvm at od 2..

My emg's single coils also handle very well high gain... I guess it has to do with how you set your amp

My 1997 American Roadhouse Strat has the Texas Specials. I can get as hot and heavy as I want,or "insane" as you say. I use solid state and tube,with and without pedals. The Texas Specs can do it all.Well as far as I am concerned. I will admit though I do not do Slayer/Metallica/POD kinda stuff,cause I don't like it. I will on occasion get that kind of distortion going on for fun or for my sons amusement(23 years old) I would normally use my DiMarzio or Duncun Hum equipped guits. Since I got this Texas Spec Equipped guit I use it quite often. I love this guitar(and its pups)

I don't think my AM STD does the insane gain thing too well. My 11 year old son asked if my distortion was digital. This was through an all tube analog amp . I was able to EQ it to get a musical high gain distortion, but still prefered my HB equiped guitars. Also, the speed picking palm muting thing on the low E string never works well for me either, the strat is trying to twang and then it gain distorts the twang....yuck.

Don't get me wrong, I love the strat, just not for this type of music.

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

Been a longtime fan of singlecoils for high gain just dont scoop the mids.

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No no and no

+1

Well, in "general", single coils aren't always the "best" for high gain since they tend to be noisier at high gain. If you have good single pickups (Texas Specials are great) and/or a good high gain amp, and know how to tweak it, singles can be an awesome tone.

Personally, I like singles much better since they have more character to the tone. Most humbuckers all sound pretty much the same to me, and I was a humbucker metal head for years. But a great single coil tone, with high gain, is nirvana.

Nothing better to me than that strat quack with some nice, ballsy high gain. I love that gritty dirty sound, more than the super-smooth active humbucker type of tone.

I was just really surprised by it. I never thought a Strat, much less one with Texas Specials, would sound even remotely good for music like that. Next time around I'm going to try my Tele, maybe it'll surprise me too.

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Yes - There is no question that those pickups respond particularly well to a high-gain situation.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

for sure. I've been using single coils for high gain stuff, and I usually do the opposite. I bump up midrange, and dial down high and low end stuff. It really makes the single coils crunch.