So I'm running a MIM strat with texas specials into a Original Peavey 5150 head and a 4 by 12 cab loaded with texas heats. I am looking for a great rock tone with mid level distortion but I am not liking any of the sounds I am getting out of this setup. Also, when I find a decent tone on the bridge pickup, it sounds like total crap and way to bassy on the neck pickup and visa versa. Good tone on the neck but too trebly on the bridge. What would be my first steps in acheiving a better tone?

How close do you have your pickups?

they are at the standard height provided by fender. I've tried lowering them almost down to the pickguard with no success. I think I might need to experiment more with the pickup height though.

This is a very common problem and one that I can personally relate to. To cut to the chase, you have to decide which pickup you like better, the neck or the bridge. Once decided, the other one has to go in favor of one that blends better with the one you've decided to keep.

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You dig?

I think your problem might be the amp, unless you're getting good sounds out of it with other guitars.

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Addicted to chasing down tone info, and publishing all my findings at my blog: www.WoodyTone.com

I ended up getting a much darker sounding pickup for my bridge and even changed the other tone control to be a bridge only tone to solve this problem.
I didn't start out with the same pickups as you have however.

-Eddie

Or...

gio3million, does your second tone control work on the bridge pickup as well, or just middle alone? If the latter (which I think may be the case on your MIM), then there's a very simple little mod to do so's the tone knob works the middle and bridge pickups.

That means you can set everything up for a nice tone from your neck pickup, and then roll off the bridge pickup some to take away that edgy brilliance you're getting too much of.

If this works for you, then for the cost of half an inch of wire it is probably your simplest option. If you want to do that mod and don't know how, ask and ye shall receive...

Cheers - C

That's partially because, for whatever ungoldy reason, Fender still thinks it's a good idea to have a separate tone knob for the middle and neck pickups (that are already thicker and bassier), and leave that bridge pickup un-touchable with a tone switch. Having one tone knob for all pickups, or at least, one for the bridge and middle, and the other for the neck, can help dial down that shrillness of the bridge pickup in certain situations.

But like what was already mentioned, until that point, you just need to find the pickup you use more, dial in your amp for that, then do a few slight tweaks so your bridge sounds less-horrible.

I've never personally had that situation, but I have specific pickups at each point, not any one "set" of them. And I also have one knob that controls the tone of all my pickups.