Looking for a good set of passive singlecoils for Heavy Rock/metal type playing any suggestions?

I'd recommend DiMarzio's HS2, HS3, or YJM pickups. They're higher output than a traditional single-coil but can be mounted in a S/S/S routed Strat without modification to the body or the pickguard, and they can use standard 250K volume and tone pots. As a bonus, they're also noiseless.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

fender tex-mex pickups price is good they are a little hot but i like them

Retroverbial: Thanks I will have to check them out.

Brian J.: Thanks I have tex-mex pickups in two strats already a 74, and MIM. In both guitars they sound too treble-ly for what im wanting.

The bare knuckle Sinner strat set is a really wicked set of pickups. they aren't cheap though. these have more of a humbucker sound but still sound stratty
( if that makes sense).
also they don't do clean very well

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/p ... the_sinner

and there is a guy on ebay that will wind them however you want for under $100
I had a set made for a build recently and i am very pleased with them.
just tell him the sound you want and go from there.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Strat-replaceme ... 43b373cfc9

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Just lower the high side to cut the Treble-ly then. The Tex-Mex is pretty hot when they are really low.

The HS-2 and HS-3 are stacked humbuckers.

FYI Duncan Hot and Cool Rails are also suitable for aggressive musical styles.

Custom Shop:
Fat 50's
69's

Love them both.

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2012 American Standard Strat Charcoal Froast
2009 Standard Strat Sunburst Brown
Blues Junior Tweed NOS
2007 Line6 Spider Jam

Yes, the DiMarzio HS-2 and HS-3 pickups are stacked humbuckers, not single coils. I have them installed in one of my strats. Hum-canceling is okay but not as good as my Gibson with 57 humbuckers.

The best single-coil strat pickups for hard rock/heavy metal that I have ever used are Seymour Duncan SSL-4 quarter pounder pickups, which I have installed in another one of my strats. I also have Duncan SSL-5s (in yet another strat) which sound fantastic but aren't as heavy as the SSL-4s. I often take the strat with the SSL-4s to jam sessions when I need to compete with Les Pauls or other louder, heavier instruments. With the volume dialed back, the SSL-4s clean up nicely and still get that strat sound that we all love. With some settings, I can get them to sound like P-90s.

sandy

What amp are you using? Kind of silly suggesting pickups without knowing if the amp is the issue and not the pickups. Remember Smoke on the Water was played with Stock Fender pickups in a 1970 Large headstock Strat. Of course there was the Marshall 200 watt amp.........

a cranked tube amp makes just about any guitar sound awesome

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I have a set of Tex-Mex in one of my guitars. It does not like anything SS even in a "Transtube" Vox vt30, Fender Super Champ XD it sounds really bad. But I do have an all tube Pro Jr that really makes them sing so sweet. I don't believe they are the same pickups..

Eric Clapton uses the active midrange booster from his guitar to make the noiseless pickups sound like an overdriven PAF while retaining the transparency associated with single coils.