[Moovylucky]

I am a strat player who is in love with the truest single coil tones possible. I play full time in a variety of situations that don't allow for 60 cycle hum... I started using the Virtual Vintage series shortly after they came out in the mid '90's.. I really liked them, because at that time, they seemed to be the closest to the real deal... The only problem that I had with them is in the bridge position.. I like a fairly fat sound in the bridge, more like a tele bridge tone, but still very single coil sounding. Just fatter and warmer.. I have an old VV Solo Pro and  VV Blues (both from the '90's) that I tried in the bridge pos of my strats, but no matter what I did I couldn't dial out this super high-end, upper presence-y frequency that was like an icepick to my ears.. While both of these pickups sounded hotter and fatter, neither of them had any warmth... Fast forward to the present. I'm currently using the Area 58 and 67 in the middle and neck, which are superb.. I still haven't found a bridge pickup that can do what I described earlier.. I'm leaning toward the 54 Pro or the Injector series.. Any thoughts?

[KH Guitar Freak]

Perhaps try the Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2? The Virtual Solo should be quite smooth though

[Moovylucky]

Thanks for the reply.. I'm wondering if the newer version of the VV Vintage solo sounds more smooth than the old one that I had... Or maybe its the alnico 5 magnet, as I tend to only like A5 single coils in the middle or neck position.. I've also tried the Chopper in the bridge, and while it does sound quite good, it too is a bit much in the treble area - which could have something to do with the ceramic magnet.. Maybe I would like the The Heavy Blues, as it is A2.

[KH Guitar Freak]

I was told that the Virtual Solo is even smoother and fatter than its predecessor. Anyway, have you tried wiring the tone pot to the bridge pickup?

[darkbluemurder]

I use 67 neck, 58 middle and Virtual Solo (the current one) in one of my strats, and the Virtual Solo is what you are describing. I am a tele player usually.

And yes, definitely use a tone pot on the bridge pickup. When the strat was introduced in the 50s Leo wanted to make the bridge pickup extra bright to cut through for solos so the bridge pickup did not get a tone pot whereas the other two pickups did. I find this inappropriate for my uses - I could live without tone pots for the other two pickups but not for the bridge pickup where it is needed the most. In addition, the stock strat wiring puts both tone controls in the circuit when middle and neck pickups are selected - I don't like that either. The simplest cure for both problems is to move the middle tone control to the bridge pickup.

Cheers Stephan

[Moovylucky]

Yeah, I've had the tone control for the middle pickup wired to the bridge in all of my strats for over 20 years. I love how the notch pos sounds when the middle pickup has no tone control, and the fact that you can actually control the brightness of the bridge pickup. I've also experimented with different values and grades of caps for the tone control on the bridge pickup... It sounds like the newer virtual solo is the one to get.. I would have to turn down the tone control so far with the old virtual solo that the mid and bass frequencies would no longer sound bright and snappy enough.. I've never had this problem with real single coils. It must be really hard to get all of the frequencies right with the stacked, noisless design.. They sure got it right with the Area series.

[Moovylucky]

So guys, (and gals) Virtual Solo or Injector bridge?

[KH Guitar Freak]

So guys, (and gals) Virtual Solo or Injector bridge?

IMO, based on what you've mentioned, I think you should go for the Virtual Solo