Originally Posted by: Vegas Wierdo... Well, in short, my question is this: to get that "clean with grit" tone I've described, does it matter then what kind of pickups I get? Or not?

And secondly, to get the sort of loudness and distortion I describe; it would really be nothing more than a flick of a switch? As in, whatever pedal(s) or amp (with the right specs) I get would do the job 100%? The pickups need not figure into it? At all?...

This is one reason I use 4-wire humbucking pickups any time I replace the originals. With the coils connected in parallel, the sound is quite sweet and the output is fairly low, so I can set the amp to sound clean, or I can ride that clean/dirty edge. Then I have the option of switching the coils to series connection, which gives a heavier tone and increases the output enough to push the amp into distortion. I can do this at the guitar without having to go back to the amp and tweak the settings. My old 'pegs don't have multi-channel front ends. Olde Skool!