$100 Squier Affinity Strat v $6,000 John Cruz Strat - Can you hear a $5,900 difference?

Voxman

Well, can you? - but don't go by the playing!

Strangefan

I'm going to say b is the cruz? 

lustycourtier

I know which I’d rather have, and that’s all that matters 

prowla

I may not get the full experience through my Mac mini's speakers.

sweepy

Well guitar A is out of tune for a Start, I’d say B is the Cruz

prowla

...but through them, A seems to be more direct and cutting whereas B is softer and more characterful.
(But the player seems to be finding B harder to play.)

tone1

Classic....As I sound the same whatever I play...I don’t know which is which and I liked them both 

Plectrum

I think b is the expensive one. But put some quality pickups in the Squier and I bet it would be really hard to tell the difference.

ICBM

No, but with that awful muddy overdrive sound it's not surprising. Anything would sound more or less the same.

dazzajl

Tell $6000 dollars worth of difference? Nope. 

I couldn’t even tell you which was which. They’re different but as which is ‘better’ not even sure there can be a definitive answer can there?  

olafgarten

I could only hear $5900 worth of difference. 

RiftAmps

I think B is the Squier, simply because you can hear him having to work harder to achieve the same tone as A.

EDIT: I should also say that I hated both guitars

horse

RiftAmps said:

I think B is the Squier, simply because you can hear him having to work harder to achieve the same tone as A.

EDIT: I should also say that I hated both guitars

I was going to say the opposite - seemed that there was more vibrato on A to make it sound roughly as good. I tended to think B had more subtlety to the tone, but having said that, whenever A came back in it did make me think twice....

Edit - I did also wonder if there was a little eq roll off of the high end on both which might unfairly level them up

ICBM

horse said:

I did also wonder if there was a little eq roll off of the high end on both which might unfairly level them up

A little? There's no top end at all.

RiftAmps said:

I should also say that I hated both guitars

I don't think it's the guitars, it sounds like an amp/recording EQ issue.

proggy

Sounded pretty much the same to me.

horse

ICBM said:

horse said:

I did also wonder if there was a little eq roll off of the high end on both which might unfairly level them up

A little? There's no top end at all.

I was meaning in terms of a low pass on the daw on both tracks rather than the tone pots on the guitars if that makes any sense / difference. On a good strat neck tone I think I hear the bluesy low / mid and also a bit of sparkle which is missing on these. Only listened on tablet though

ICBM

horse said:

I was meaning in terms of a low pass on the daw on both tracks rather than the tone pots on the guitars if that makes any sense / difference. On a good strat neck tone I think I hear the bluesy low / mid and also a bit of sparkle which is missing on these. Only listened on tablet though

That's what I thought too. I listened on hi-fi speakers and it's just as bad.

Absolutely pointless as a comparison.

darthed1981

I think we all know that there is a difference, but whether that difference is worth $5,900 is down to two things: -

1. Personal taste and beliefs.

and more importantly...

2. Personal wealth

fandango

I can hear the difference when the missus starts up about a new kitchen, extending her wardrobe, and shopping at Harvey Nichols. 

If if only I’d bought that $100 cheapy, I could have got away with it, and the only thing I’d be hearing is that guitar singing sweetly through a valve amp. 

HAL9000

You might not hear much of a difference, and TBH the average Joe in a pub almost certainly wouldn't. However, with a guitar it's not all about the sound. Guitars are very tactile instruments and, for the player at least, a lot of it is about things like feel, finish,  etc.

rossi

The Cruz comes with a  case though .