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It's also worth stating the blindingly obvious that different guitars are suited to different musical styles - even different versions of the same marque. Yesterday & today I've taken out my original 1969 maple-neck hardtail Strat because I've not played it for a while (it's too valuable to take out to gigs or rehearsals, but it can't cover all the tones I need anyway).
Yesterday I plugged it into my Laney Cub with a bit of delay & tube-screamer/Marshall Guvn'r and some uni-vibe here & there, and spent a pleasant hour or so playing Hendrix stuff (it's perfectly vintage correct for that type of stuff - Hendrix used a 69 too, also which, as is mine, had a maple capped neck). I particularly love Hendrix' less full-on stuff like Little Wing, The Wind Cries Mary, Hey Joe because of his wonderful touch, phrasing, note/chord selections, and overall tone.
Today, I was in Dire Straits mood - this time put the '69 through my Laney VC30-210 (gorgeous clean channel) with some delay, Boss CS3 compressor, and EQ, and it just nails classic Knopfler tones from the first Dire straits album inc. Sultans, Southbound Again, Six blade knife etc) and delivers a warmth of tone but with a 'snap' that I can't get from my 2010 Strat that's a bit 'brasher' by comparison. But for more aggressive stuff, the 2010 Standard with its hotter bridge p/up can do stuff that my '69 isn't quite right for.
But back to post topic - I'm a big fan of the middle p/up on its own for certain things - its perfect for playing stuff like 'La Bamba' etc. where you want a mixture of 'ooomph' but with a slightly 'warmer' more musical tone that you can't get from the bridge or neck p/up.
ive started using the middle more and more. There is so much brightness and sparkle available that it serves a really good purpose
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/89942/caspercaster#latest
not a high gain pickup despite the name and the George Lynch connection
more like a PAF type
I got the THR10C mentioned above, and while it has been great with the P90 Lester, and laterally a PRS Bernie, I was still not able to get sounds I liked with the Strat. So it has just sat in the case and not been played as I didn't want to get sucked into the rabbit hole of pick-up swaps.
So the revelation was a new amp. I bought a '57 Custom Champ and now the Strat is vying for first place again. I am getting Strat tones, but they are no longer thin Strat tones. It sounds fantastic, as do my other two guitars tbf, but different characters each. Couldn't be happier with the purchase. Not only did I get a new amp, but it feels like I got a new guitar thrown in for free!
With the Yamaha THR10C, I would expect a Stratocaster to need different control settings to your P90 and humbucker-equiped guitars.
The other difference that you may notice is in the dynamic range. The valve amplifier should be more reactive to your playing than the modeller.
Tbh a strat sounds like a strat. Stick it on the neck pickup and it all makes sense.
Putting a base plate on the bridge and wiring it to the tone pot helps as well.
I understand why people think simple amps are the 'purest', but that's not really true. They usually generate more harmonic distortion even when they're not actually overdriving, which is what the more complex circuitry in more sophisticated amps was originally designed to get rid of. We just happen to like the happy accident of the type of harmonics those simple valve amps produce... try a very simple transistor amp and you might think otherwise .
Sorry, thread hijack .
(And I do very much like the 5F1 circuit, although I think it sounds much better with a bigger speaker.)
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I hear a lot of overly bright Strat tones on Youtube but Chris Buck knows how to make one sound pretty fat and warm.