Ok I've been, lets say playing around with a acoustic guitar for about 2 years now off and on. My wife for our anniversary got me Guitar lessons (I think is was a hint), but I'm really enjoying them. My teacher recommended I try to get a guitar with easier action or a electric to learn how to make chords, figure learn on something easier to make the chords. So luckily my Dad has a Fender Strat Squier he never uses, he likes his Martin Acoustic, which I noticed is easier to push the strings down. Anyways I am looking for some insight on this setup he gave me. He is not a electric player so he couldn't really tell me much. Now for my questions.
On the Guitar it has a switch which can go to 4 different settings for pickups I'm assuming, I have 3 pickups on the guitar, what are the different Settings?
There are Also 2 tone and one volume knobs, I know what these do.
On the fender amp there is a Main Volume, Gain, black button, Drive Volume, treble, midrange, bass and Reverb knobs.
Now with this what do I adjust to get he cleanest sound? What is the Drive Volume do? And any other insight would be nice.
Thanks, I can post the exact model of the guitar/amp when I get home in the morning from work.
strats are cool guitars because with a flick of one of those switches you get are different tone.
the switch turns a certain pickup 'on'. all the way forward (away from the bridge) the neck p.u. is on. it will give you a more woody, bell sound sound. with the switch all the way back towards the bridge the bridge pu is on. here you have mostly treble and twang. great from surf, classic rock, country. also, you get great grungy overdrive sounds when coupled with a stomp box for overdrive or distortion.
the other positions give you combinations of tones because the switch turns on more than one p.u.
the middle position has all the pickups on. it is funny, hardly anyone uses that position.
the round knobs are your tone control and volume. dial the tone one way and the treble is bled off or reduced.
my amps don't have a Gain or Presence control so I will let someone else answer.
Dogbite took care of the strat explanations so I'll attempt the amp ones.
Main volume takes care of the volume for a clean signal. Plug and play, turn it up or down depending on how much you like your neighbors.
The little black button will turn on/off the "overdrive" settings (you'll know the difference). Overdrive/Gain will make your sound a little to a lot dirtier depending on how its set. The "Gain Volume" knob controls the volume when the gain is turned on and the main volume will probably do nothing.
The reverb knob turns on/controls the level of reverb effect you get. Play around with it, it can be really useful.
The Bass, Mid, and Treble knobs are EQ settings. Depending how good your amp is they can make a ton or no difference at all. I currently have mine set at Bass-4 Mid-7 Treble-6. Play around with them to find the tone you like.
To get the cleanest tone you'll want the Overdrive OFF, the volume all the way up on your guitar and adjusted to what you like on your amp, the EQ knobs where you like them and reverb OFF.
Enjoy.
"How could you possibly be scared of being bad? Once you get past that, it's all beautiful." -Trey Anastasio
My wife for our anniversary got me Guitar lessons (I think is was a hint), but I'm really enjoying them.
Better'n buying you an outdoor shed. :lol:
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Should be a 5 way switch.
(bridge PU) (bridge PU + middle PU) (middle PU) (middle PU + neck PU) (neck PU)
And yeah, what everyone else said. :lol:
Have fun with it!
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
My wife for our anniversary got me Guitar lessons (I think is was a hint), but I'm really enjoying them.
Better'n buying you an outdoor shed. :lol:
The key is to get better, but still not play any better until she gets you both! Then you have a private studio :D
Ewan McGregor: I said, "Eve, I want you to look after my wedding ring while I'm away," and she started to cry and I said, "Eve. Eve, I can't wear my ring or I won't get laid on the trip!"
Yes, as TRGuitar said, you have 5 different pickup positions. If you want a very clean tone, I have found the bridge/middle and middle pickup postions to sound cleanest. The bridge position is when the pickup selector switch is pushed to the bottom toward the tone controls. So one or two clicks up should get you very clean tones.
Try a little reverb. Guitar tones without a little reverb tend to sound lifeless. Just adjust and listen. Reverb will add the warmth and fullness of your tone.
You can also get relatively clean tones on the Drive channel by turning Drive down very low, and then turning Drive Volume up. This will give a very slight distortion that will add fullness or thickness to the tone.
As everyone says, turn all the knobs and listen. Everybody has their favorite tones. I like lots of Mids myself, I will often turn them up full or nearly full.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Wow you all are great thanks for all that information, makes a big difference. I'll play with it.
