I have been playing for about 6 years now so while i'm not great I ain't that bad either. I own a late 90's american strat and a solid state 2x10 fender princeton chorus amp. I recently realized that while the blues are fun to play and sound good when i'm alone the music that really gets my blood going always seems to been rock and punk(i.e. Janes addiction, pennywise, Social Distortion, Fugazi, Bad religion, Hendrix, Buckcherry, etc). My rig sounds great clean but it doesn't cut it for most of what I really enjoy. Any suggestions on a rig that can pull off that big throaty rock sound like social d, and the tighter more aggressive modern sound like penny wise. How do studio Les pauls sound. I hear they work pretty well and are cheaper than a regular les paul. I see Ibanez used by many bands but how do they work for straight rock n roll. Also what about the modeling amp route? Not looking to spend more than $1000-$1500. The cheaper the better but I feel good enough to spend a little since it has been so long. Any suggestions would help, sorry if this type of thing has been posted a million times before.
The cheapest thing would be to buy a distortion pedal.
I think your strat is fine for rock and punk, unless you just prefer the humbucker les paul sound. Hendrix played a strat. :)
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yeah, if you want rock sound you can just get a decent distortion pedal(about 50 bucks), or if you want to spend a little more, get a tube amp. The ones from Fender are good(and the Peavey Classic series are good) and if you want a humbucker-type sound i would wholeheartedly reccommed the Epiphone les Paul Elitest series. They are made in Japan(Fender had to shutdown their factory overthere because the quality was too close to an american for alot cheaper) and are exellent. heres a link): http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/518401/ and the standard one: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/518405/
but for now a tube amp or a distortion pedal should do the trick. :)
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I got me an Epi Custom Special for Xmas.. and I love it. Paid like $700 USD for it. I also have a VAMP2 and Line 6 Spider 112. Very versatile setup for my tastes... and my mood swings. :)
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(Fender had to shutdown their factory overthere because the quality was too close to an american for alot cheaper)
Fender are still building in Japan - I often see new Japanese Fenders come up on ebay.
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thanks. Yeah I figured if a strat was good enough for jimi, eric,jeff, etc than it is good enough for me. trouble is while I like that sound it doesn't work for certain sounds I like. I am definitely a fan of Japanese strats but I am looking for sommething different. How do fat strats sound. Anything close to EP Les pauls or studios. Trust me, I have played pedals through the amp but it just doesn't work. Still sounds a little thin and biting rather than thick and warm. definitely loses low end and definition when played loud. Also if I just got a good tube amp and pedal could the sound of a strat be anything close to a humbucking guitar?
^greybeard, i know that fender still builds stuff like the jagstang over there, I'm saying the they dont produce regular strats anymore.
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ummm, I believe you are talking outta where the sun don't shine, sir :D
No company CEO would ever shut down a factory because the quality was too good for too little money.
OMG, when you said that, all Walmart stockholders just felt a disturbance in the force.
Bernie Ebbers, (Mr. Move that 0 over here son) almost fell out of his $10,000 cowboy boots.
Don't spend money on stuff you don't need. Your strat is fine. It will rock ift he rest of the rig is ok. The amp ain't superb, but with a distortion pedal you'll be a huge step closer. Drag your stuff over to your local music store, check out a bunch of pedals. Why go for a $1500 solution if a $50 works just as well?
You can always spend that $1500 later, no need to spend it now...
A Fat Strat (bridge 'bucker) will give you a thicker bridge sound and is considered more sonically broad than a "regular" Strat.
Nevertheless.... you FIRST need to try your Strat with other amplifiers -- possibly with a gain booster as well. A Fender PC is not going to do overdriven and thick all that well.
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^greybeard, i know that fender still builds stuff like the jagstang over there, I'm saying the they dont produce regular strats anymore.
Did I not give you links to TWO Strats that were very recent Japanese production? One of them is very recent - like new!
If you want a better sound, why not try one of the Hughes & Kettner "preamps" - Cream machine, Crunch Master, etc. They give you a tube preamp and a 1W tube "power" amp. Old technology, but can be had for about $50 on ebay. Has 2 12Ax7 tubes that you can change for any other in the same range, for different amounts of gain.
Look around for "tube" type booster pedals, there are plenty to be had on the second hand market.
Get a treble booster, like the one that Clapton uses - bult in to the guitar.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in any dictionary?
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I'm keeping my eye on this thread - I'd like to hear what the final resolution is, because I'm heavily considering a Fat Strat for my next axe, and would like to know how to make that sucker cry and sing both dulcet tones and bloody murder :D
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I appreciate all the suggestions so if anyone has anymore keep'em coming. I know the amp is probably the biggest problem but with so many options it gets a little overwhelming. THe other thing is that everyone out there seems to play Marshall JCM's, Mesa rectifier's etc,. I dont' need anything that big and was also wondering what a good (gig quality) amp that's not overdoing it. I am not quite convinced a pedal alone will help since a solid state amp still is void of the textures of a tube or modeling(pick attack, gain at low levels,). I am definetly going to at least try a fat strat and an epi custom.
anyone? (sound of crickets.....)
what i did is i first got a new amp. i got a Marshall JCM DSL 401 and it rocks. it has 3 channles. clean, overdrive 1 and overdrive 2. all three channles is a lot different. the clean gives me warm clean tones, the OD 1 gives me an AC/DC type of tone and the PD 2 gives me a high distortion (which i can change to lower or higher distortions obviously). then i got some carvin twinbucker mini humbucker pickups which are exelent. i LOVE these pick ups. http://www.carvin.com . you could also get the seymore duncan ones which all he Iron Maiden members use... but they are way mre expensive but are no better.
