the stratocaster tone

[mentoneman]

I too love this clip, had it in the youtube favorites for a while now heavenly tone!

Side question, I love traditional strat blusey tones. With pickups, is the key lower output over higher output? I have some SC3 single coils in my Anderson Classic and though I like them I want a more traditional vintage sound as found in some of these clips. I believe the SC series are more of a stacked single coil and I love the tones from SRV and Sayce. Any good recommendations? My Classic is an Alder body with maple neck. Thanks!

Pat, I love your tones. Here is one of my favs:

thanks guys--
those suhr fletcher landaus are a really nice blend of lindy fralin bell-like clarity, which i really love, and for me are the first name in boutique strat singles, and my kinman avn 59s, which are darker and really quiet silent singles but still keep some sparkle alive.
lawrence L280s were cool and perhaps had the best distortion qualities for harder rock but the ceramic stiffness also reduced the chimey breathy thing.

the landaus have the rare quality of being able to deliver sparkle and dynamics yet still distort musically.

best i've ever heard personally are original fender sc's in my friend's 62 rosewood strat. other massive game changers for great strat tones IMO are great old tubes and speakers. i prefer old american 6L6s or 6V6s and original jensen p12ns.

 

[mentoneman]

For pure strat tones, there is absolutely no reason to stray from the Fender offerings. IMO, you have 2 choices.....Custom Shop 69's for that round, glassy tone......or Custom Shop Fat 50' for a little beefier sound with more mid push. I've tried a handful of boutiques and those 2 pairs have yet to be topped.

With stacked singles, you will not get that "squawky", rude sound that makes a strat so cool.

i hear you and as stated above, the BEST strat tones i've heard came from my friend's stock 62 strat!

 

[mentoneman]

Strat and Plexi tone.....

i know this guy had a massive following and for 74 that is pretty meaty for a strat,
but he and montrose and travers never captured my imagination.

and by contrast guys as big as blackmore, uli, ej, srv, and (gasp) landau were almost too obsessively into the hendrix thing. the scat speak singing, stage moves, effects, admiral jackets, guitar abuse, over the head playing.....jimi had a weird way of causing fanaticism in players seeking after his tone and style. so influential it's almost cultic! uli even became involved with jimi's ex, monika danneman.

 

[phil b]

2 and 4. Theres yer Strat tone baby!!

 

[mentoneman]

oh yes.

and even though he always has amazing tone live, when he whips out his black fender strat, and plugs into his modded super reverb,
his tone just gets incredible.

but you are way more a strat purist than i am C!

 

[mentoneman]

Probably not your typical strat tone but to me one of the best tones and performances I've ever heard.

gary's strat/marshall tone is one of the finest rock tones ever as was early yngwie. people don't understand how hard it was back in the day to plug a strat into a marshall and get anything close to cool tone.
ej ah via tour at the coach house was a major tone moment for me. his clean tone influenced me greatly.

 

[mentoneman]

couple more...

found out about this guy after he became a mojave player-big tones!

and this is another one for my strat benchmark playlist-listen all the way through for some mean strat licks.

 

[Badronald]

Hendrix. End thread.

Of course Hendrix was incredible. But it's not even close to being the end of the story. To say so is absolutely absurd.

Sorry man. Extremely short sighted and immature statement.

Your not sorry. But I am sorry for you feeling that personal attacks needed to be part of an opinion based thread.

You're a child. /Thread

 

[Badronald]

Hendrix. End thread.

Of course Hendrix was incredible. But it's not even close to being the end of the story. To say so is absolutely absurd.

Sorry man. Extremely short sighted and immature statement.

Your not sorry. But I am sorry for you feeling that personal attacks needed to be part of an opinion based thread.

Yet you're opinion should be the end of the thread.
You're a child. /Thread

 

[Greazygeo]

The Stratocaster lets you're character come through more than any other guitar.

I've heard this statement quite often. I dunno, don't really buy it I guess. When I hear guys using strats, they sound like guys using strats. No different than guys using LP's sounding like guys playing LP's.

That said I prefer the tele body over both.

 

[tweed]

This clip has to be added for pure strat badassery alone. While it won't fit into the purists strat tones, the tone kills and mojo is flying everywhere.

One of my favorite RT brothers absolutely KILLING IT LIVE!!!!

 

[Ventura]

What defines the 'strat tone' for me is pick'less playing, neck pup, clean channel with a bit of hair on it. Done.

Any other sound conjured on a strat does little for me, just sayin'...

 

[spirit7]

What defines the 'strat tone' for me is pick'less playing, neck pup, clean channel with a bit of hair on it. Done.

Any other sound conjured on a strat does little for me, just sayin'...

So...Mark Knopfler?

-C

 

[Digital Jams]

What defines the 'strat tone' for me is pick'less playing, neck pup, clean channel with a bit of hair on it. Done.

Any other sound conjured on a strat does little for me, just sayin'...

Dude.....

The heavier strat stuff is the tough tone to get and so few people have been posted on this thread because of how tough it is. Mastering the strat with low output pups through gain is one of the toughest things a guitarist can do.

 

[Zap]

Hendrix. End thread.

Of course Hendrix was incredible. But it's not even close to being the end of the story. To say so is absolutely absurd.

Sorry man. Extremely short sighted and immature statement.

Your not sorry. But I am sorry for you feeling that personal attacks needed to be part of an opinion based thread.

Yet you're opinion should be the end of the thread.
You're a child. /Thread

Gotta get in on this. "Hendrix. End thread." reads as a slag on all the other greats who have used Strats. Why eat just ice cream when there are burgers, hot dogs, curley fries, and pizza available too?

 

[Digital Jams]

"End Thread" is rather borish and shows signs of lacking an open musicians mind.

 

[Drew]

I like this guy's tone:

 

[mentoneman]

I like this guy's tone:

that's very much the 80/90s LA studio sound made famous by cats like luke, landau, huff, dean parks, paul jackson jr, etc

would go great with this, my new favorite justin bieber song!

 

[mentoneman]

"End Thread" is rather borish and shows signs of lacking an open musicians mind.

meh-
i wouldn't get too bent outta shape about what reza said-don't think he was being super serious....
but you sorta can look at electric guitar as "pre-hendrix" and "post-hendrix" because he truly did slap all the pompous british blues rock heroes of the day down to earth.

 

[Drew]

I like this guy's tone:

that's very much the 80/90s LA studio sound made famous by cats like luke, landau, huff, dean parks, paul jackson jr, etc

would go great with this, my new favorite justin bieber song!

Ha! On a side note, I just sold Dean Parks a MosValve power amp last month.