Question To All Stratocaster Owners---

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threshhold2

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yesterday i bought a beautiful brand new sunburst AMERICAN STRATOCASTER. i have MARSHALL AVT 275 amp,and i think it does not bring the uniqe sound out of this STRAT.it sounds good, but doesnt sound STRAT...
should i think more of a tube amp...??or a fender amp...??
 
I can think of a few guys that did real well playing a Strat through a Marshall.
 
The great strat sounds were created before Marshall was born, by Fender and Vox and before Vox, Selmer.
I enjoy other people playing Marshall but not for me, Fender does it, hence I have 2 of the same. Sound Hog heaven.
 
keep in mind, all marshalls are not equal. you all speak of marshalls as if they are all the same animal. that's not the case at all. there's a pretty wide range of different marshall sounds. same goes for fender.

to answer the question........yes, of course! check out some tube amps. nothing sounds better to my ears than a strat thru a nice tube amp. not all tube amps have the magic mojo though. you gotta find the one.
 
I really perked up when I first played my Strat thru a Traynor all tube.....
 
G-String said:
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe or Deville. Check Em' out.
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While those are good amps, they are more Marshall sounding than Fender.

To the original poster,
A Fender 65 Re-Issue Deluxe Reverb will give you the Fender Strat sound. A Twin Reverb will also give you that sound, but with more volume.

You need to play both though first since the Deluxe Reverb distorts at *relatively* lower volume than the Twin Reverb, but the Twin Reverb WON"T distort until your ears are bleeding.

Then there is also the SuperReverb, which is one of my personal favorites and I have regreted every day since I sold that beast.
 
If you aren't doing loud gigs, the Deluxe would be a great amp for the classic Strat sounds. Just about the right power for a nice power tube distortion.
I had a friend with a Fender Twin with JBL's in it and you could hardly be in the same room with it-it was SO LOUD!
 
soundchaser59 said:
I really perked up when I first played my Strat thru a Traynor all tube.....
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2nd.
playing my strat thru my Traynor for the first time really opened my ears. :D
 
you'd be amazed, at what simply experimenting with different pickups can do to the sound....

could be, you've just got some 'too hot', or too midrangey, or too something....
pickups, in your guitar.

i personally like the bill lawrence pickups, which are actually stacked humbuckers, that are voiced very similar to a classic single coil.....
i still get a good bit of the 'quack', but no hum.....

dimarzio virtual vintage's are nice...

lawrence also has a new line of single coils that are more true to the actual sound of a vintage set of single coils...

all of these, would be easy solutions to your 'strat' sound.......
 
You should def. look into a tube amp. What kind of music do you play? Though there are "strat" sounds it is alot easier to see what you're really going after by knowing exactly what "strat" sound you're going for. I think the hot rod series by fender are excellent. BUT!!!!!!!!! They are all very different...I'd recommend trying one...and buying the one you try. Or atleast not taking the floor model and then returning itif it doesn't sound as good as the floor model after 30 days. Fenders differ in quality. ALSO, not to disown the hot rod series or it's users....but the Fender® Blues Deluxe Reissue 40W 1x12" Combo Amp sounds...MUCH better. I HIGHLY recommend it over the hot rod series. The clean is pretty much the same as the hot rod, but the blues deluxe's overdrive is better by leaps and bounds. The hot rod has decent at best overdrive. The blues deluxe has a much more open overdrive. The best way to put it is this....The blues deluxe sounds like you taken the blanket off of the hot rod.

Traynor amps are also supposed to sound really good...ONLY if you change the tubes though. Everyone raves about Bob from Eurotubes and the how much of a help he is in picking quality tubes for great prices.

From MY personally experience (note, im not trying to offend anyone here...don take it the wrong way)

I'd stay away from Laney, Carvin, Crate, and NEWER MODELS of vox amps.

Laney= Decent tone....but lacking in both clean and distortion department.
Carvin= Solid built amps...the one ive tried (the new tube model with the fancy face plate for the head) has decent tone....nothing to rave about.
Crate= I own the vintage club...big ass 2 12" and...sometimes it will turn on and other times i have to smack the side to get it to power up...literally.
Vox(new models)= Don't sound anything like the originals...which is what they are supposed to sound like. Good tone...but if you're looking for what you hear on NUMEROUS records...then you're not gonna find it here.

Marshall...i love marshall.
Stay away from anything not tube. I recommend trying to score a JCM800 combo or a 900. JCM 2000s sound good too....but a half stack is way too much and the only combo they made of the 2000 has MAJOR reliability issues. The 2000s have more gain...and there isnt really a clean channel (though you can turn volume down and its a *useable* clean)....unless you get the 2000 with a billion knobs....but thats crazy!

Anyways...im just some shmoe so dont take my advice...go try things out and read reviews on harmonycentral.com ..dont take the reviews TOO seriously because alot of people are just frustrated musicians who bought the wrong amp for their needs...just concentrate on reliability issues.

Hope this helps you some!
 
I agree with Travisinflorida. Not all Marshall amps were created equal. Also, classic strat sound is a whole bunch of completely different sounds depending on the setup. Golly Gee- people that did pretty good with a strat plugged into a Marshall (usually with a bunch of pedals in between)-Jimi Hendrix,Eric Johnson,Yngwie Malmsteen (OK, the pups were changed to DiMarzio HS-3's), Eddie Van Halen (Kramer Strat w/ bridge humbucker- Marshalls used along with 4 Peavey 5150's- Jesus...), Stevie Ray Vaughan (Marshall with 6550 power tubes used along with Fender Bassman, Super Reverb, Vibroverb, and a Leslie Cab- Mary and Joseph...). All of those are classic "strat sounds", and there are probably thousands more. Electric guitar tone involves an infinite number of ways to skin a cat.-Richie
 
Most of your trouble will probably be in your hands.....tone for the most part does not come from equipment, it comes from the way you handle the instrument........everything I own sounds like a gibson! Experiment with the pickup selector switch and some different settings on your amp but, be aware that most of your sound comes from you!!!!!
 
i liek the soudns of my friends mexi strat through his vox if tht helps
 
TravisinFlorida said:
keep in mind, all marshalls are not equal.
Click to expand...
Neither are all Stratocasters.

There's often a remarkable difference in sound between "identical" Fenders. Always has been.

I'm not, nor have I ever been, a fan of the Stratocaster, but I have some and have been through many. They vary greatly, as do "identical" Telecasters, an instrument I much prefer.
 
I own a 65 Fender Deluxe Reverb RI and my VOX AC15CC sounds SO much sweeter and stratier with through the VOX. Just my experience.
 
Any good valve amp should do the job.

I have a Fender CVR and my strat sounds great through it :)
 
I have an American strat, sounds like a dream. I recently bought an AVT. I hated it. I'm pretty sure your problem is the amp.
 
tube

I would definately go in for a high quality tube amplifier. If you are shooting for that vintage fender strat sound there is no other way to go than to buy a nice fender tube amplifier. I recommend the Hot Rod series. Those sound nice and theye are kind of affordable. The deluxe is a bit weak at 40W for my taste but the devilles (60W)are good. Keep in mind that the particular sound you are looking for is one only known by yourself. It has been composed in your head already hasnt it? (I know the feeling) So get out there and try stuff out; see what you like or dislike. In fact, it may have been a better idea to know the sound you are looking for and THEN to have chosen your guitar; some times the sound you are looking for won't necessarily come out of a very expensive American Strat. Expensive doesnt always mean good. Hope this helps!
 
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