“Hi-Gain-Heavy-Humbucker-Les-Paulish” sounds with a Stratocaster?

[Surfguitar!]

...first of all, I know it's kind of a dumb question. "How do I get this to sound like that?" “How can I get a Fender to sound like a Marshall?", etc. We are all beat down by these questions knowing that “buy that gear” is the answer.

Anyway.. Here's the deal - I have sold off most of my guitars (all my electrics except for my #1 Strat). I'm not buying any more for the time being. I'm trying to do more with less these days. Like Rockabilly on the Strat for example, not a Gretsch. I'm primarily into Blues, 50's R&R, Rockabilly, etc. but still love hard rock and classic rock at times. Not enough to add a guitar to the collection of gear though.

For those who are Strat die hards and do not want a Les Paul, what do you do? I'm assuming you go with pedals..... Great, so which one(s)? I'm looking to "fake" a humbucker sound. Stuff like Tool, Disturbed, and Godsmack, etc.

Maybe a Keeley/Boss DS-1? That was a fairly heavy dirt box when I had it. Any suggestions to get me kinda in the ballpark?

“What kind of amps do I use?” I’ve got a ’92 Mesa Dual Rectifier, ’87 Marshall Silver Jubilee, a Carr Mercury, and a host of other Vintage Fenders. The Dual Rectifier doesn’t get along with single coils like it does with HB’s. I was thinking I could clean up the amp’s sound a put a stomp box in front of it, or use the Jubilee and a pedal of some sort. I’m not a big pedal guy so help me out here.

Opinions?

[jamiefbolton]

well...my strat sounds pretty thick and almost humbucker....but i have Fender Custom Shop Texas Specials......you might check out the Zvex Box of Rock....go to his website and check out the video demo....nice pedal....it doesn't do Tool and hard stuff....but it will do classic rock and Van Halen.....

[BAN]

Unless it would have an adverse effect on the other stuff you play, I would probably stick a single-coil size humbucker in the bridge.

BAN

[woude]

a (mini or fullsize) humbucker in the bridge helps a lot to get there. Pedal-wise, I use a diamond J-Drive TR with my strats for those kind of sounds, and altough it's not triple rectifier heavy, it's sounds really huge and fat and it has lots of gain. This is for both singles and humbuckers. The warmth control on that pedal is the key to that kind of sound. Listen to some of the samples on the diamond pedals website, maybe it's what you're looking for.

[Surfguitar!]

Thanks for the pedal suggestions, anyone else have one?

I never swap pickups, I didn't even think about that. I suppose I could have a second guard made up to drop in. What bridge position humbuckers are suitable for this heavy higher gain rock style? I guess I could have a coil tap with a pull out knob for single coil/humbucker use?? Is that doable?

[lv]

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/song...songID=5487935

[JohnMS]

Hi!

I would recommend a pedal specifically made to make single coil pups sound like evil humbuckers from hell.

These would be:

Sobbat DB-1 (something around 150 USD)

Tonehunter Hot Tuna (379 euros)

[woude]

Originally Posted by Lou V

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/song...songID=5487935

That's a cool sound. Something in it reminds me of the air alarm we have here in holland. :RoCkIn

[slopeshoulder]

Demeter fat mid boost pedal.

[bluesdoc]

I use a strat and tele for rock. One thing that helps a lot is the ToneFreq I got. Crank up the boost and roll down the tone a bit and it's a monster.

jon

[jcoggins7]

I put a Dimarzio Breed Bridge in the bridge position of my Strat to accomplish the high gain sound well. It's working great, but the lows are not tight. However, it's pretty versatile, and I love how it splits. I also play a Mesa/Boogie F-50, which is capable of sounding like a Rectifier Solo, in my opinion. Hopefully that will help.

[enickma]

I'd recommend a RAT ( Keeley RAT especially ), or a monte allums modded Metal Zone. I have both, and especially the modded metal zone turns any guitar into a metal monster

[fellsilver]

Couple of things I haven't seen suggested:

1) if you're strat is wired "vintage" style, you might just try doing the Eric Johnson mod-- simply wire the bottom tone pot to the bridge PU. This has worked wonders for me (and apparently for EJ,too) in getting a fatter sound out of the bridge, and is really easy to do.

2) DiMarzio makes a PU called the Virtual Vintage Solo that maintains some strattiness while sounding fatter-- especially with dirt. I can't say enough good about this pickup if you're looking to go hotter in a strat-- awesome tone that's not *quite* HB, but really doesn't sound compromised, either.

[Roodyrocker]

I've been eyeing up the new VG Strat. It has the traditional Strat single coils as well as the onboard Roland system which has built in humbucking sound, Tele, acoustic, 12 string, alternate tunings, etc... All with the twist of two mini-volume/tone knobs. The humbucker setting on this should help you if you are willing to pickup another guitar.

[JohnMS]

I'd prefer the Tronical Powertune system:

http://tronical.com/

If I'm correct, the VG Strat doesn't retune the strings but offers a simulation of different tunings. Or not?