Got new Custom Classic Strat last week, cobalt blue, maple neck--beautiful. Been a Gibson man for 40+ years. Got strat mainly for shimmering cleans which this strat does in spades. The hot classic bridge pickup sounds fantastic clean, but on "threshold of overdrive" and full overdrive on my Mesa Boogie Mark IV almost makes a digital clip type barking sound: harsh, but not exactly like digital clip. Overdrive not as thick as my Gibson CS-336 (of course!).

It does what I bought it for, but it would be nice to use it on overdrive songs also. Any rec's for reducing the bite/bark and getting a more smooth overdrive? Is it mainly a function of the Fender style circuitry of Mark IV and needing to reduce treble significantly in the overdrive circuits?

Its the custom shop equivilent of the American Standard circuit.I find if you roll off the tone some , it helps alot.If you roll it off to say, 5-6, it also thickens up quite a bit.I always roll some tone off of my pickups to get good overdrive sounds.

Budgio,

That was it! Thanks, man. Saved me a lot of time tweaking or (worse) replacing capacitors or pickups. Totally different instrument in the higher gain now.