bought a Mexican Strat a couple of years ago (w/maple fret board... named her judas dylan reference) and a 15 watt Line 6 amp (i know, i know... kicking myself right now)... i like the guitar but i want to upgrade it a little. I want a bit of a deeper, warmer sound. Going to change out the strings for a slightly heavier set but i think the majority of my problem is the amp. it sounds very brassy even when i play around with the bass and everything. any suggestions for a better and still fairly inexpensive amp? i have a vintage american strat and i bought the mexican strat so i can bang it up a bit without worrying about it so i don't really want to spend too much money on upgrades and amps and everything.

thanks in advance

MissJR

Welcome to the forum.. I don`t know if your looking to buy new or used but there`s always Ebay or Craigslist for some deals. I had an MIM Strat and for a warmer tone I put on a set of Ernie Ball Skinny Tops Heavy Bottom strings. Their like a hybrid set with 10 ga. for the bottom strings and 9`s for the tops and that helped a bit. As far as the amp, I`m sure you will be getting more responses from people with better knowledge on that subject than me. I have a Blues Jr., very clean sound and I`m happy with it. Good luck with your decision.

First I'd get a decent tube amp and then do some modding on the guitar. You would be surprised at the difference a amp can make. Why not try your guitar as is on several amps and see how it sounds. Then go from there, but you are going to have to spend some coins to get a decent one. Good luck!!

Welcome to the forum and keep us updated!!

Anybody got the Raven 20 W with the 12 inch speaker? That is what I use with my MIM...who else has this amp?

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Your Fender HSS Standard Stratocaster in Electron Blue was made at the Fender Ensenada Plant in Mexico in the Year: 2008.
Final Assembly Date: July 30th, 2008
Model Number: 013 4700 587
Serial # MZ8031252

I agree about the amp. A lot of people I know have modded their guitars but still play through anemic amps, and wonder why their tone still sucks. In fact I would say 90% of the people I know who have dropped money into changing pickups/trem blocks/etc would have been much better served buying good amplification.

hop is right that a good amp won't be free, but the money is well spent.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Not to sure what your budget is but a Blues Jr is a rel good place to start. If thats to much look at The Super Champ XD. Then work on the guitar.

I would second the Super Champ XD. Great tone, lots of nice modelling and effects, very versatile. And a good price.

Is it too bright no matter what pickup you use or is it only too bright on the bridge pickup? Maple necked strats have a tendency to be pretty bright through the bridge pickup.

I recommend rewiring the neck tone control to control the bridge pickup since there is never any need to reduce treble on the neck pickup... I suppose that's subjective, but there is no question that the bridge pickup needs the tone knob much more than the neck does!

Do you have a single coil in the bridge or Humbucker?

I bought my MIM standard strat in '97 and have replaced every part on it but the body. A good humbucker for rock is the Duncan TB-11 Custom Custom (alnico magnet). The TB-5 Custom is too bright for a maple-necked strat with its ceramic magnet.

I was playing along with some Boston earlier and was turning my tone down to 8.5 on my bridge humbucker for the lead playing to take some of the edge off to sound more LP-ish. I often leave it at 10 though.

Even with your budget amp... if your pickups are stock MIM pickups they probably really need to be replaced. That may fix your problem, depending on precisely what the problem is exactly. Just plain ol' bad tone? Something you can't put your finger on? Even on clean channel? That sounds like cheap pickups.

Amps.... well, what type of music do you play?

I play everything, but I mostly play rock/classic rock/hard rock/metal and blues. I have a 20 watt Soldano Astroverb running into a 2x12 with a Celestion V30 and Greenback because the sound from the factory 1x12 combo cabinet and speaker is horrible. DO NOT try to use the G12H30 speaker with a maple neck strat- too much treble (I swapped mine out of my 2x12 for the Greenback).

I would like to get a Blues Junior NOS for SRV and blues in general since the Soldano is just a bit bright for that, but is perfect for rock (I like a slightly bright high gain rhythm sound).

save your money for a good tube amp. i don't think you need to mod the guitar yet. my mim strat sounds great through my 59 bassman ltd and also my new deluxe reverb reissue. also it sounds pretty good through my champion 600. get a new amp first...

What year is you MIM?

Now you have me wondering if the single coils I took out of my '97 MIM are actually good sounding pickups... I didn't yet know enough about guitar back then to know if they were BAD... I was just upgrading everything to complement the humbuker I dropped in the bridge.

But I've got a Vintage Rails in the middle now, so I guess I've gone full circle and returned to that vintage sound. And I have a Dimarzio HS-3 in the neck which doesn't sound too much different than a single coil either.

This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG-fGrbH ... ture=fvwHe compares the std Blues Junior to the NOS in an A/B test.

thanks everyone!

my guitar is only a couple of years old... bought a cheap amp 'cause money was an issue at the time... wishing i saved up though and bought a better amp...

several people mentioned the blues junior so i'm definately checking that out. new may be a little out of my price range but looks like there are some good deals on ebay for a used one... but first, i'm taking my guitar to a few stores and testing them out there without doing any mods to the pickups & strings. i have a hunch that the majority of my problem is the amp 'cause no matter which settings i have it on (more bass on amp, use different pickups, etc) it just sounds brassy

as for music i play, mostly learning classic rock/pop stuff... i listen to a lot of classic rock and bluesy rock (dylan to beatles to led zep to black keys to BRMC...etc) so i definately want to lean more towards the bluesier sounds with the guitar...

meeting up with a friend next friday whose guitar set up sounds like where i want to go with mine (if money were no object)... see how it all actually sounds in comparison to mine. and he says he has the blues junior amp i can plug into to test out in a nice quiet environment... none of that sam ash/guitar center noisy crap. and the place i take lessons supposedly has a used vox blues (tube) amp of some kind that they'll let me play.

i'll let you guys know how it all turns out... thanks soooo much for your help!

rock on! you guys are awesome!

I think you're going to find the problem isn't with your guitar at all but with the amp. A stock MIM Strat hrough a good amp will amaze you. Seriously a Squire Bullet will sound better through a nice tube amp than an American Standard through a cheap s.s. amp. Before you tear your guitar apart as others have said take it to GC or some other store with a variety of amps and I think you'll see your guitar is fine, your amp isn't. By the way I just picked up a Peavey Classic 30 and they are pretty reasonable and sound excellent. It was$350 for a nice used one.

Welcome Miss JR the MIM Strat shouldn't be your problem as you have realized,the VT series of Vox amps and the AD 30-120 VTs are superb modelling amps and you can pick up good used models pretty cheap.They have tube driven pre amps and give a authentic tube sound and the amp models are convincingly close to the originals.I have an AD 120 VTH and my MIM Strat great through it.Some people poo poo Vox as being un reliable but I own 2 and have had no probs whatsoever.Certainly worth a look.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Anybody got the Raven 20 W with the 12 inch speaker? That is what I use with my '08 MIM...who else has this amp?

_________________
Your Fender HSS Standard Stratocaster in Electron Blue was made at the Fender Ensenada Plant in Mexico in the Year: 2008.
Final Assembly Date: July 30th, 2008
Model Number: 013 4700 587
Serial # MZ8031252

Fender Blues Junior and my "mim" sound great to me.