I tried to post this yesterday but for some reason either my PC or the forum flaked out so we'll try it again today...

____________________________________


I'm just gonna toss my $.02 worth in here...please know that I haven't read all of the responses so please forgive me if I add anything terribly redundant.

In my personal opinion, both issues...the guitar and the amp...are going to need to be addressed. The general rule of thumb is that a cheap guitar can sound decent through a really good amp but even the best, top of the line instrument is still going to sound "cheap" through a cheap amp. Between the two I'd probably invest in the amp first but that said, doing a few mods to that guitar isn't going to hurt anything either.

As an MIM owner myself (mine's a '96) I can say that new pickups and a new trem block did make a -HUGE- difference...regardless of what amp I'm playing through. Although the newer MIM's don't seem to be too bad, most MIM Strats that are more than a few years old typically have pretty crappy pickups...they just tend to sound thin and weak to me. Kind of like listening to your CD's through a really cheap set of $5 headphones. I went through a few pickups on my '96 and I finally settled on the Duncan Performers and I have to honestly say that I love them! I also have a Callaham trem block on my '96 and again, HUGE difference particularly in regards to sustain (and if you read thru these forums, you'll see a great many people who have the same opinion there). Regardless of whether you have an American or not, if you plan on keeping that MIM then doing a few upgrades on it will certainly be to your benefit.

On the amp, my usual recommendation is to take your guitar with you and play every amp that you can in your price range. Very simply everyone's tastes are different and what sounds really great to one person will sound like complete crap to someone else. A good example is I know I saw someone mention Raven amps. Normally I don't have anything again "inexpensive gear"...goodness knows I own my share of Peavey and Behringer equipment! LOL!!! That said, I have yet to play a Raven amp that I actually thought sounded decent for anything other than metal/thrash. -To me- they just have no tonal range at all...they sound like thin, cheap amps. In fact, I think the only people I've ever seen playing Ravens are the "weekend wankers" who sit around at Guitar Center just making lots of fast noise. On the other hand, there must be some people out there who like them otherwise GC wouldn't be selling them!

Obviously you're going to get a lot of folks here who say "tube" but to be honest I have both tube and solid state amps and I've played a great many of each over the years. Until recently my main gigging amp has been my old Lab L5 which is solid state. What can I say...she's just a great old classic to say the least! Then I have a '73 Fender Bandmaster head which is all tube...also a great sounding old amp (although she's due for a recap). In my mind one of the biggest considerations here is simply maintenance...a tube amp -WILL- require occasional upkeep and new tubes can get rather expensive depending on how much you play and how hard you are on your gear! If you don't mind replacing tubes a couple of times a year and possibly taking your amp in to have those tubes properly biased...yea...tube amps are great. If on the other hand you're just looking for something that you can just plug in night after night, you may wish to consider a solid state instead.

In general, most people tend to favor certain amps for certain styles of music. For example, lots of blues and jazz players tend to lean towards amps such as Fender Twins and such for that good "clean" sound and Roland JC120's as well as the old Lab Series also fall in to this category as well. On the other side of the road you have hard rockers and metal players who tend to favor Marshall stacks. Of course there really isn't any right or wrong here either...whatever gets the job done. With a pedal or two I've actually kicked some pretty screamin' metal tones out of my old Lab and I've certainly seen some guys get some really killer blues tones out of Marshalls.

So with that if I had to make a single suggestion for an amp...particularly for someone on a budget...it would have to be one of those new Bugera V22's. I recently picked one up myself and I have to say that it's truly a remarkable amp...particularly for the money! I got mine for $350 new and it really is a very versatile amp to say the least...that Pentode/Triode switch really makes it sound like two completely different amps! In triode mode she really sounds (to me) like a vintage old Fender but with the flip of a switch, you can get some very good Marshall like sounds. Push the "Boost" switch and she really starts to sound like an old VOX "Top Boost"...some really sweet jangle there ala Tom Petty or Chrissie Hynde. I had been looking at the Fender Blues Jr's for quiet a while...and watching the price go up and up as a result, but I have to say that compared with my new Bugera, the Blues Jr really is a "one trick pony"...seriously, even if they had of been the same price, I still would have gotten the Bugera!

Of course the Bugera is a tube amp and as I said above, tube amps WILL require periodic maintenance. If you're not really looking to get in to that right now, my second suggestion would be to look around and find yourself a decent used solid state. One of the really good things about solid states is that you can usually buy a good used one for cheap without too many worry's. I've been playing for close to 30 years now and I have quiet a few amps...the old Lab, the Bandmaster, a vintage JMF Spectra, a Fender Princeton and a number of others. Of all these amps the one that's really seen the most use is actually my little Peavey Backstage Plus...not because she sounds particularly great or anything but simply because she's portable, she's loud and it does the job night after night. Literally all I have to do is toss a pedal or two (and a couple of cables) in the back, grab a guitar and go! With this rig I'm sucking down beers while everyone else is still setting up! LOL!!! More over, I've had that amp for well over 15 years now...I got her used from a friend who got her used from another friend who bought her used at a local shop. Except for a bit of dirt in the pots, she still works as good as the day the first friend brought her home! If you want cheap and reliable, you really can't go wrong with those old Peaveys.

Last but not least, remember this; tone is subjective. A lot of people...including a few here on these forums...spend a lot of time and money trying to find that "perfect tone" that they hear in their heads and often they drive themselves completely nuts doing so. In the end it all comes down to one thing...the person playing. Remember, Eric Clapton would still sound like Eric Clapton regardless of what gear he was playing...he sounds like Clapton because he -IS- Clapton! So again...check out every amp you can in your price range and grab the one that sounds good to you. Take a day and make a field trip out of it and go to every music store in your driving range and let your ears, hands and heart decided what is right for -you-...no one on a forum is ever going to be able to tell what sounds best to you!

These are as always my own personal opinions...please use them only for what you think they are worth!

Peace,
Jim

I think my advice would be that you have a pretty decent guitar. You may or may not need to do some mods to get it where you need it to be.


But, in my opinion if you don't have good amplification you don't really know what your guitar actually sounds like. Any guitar, good or bad, will sound dramatically different through a good or poor amplifier. This will be a drastic change. once you find your good base for your tone, a good guitar through a good amp, then yo will have a much better idea of what needs to be changed on your guitar, if anything.

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

You say you want better bottom so that tells me you likely will not be happy with the Blues Junior. I have a BJ and I performed many of the BillM mods on it in search of more bottom. I also replaced the lousy Emminence speaker and it is still unsatisfying. Unfortunately I don't think you can afford the suggestion I am going to make if you think the BJ is too much money but I suggest the Rivera Venus 3 combo in a 12" version.

Here is a link:

http://www.rivera.com/products/venus/venus3_combo.php

_________________

Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

my mim strat is a 2007 model...it has the stock ceramic pickups and to my ear they sound fine. that's not to say that i havn't thought about changing the pickups...but then i play it thru my 59 bassman or my deluxe reissue and they sound pretty good.

i really believe the amp is at least half of the equation if not more. for me a crap guitar sounds pretty good through a good amp...but a good or great guitar never sounds good through a crap amp. that's why i suggested to the op to save their money for a good amp before changing the pickups.

also, obviously as lomitus said, your abilty has alot to do with how good you sound.

What is your opinion of the Fender Supersonic? Clean channel no good for blues?