Hi Guys,

This is my first post. I've been searching around here but I can't figure something out.

I've been looking around for an Elite strat but it seems as though the prices are moving towards collector/vintage values. While poking around the internet I found out about the Powerhouse Strat.

I am considering buying a Powerhouse but I've noticed that there seems to be 2 types and I'm not sure which one I should get. I think one is a deluxe and the other is not, not sure though. Can somebody please enlighten me.

As far as I can tell, one type always has a pearloid pick guard and an angled battery cover on the rear of the body that is screwed on.

The other does not have a pearloid pick guard and the battery cover on the rear is near the trem cavity cover towards the strap pin and is straight. It looks to snap in, not screw on.

I am trying to get a guitar that is as close to the Fender Elite as possible, so I am hoping that the older one might give me a better chance. I know some of the details, the pickups are obviously not the same as the Elite, but I'm hoping that the preamp may be very similar, if not the same. I know the differences between the Elite and the Clapton preamp, but it seems that nobody knows 100% what the PH preamp schematic is, correct me if I'm wrong.

Along with the above, I have found one on CL that lists the body as Poplar, is one of the models cheaper than the other or is this a mistake?

From reading a bunch of posts I can see that there are some pretty knowledgeable guys here, please help me out.

Thanks, Darrin

Sonically and functionally, there is no appreciable difference between poplar and alder (Leo used poplar for the "student" model guitars in the late '50s and very early '60s). Poplar does not lend itself well to a sunburst or other transparent-type finish because the grain and figuring always appears somewhat "green". This is why the instrument was never offered in any finish other than solid opaque colors.

My '06 Powerhouse Strat is Caramel Metallic with a R/W fretboard and came with an aged-white MOP pickguard and the "straight" battery box on the rear. The box itself is black ABS plastic with a pebble-grain surface.

The on-board pre-amp in stock guise provides a 12 dB gain boost when the bottom knob (the middle pickup's tone control on a conventional Strat) is dimed. The pickups in mine appear to be similar to the equivalent-era AmStd model, with a dummy coil tucked beneath the pickguard to suppress hum and spurious noise.

HTH

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

There is a pair of resistors which are responsible for the gain reduction to 12dB.

If you clip them the full 25dB boost is unlocked.

AFAIK, the Powerhouse Strat was always part of the MIM Deluxe series (being that it had features that were above and beyond the Standard models). The pickups are indeed a modified version of the American Standard pickups of that era as Retroverbial had alluded to. I've played one once and it was a nice Strat. As Chromeface mentioned, you can easily modify it to achieve a 25db boost if you desire, but I wouldn't be in a rush to do so as the 12db boost seems quite usable for most applications.

I think you can achieve the same 25dB boost thing with the Elite (not as 100% certain) and the post-1999 Sambora.