have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

j9fd3s

j9fd3s

New member
i just played my worst strat and my best strat back to back, and i have to laugh, the difference between the two is so small, and i actually ended up tweaking the "good" one to sound more like the crappy one....

the good one, 2007 MIM body, big trem block, warmoth neck; which i really like, its bare wood and feels great. its got an SSL-5 in the bridge, ssl1 in the neck, and a fralin bridge pickup in the middle.

the bad one is a 2003 MIM. its got a 14 piece body, rattle can paint job, the electronics are all stock, as is the teeny trem block.

thru the 5150 they sound so close to the same its funny. the bad one seems like its got more output, and its got more bite, but sometimes its a little harsh.

ear opening experience!
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

All the time.

I don't see any of my guitars as bad, just different flavors of tone.

I have an OEM 1996 MIM Strat one might call "bad". Small frets, small trem block, OEM electronics. But it sounds fantastic. I'm afraid to change anything for fear of messing up the tone. I did buy it a Callaham block and vintage tuners, but haven't upgraded.
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

Very few of those nitpicking things survive a blind test through recording.
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

I do it all the time - I fire up my amp and just go down the rack playing all the guitars.

Surprises / Findings:

My two Telecasters couldn't sound more different!

My PRS SE P90 Singlecut sounds like NOTHING else.

My Strat is either terrible or Strats in general sound terrible.

Squier '51 with a Mean 90 / Little '59 is the one guitar to rule them all.

A Les Paul really can do it all.
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

I used to own close to 20 guitars. The tiny insignificant differences from one to the next drove me to sell all but the best and most distinctive. I'm down to a Les Paul, a Strat, an SG for low tunings, and a bass.

These days, so many guitars are such good quality, you just need to pick a look and find the feel and get to work practicing. All the gear sounds fine.
 
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Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

I've A/B'd my stuff for a long time. It's pretty amazing how with a little EQing you can really get some of the stuff to sound surprisingly close. I've gotten my bridge humbucker in my PRS Hollowbody to sound almost like a Fender Strat pickup. It all comes down to the settings and the way you play the instrument.
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

My guitars all sound fairly different, feel mostly different too. All sound great though and, what do you know, I'll still sound like me whichever one I pick.

That's basically why I can now resist the urge to buy new gear, most of the time...
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

KeeperOS said:
My guitars all sound fairly different, feel mostly different too. All sound great though and, what do you know, I'll still sound like me whichever one I pick.

That's basically why I can now resist the urge to buy new gear, most of the time...
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What do you know... You wrote nearly EXACTLY what I was going to say as I was reading down thru the replies.. LOL

My guitars also sound just different enough to justify having them (haha) but all in all, I sound the same crappy way thru whichever one is in my hands at the time..
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

ImmortalSix said:
My Strat is either terrible or Strats in general sound terrible.
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OMG i have spent a LONG time trying to get a GOOD bridge pickup tone out of a single coil strat! its HARD.

small sweet spot?

mike
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

DonP said:
All the time.

I don't see any of my guitars as bad, just different flavors of tone.

I have an OEM 1996 MIM Strat one might call "bad". Small frets, small trem block, OEM electronics. But it sounds fantastic. I'm afraid to change anything for fear of messing up the tone. I did buy it a Callaham block and vintage tuners, but haven't upgraded.
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i have one like that too, its a total ugly duckling, its a small fret, poplar body, small fret, it was even cheap cause it was a second or something.

it sounds great, very balanced, no need to touch it at all!
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

KeeperOS said:
My guitars all sound fairly different, feel mostly different too. All sound great though and, what do you know, I'll still sound like me whichever one I pick.
Click to expand...
My keeper guitars are all as comfy in my hand as an old pair of jeans. The ones that don't feel like "home" are destined for the trading block unless there's some sentimental value involved.

As for the rest of my rig, I don't really A/B much because I'm too happy with "A". I'm looking to sell off most of the rest of my gear and just keep a minimal "backup" rig for when I have friends over.

So I have my keeper guitars, an "A" rig that is really an "A+ rig", and the rest is stuff destined to get sold off. Life is pretty good.
 
Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

I discovered recently that my AVRI '52 Limited Edition Tele and my modded MIM standard Tele sound almost identical. The 52 is stock - ash body - and has a '59n in the neck. The MIM has a poplar body and an SD Broadcaster in the bridge and '59n in the neck (plus a Fender vintage style 3 saddle bridge). The bridge pickup position on both these guitars is pretty much identical. Pretty silly to realize my $300 MIM sounds the same as my $1600 MIA. Plus it throws a bunch of the arguments about body wood and finish out the window.

The rest of my stuff would be pointless to compare because it's like apples and oranges. My Strat sounds like a Strat. My LP Jr sounds like a Jr.
 
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Re: have you ever A/B'd your stuff?

I don't, because my two guitars are completely different. One neck-thru HH strat, and one traditional SSS strat. I plan on adding a Tele, HSS strat, and an LP custom over the course of the next few years. All of these guitars are very different from each other, because I don't see the point in having two HH les pauls, or two SSS strats. I'd rather get two completely different guitars.
 
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