How to do this with a hot rail?

[spleenharvester]

I'm loving the sound of my new setup (Vox AC15C1, Blacktop strat, hot rails tele in bridge, Slash APH-2b in the neck) but sometimes the rhythm sound is just a bit too thin.

There is an absolutely glorious hot rail rhythm sound on this video, 2 mins 29 in: https://youtu.be/VOwhWVk7HGU?t=2m29s

Seems to be a strat hot rail bridge, 250K pots (mine are 500K - possibly why?), through a Marshall JVM 410c judging by the comments.

My question is how on earth do I get a sound that thick? I get that it might just be in the amp - is there any way to replicate that sort of sound with my AC15C1? (Also makes me want to test out the JB Jr or JB full size too!)

 

[devastone]

Re: How to do this with a hot rail?

The Hot Rails is a very thick sounding pickup, lots of midrange, so getting that kind of sound out of the guitar shouldn't be an issue. I haven't played a Vox amp, so I can't help you there, but if you are having trouble getting enough drive from the amp, maybe put a TS or SD-1 in front of it (or one of the many variations on that theme).

FWIW, the JB Jr will sound thinner than the HR.

 

[spleenharvester]

Re: How to do this with a hot rail?

The Hot Rails is a very thick sounding pickup, lots of midrange, so getting that kind of sound out of the guitar shouldn't be an issue. I haven't played a Vox amp, so I can't help you there, but if you are having trouble getting enough drive from the amp, maybe put a TS or SD-1 in front of it (or one of the many variations on that theme).

FWIW, the JB Jr will sound thinner than the HR.

I've already tried an SD-1 in front of it - it does sound good, just not nearly as thick!

The JB Jr does sound a lot thinner from that comparison video, but it's quite a nice sound that I wouldn't mind trying out.

 

[jeremy]

Re: How to do this with a hot rail?

an aph2b in the neck is gonna be a fat sounding pup so getting the eq to match between the two pups might be tricky. also the ac15 isnt a huge sounding amp. its a good sounding amp, but not as thick and meaty as a 100w marshall

 

[spleenharvester]

Re: How to do this with a hot rail?

an aph2b in the neck is gonna be a fat sounding pup so getting the eq to match between the two pups might be tricky. also the ac15 isnt a huge sounding amp. its a good sounding amp, but not as thick and meaty as a 100w marshall

Yeah, I do wonder if I just need to try some other amps out. Would a boost pedal help with something like this?

That's another thing, the APH-2B balances quite well, and it seems a bit hard to push into overdrive for some reason. Again, not as fat as I was expecting it to sound.

 

[jeremy]

Re: How to do this with a hot rail?

250k pots would darken the guitar some if thats something you want. you can use a boost and that might help but the big thing is the amp. again, its a great amp but never going to be overly thick