midnite_man
New member
Well, I've been through a lot of s.c.'s in this MIJ alder-body/rosewood neck Strat of mine through past years but I feel that I have finally nailed down the sound I have yearned for out of that axe. I ended up with a SSL-1 in the neck, an APS-1 rwrp in the middle, and a SSL-4 in the bridge.
That SSL-4 makes that guitar so versatile....it just amazes me everytime I play it. I always wanted to be able to play both blues and classic rock with the instrument and it finally came into being just that. I plug it into my Fender DRRI and use my CM Plexitone and TS-9 pedals with it, sometimes a little bit of echo for lead play, and OMG does it sound sweet. I actually use the TS-9 on top of the Plexi for more feedback and sustain and control it with the volume knob on my Strat, and when using that combo with the SSL-4 I get some seriously close Satriani sounds. The SSL-4 with just the Plexi pedal gives me excellent rockin' Angus Young-like tone (extremely hard to tell the sound is coming out of a Strat plugged into a DRRI, due to using the Plexitone), but I can switch to the #5 pos. on the Strat and punch the TS-9 with the Plexitone still engaged and get instant SRV tone. What a great pup the SSL-1 is.
It's everything I ever wanted out of this Strat-black-beauty, and a whole lot more! I just wanted to share this with you all here in case somebody may also think about using the SSL-4 sometime. It's not for everyone of course, and it is a rather bright pickup although not as much as the JB jr. (IMO), plus it doesn't have much if any twang to it (some twang can be retrieved, however, when I use the tone-blender pot I installed in place of the stock bridge tone pot and mix in some neck or middle tone), but it's a keeper in that guitar....for sure.
Cheers!
....Bob
That SSL-4 makes that guitar so versatile....it just amazes me everytime I play it. I always wanted to be able to play both blues and classic rock with the instrument and it finally came into being just that. I plug it into my Fender DRRI and use my CM Plexitone and TS-9 pedals with it, sometimes a little bit of echo for lead play, and OMG does it sound sweet. I actually use the TS-9 on top of the Plexi for more feedback and sustain and control it with the volume knob on my Strat, and when using that combo with the SSL-4 I get some seriously close Satriani sounds. The SSL-4 with just the Plexi pedal gives me excellent rockin' Angus Young-like tone (extremely hard to tell the sound is coming out of a Strat plugged into a DRRI, due to using the Plexitone), but I can switch to the #5 pos. on the Strat and punch the TS-9 with the Plexitone still engaged and get instant SRV tone. What a great pup the SSL-1 is.
It's everything I ever wanted out of this Strat-black-beauty, and a whole lot more! I just wanted to share this with you all here in case somebody may also think about using the SSL-4 sometime. It's not for everyone of course, and it is a rather bright pickup although not as much as the JB jr. (IMO), plus it doesn't have much if any twang to it (some twang can be retrieved, however, when I use the tone-blender pot I installed in place of the stock bridge tone pot and mix in some neck or middle tone), but it's a keeper in that guitar....for sure.
Cheers!
....Bob
