LSS or LSC for Strat & Humbuckers

[Monsta-Tone]

I know this topic has been beaten to death, but.....


I have an LSC, 1x12 50/100 watt amp. It sounds phenomenal with my PRS's, but lacks something with my Strat at decent to home level volumes.

A friend of mine wants to trade for his LSS 1x12 with the 5 watt option.



Which one sounds better with Strats?
Mine has Rio Grande Tall Boys with a Muy Grande in the bridge, so it's medium output.

Which one sounds better with humbuckers?


I play mostly clean, but want some nice breakup as well.

 

[ja22y]

there's a lengthly thread recently on this topic. Do a search. You'll find that on this board, 60/40 in favor of SC. My comment is that you can't lump all pickups to SC and HB. For me if a guitar sounds good, it will sound good once you find the setting for each. If it sounds bad, like the stock PU on the HWY1 Strat, then it will sound bad no matter what. The good news is there are sweet spots for both SC and HB.
Now what so 'lacking' about your strat? If you like your PRS then I guess that your strat sounds thin and lack of volume?

 

[Monsta-Tone]

It sounds thin on the LSC, but really full and beautiful on my Heartbreaker and DC-10.

I messed with the amp for about 4 hours and tried many different tube combinations.

I would find a good tone with the Strat, and then try it with the McCarty. The McCarty always sounded better.


The Rios are fairly high output for a Strat, but still sound like Strat pickups. I am thinking about replacing them with something more Vintage sounding.

 

[ja22y]

I'm in the camp of using 'vintage' or normal gain for PUs, open the power tube max or close to, and THEN dial in the gain for volume and dirt. Normally I like that natural powertube breakup. I don't care much for pre-tube distortion, unless something calls for it. For strat, mine has the '54 PUs', I like it better using a TS into ch1 LSC. I only use ch2 for that super distorted stuff.
Went through what you're going through, in the end I keep the LSS since I have Fenders to do the clean stuff and not looking for Fender like clean.
The LSS rectifier tube compressed the sound a little more then the LSC. I found that this actually adds sustain to the strat which helps with the lead. I love the 5w mode since I can have it wide open. when you do this you'll find that tubes all have different flavors.

 

[boogiemon]

I'm in the camp of using 'vintage' or normal gain for PUs, open the power tube max or close to, and THEN dial in the gain for volume and dirt. Normally I like that natural powertube breakup. I don't care much for pre-tube distortion, unless something calls for it. For strat, mine has the '54 PUs', I like it better using a TS into ch1 LSC. I only use ch2 for that super distorted stuff.
Went through what you're going through, in the end I keep the LSS since I have Fenders to do the clean stuff and not looking for Fender like clean.
The LSS rectifier tube compressed the sound a little more then the LSC. I found that this actually adds sustain to the strat which helps with the lead. I love the 5w mode since I can have it wide open. when you do this you'll find that tubes all have different flavors.

My telecaster was sounding a little thinner through my LSC than i cared for so i got a barber tone press: problem solved.

 

[plan-x]

I may be wrong, But I was under the impression that for the fattest tone, 6l6 were the way to go.

 

[AJ_Newkirk]

My tele's always sounded MUCH better than my PRS thru my LSS. The LSS really seems like it was born to be used with single coils. And conversely...my PRS always sounded better thru the LSC that my bandmate had.

But in the end...try the guitar thru both amps and see which one you like better.

Is there a coil tap switch on the humbucker?

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Yeah, but I never use it. I really like the humbucker sounds from the McCarty (stock pickups) and my Custom 22 (Duncan Alnico II in the neck and Custom 5 in the bridge).

I really like the sound of the Strat too, in most amps.


My Heartbreaker sounds best with SC's, and gets a bit muddy with humbuckers.

The DC-10 sounds great with both.

 

[AJ_Newkirk]

One thing I would highly recommend is that if you end up trading amps...try to keep that Alnico Gold 8) They sound GREAT in the LSS, especially when they are nicely broken in.

My McCarty sounded "Ehh..OK" thru my old LSS, but it sounded much improved when I pulled out the coil tap switch. I guess it likely had alot to do with how I had the amp EQ'd as well. The McCarty got a really nice "woman" tone thru the LSS when using the neck pickup in humbucker mode.

All this has got me really missing my old LSS. Time to buy another one and some Alnico Gold's to load it with I guess.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

:lol: That Gold is going nowhere. :lol: