recommendation: use humbucker pups with the Stiletto

[rabies]

just talked to Chris @ Petaluma. He said Mesa recommends using humbuckers vs. single coils with the Stiletto to help out (or avoid) the brightness issue.

that's good to know as I was planning on selling all my other amps and buying a fender strat with 3 single-coil pups.

hmmmmm, so should I buy the fender strat then figure out which of my three other amps (rivera s120, vm2266, h&k switchblade) it likes better?

I always end up buying gear w/o trying it, which is bad obviously.

maybe i can just keep the les paul and the stiletto and my cabs and be done with it...

 

[dmain]

I just picked up a Squier Classic vibe 60's strat (read the reviews these are great guitars for the money-$325) and it sounds great in the neck and middle position. 2 & 4 are a work in progress. The bridge can be pretty shrill but im learning how to manage with eq adjustments. Turning OFF the compressor helps too.

My Ibanez AS83 (335) with humbuckers sounds lovely through the stiletto so there is something to the humbucker idea as I do not have hardly any "ice pick" problems and this guitar.

I will say this too after I replaced the tubes a lot of my shrill ice pick issues went away as my Hamer with P90s was very prone to this and its much much better

 

[xarkon]

To each his own, I guess. My stiletto ace sounds great with humbuckers.

But I've played my American Standard Strat through it too. The Strat has Lace Golds. Also sounds great, just have different tone settings.

If you like the other amps, keep them. Save for the Strat. You will then have some amp choices.

The only amp I ever disliked with a Strat was a Fender Twin with EV spaeakers. That was a blizzard of nails for me. I sold it to a C&W player, who loved it. All about tastes.

Dave

 

[Jak0lantern01]

The brightness issue, again. Truthfully, I picked up a Marshall and the tone's amazing. After blowing a tube on the Marshall, I switched back to my Stiletto with all of my standard settings on that amp, it was pretty terrible. I got the Marshall up and running, then proceeded to do a side by side of the two amps to figure out why the Stiletto's tone/sound has such issues. My conclusion was that you have to turn the treble down (9 o'clock in my case) and kill some of the gain (no more than 12 o'clock). I'd have to check presence and mids, but when I was done, the tone was thicker and more searing and sounded awesome without the shrill bee's nest sound. It's really just a matter of dialing the amp in well, in my case I needed it sitting next to another amp to help with the fine tuning.

 

[rabies]

The brightness issue, again. Truthfully, I picked up a Marshall and the tone's amazing. After blowing a tube on the Marshall, I switched back to my Stiletto with all of my standard settings on that amp, it was pretty terrible. I got the Marshall up and running, then proceeded to do a side by side of the two amps to figure out why the Stiletto's tone/sound has such issues. My conclusion was that you have to turn the treble down (9 o'clock in my case) and kill some of the gain (no more than 12 o'clock). I'd have to check presence and mids, but when I was done, the tone was thicker and more searing and sounded awesome without the shrill bee's nest sound. It's really just a matter of dialing the amp in well, in my case I needed it sitting next to another amp to help with the fine tuning.

I had a Stage 2 for a few weeks years ago. I remember liking it a lot (until the power tubes kept blowing/shorting!)

So you using humbuckers with the stiletto?

Which Marshall you have?

I guess the stiletto you can't set all the knobs at noon.

What is the setting for presence on yours?

I wonder if this modified Fender (gilmour) would sound good with the stiletto stage 2?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130591016039?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

 

[Jak0lantern01]

Primarily humbuckers (preferred), but that depends on the guitar. I have a couple that have single coils in the mid and neck positions. My Marshall is an AFD100, and its tone settings are T: 5, B: 6, M: 4, P: 4 (based on the AFD mode). Keep in mind, Marshall settings are not referred to in o'clock terms. I have to double check the presence on my Stiletto, but I think I had to adjust that one pretty low too. Just to let you know, though, when I first received the Marshall it was a world of difference. Less gain, for one, and way different in it's settings, at least that way my gut response. I got used to the new sound/feel, and liked it a lot. That's when I went back to my Stiletto and realized I had to make some serious adjustments to my sound on that amp. First thing to do on that Stiletto: TURN DOWN THE GAIN! I never realized how much gain it had on tap that I never needed, and I'm from a hard rock/metal background. The problem isn't with the Stiletto itself, the problem is the way we're dialing it in. I find it funny to read people complain that they have to practically turn the trenble all the way down for it to sound right. Yeah, and? If that's the range it needs to be in to sound good and you get that sound, what's the problem? Just because your Marchall JCM gets turned to 8 for the same sound doesn't mean it's a flaw in Mesa's engineering.

 

[Paulie]

Yep - I rarely turn the gain up past noon with my Deuce. Also generally use a strat (Pearly gates in the bridge) and 2 2X12 w/V30's and nobody has ever said my tone is ice-picky or shrill. Will vary the trebble and presence based on the sound's reacation to the room. Although my stage 1 LOVES the Les Paul. I couldn't be happier with my sound with either guitar. Only now and then considering the RA for a more organic tone but, at least to me, the difference in tone isn't worth $1800. When I hit the lottery, now that's a different story...

 

[rabies]

Yep - I rarely turn the gain up past noon with my Deuce. Also generally use a strat (Pearly gates in the bridge) and 2 2X12 w/V30's and nobody has ever said my tone is ice-picky or shrill. Will vary the trebble and presence based on the sound's reacation to the room. Although my stage 1 LOVES the Les Paul. I couldn't be happier with my sound with either guitar. Only now and then considering the RA for a more organic tone but, at least to me, the difference in tone isn't worth $1800. When I hit the lottery, now that's a different story...

you getting the marshall crunch in your sound at all? my experience this wkend was excellent for leads and ok for rhythms.

i'm talking the hardcore, cranked marshall E5 power chord (palm-muted) that is the real ****.

i didn't get that feel/sound (even with the master and output at 10 o'clock both) with the stiletto stage 2. it has a different growling type of sound to it though which is cool but different.

 

[guitardr]

I use a Zion Fifty (Tele-body style) with a Stiletto Deuce II: it has DiMarzio Virtual Vintage stacked pups and there's only a slight eq change between that guitar & a PRS Customer 24.
On the 50 watt setting and using the crunch mode on the clean channel: it makes 2-coil pups clean up and sparkle with the gain lowered. This amp is slightly different than a Stiletto Ace combo I used to have. Remarkable clarity and sweetness with some sitting down infront of it & experimenting. With a Boogie Thiele 1-12" EV cab I used this past weekend: I was told to turn down a little bit.