Stiletto trident - thinny crunch (w/singlecoil)+muddy lead?

[Mr. Stiletto]

Hi guys,
i joined the Stiletto club right now .
I just got my Us-version (i'm german) Stiletto trident stage I.
My first impression was actually really good.
But now, i've got some complaints
With my Strat the Amp's crunch/tite gain sounds really thin and ice-picky .
In fluid gain the bass is really muddy.
I just can't tweak it sounding "better"...
With the tone-control on my guitar i can handle it a litte bit better.

I'm really sad about that because with my LPs or other humbucker equipped guitars sound great - although low-notes on the neck pickup aren't clear anymore!
The Cleansounds are also pretty cool.

Have you got an idea, what's the issue?!
I will be so glad if my Stiletto sounds nice with singlecoils, too .

My Setup:
AC-converter (230 to 110V) -> Mesa Stiletto Trident (8Ohm out) -> Engl V30 4x12" (8Ohm mono).

 

[Platypus]

Settings would be helpful if you could post them...

I would definitely start with using tube rectifiers and bringing your presence and treble down from where they are.

 

[Mr. Stiletto]

Hm well,
i acutally tried every setting with the treble/presence pot.
Tube/Diode and 150/50W doesn't do the thing, too.

With the Strat it even sounds strange and thinny with treble/presence < 9 o'clock in the Crunch/tite gain.
Bass/Mids are tuned from 9 to 15 and it didn't get really better.

EDIT:
Posting some Settings for a warmer stratocaster crunch/overdrive would be great, guys .
A nice, thick solosound for strats would be fantastic, too!

 

[Charlie]

Have you tried using your middle or neck pickup?

 

[songrider]

If you want to fix the Fluid drive then go get 2 tung Sol's for V1 and V2 and finish out the rest of the preamp in JJ ECC83's

I also got a set of the E34L's from eurotubes in mine and ALL the muddy boomy crap on the fluid drive went away.

The gain will improve 100% !

 

[Mr. Stiletto]

Have you tried using your middle or neck pickup?

I've used just them .

@songrider:
New tubes could really solve the problem.

 

[SoCalSteve]

I've found the need to fatten up single coils for them to sound good under gain. The great Ritchie Blackmore said in an interview that he can't stand the sound of his Strat without using a preamp (in his case an old reel to reel tape recorder).

"A longtime user of the fire-breathing 200-watt Marshall Major, Blackmore’s secret weapon (aside from the occasional wah-wah), was an old Aiwa reel-to-reel tape recorder. Since 1970, the Sorcerer of the Strat would plug his ax directly into the recorder’s input, and with the machine kept paused in “record” mode, use it as a preamp to kick his Marshalls into high gear. “The Aiwa gives me a fatter sound,” says Blackmore. “If I don’t use it, the tone is too shrill. I find it very difficult to play without it. It’s become this little soul on the side of the stage—like my little friend.” Currently, Blackmore endorses the Austrian-built ENGL Ritchie Blackmore Signature 100 amplifier."





I use the lowly, inexpensive Digitech Bad Monkey into the Fat Clean mode for dirty single coil tone. My LP sounds great straight in but the single coils need a little boost and it works fantastically!

 

[Anonymous]

willkommen im klub!

single coils haben einfach mehr output insbesondere in den spitzen, d.h. der leicht matschige (fluid muddy etc.) wird noch extremer - nimm einfach gain und hoehen raus dann sollte es besser werden.

cut gain and highs - should be better for your sound, anyway sc sound traditionally like that.

second choice is to crank the master (not the preamp), result should be good to hear...

enjoy your sound!

 

[Barry]

The mid controls are the key in dialing it in . You may want to back them off and bring them in slowly to your liking .

 

[stash49]

My Trident never sounded right until I had the volume way up. At 50 Watts it sounded worthless. At 150 it sounded great, but only when I had it up half-way, which was very, very, loud-I got complaints from the band. The duece is alot better, and with the right mods it sounds better then stage II. I have heard very real differences by swapping out tubes, but not enough to justify the amp. I have no faith in the Trident Stage I-thats why I sold it.

 

[MesaMadness]

I was told that you can pull two power amp tubes out of the trident and it would operate at 50/100 just like the Deuce. Thoughts?