Low wattage, tube based *power* amp?

I can't speak to Lindy's single coil pickups (have 2 sets of Blues Specials in my Grosh's, but I'm not a strat guy) but BY FAR his PAF's are the ABSOLUTE BEST! Having owned 2, and played many more original Pauls and 335's Lindy's Buckers are spot on. Put a 9k bucker at the bridge and BS's mid and neck and you won't be disappointed.
Just my .02!

Tom

I enjoy a set of Lindy's single coil real 54's... they are real nice.

best,
mike

So Mike I take it you are a Strat guy. What's the diff in the real '54 and the Blues Special?

Tom

I think the Blues Specials are wound just a bit hotter... but that's just off the top of my head. I also recall the real 54's are wound over the Alnico III magnet... is the Vintage Hot and Blues Special on Alnico 5?

Honestly, I have a *few* guitars and when Lindy was just starting out (back when Seymour Duncan was giving him great compliments and recommendations) I ordered a set of real 54s because I wanted to indulge in wider variety of sound and I have a taste for single cols that have a clean sound.

It's cool to think that when I play that guitar into one of my old amps I'm traveling back in time. It sure sounds like it.

Do you know how a player like Robert Cray can sound big and BAD yet clean? This guitar will take you there.

The 54's are relatively quiet so I use that guitar for classic clean tones more than as a foundation for a overdriven sound... because overdriving what comes from those pickups brings up more noise floor than other setups. But it's not bad, just noticeable on comparison.

The clean tone is that classic clean Fender "joy of noise" bell like tone people try to describe.

I do have some Gibsons and other humbucker equipped guitars but yes, it's probably correct to say I'm a single coil man! I'll take a little hum and buzz in trade for that single coil chimey bell like tone.

best regards,
mike

Mike,
What you say about the "clean" from the 54's is exactly what I feel is "right" about Lindy's PAF pickups. Its all about "clarity". I have a number of PRS's and none of their buckers have that "real" PAF clarity. And Gibson "Burstbuckers", talk about trying to polish a turd. PRS "HFS" are the worst, Harsh, Farts, and generally they just Suck. I've used the Duncan '59's, still not "right". Let the amp do the "driving", the signal from the guitar needs to be clean. None of the PAF wannabes seem to get it. And the ceramic overwound 14k jobs, YIKES! I want the amp to Drive HARD, but I still want that note "definition", not just a bunch of "mush".
I'll say this for the Blues Specials, postition 2 & 4 on my Grosh's have that "chime" on the Clean channel. That's why I bought them, you don't get "that" even with the Lindy's in the Paul. I used to run every new amp down to A# in Renton, and down would come a Grosh Retro Classic, and the Clean would just "sparkle".

I'll have to check out some '54's.

Thanks,
Tom

Here's a lot of sound clips from Acme Guitar Works using exactly the same setup (amp, guitar, positioning of mic and pickup, pickup height etc...) with different pickups. The amp is a simple class A tube amp (Dr Z.)

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Strat_Pickup_Sound_Clips_W1.cfm

It's pretty instructive. However, to be fair, they set the pickup heights exactly the same in all cases, which wouldn't have been optimal in all cases. Since 'optimal sound' is subjective, they didn't try to tune each one to what they felt sounded best.

The Fralin Vintage Hots sound REALLY good. The Lollar Blondes also do. The Fender CS 69's are a pretty good option as well.

My Strat is a real American Strat, and it does sound good. Played unplugged it has a really nice, sweet sound to it. So I think it's good. It's a maple kneck type. I'm also going to continue playing around with recording, to make sure I'm not just unfairly judging it. I've got the stuff now I need to get the cab into the next room, so I can keep the cab, pedals, pre-amps and attenuator (arriving tomorrow) in the studio. That'll let me really play around with different tones and hear what the mic is hearing.

I've been getting considerably better results as I've been playing around, though I've not been able to get into the studio for a few days now so I've not been able to get back to it. I'll give it a fair chance, and I can compare it to those examples above. I'll get back to it this weekend and do the isolated cab thing so I can experiment much more quickly.

You can hear in these samples that the Blues set are much more mid-rangey, which is appropriate for blues I guess. Not what I'm looking for. The Valve Jr has plenty of mid-range already. The clarity of the Vintage Hots seem like they would be great for recording.

Well, after a lot of soul searching, I sold my Les Paul, and used the proceeds (and they were meger in these economic times where everyone is selling and few are buying), and I'm ordering a Microbaby and a pre-wired faceplate from Acme with Fralin Vintage Hots for my Strat. If that doesn't give me "Tone of the Gods" I don't know what will, and at levels that I should be able to really make use of in the apartment here. I've also sold a couple of piece sof software so I'll upgrade the speaker in my Epi cab to something a little nicer, and hopefully sell off the head to help offset it.

So, anyway, another step forward (I hope) in the studio. It kind of hurt to sell the LP, but I've discovered I'm more of a Strat kind of guy really.