Conference napalm::guitar

    You can also brighten up that kind of sound by using a flanger subtly,
    i.e. set the depth and speed controls fairly low. It works pretty
    well on my cheapo Shaftesbury Ned Callan - I can get a sound somewhere
    between a Rickenbacker and a Tele (with a bit of imagination!)
    
    Bob

    
     What I did when I got my Strat (an American standard too) to get
    a Knopfler like sound was playing arround with the GP-8. What I
    found was more than I expected: a combination of compressor and
    a light chorus. It sounds a bit more "cutting" than a real Knopfler
    or Robert Cray, but it IS a crystal clear one - and this small
    difference in the sound matches the small difference in the playing
    technique (it's time to wake up.......).
    
    
    Guenter
    

    Try playing it through an "old" Fender Twin Reverb (i.e. prior to
    ~ '74).
    
    joe.

    	I guess it all depends on what "tone" you're looking for.
    Stevie Ray's tone "mostly" is due to the *neck* p/u, but
    he's been known to play all 5 positions within one song too. One of the
    great things about a Stratocaster type guitar is that you can get
    ALOT of sounds/tones for the money. Personally, I think it has alot
    more character in it's sound than alot of guitars out there for
    double the price. Clapton tends to play his bridge and middle p/u's
    for his "sound". Also his neck and middle for a bassier tone. I'm
    mainly talking without effects here. The effects he uses are discussed
    somewhere else in this conference. If I remember correctly, those
    combinations tend to make the guitar sound "out of phase" but they
    truly are not. I've wired my Strat "out of phase" and it sounded
    like a chicken scratching to China for a worm, "YUCK" - my opinion.
    
    Every Strat is different, whether it's a Fender, or an Ibanez, or
    Charvel, or whatever. No two are exactly the same. You can get a
    new Fender Strat and LOVE IT, or get a new one that truly is a
    piece of junk. I guess it is all what you like. If you play a guitar
    before you buy it and one month later you hate it... that's YOUR
    fault! Don't settle for the first pretty guitar that comes along.
    
    In *my* opinion, a guitar HAS to have that "tone" you are looking
    for "without" the amp hooked up to it. If you like the tone that
    way, you'll like the tone hooked into an amp. Unless ofcourse your
    amp is hurting bigtime, then that isn't a fair test, but on the
    whole the tone will, or will not be there without the amp.
   
    I have an older Fender Strat and a ~'70 Les Paul Custom and if both
    of them are in reach... I'll play the Strat. Both have the same
    type of (low) action and both necks are quick, but it's that tone
    that I like. It just has more personality!
                           
    Fred

    I get "that" sound from my American Std. strat. It's a maple neck,
    1989 model. The five position switch helps immensely (sp). I don't
    think I'm doing anything special, but I did play about 10 different
    models before I bought mine.  I got I lucky and got my favorite
    color (gunmetal blue), but there was some difference in tone and
    especially feel/action in all the axes I demoed.
    
    Steve
    

    re .-1
    
    I second the comment that the tone/feel of the Strats varies.
    I tried a lot before I bought mine. But What I've noticed with
    the Strat (also '89 American Standard) is that, more than any
    other guitar I've owned, it seems very sensitive to changes in
    climate. A set-up that feels good in dry weather feels 
    mushy in muggy weather, and a set-up that feels good in
    muggy weather feels stiff in dry weather. Is this typical 
    of Strats?
    
    -Dave

    I think the sound your looking for is the 4th position sound.
    
    Some strats have only a 3 position switch.  What does your have.
    
    It seems sorta hard to get on a non-strat.  I can get something
    that is very close, but it requires a VERY particular setting
    of my guitar, and I have a particular GP-8 setting for it that
    employs EQ, compression, and a subtle out-of-phase flange.
    
    	db

    
    I'm not a strat owner but on the ones I've played the Knopfler sound is
    real easy to get.  You realise that most of Knopflers work is done with
    fingers & not a Pick?  If you select Middle & Bridge PUs, use a flatish
    setting on the amp, add touch reverb & throw away your pick you get
    "Sultans/Tunnel of Love" every time.  The other thing to watch out for
    is that Knopfler uses special tunings a lot which affects tonality due
    to fingering techniques.
    
    Cheers
    
    Pete_who_has_a_LP_Custom_&_is_more_a_"money_for_nothin"_man_himself.

    Sounds like you're referring to that 

        			Strong Clean ..
    
    				sound ?!
    
    hmp!
    
    I think an earlier reply drove the nail on the first hit..
    
	If you're using a Strat...
    
        A pre-74 (or older) twin reverb.. 
    
    (better yet is a pre-CBS that's been dropped off a second floor porch!)
    
    Other than that, compression helps, but another reply gave a good
    suggestion, and that was to stay away from too much distortion which
    tends to mask the voice of the pickups...
    
    and of course, as you clean the sound up, the compressor (used
    sparingly) helps to smooth things back out again.  It at least keeps
    sound men from wanting to kill you everytime you 'go clean' on them