SRV Sig Strat vs Squier Bullet - Shootout - lets do this

[Rob14]

Yes, Squire 1, SRV 2. I agree, sound is only part of it, but sound wise they're both good.
The Squire might not be the best player, but at least it shows a few $ can give you something that sounds like you'd want to pick it up and play.

[elsupermanny14]

I'm in the minority that things the guitar #1 is the SRV and guitar #2 is the Squier. Here is my reasoning:

1. Guitar one seemed to have better sustain, it just seemed to let notes ring longer. I can't imagine the tiny, thin, tremolo on the Squier producing the sustain that the full size tremolo on the SRV would produce.

2. I noticed that guitar #2 dirtied very, very, quickly. I can't imagine the SRV would dirty itself so quick. I would think that the more balanced pickups would give you much better control of when to let the guitar break up, whereas the cheaper pickups would distort much sooner.

The reality is that you're playing is great and sounds great regardless of the guitar. The second thing, which I definitely think you proved the point, is stop assuming that a cheap guitar will always be a cheap guitar. I definitely think you proved the point that with a little bit of effort (and not much money) you can make a guitar sound great and that even experienced players will have trouble telling the difference between a cheap guitar with nice a setup and expensive guitar.

You proved your point! Thank you, this was definitely a great experiment and put a lot of people in their place for thinking it can't be done with a cheapo. You definitely got me, cuz I for one have always dogged on the Squiers and you definitely put whatever argument I could have given against a Squier in the crapper with this sound comparison!

[Doctor Morbius]

I wonder how different the results would be if civilians (i.e. non-musicians/gear heads) were given the same poll?

[wagdog]

OK y'all, here we go...

 

First of all, at the time of this post, the poll results are:

 

Guitar 1: Bullet Strat - Guitar 2: SRV Strat ------ 70 - 67.96%

Guitar 1: SRV Strat - Guitar 2: Bullet Strat ------ 33 - 32.04%

 

Overwhelmingly in the option 1 - "#1 Bullet, #2 SRV"'s favor.

 

The true identities....

 

#1 is the SRV

#2 is the Bullet

 

There it is!

 

Pretty crazy. As I listen to the audio, I can hear the little nuances that tell me the SRV is being played. They are very discrete, harmonics on a slide, or a difference in how it responds to pick attack - things that probably only the person playing the guitar would notice.

 

elsupermanny14 noticed that the squier dirties up faster, and it does. The SRV dirties up, but seems to have more tonal range between clean and dirty. I'm also impressed with how Doctor Morbius was able to pick things out quickly by using a good set of speakers - he seemed pretty confident and that made me feel good 'cause he obviously listens to a lot of strats!

 

Thanks again to everyone for playing along. I really do appreciate it, it was a lot of fun. Have a happy, SAFE and healthy new year!

[Pott]

I'm pretty happy about this, means if I had to chose between the two I'd save up about 1,500 bucks

[dcindc]

I voted for the second poll option, but I listened again and I now think it's the first poll option. Metallic_00 is right, the playing gave it away. And I posted here, cuz I am gonna forget.

So I shoulda believed my ears, but then I got caught up in the playing.

[Frets99]

 

OK y'all, here we go... First of all, at the time of this post, the poll results are: Guitar 1: Bullet Strat - Guitar 2: SRV Strat ------ 70 - 67.96% Guitar 1: SRV Strat - Guitar 2: Bullet Strat ------ 33 - 32.04% Overwhelmingly in the option 1 - "#1 Bullet, #2 SRV"'s favor. The true identities.... #1 is the SRV #2 is the Bullet There it is! Pretty crazy. As I listen to the audio, I can hear the little nuances that tell me the SRV is being played. They are very discrete, harmonics on a slide, or a difference in how it responds to pick attack - things that probably only the person playing the guitar would notice. elsupermanny14 noticed that the squier dirties up faster, and it does. The SRV dirties up, but seems to have more tonal range between clean and dirty. I'm also impressed with how Doctor Morbius was able to pick things out quickly by using a good set of speakers - he seemed pretty confident and that made me feel good 'cause he obviously listens to a lot of strats! Thanks again to everyone for playing along. I really do appreciate it, it was a lot of fun. Have a happy, SAFE and healthy new year!

 

 

Thank you! That was fun. Doesn't mean you shouldn't own an SRV if you can get one but you also shouldn't write off a cheaper guitar as crap just because it costs less, particularly if it's modded nicely.

 

I called the #1 but only because of small nuances in playing and tone. I'm sure they're enough to make you appreciate owning an SRV!

[BooneDog]

Great Thread and excellent playing. You did a good job of giving each guitar a fair representation.

I also think both recordings sounded good, and without carefully listening to them back to back, I'd be happy with either.

It's very interesting how so many felt #2 had a 'fuller' sound and #1 thinner. My listening interpreted it as #1 articulate and #2 muddy. I also wonder if the systems we use to listen to these has any effect. I'm on regular cheap computer speakers and volume was pretty low.

While I did pick #1 as the SRV (not because I know the nuances of the SRV vs Bullet pickups,) but that I thought it just sounded better, more articulate and clear to me. It is the one I'd prefer to play (if I played that well).

Kind of mixed feelings about it, since I have GFS pickups in my guitar. I was hoping they were the #1 guitar. I might have to to a REAL similar A/B test my with GFS guitar, and MIA Strat. Or have my son do two recordings when I don't know the guitar, and listen to them.

Thanks for the interesting poll!

[wagdog]

I'm pretty happy about this, means if I had to chose between the two I'd save up about 1,500 bucks

In all fairness, the bullet was modded. All told there is probably just over $250 into the guitar, including the cost of the guitar. I should probably list the mods here just for completeness:

Neck refinished using deft high gloss (I like glossy finishes on my necks)

So more like saving around $1300

[A3C]

well i'llbegodahell!

 

very interesting. thanks for doing this. it's been a lot of fun and makes me want to finish both my bullets now.

[cratz2]

Interesting... To my ears, guitar 1 sounded better. I forget the word I used, but basically fuller. But I still say your playing sounded more confident, at least on the first clips, on Guitar 2.

We definitely need more of these types of threads.

[clay sails]

This was a good premise for a post. More like it, please!

[stormin1155]

This thread should go into a sticky. Pretty good evidence that the overwhelmingly biggest determiner of tone is the player. I chose guitar 1 as the SRV not so much because it sounded better, but I thought it was played cleaner. And unless a lot of setup work was done to the Bullet I would assume that the SRV neck would play better.

 

I don't think ANYBODY would hear differences if it were a live setting (ie. noisey night club).

[Brian May]

I voted a few mins ago whilst hearing the clips on page 1 and not cheating...and I got it wrong. Truth is IMO even listening these clips through my Alesis monitors they both sounded good....I started off picking one then changed my mind and went for 2...but it just goes to show just how much tone is in the wood hey guys?


I'd like to hear the OP's thoughts on the two guitars in terms of playing feel, cos I'd bet money on it most of us if passed each of those guitars blindfolded would pick the SRV from the Squier!! Cheap guitars in my experience usually feel cheap compared to their more expensive counterparts....I say this as someone with 8 guitars and all pretty decent mid-high priced guitars...but as


I teach guitar for a living I also get to play some of my students guitars which mostly are the cheaper budget variety....and whilst i've heard many of them sound good...they all feel cheap to play, look cheaper aswell..and usually the humbucker guitars are much more muddy aswell...heck often the single coil guitars usually sound more harsh and less pretty to the ear. These mods on the OP's Squier have made such a difference...at least on the recorded sound!

[Brian May]

...forgot to say as we all clearly love these threads lets have some more - LP's Gibsons vs Epis or other budget versions etc.

[Fireproof777]

That was a FUN thread!! How about posting pics of the guitars used?

[skatalite]

I win, yay!

 

Thanks for doing this. Good fun!

[housered]

In all fairness, the bullet was modded. All told there is probably just over $250 into the guitar, including the cost of the guitar. I should probably list the mods here just for completeness: Neck refinished using deft high gloss (I like glossy finishes on my necks) GFS vintage style Tuners Graphite nut GFS HSS pickguard GFS Overwound Greybottoms GFS Tremelo bridge and heavy block Old Dimarzio PAF in the bridge (not heard in these recordings) - not counting this in the cost as I've had it laying around for YEARS, plus if you bought the set of GFS greybottoms you would have a usable bridge pickup anyway Push/pull pot to split the bridge pickup Treble bleed on the volume pot All pickups wired to master tone Blend pot on the bridge and neck (not heard in these recordings) Beat the crap out of it (bad relic job) So more like saving around $1300

 

Then I think that it is a Squire in name but no longer, completely, in substance. It is a heavily modded guitar by an expert player. So, we compared a SRV strat with an amalgam of components probably selected for tone by someone in the know.

 

I love the thread and I love your playing but I think that maybe all that has been shown is that you are a fantastic player and likely a fantastic modder.

 

I also wonder if the SRV strats are more consistently good than the Squires and if you hand selected the Squire from a herd of mostly dull guitars. If so, I am not sure that I could find the diamond in the rough as may have been done by you, a player of more skill than I.

 

I am not sure that I could put together a great guitar from cheap components, as it seems that you have done, so my best bet for great tone still might be the SRV.

 

Disclaimer: I would like to think that I am SRV incarnate and therefore might have an interest in defending my namesake guitar.

[samuraiBSD]

That was quite fun! Wow, looks like my next Strat should be a Squier Bullet!

 

Oh wait, that would require money and playing ability...oh well, I'll stick to my Strat knock-off I already have

[wagdog]

That was a FUN thread!! How about posting pics of the guitars used?

I did a thread quite a while ago with all my strats (one of which I no longer own).

Anyway, here are some video clips of both of these guitars. You can click on them to view the video. The audio quality is not great though.

Squier Bullet prior to getting the new pickguard and humbucker and prior to getting the crap kicked out of it (it did have the 3 GFS overwound greybottoms though):



w/the hss setup:


The SRV:




and since my '74 is now feeling neglected, it gets a mention here as well!

[Doctor Morbius]

OK y'all, here we go... First of all, at the time of this post, the poll results are: Guitar 1: Bullet Strat - Guitar 2: SRV Strat ------ 70 - 67.96% Guitar 1: SRV Strat - Guitar 2: Bullet Strat ------ 33 - 32.04% Overwhelmingly in the option 1 - "#1 Bullet, #2 SRV"'s favor. The true identities.... #1 is the SRV #2 is the Bullet There it is! Pretty crazy. As I listen to the audio, I can hear the little nuances that tell me the SRV is being played. They are very discrete, harmonics on a slide, or a difference in how it responds to pick attack - things that probably only the person playing the guitar would notice. elsupermanny14 noticed that the squier dirties up faster, and it does. The SRV dirties up, but seems to have more tonal range between clean and dirty. I'm also impressed with how Doctor Morbius was able to pick things out quickly by using a good set of speakers - he seemed pretty confident and that made me feel good 'cause he obviously listens to a lot of strats! Thanks again to everyone for playing along. I really do appreciate it, it was a lot of fun. Have a happy, SAFE and healthy new year!

What convinced me #1 was the SRV were the lower notes. They were tight with 'resolve', so to speak. Not flabby in the least. #2 just didn't sound as articulate overall to my ear.

Good test though. I enjoyed it. And I'm surprised that so many got it wrong. FWIW, I've been using Polk RT-55i speakers and an Onkyo 85 watt receiver as a computer setup for about 7 years. I'll never go back to PC speakers.

Thanks WagDog!

[wagdog]

I'd like to hear the OP's thoughts on the two guitars in terms of playing feel, cos I'd bet money on it most of us if passed each of those guitars blindfolded would pick the SRV from the Squier!! Cheap guitars in my experience usually feel cheap compared to their more expensive counterparts....I say this as someone with 8 guitars and all pretty decent mid-high priced guitars...but as

I posted this a while back, but I think it's worth repeating:

The SRV feels like silk. When I stand up and play the guitar it just "fits". The neck fits my hand perfectly, it feels like home. The neck and fret work are impeccable. The guitar is balanced. It sustains well, it sounds good unplugged. The moment I felt it in the store, I knew this one was mine.

The squier feels OK. It plays well, but not as well as the SRV. I have to look at it more to figure out where I'm at.

Overall, I feel like I play the SRV better. It may not come across in the recordings as much as I'd like to think, but that's how it feels.

To respond to housered, who said:

I also wonder if the SRV strats are more consistently good than the Squires and if you hand selected the Squire from a herd of mostly dull guitars.

I ordered this particular bullet sight unseen from music123 for $85 during a 15% off sale. I may have gotten lucky, but the guitar played great out of the box. It even sounded ok stock. I knew I wasn't going to be keeping it stock, but it was encouraging that it was an OK guitar without mods.

My other bullet, a black one, I hand picked at a guitar center store. I picked it because of the flame on the neck. I knew when I refinished it that it would look great.

Here are some pics of that one:

[elsupermanny14]

It was close! I almost picked guitar #2. In all honesty, I like the sound of the second guitar a little bit better. I just never expected to the SRV pickups to be so limited in tonal range, that's why I didn't pick #2.

So here is my analysis of the outcome. I love how the GFS get dirty, but it seems that the GFS are very limited in range, as if they only know to dirty up. This would lead me to believe that the GFS are more of one trick type pickups? What do you think of me calling the GFS one trick pickups wagdog?

But I have to say it again, you definitely accomplished your point! You showed us that the price of the guitar does not equate to a better sounding instrument. It's pretty clear that most people perceived guitar #2 to be the "better sounding" guitar and therefore assumed it was the SRV when in reality the SRV strat was the one that "sounded thin." It goes to show you that you don't need much money to have an amazing guitar!

Based on the parts list that you mentioned, I'm going to go ahead and assume that the biggest contributers to "great sound" where obviously the pickups, but then the full size block bridge, and the nut. What's your take on the best contributers to sound wagdog?

[JasonA]

Great comparison! It would also be interesting to hear a comparison with the same pickups on both guitars.

I picked up a Bullet using that MF THNX coupon for $80 shipped and it should be here soon. I already have some GFS tuning machines lying around, but I'll probably spend more than the price of the guitar on some replacement pickups. Should be a fun little mod project!

[elsupermanny14]

I think that you also did Jay a huge favor with this little comparison. You definitely helped prove that GFS pickups are legit! After all, most people thought they were the SRV pickups! So yeah I think that Jay should compensate you lol, maybe give a free guitar or something...:poke: Could be worth a tr? haha.