I've setup some high gain presets that sound great with a guitar with humbuckers in it but when I played those presets through a single coil they sound very strange. They cut off the sound and sound really unnatural. Clean sounds still sound great through the single coils but those high gain presets sound horrible. Is it just the particular single coils in my Strat or are some presets best suited for humbuckers? I don't have another guitar that has single coils in it to see if it's just those particular pickups.
There can be different issues interacting:
- Single-coils don't have the output of humbuckers usually. That means they don't drive the amp as hard, whether it's analog or digital.
- Single-coils don't have the same frequency response as humbuckers, so the amp's gain behaves differently.
- Unless you are at a stage volume you're not pushing as much air as you would usually, and that reduces the mids and gain, resulting in single-coils sounding thinner.
For the first item, I added the "Global Input 1 Gain" to my Global Performance Controls, which makes it easy to adjust how hard the single-coils are hitting the preset which hits the Amp block harder and forces more gain AND pushes the power-amp section harder which fattens up the sound. It can make a radical difference in the sound of a preset. I don't start out with that turned up though, because I want to hear the guitar into that preset at the volume we're using at its default setting. If it sings I'm good, and if it doesn't push the sound the way I want then I start raising the Global gain. Of course, if I switch to humbuckers I need to reduce it again but at least the adjustment is convenient.
It's also possible that the Master Volume in the Amp block needs to be raised. Once the power-amp begins to saturate, the Master Volume will increase the fatness of the sound of the block. Raise it too much and it might get flubby though. That could be added to the Performance page too.
I do nothing for the second item. I use single-coils for a reason, I "celebrate" their sound and want it with that amp and/or preset. If it's thin see the previous paragraph.
The third item is the same ol' thing, you have to be running loud. A Strat will react to volume just as well as a Les Paul because physics work the same on both. What
I like is that the Strat maintains that upper range which hits the amp but the amp thickens it a bit, so the character is there but it's not TOO much character. I love the overall sounds of Hendrix, Rory Gallagher, Tommy Bolin, Jeff Beck, Mark Lettieri and others because, even with gain and distortion the lows and highs of the single-coils still sound more high-fidelity. John Entwhistle, the Who's bass player, had a huge sound and his bass sounded like a grand piano and I hear that in my Strats and it remains even in my high gain sounds.