I play my Gibson Sg standard almost 100% of the time and it tickles the red - sound is fine/as expected with most amps at default input trim levels and no additional level changes needed before the amp block due to what I might feel is a too weak or too strong guitar signal - all good.
Now enter my decent quality strat with vintagy single coils which I do not play that often other than for those quacky 2/4 selector position clean tones - other than that - I HATE THIS AND ALL STRAT GUITARS
- the guitar signal is so weak it cannot tickle the red so I feel like input level needs to be changed to 100% for this guitar (though, given comments here maybe leaving it at 50% with no red tickling is fine along with an output knob boost at the input 1 block). Also (and I know this is probably a getting to know how to dial in a strat tone thing), distorted sounds from single coils just always sound gross to me: thin, harsh, the opposite of warm/smooth which I like. 5 minutes is usually all it takes for it to go back onto it's hanger - I know I need to spend more time with it to find those singing SC distorted tones I know are possible from listening to others, but the level setting effort alone usually sends me back to my Sg despite the Sg's scratchy pots and questionable tuning stability.