Does the s100 clean up well?

[hessodreamy]

I've been considering an s100 (preferably a vintage one as they're pretty well priced) but it seems that all the demos of of people playing drop tuned metal. Which strikes me as strange. I mean, they're the same pickups as the starfire, aren't they? and people hardly ever demo heavy stuff on a starfire (and I'm sure it's not just the feedback issue with hollow/semi-hollow bodies as folk still demo rocking stuff on a 335).

So I'm wondering - is an s100 only good for heavy stuff?

 

[dapmdave]

I have a '71. I don't have any recordings made with it, but it sounds fantastic clean. Or dirty. Or anywhere in between.

 

[Alan_M]

I have a '71. I don't have any recordings made with it, but it sounds fantastic clean. Or dirty. Or anywhere in between.

+1! It does it all.

 

[AcornHouse]

It will play as clean as any other dual humbucker guitar. It just depends on the amp and the volume. You can make a jazz box play dirty if you plug it into a Marshall stack and dime it. So, any Youtube demo that doesn't go through multiple settings you can just ignore.

 

[DThomasC]

I don't have an S100, nor do I have any experience with the DiMarzio Super Distortion Pickups that some Guild solid bodies have come been equipped with, but I do have mahogany bodied S300s with HB1 pups. Essentially the same guitar, I think, except for the body shape, and they clean up very nicely. Back off the tone control and you can get decent jazz tones from the neck pickup. Played clean there's plenty of twang in the bridge pickup.

 

[Qvart]

Vintage S-100's with HB-1's are very versatile. Think of every sound you can get out of a Gibson or Fender in one guitar (depending on the amp). Go vintage and never look back. Or buy a SFIV. I miss mine.

 

[S100]

HB-1s are my favorite humbucker I've ever played: clean or distorted.

 

[SFIV1967]

Here's a clean demo:
"Boss RC-2 Looper / clean first / later with Okko Diablo Gain+ Overdrive / Amp: Fender Vibroverb (original 1963), Vahlbruch Spacetime Delay, Korg Pitchblack Tuner. Dunlop Delrin 2,0 mm picks"



Ralf

 

[rampside]

"Clean as a church bell tone"

 

[dapmdave]

Nice video, Ralf. As it happens, I use an OKKO Diablo Gain+ (first through a Keeley 2-knob compressor) with my S-100. They do work well together.

 

[SFIV1967]

I use an OKKO Diablo Gain+...

Pascal as well! (Well you know that....) I think he actually got the idea from Gregor Hilden (GregsGuitars).
Ralf

 

[Maxer]

i have a '71 in black. Its cleans are awesome.

 

[Staffy]

I'm told Kim Thayill from Soundgarden uses an S100 and he runs the whole gamut of tones through their records.

 

[adorshki]

I'm told Kim Thayill from Soundgarden uses an S100 and he runs the whole gamut of tones through their records.

Oh yes he's known around here, one of our favorite "Standard bearers" and has had at least 3 different ones reported here, "IIRC".

 

[Staffy]

Oh yes he's known around here, one of our favorite "Standard bearers" and has had at least 3 different ones reported here, "IIRC".

I had a feeling I'd be preaching to the choir after I posted that!