Thanks for the replies.
Off the bat I can think of a number of things that would affect the tone of the preset:
1. The pickup set he is using is noticeably different from what you have in your guitar (he is using the factory standard set, you have noiseless)
2. The pot values and tone cap may be different, this greatly affects the tone
3. Pickup height changes the tone more than you would think
These are just the things that I would explore first, maybe you can borrow or rent an un-modded standard strat to see if that does it for you. You can also put a volume pedal in front of the 11r and roll it back to 1/2 way to see if that gives you the tone you are looking for. I will see if I have the energy to try this stuff out later and report back but don't hold your breath..
Interesting advice. I've just assumed that the guitar I have and the guitar VSA uses in the video isn't _that_ different, so I would get in the same ballbark as he is. But maybe you're onto something here. I've played guitar for many years, but only had four (very different) electric guitars, so I don't have too much experience in how different similar-ish guitar actually sound.
I don't think I'll go as far as changing the guitar electronics, but adjusting the pickup height is easy enough. I'll give it a try as soon as I get the chance (I have two small kids, so it might be a while
).
the question that i have is is he recording this video using the camera mic? if so, then you can take his preset and add an eq after it to bump up the lows and roll off the highs.
I did a quick test using only the graphics EQ. Bumped some of the lower frequencies, but that made things sound worse.
What would be interesting is hearing how other strat users experience the VSA FAT STRAT preset (with or without the added post-amp EQ) - does it sound similar to VSA's video using headphones connected to the Eleven Rack, or a FRFR speaker?