Super-Strats are superb aren't they? A few extra things I should have mentioned in the video; - The Wolfie was recorded on the middle position. I didn't notice that until I was editing the video but I really liked the way it sounded so I left it. Well done to the eagle eyed viewers who noticed that! - The main takes of "Lay it Down" are doubled. The isolated guitars you hear are just a single take. - To everyone who owns and loves their Jackson/Charvel axes, they definitely belong in this conversation. Ditto Kramer. Have a great week!
This video is like asking "Which supermodel wife would you choose?" Dude, I'd take any of them. Guitars, I mean... I don't need another supermodel wife!
It may be confirmation bias (I usually always return to the RG570's from '90 - '92) but I thought the Ibanez sounded the best. Like I said, probably biased.
As a fellow RG550 owner, I thought I'd have to go with the Ibby...but it actually comes in 2nd to that custom green machine. That is fantastic sounding.
..they all sound great!, I'm an Ibanez guy and having a RG550 myself Im biased towards that. I gotta say that green guitar sounded really good at the end there...could be the attachment you have to it, but may just be a very well put together unique one of a kind sounding instrument 😉
I'm partial to the Hamer. I once owned a Hamer Chaparral Custom (the one that got away). I almost bought a Hamer Soloist with 32 frets, scalloped from the 12th fret up. My brother talked me out of it. I'd love to hear a review on the Soloist, if you can find one. They only made around 30 of them.
Ok man I was drawn to the tv in the background while your talking, what was the video game being played, I was trying to figure it out. Your feeling toward the green guitar your dad made is the feeling of home no matter where you are the green guitar will alway take you home when playing
Hey Leon - thanks for this great video :) You've got to keep USA Hamers off the radar of the general public - can't have everyone finding out how great they are! Shhhh! ;)
Man the Hamer sounded awesome, but the Shrodder and Ibanez sounded sick! The Ibanez had a Petrucci/Images and Words vibe, I suppose with the Liquifire.
THE SUPER STRAT!!! I love all the different iterations of super strats. My Personal Favorite Super Strats are HSS Strats with Floyds!! As far as your guitars, Your Dads Guitar, the Fender Strat, and the Peavey Wolfgang. Your Dad's Guitar is my favorite sounding of the bunch!!
I’m here to fight in the comments! I love when people complain they can’t HEAR the guitar because of the tiniest bit of ambience. It’s like: OK, you’re screaming to the world from a mountain top that your ears are trash. If you can’t hear the difference between a Squire and a Custom Shop then please help yourself to the savings with all of our blessings and encouragement.
A video about Superstrats and no Charvel San Dimas/ So-Cal & Jackson Soloist or Dinky?! SERIOUSLY?! Yeah o.k. the green one your dad build, is essentially a Charvel So-Cal, so that counts. Sounds pretty great actually. Personally, my favorite Superstrat is the ESP Horizon, specially the Horizon II. I wish they would bring back the trans blue aqua with the Duncans & quilt top, that thing was amazing.
My thoughts were Hamer and Green Tode (🤣🤣) and I see a lot of comments agreeing. I think it's because in the mids and treble they're all similar enough but on those two you get great dynamics with the chunky low notes. The low note pedal wasn't as punchy on the others and almost lost on the shródder. Would be cool to have a Jackson soloist in there too with a jb4. Classic combo
Yeah, never underestimate the power of some of those biases! I sound of the Hamer, Todorovich, Wolfgang, and then the strat in that order. I think I would grab the hamer to be most inspired to rock out in front of an audience. Each one is certainly special in its own way though. Hate to say it but the shredder-shredder sounded kind of anemic compared to the others. You make them all sound great though 😀
It’s really hard to beat a Dimarzio Tone Zone, those pickups Peavey made were really good too!, I had. Hamer Californian, I sold it because I didn’t like how the neck position sounded, changed out a lot of pickups, I should have just kept it and used the bridge pickup only, stuff you do when you are learning.
I'd have to go with Ibanez, FTW! Wish PRS made a super to compete with Ibanez. They all sounded great though. Personally I'm not a big fan of that single coil sound in the bridge.
As i was editing it I was really surprised at the different textures each guitar was bringing. It's one thing to hear them one at a time but way different back to back
Hi Leon, I know I'm late to the party... but anyway, what's your take on the Fender HM Strat reissue? I bought one in bright white 2.5 years ago, upgraded the FR Special tremolo to a FR Original - and now it's a killer beast!!!
No offense meant to you, Leon, but at my stage of the game, if I had a chance to take a stage I would really want to carry the most reliable and ready gear with me. That means I would take my Ibanez RG22B modified "cracked neck special," my Bullfighter neck-through, my Donner DST-400 and my Schecter C-1 Élite. Two fully-floating Floyds, one non-locking two-point, and one hard TOM-style bridge with stringing through the body. In my opinion, this is a small-but-worthy guitarsenal.😎
I usually reach for my 550 and I love it, but that Hamer sounded the best of the lot. It has some subtle extra filth going on that the others don't have.
Almost 30 years ago, my wife gave me a Kramer 3000 when they were $450 and made in South Korea. It's set is a Floyd Rose, HSS with Seymore Dunkins, and is other wise very much like a Strat. I love that humbucker. I have a few other guitars, but this was my first good one, and it still whistles and screams.
i always rewatch this video over and over, never change the opinion, the green and the fender are explosive, ibanez looks more like the purple one along with hamer and EVH. but the riff is amazing!!!!!!
Tbh, it would never be proper to play Lay It Down WITHOUT Delay and Reverb, so you know, there's that. Also, I'm sad I missed out on an old USA Hamer Diablo that this local small music shop mislabled as one of the import Diablos and had listed for 400 dollars. Unfortunately I was 14 and didn't have a job so that got scooped up before I could even CONSIDER making a move on it. Ffffuuuuu- Well done vid btw bro
Checking out this vid again. Great vid. Man, all of these are great. That Shroeder guitar is killer. Love that it has stainless frets and I love the reverse headstock that reminds me of an ESP m series. That all said that Green strat is bad ass. ♥️🤘 That Yellow Strat is too cool and even the color is cool. Those pickups sound too cool. ♥️🤘 My fav with distortion after listening closely is that your Green strat. Man, that Tone Zone sounds great with distortion. The yellow Strat had the best cleans I think. To me. I really love them all, but if you said I could have only one and you were going to give me one it would be the green strat your father and you built. I just dig that guitar. ♥️🤘 Be safe my friend ♥️🤘
Good job, as always :) Todorovich ? Is that family name serbian or croatian? I'm from Bulgaria and here Todor is a common name, or Todorov as family name :)
I just picked up a 80s squire japanese guitar yesterday, what are your opinions on them, it has the tremolo too. Any upgrades i should do or just leave it as it is?
Watched you clip last night and thought gee I like your old yella Strat sounded epic dude, been looking to buy a new electric but its really hard to choose and being I'm left handed its even harder to find something that rocks my world so ta speak, maybe the LP standard I played, but for $4,500 gee thats a little steep, any ideas anyone ; }
I love them all, but that Schroeder shredder really has my attention because it just looks rad, and it has a short scale. Love that. I love Schaller terms since having such a good experience with the same on my mighty reverse pointy 90 or 91 Charvel lava crackle with reverse headstock, pointy of course and one humbucker and one slanted single coil. That Ibanez is killer too. You could use that as a signaling device on boats on the ocean you can see that yellow so far away. 🤣 I guess if I could only pick one it would be the Hamburg shredder just because it looks killer and the scale length, or the yellow Ibanez, but I think I would take all of them on at least one big gig and play them all !! 🤣 Hope you're doing well my brother, and I hope hour family and friends are as well. !! Is it cool weather there now? Isn't it winter in Perth? It's like vacationing on the beaches of hell here, or in the Panamanian jungles it's so steamy and hot. Today is supposed to be 93 f. Yikes 🤣 ♥️🤟🤟♥️
Super Strats rock! I'd take any one those but my Wolfgang bond would be hard to break. Great example of how different guitars do inspire in different ways. I play totally different on my Les Paul than my Wolfgang or Ibanez strat. 👍
I suppose I'm biased, being that I've used one for 30 years, but the Hamer sounded the best to my ears. Or I suppose it's more fair to say that it had the tone that I prefer. Back when they were a true custom shop in Chicago, Hamer really were the best of the best.
You are the only other person I have ever seen play "Lay it Down" like I do. I just cheated like that because I have small hands and playing the full bar-chord like Warren is not possible for me. I had a Californian and it was the best Super Strat I have ever owned, and I have owned a metric shit ton of them. Very cool video, I really like that Shroedder, there is an obvious Rand influence there which is unique. My favorite would be the Hamer or the guitar your dad made in terms of tone. I am curious about the Shroedder though, I was searching for a video of someone playing one and did not know you had one.
I love Greenie! It really does sound a lot like that Jackson...thick, rich, and glazed with harmonics. Wait, are we talking guitars or doughnuts? Has anyone seen my ADD meds???
I would prefer something by TNT, to me they were one of the best 80s bands, I bought Tell No Tales as a teen in the 80s. Listen to 10,000 Lovers song? Awesome guitar player, Ronni Le Tekro.
Super-Strats are superb aren't they?
A few extra things I should have mentioned in the video;
- The Wolfie was recorded on the middle position. I didn't notice that until I was editing the video but I really liked the way it sounded so I left it. Well done to the eagle eyed viewers who noticed that!
- The main takes of "Lay it Down" are doubled. The isolated guitars you hear are just a single take.
- To everyone who owns and loves their Jackson/Charvel axes, they definitely belong in this conversation. Ditto Kramer.
Have a great week!
I thought the green one your dad built sounded really good.
This video is like asking "Which supermodel wife would you choose?" Dude, I'd take any of them. Guitars, I mean... I don't need another supermodel wife!
Lol! 👏🏻👏🏻😎🎸
That RG550 just had “the thing”! Btw very cool editing on the quick change montage, I really liked that!
The custom 5 suits it super well.
Agreed.
It may be confirmation bias (I usually always return to the RG570's from '90 - '92) but I thought the Ibanez sounded the best.
Like I said, probably biased.
As a fellow RG550 owner, I thought I'd have to go with the Ibby...but it actually comes in 2nd to that custom green machine. That is fantastic sounding.
Very cool, the Hamer and the homemade green beast sounded the best for me
Agreed. Dads, then Hamer. Good job Dad!
@@joshvcrawford I concur.
that green one is pretty killer sounding. very cool your dad made it for you!
Hamer and the Greenie for me. Both sounded like they had a bit more girth/low end to me.
..they all sound great!, I'm an Ibanez guy and having a RG550 myself Im biased towards that. I gotta say that green guitar sounded really good at the end there...could be the attachment you have to it, but may just be a very well put together unique one of a kind sounding instrument 😉
Pos 2 and 4 on the Rg is so underrated too!
Neck tap with middle is amazing. Sounds just like a strat. Then grab the boosted strat preset off ax change and you can't go wrong.
loved the Ibanez as well (and am a self confessed Ibanez fanboi as well❤️🔥)
I agree on the green guitar, great tone
Did you ever try an early Valley Arts Pro?
I loved the ibanez and the hammer!
And the strat being a strat
Yeah it's easy to forget how well strats work for just about anything
I'm partial to the Hamer. I once owned a Hamer Chaparral Custom (the one that got away). I almost bought a Hamer Soloist with 32 frets, scalloped from the 12th fret up. My brother talked me out of it. I'd love to hear a review on the Soloist, if you can find one. They only made around 30 of them.
Hamer and Ibanez take the show here! Change my mind...
Homemade Frankenstrat a close third.
Schecter Nick Johnston HSS for the win! You need to try one of those if you haven’t. Best feeling neck around.
Wes
Those are awesome guitars, probably my favourite thing schecter have ever made
Ok man I was drawn to the tv in the background while your talking, what was the video game being played, I was trying to figure it out. Your feeling toward the green guitar your dad made is the feeling of home no matter where you are the green guitar will alway take you home when playing
Assassins Creed Valhalla, my wife is playing it atm. Absolutely killer game!
Glad I wasn’t the only one!! 😊
So I guess what we get from this is that Axe fx makes all sound same. Ducks...
Why so many people dislike the thin Super Wizard neck of the Ibanez RG?
Hey Leon - thanks for this great video :) You've got to keep USA Hamers off the radar of the general public - can't have everyone finding out how great they are! Shhhh! ;)
He says with a Watson as his profile pic.....
@@Scott__C no one else knows what that is ;) they especially don’t know it’s one of 3 with a floyd!
@@spodey8484 Good times! Mum's the word.
can anyone play lay it down standing up ? ive never seen it
Man the Hamer sounded awesome, but the Shrodder and Ibanez sounded sick! The Ibanez had a Petrucci/Images and Words vibe, I suppose with the Liquifire.
It's the hamer and the green beast killing it
Ibanez for the win, however, the Hamer is a very close second.
THE SUPER STRAT!!! I love all the different iterations of super strats. My Personal Favorite Super Strats are HSS Strats with Floyds!! As far as your guitars, Your Dads Guitar, the Fender Strat, and the Peavey Wolfgang. Your Dad's Guitar is my favorite sounding of the bunch!!
You get that authentic strat neck/middle pairing on HSS guitars which I love.
Hamer and the green machine! 👍😜👍
I’m here to fight in the comments!
I love when people complain they can’t HEAR the guitar because of the tiniest bit of ambience. It’s like: OK, you’re screaming to the world from a mountain top that your ears are trash. If you can’t hear the difference between a Squire and a Custom Shop then please help yourself to the savings with all of our blessings and encouragement.
A video about Superstrats and no Charvel San Dimas/ So-Cal & Jackson Soloist or Dinky?!
SERIOUSLY?!
Yeah o.k. the green one your dad build, is essentially a Charvel So-Cal, so that counts. Sounds pretty great actually.
Personally, my favorite Superstrat is the ESP Horizon, specially the Horizon II. I wish they would bring back the trans blue aqua with the Duncans & quilt top, that thing was amazing.
My thoughts were Hamer and Green Tode (🤣🤣) and I see a lot of comments agreeing. I think it's because in the mids and treble they're all similar enough but on those two you get great dynamics with the chunky low notes. The low note pedal wasn't as punchy on the others and almost lost on the shródder.
Would be cool to have a Jackson soloist in there too with a jb4. Classic combo
I do like me some super strats!
Yeah, never underestimate the power of some of those biases! I sound of the Hamer, Todorovich, Wolfgang, and then the strat in that order. I think I would grab the hamer to be most inspired to rock out in front of an audience. Each one is certainly special in its own way though. Hate to say it but the shredder-shredder sounded kind of anemic compared to the others. You make them all sound great though 😀
I think the Todorovich sounded the best to me.
It’s really hard to beat a Dimarzio Tone Zone, those pickups Peavey made were really good too!, I had. Hamer Californian, I sold it because I didn’t like how the neck position sounded, changed out a lot of pickups, I should have just kept it and used the bridge pickup only, stuff you do when you are learning.
Tone Zone just have that sound, love them!
I'd have to go with Ibanez, FTW! Wish PRS made a super to compete with Ibanez. They all sounded great though. Personally I'm not a big fan of that single coil sound in the bridge.
The new Fiore has a bit of a superstrat aesthetic IMO. Needs more desert yellow tho :p
1. Hamer
2. Vladimirovich
3. Ibanez RG550
4. EVH
5. Shrodder
this video was absolutely awesome, the jump cuts between the guitars was very eye opening
As i was editing it I was really surprised at the different textures each guitar was bringing. It's one thing to hear them one at a time but way different back to back
Custom Greenie and Hamer absolutely shon with distortion. Ibanez was a close runner up with those chuggy bass tones.
Aww you didn't have Charvel pro mods.....I really like the "green" guitar. It sounded so thick.
Your dad's one sounded the best to my ears.
Hi Leon, I know I'm late to the party... but anyway, what's your take on the Fender HM Strat reissue? I bought one in bright white 2.5 years ago, upgraded the FR Special tremolo to a FR Original - and now it's a killer beast!!!
No guitarist excites anymore until they simultaneously start singing.and singing well.
No offense meant to you, Leon, but at my stage of the game, if I had a chance to take a stage I would really want to carry the most reliable and ready gear with me. That means I would take my Ibanez RG22B modified "cracked neck special," my Bullfighter neck-through, my Donner DST-400 and my Schecter C-1 Élite. Two fully-floating Floyds, one non-locking two-point, and one hard TOM-style bridge with stringing through the body. In my opinion, this is a small-but-worthy guitarsenal.😎
I usually reach for my 550 and I love it, but that Hamer sounded the best of the lot. It has some subtle extra filth going on that the others don't have.
Almost 30 years ago, my wife gave me a Kramer 3000 when they were $450 and made in South Korea. It's set is a Floyd Rose, HSS with Seymore Dunkins, and is other wise very much like a Strat. I love that humbucker. I have a few other guitars, but this was my first good one, and it still whistles and screams.
i always rewatch this video over and over, never change the opinion, the green and the fender are explosive, ibanez looks more like the purple one along with hamer and EVH. but the riff is amazing!!!!!!
I’m happy with my 1992 Yamaha Pacifica 821-R with the total access neck joint.
HAMER wins! Peavey, Ibanez, Greenie. 2nd place. Schroedder 3rd. The Strat, is good for other things. Well done Leon, as usual!
Leon.... If you play that god damn riff wrong one more time I'm siccing Warren DeMartini on you. :)
IMHO, the Guitar your dad made sounded the best, I liked the Hamer second best, but they were all amazing!
You sounded great on all of them. Guess it just comes down to what you like and how it "feels" to you.
No Charvel but I guess your Aussie Charvel made up for it. that Hamer is lovely BTW.
Tbh, it would never be proper to play Lay It Down WITHOUT Delay and Reverb, so you know, there's that. Also, I'm sad I missed out on an old USA Hamer Diablo that this local small music shop mislabled as one of the import Diablos and had listed for 400 dollars. Unfortunately I was 14 and didn't have a job so that got scooped up before I could even CONSIDER making a move on it. Ffffuuuuu- Well done vid btw bro
Checking out this vid again. Great vid. Man, all of these are great.
That Shroeder guitar is killer. Love that it has stainless frets and I love the reverse headstock that reminds me of an ESP m series.
That all said that Green strat is bad ass. ♥️🤘
That Yellow Strat is too cool and even the color is cool. Those pickups sound too cool. ♥️🤘
My fav with distortion after listening closely is that your Green strat. Man, that Tone Zone sounds great with distortion. The yellow Strat had the best cleans I think. To me. I really love them all, but if you said I could have only one and you were going to give me one it would be the green strat your father and you built. I just dig that guitar. ♥️🤘
Be safe my friend ♥️🤘
Good job, as always :)
Todorovich ? Is that family name serbian or croatian? I'm from Bulgaria and here Todor is a common name, or Todorov as family name :)
I just picked up a 80s squire japanese guitar yesterday, what are your opinions on them, it has the tremolo too. Any upgrades i should do or just leave it as it is?
Watched you clip last night and thought gee I like your old yella Strat sounded epic dude, been looking to buy a new electric but its really hard to choose and being I'm left handed its even harder to find something that rocks my world so ta speak, maybe the LP standard I played, but for $4,500 gee thats a little steep, any ideas anyone ; }
Hamer all the way for me. Had a lovely Californian. Sold it cheaply and then they started to rise in value.
Awesome! 🤘I love me some Superstrats!
Can always hear the big difference with basswood Ibanez guitars, really brash and woofy. Kinda a diffuse sound. Horses for courses.
I love them all, but that Schroeder shredder really has my attention because it just looks rad, and it has a short scale. Love that. I love Schaller terms since having such a good experience with the same on my mighty reverse pointy 90 or 91 Charvel lava crackle with reverse headstock, pointy of course and one humbucker and one slanted single coil.
That Ibanez is killer too. You could use that as a signaling device on boats on the ocean you can see that yellow so far away. 🤣
I guess if I could only pick one it would be the Hamburg shredder just because it looks killer and the scale length, or the yellow Ibanez, but I think I would take all of them on at least one big gig and play them all !! 🤣
Hope you're doing well my brother, and I hope hour family and friends are as well. !! Is it cool weather there now? Isn't it winter in Perth? It's like vacationing on the beaches of hell here, or in the Panamanian jungles it's so steamy and hot. Today is supposed to be 93 f. Yikes 🤣
♥️🤟🤟♥️
Option paralysis for me usually applies to modelers and their parameters. You may have found a totally different kind.
A ton of effects can make any sound great.like a Makeover on a " Plain Jane"
Wolfgang or Greenee ... The most Juicy sound to me
my ears tell me this: Hamer Californian > Ibanez RG > the others.
Your pop's guitar sounds the best very very 80's smoothness and tone.
awesome collection my friend ..sheers from spain
Maaaaan, you´re playing Lay It down sooo wrong. :-) But great video
Hamer, Ibanez and your dads guitar sounded equally good imo
They all sound like Leon to me 🤗 Can't hear the difference.
To me the Hamer sounded the best.
Im sick of watching drum tutorials
All great guitars and stunning “80s” sounds 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Super Strats rock! I'd take any one those but my Wolfgang bond would be hard to break. Great example of how different guitars do inspire in different ways. I play totally different on my Les Paul than my Wolfgang or Ibanez strat. 👍
Wolfgang sounded best to me by far. Prolly those pro 2 pickups.
has anyone asked for a NON super strat comparison ?
I suppose I'm biased, being that I've used one for 30 years, but the Hamer sounded the best to my ears. Or I suppose it's more fair to say that it had the tone that I prefer. Back when they were a true custom shop in Chicago, Hamer really were the best of the best.
Yeah when they closed their last shop a few years back it made me sad. Great American craftsmanship.
@@LeonTodd Have you tried a Suhr Modern? That's my go-to these days.
All those supers and not one with a Sustainiac?
I actually loved the wolfgang neck pu clean!
Charvel and Jackson are missing
ATTENTION INTERNET DO NOT WORRY ABOUT MAKING A VIDEO TODAY LT WON THE INTERNET AGAIN 🤘
The green one is also a killer, congrats to your Dad
The Green home made guitar and the Hammer Californian sounded the best.
The guitar your father made sounds the best. Rock on!
You are the only other person I have ever seen play "Lay it Down" like I do. I just cheated like that because I have small hands and playing the full bar-chord like Warren is not possible for me. I had a Californian and it was the best Super Strat I have ever owned, and I have owned a metric shit ton of them. Very cool video, I really like that Shroedder, there is an obvious Rand influence there which is unique. My favorite would be the Hamer or the guitar your dad made in terms of tone. I am curious about the Shroedder though, I was searching for a video of someone playing one and did not know you had one.
The Shroedder is really fun. Chunky neck and a Gibson scale on a superstrat is a nice change from something like the RG
I think i liked the Ibanez best for the ratt song
I like the Hamer sound
Can you hit the 27th fret on the Shrodder?
Dude, this Hammer is phenomenal, sexiest look and coolest sound imho
Step 1 learn the correct guitar riff
To my ears the PV sounded the best
The Shrodder truly looks and sounds like the 80s. What an axe.
For clean tone, toss all those imposters out.
The green one sounds the best, hands down.
I love Greenie! It really does sound a lot like that Jackson...thick, rich, and glazed with harmonics. Wait, are we talking guitars or doughnuts? Has anyone seen my ADD meds???
Why not both?!
Hamer is the hammer of the gods
May God Bless Leo Fender
Ibanez RG 550 all the way
Home made one sounds the best to me
Hamer and green strat 🙌
Ok after listening 🎶 to all the comparisons, I like your Dad's guitar 🎸 the best. Very unique sounding.
Wow, thanks!
The radius of the '77 strat?
I would prefer something by TNT, to me they were one of the best 80s bands, I bought Tell No Tales as a teen in the 80s. Listen to 10,000 Lovers song? Awesome guitar player, Ronni Le Tekro.
love that album! RLT is a beast of a player and Harnell's vocals were amazing
Your father’s axe sounds killa! Just ordered a Tone Zone for my HM Stat.
great choice!