Comparing the Cutlass HT to Stratocaster

[JD003]

Hello,

I'm new here. Looks like a very friendly and informative hang.

I own a JP 20th Anniversary. My first experience with Ernie Ball guitars. I love it, and the build quality blew me away. It's the only guitar I have. Perfect for the rock and Prog things I like to play. Try to play at least.

I find myself needing / wanting a single coil sound from time to time. I love Strats, but the Cutlass HT caught my attention the other day so I ordered one. It was a bIt impulsive. Should be here soon.

I'm having a little anxiety about the active pick ups. Wondering if I might lose the warmth of a Strat on the neck pick up with the actives.

I don't expect to hear the Strat quack, but I'm wondering if there's a chance I might be disappointed since I am thinking Strat when I think single coil.

Any thoughts or experience with the Cutlass HT would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Jerry

 

[beej]

Hi Jerry- the pickups themselves aren't active (like the way EMGs are active). They're just buffered, so you don't have to worry about high-end loss from cable capacitance. (And you get an onboard boost as well.)

I can't comment on the HT pickups as I haven't had the chance to play them. But the regular Cutlass nails the traditional Strat sounds with no problem.

Hopefully someone here can weigh in on the newer pickups.

 

[racerx]

Seconded for beejs feedback. My vanilla Cutlass is awesome and doesn’t leave me wanting for anything in the single coil space. I, too, don’t have experience with the HT singles but I have the mew HT humbuckers in a StingRay. I enjoy them, they’re a little more “hi fidelity” and articulate than the comparable humbuckers in my other StingRay. I don’t know if the singles will behave in a similar fashion but that would be my educated guess.

Either way the quality and comfort will be top notch and am excited to hear your feedback on the new HT singles.

 

[JD003]

Thank you so much. These comments are really encouraging. Thanks for the clarity on the active circuitry. The onboard boost on my JP is great! I didn't use it much at first. I would just dial the gain on the amp where I liked it. Using the boost takes it to a next level of growl and bite unmatched by anything I can replicate with the amp.. That feature is part of what drew me to the Cutlass HT. Stoked all over again.

 

[elvisdog]

yeah, the other thing nice about the active circuitry is that the volume stays even across all 5 switch positions. My non-HT Cutlass will quack for days. Best Strat I ever played & the HT is supposed to be an improved version. Should be a very nice guitar.

 

[loocnmad]

Very curious about this, please report back the results. The HT's are still trickling out so there's not a lot of feedback on them yet.

If for any reason you don't like them or want to try something else I have a stock loaded pickguard from my Cutlass RS I'd be willing to trade.

 

[JD003]

yeah, the other thing nice about the active circuitry is that the volume stays even across all 5 switch positions. My non-HT Cutlass will quack for days. Best Strat I ever played & the HT is supposed to be an improved version. Should be a very nice guitar.

"Best Start I ever played" now that's funny, with the best of intentions I'm sure. Getting excited to get it. Should be here tomorrow. I may lose some sleep this week checking it out.

 

[JD003]

Very curious about this, please report back the results. The HT's are still trickling out so there's not a lot of feedback on them yet.

If for any reason you don't like them or want to try something else I have a stock loaded pickguard from my Cutlass RS I'd be willing to trade.

Thanks for the offer. I will definitely report back.

 

[fogman]

"Best Start I ever played" now that's funny, with the best of intentions I'm sure. Getting excited to get it. Should be here tomorrow. I may lose some sleep this week checking it out.

Don't forget to report back and post some pics along with your review.

 

[JD003]

Cutlass arrived @ Fe Ex yesterday. Excitedly I picked it up around 5:30pm, rushed home, eager to open, only to discover a large green sticker on the flaps of the box stating "Warning do open box for 24 hrs. Let your guitar acclimate to the temperature in your home, especially if shipping in the winter. Trust us on this!"

In the 80s I toured the Midwest extensively in a club band, even up into Wyoming and Montana during the winter. All the guitars traveled in the back of the bus in an uncontrolled environment. They got COLD! Never was a "serious" problem. Of course the guitars we had then were not exactly gems so to speak.

I was so tempted to open that box. In the end, I settled for taking it to the bedroom with me for the night. Unopened and in the box.

Tonight!

 

[GWDavis28]

Cutlass arrived @ Fe Ex yesterday. Excitedly I picked it up around 5:30pm, rushed home, eager to open, only to discover a large green sticker on the flaps of the box stating "Warning do open box for 24 hrs. Let your guitar acclimate to the temperature in your home, especially if shipping in the winter. Trust us on this!"

In the 80s I toured the Midwest extensively in a club band, even up into Wyoming and Montana during the winter. All the guitars traveled in the back of the bus in an uncontrolled environment. They got COLD! Never was a "serious" problem. Of course the guitars we had then were not exactly gems so to speak.

I was so tempted to open that box. In the end, I settled for taking it to the bedroom with me for the night. Unopened and in the box.

Tonight!

Sleeping with the box what did your significant other think .

Just busting, Glenn |B)

 

[JD003]

She was a little miffed, her neck was a bit sore this morning I guess. Our couch isn't that comfortable. juuuuust kidding

 

[msquared]

a large green sticker on the flaps of the box stating "Warning do open box for 24 hrs. Let your guitar acclimate to the temperature in your home, especially if shipping in the winter. Trust us on this!"

With all due respect to the lawyers in the crowd, this is probably because of lawyers and not because of physics.

 

[DrKev]

With all due respect to the lawyers in the crowd, this is probably because of lawyers and not because of physics.

Well, yes and no. Guitars, and their finishes in particular, can crack or split if suddenly exposed to large rapid changes in temperature. It's the speed rather than just the size of the change that's important. Correct packing in a good case can help slow the temperature changes but In the middle of winter packages can experience many hours in below-freezing temperatures which means the guitar can be very cold when it gets to your house. Allowing adequate time for the inside of the case to come back to room temperature is never a bad idea, especially if the outside of the case is obvious cold to the touch.

 

[JD003]

Guitars, and their finishes in particular, can crack or split if suddenly exposed to large rapid changes in temperature.

That was mentioned on the warning label. I took notice and followed the advice accordingly. I get the point / understand the possibility of cracks and I certainly didn't want to chance it.

Side story, I was very fortunate to have a 1st call session player here in Nashville come to my home years ago to play on some songs I wanted to demo. Only because an engineer friend who was staying with me for a few days knew him well. I guess he got tired of listening to me struggle for a couple days on one song. He didn't say anything to me. We were in my work area, he picked up his phone, made a call, and said "Larry would you come over to a friends house and do some tracks." I heard him say "sure"

Long story short, when Larry shows up he's in a sweet Cadillac, pops the trunk open and pulls out a 60s Gibson J Body acoustic and an old Strat. It was below freezing out. "In the trunk?" I thought. We went upstairs and within 20 minutes we were tracking, both guitars sounded great. Still slays me to remember that. Those guitars were diamonds and played on a lot of records and radio hits. Crazy. He didn't have a care in the world it seemed.

 

[Johnny Alien]

That cracking finish thing is pretty much for nitro finishes which are more delicate. Even then I don't think its as common as the guitar forums want you to believe. People tour and play all winter taking gear from cold to warm. It has to be a pretty quick and severe change to do damage. But for those that don't mind waiting it can't hurt. Me?? I always crack em right open. Life is too short.

 

[John C]

Cutlass arrived @ Fe Ex yesterday. Excitedly I picked it up around 5:30pm, rushed home, eager to open, only to discover a large green sticker on the flaps of the box stating "Warning do open box for 24 hrs. Let your guitar acclimate to the temperature in your home, especially if shipping in the winter. Trust us on this!"

In the 80s I toured the Midwest extensively in a club band, even up into Wyoming and Montana during the winter. All the guitars traveled in the back of the bus in an uncontrolled environment. They got COLD! Never was a "serious" problem. Of course the guitars we had then were not exactly gems so to speak.

I was so tempted to open that box. In the end, I settled for taking it to the bedroom with me for the night. Unopened and in the box.

Tonight!

With all due respect to the lawyers in the crowd, this is probably because of lawyers and not because of physics.

Well, yes and no. Guitars, and their finishes in particular, can crack or split if suddenly exposed to large rapid changes in temperature. It's the speed rather than just the size of the change that's important. Correct packing in a good case can help slow the temperature changes but In the middle of winter packages can experience many hours in below-freezing temperatures which means the guitar can be very cold when it gets to your house. Allowing adequate time for the inside of the case to come back to room temperature is never a bad idea, especially if the outside of the case is obvious cold to the touch.

That cracking finish thing is pretty much for nitro finishes which are more delicate. Even then I don't think its as common as the guitar forums want you to believe. People tour and play all winter taking gear from cold to warm. It has to be a pretty quick and severe change to do damage. But for those that don't mind waiting it can't hurt. Me?? I always crack em right open. Life is too short.

I think in the spirit of "better safe than sorry" dealers are putting those stickers on all guitars they ship in cold(er) weather. They don't want someone to return a guitar that wound up with a lot of finish cracks from temperature changes. But as @Johnny Alien says it's really for nitro-type finishes.

 

[JD003]

I always crack em right open. Life is too short.

Thanks for the morning chuckle.

Work has really gotten in my way this week. But I did take a little time last night to check out my new Cutlass HT.

Apologies in advance for the long post.

As I'm learning, nothing I've seen compares to Ernie Ball build quality. Craftsmanship! I'm a bassist first but have been around guitars all my life. I've never seen a neck like this one. Perfectly flat and straight. I'm mean perfect! It feels great. Love the frets and overall feel of it. Just feels perfect right off the bat. Probably preaching to the choir here.

It came set up pretty good. I need to play it a lot more, but at first pass, I no issues with the action or intonation. It's set low, my preference, it has some faint buzzing in a couple places that you can hear acoustically but I don't mind that at all. Nothing chokes out.

The tremolo is different than on my JP Anniversary. On the JP it sets into the body. You set it up to be level with the plane of the body. The trem / bridge on the Cutlass stops at the body. Right now it is tilted. If you're looking from the back of the body down the neck, the left side is clearly raised up while on the right it touches the body. You could probably slip 5 to 6 playing cards under the left side. On the right, I couldn't get a piece of paper under it. Make sense? Any input on that would be appreciated.

I got the Showtime. I took a few pictures but nothing that looks as good as what you can see online. I will post when I get some decent ones. I'm not sure if this is correct terminology, but it has kind of a golden sunburst look. I love that with a black pick guard, white pick ups and knobs, and rosewood fretboard. Really cool look, my favorite on this style of guitar. But, what I didn't notice in the pics on line when I ordered it was the flake in it. I knew the wood grain didn't show, but I didn't catch how intense the flake, sparkle, is. A couple pics I took with flash (not an honest look) made it look less than flattering

On one hand it's gorgeous. Looking at it straight on it looks deep, like 3D. Obviously high quality finish. It changes with the angle you have it at. It becomes this amazing "almost" black color at a steep angle. I'm a sucker for sunbursts with the grain showing so I'm still on the fence. It is beautiful though, no doubt.

Tone:

I played it unplugged for a while listening to the wood, natural sustain, etc. It really rings out and the tone lasts. Then I played it on a track I'm working on running through a 57 Tweed model from Amplitude Max. It's a high gain thing. Not really what I wanted single coils for. But that's the current project. So I thought lets give it a go. I played through the bridge pick up with the boost off and then engaged. It freakin torches. I was blown away. Sounded great without the boost, but with it, it just went next level intensity. I think that boost may be adjustable, if so, I might tweak it down a touch.

I had already played the part on the JP. When I compared them I was surprised. The difference was in character, not sure how to explain it. I kind of the expected the HTs would sound thin compared to the humbuckers in the JP. Not so at all. For a final mix, I'll have a decision to make. The model was set up for the JP but the Cutlass sounds equally great.

This weekend I plan to really dig into some clean things and see how she shines. I don't have an amp, just Plug Ins. I'm new at this and really struggle to create good sounds. Hopefully I can dial something up.

 

[jayjayjay]

The tremolo is different than on my JP Anniversary. On the JP it sets into the body. You set it up to be level with the plane of the body. The trem / bridge on the Cutlass stops at the body. Right now it is tilted. If you're looking from the back of the body down the neck, the left side is clearly raised up while on the right it touches the body. You could probably slip 5 to 6 playing cards under the left side. On the right, I couldn't get a piece of paper under it. Make sense? Any input on that would be appreciated.

There's a rule around here - pics or it didn't happen. You can't say you have a new guitar and not post pics of it.

In all seriousness, please post pics of the bridge. At first blush it sounded like you were describing a floating tremolo setup, but if you're sighting down the neck and the bridge is at an angle, that doesn't sound right. When you say left and right, do you mean bass side and treble side, string-wise?

 

[JD003]

There's a rule around here - pics or it didn't happen. You can't say you have a new guitar and not post pics of it.

In all seriousness, please post pics of the bridge. At first blush it sounded like you were describing a floating tremolo setup, but if you're sighting down the neck and the bridge is at an angle, that doesn't sound right. When you say left and right, do you mean bass side and treble side, string-wise?

lol Point taken. I'll post some pics this evening.

Sorry, sounds like describing my line of sight was confusing.. Looking at the back of the bridge, the left side (bass strings) is raised up. The right side (treble strings) is touching the body. Thank you for commenting on this. I just learned how to set the tremolo on my JP thanks to a great video interview that Johns tech, Maddie did.

My first thought was "I know what to do." Then I thought better.