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Help! Which is Closer to a Strat? AL or Silo?

F

Fides

Member
Joined
May 2, 2008
Messages
17
Hi All,

I'm a new member here. Got a question for you all: In your opinion, between an AL and a Silo (Special, etc) which guitar sounds more like a strat? Or do both guitars simply sound like different types of strats?

Reason why I ask is that I have an AL coming my way and never quite considered much about the Silo.

All comments are appreciated,

Fides
 
Well it's a personal decision kind of thing I think. But IMHO, both the AL SSS and the Silo Special SSS would
floor a Strat and are closest.

So man, where you from, tell us about this AL coming????????

Glenn |B)
 
The AL is ash, like older strats, with more vintage sounding p'ups. The bridge position is pretty twangy (combination of wood and pickup). Great pop and twang to the notes.

The SSS Silo Special is alder, like more modern strats, and has more of a modern flavour.

So I'd say if you're looking for that vintage strat vibe, AL. Modern strat stounds, Silo Spec. Both are killer guitars and the necks smoke any Fender neck you'll find.
 
The Albert Lee is what a strat only dreams it could be :)

With respect to which sounds "more" like a strat, it comes down to preferences. They are both 25.5" scale guits with three singles and a 5 way - thats a strat layout.

They can differ in that the AL is ash with Duncan APS 2 pups and only comes with a maple board. The Silo Spec SSS is alder with custom wound DiMarzio pups (similar to their Blue Velvets) and can come with either maple or rosewood boards. Both come with steel saddles and either hardtail or with the same vintage trem. So that is all in your ears as to which sound makes it for you.

But, since you have an AL on the way, once you play it, you'll know for sure.
 
Welcome aboard Fides !

...well, IMHO the Silo Specials SSS come the closest to being "stratty", whereas the AL can be considered somewhere between a Str@t and a T€le.
However, I have only played an AL once as they're pretty rare here in Germany, but I own quite some Silo SPecs and would never even consider trading or selling for a st-rat ;)
 
Thanks for the quick replies guys. Any additional comments or info is welcome... That said, I'm starting to want a Silo Special pretty badly now...

GWDavis: I ordered an AL in mid February so I’m hoping to hear some news one of these coming days. It’s honeyburst with a shell pickguard. I also got the tremolo and piezo options. (I’m soooo salivating as I speak…)

Don't tell my wife but I'm now starting to think about the Silo Special... (drool)

:)

Fides

P.S. I'm also the proud owner of a new JP6 LE 2008. (I'll prove it with pics another day...)
 
I agree with all the above, and especially chime in with what Beej has already said, r.e. vintage and modern. This based only on AL clips, though, as I've yet to get my paws around one. To my ears the AL sounds punchier than a Strat, and even punchier than a Tele. Almost like a freshly strung piano. I don't think that would work for me as well as the Specials. But I still would like to try one out and see up close and personal.

I think the SSS Special cops a wicked modern Strat vibe, but I happen to like it better than any Strat I've played, and that goes for sound as well as feel. I'm still considering converting my second one to SSS. That or going to a Breed HB. But to me, that takes it out of the Strat zone, even though more Strats are coming out as HSS than ever before, and same for Anderson and Suhr. Looks a bit like they're following Music Man? Imagine that.
 
mbgreene said:
They can differ in that the AL is ash and only comes with a maple board.
Click to expand...

Ahhemm!! They also came with a rose wood board on the AL Limited Editions from 06 and 07. - but you cannot specify a rosewood board on a normal production AL.

I think that both a Silo and an AL would be similar to a Strat type guitar.

I'm gonna come down on the side of the AL. Others will say the Silo.

- You will love the AL!!
 
Fides said:
Thanks for the quick replies guys. Any additional comments or info is welcome... That said, I'm starting to want a Silo Special pretty badly now...

GWDavis: I ordered an AL in mid February so I’m hoping to hear some news one of these coming days. It’s honeyburst with a shell pickguard. I also got the tremolo and piezo options. (I’m soooo salivating as I speak…)

Don't tell my wife but I'm now starting to think about the Silo Special... (drool)
Click to expand...

Mums the word man I have an AL with MM90's and 2 Silo Specials and I truly love all of them.

Glenn |B)
 
Welcome to the ALOC. You will really enjoy squeezing and ringing of the notes.
 
robelinda2 said:
The AL's ash body is a big factor in getting that extra spank.
Click to expand...
Very true. I find I get a similar spank from my ash-bodied MM90 Axis Sport, it's the wood making a huge difference.

Off-topic: I had an exchange with pickup maker Jason Lollar some months ago about the effect of the the plate in the bridge pickup. In a nutshell, he'd done a lot of testing to see what made a tele a tele, and had tried different plates on strat pickups to see the difference. He could measure a slight increase in inductance due to the plate, but the difference was largely inaudible to his ears. With bigger plates you do get a volume boost from the extra inductance, though. (I'm about to try some pickup experimenting on my AL in the next few weeks.)

Pickups aside, the wood makes a huge difference. Personal preference as to what floats your boat.
 
Last edited:
OT, but anyone else notice that silo and Silo automatically gets underlined here? Huh, so does OT. What's up with that? Is it only in Firefox?

Yep, only in Firefox.
 
Last edited:
Ot

candid_x said:
OT, but anyone else notice that silo and Silo automatically gets underlined here? Huh, so does OT. What's up with that? Is it only in Firefox?

Yep, only in Firefox.
Click to expand...

Candid, they updated the forum software it might be a spell thing that's part of that software.

Glenn |B)
 
From my limited view, the Silo is closer to a strat, the AL is a cross over between both a strat and a tele, it is its own monster, I so wish I could come to grips with the AL but it has never happened in three attempts:)
 
GWDavis28 said:
Candid, they updated the forum software it might be a spell thing that's part of that software.

Glenn |B)
Click to expand...

You mean Firefox, right? Yeah, I thought of that, but not all incorrectly spelled words are underlined in the post, i.e. lkjdjlkj3ind
 
fingbeagles said:
I so wish I could come to grips with the AL but it has never happened in three attempts:)
Click to expand...

This has been my intuitive feeling as well. Every time I hear an AL clip I think, yeah, that's cool, but it's not me.
 
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