This is a 21-fret, standard vibrato bridge, maple neck/rosewood fretboard Fender Stratocaster -- but one with a humbucker. As you may expect this series is made in Mexico. The controls are the same as usual: one general volume knob, two tone controls (one for each of the single coil mics) and a 5-position selector which allows to combine the mics (from top to bottom: neck pickup only, neck+middle, middle pickup, middle+split humbucker, humbucker alone).

The presence of a humbucker makes this guitar suitable for many more styles than a "normal", three-single coils Strat -- don't expect the stock humbuckers to lead you through metal/thrash though.

This is a well-made Stratocaster so as far as playibility is concerned I think this says it all... The SSH configuration brings polyvalence, so finding a suitable sound is easy, just tweak the tone knobs a little while and here you go -- too bad the humbucker originally doesn't have a tone control...
Some people will tell you that a Strat with standard vibrato just can't be kept in tune: do NOT believe them, if you take your time and tune it properly then these variations will hardly be noticeable at all.

First of all let me tell you that the fact this guitar has a rosewood fretboard DOES matter. I once A/B-ed it with a 1991 US Fender Strat with a maple fretboard and guess what -- I preferred the sound that this cheap Mexican provided (both through my SansAmp GT2 and a friend's Marshall Valvestate). Even in using only the single coils, this guitar provides smooth mediums but can also deliver darker sounds, while a "classical" Strat will always keep that brilliance in sound that has made the legend of the model -- but which makes it less suitable for modern distorted rhythm sounds.
I wanted a guitar that could do the job for a variety of rock styles including blues, pop-rock, hard rock and (mostly) alternative/grunge rock. Even with the original configuration this guitar was well suited to my expectations. Then, I had the idea to have the humbucker (which was a bit too bright-sounding for me) changed for a Seymour Duncan SH-4 (the Jeff Beck one) and connected to a tone knob -- now the guitar sounds even better and metal sounds are no longer out of reach (provided you have what it takes). I mostly play power-chords rhythm so I also changed the strings for 10-52s.

I usually play it through several distorsion stompboxes and a Small Clone chorus into a SansAmp GT-2 & ISP Decimator noisegate, then direct to the mixer (yes, I use no "real" amp, and so what?), and I definitely LOVE the way it sounds. I can get from Clapton to Nirvana or even more "modern" metal sounds with no real effort, and the sustain is more than acceptable (hey, don't expect miracles though, this is a Strat, not a Les Paul!).

The single coils are noisy (as usual) but provide a very mellow sound (especially the one in the neck position) which will get you through the most beautiful sounding and/or country-like ballads -- a compressor, a chorus, a good reverb and here you go!

As said earlier the stock humbucker sounded a bit too bright to me, but it really is usable for vintage hard rock. With the proper mics installed on it I can hardly think of a style on which this guitar couldn't take, by the way...

Quote :
Midi in, out, thru, headphones out, 6 separates mono outputs (from A to F, A+B can be used as stereo main out) and two in that can be used as trig.

Quote :
You have about 9 synths (GND, TRX, EFM, E12, P-I, MID, INP, CTR, ROM and RAM) divided in machines. Machines can be bassdrum, snare, audio in, external/internal midi controller... tons of stuff.

Quote :
Elektron made C6 for sysex and samples transfert. You can dump all your kits and patterns, or juste some of them. And for the UW version, you can sand/receive samples in the rom section.
Some people created editors made to work in a musical way.

Quote :
Each track have his own FX page, with a two-band filter, a sample rate reducer, a eq thing and a modulator fx that gives something close to ring modulation. Via the routing page, you can send each track to reverb and delay included in the MasterFX wich also contain a compressor and a multi-band eq. But the MasterFX only works in main out mode.

Quote :
It's a Tr-like with avanced features : a swing for groovy patterns, the setting is global but you can set the swing steps for each track. Same thing for the accent. Also a mute mode.
Sequencing md is all about the parameter lock. It makes you able to set different machine settings for any step of any track... it is simple to use, and powerfull. There is a slide function that you can activate for any step for all track at once or for each track.
And sound become powerfull and versatile in way you often can't imagine. Seriously.

Quote :
Oh yeah. This machine is made for live and on the fly work. You can edit everything and hear the result in real time. For each track you got three pages : synth, wich is specific for each machine, efx page and routing page wich is the same for all track. In routing page, you can set the amount of disto, volume, pan, reverb/delay send, lfo speed/depth/mix.
16 lfo, one per track that can be routed the way you like (yes, you can rout 16 lfo to one track), set the speed, the depth, choode one of the 6 waveforms + the same waves reversed. For each lfo you can use two waveforms at once with the mix function, working like a crossfader.

Quote :
Yep. Made for various kind of electronic music. With the sampler... why note make drum'n bass? Nothing is impossible.

Quote :
Nope, but you can use samples, so...

Quote :
Good, pretty good. Simple and effective.

Quote :
There is no velocity, but you can play with volume setting and accent.
The sequencer is truly binary. I mean, you dont have that groove feeling, like in 909 or 808. It would be sooo cool.