Not sure what happened with the color on the video, I'm guessing I was working on it too late and "nightshift" mode kicked in making everything yellowed causing me to overcorrect and make it too blue.
@@GuitarTonePro to add to this comparison, using john mayer's pedals like her knows for, like the Tuber screamers, blues breaker, and the Klon (or the KTR clone/ or any other Klon's clone for that matter) would be amazing to hear too! Really appreciate you doing all of this in solo. I noticed, I really hate the silver sky's sound, when its in full 10, for my ears, through the studio monitors, seems too bright. Your vintage strat, is the holy grail for sure, sound full, and sweet, specially when you play yellow led better. Just having the volume at 9.5...9, lets see how it compares in other videos! Next time, just sticking to one guitar, and playing as much as possible, and then switching the guitar, that would save you time ( although you would need to do minor video editing, its easier than unplugging the guitars over and over ) :) thank you once again for this valuable comparison. Help me make up my mind, and not constantly wonder ..
@@jasonshrestha Probably be a while before I do a Silver Sky and Strat comparison as I sold the Silver Sky and am selling 2 more as "open box" meaning not played. If they don't sell quickly I'll probably do another video using one of them so it may still happen.
You can definitely hear a difference in that the stratocaster does sound a touch warmer and more organic. I wonder if some of that is not due to fretboard wood. I have found maple fretboards can tend to be a bit brighter / more percussive over rosewood. You made both guitars sound great though, very good demo.
Thanks! I do agree and tend to find maple boards a bit brighter typically, but in this case I feel a lot of it comes down to the electronics as well. Very low output pickups and electronics that have changed their capacitance over time due to corrosion and wear. If only we could find a hermetically sealed ‘59 to compare and see what age really does to a guitar.
100% agree, the electric component degradation over 50+ years would also affect the sound. My point was that if you would have had a rosewood PRS silver sky, the difference might be smaller.
Yes, I have had a couple rosewood Silver Sky’s and I will they they are still quite a bit brighter than my Strat. Either way, turn the volume down to about 8.5 and it matches close to the Strat on 10.
The ‘59 is my main guitar and likely always will be. For now I do not have a Silver Sky but can see myself getting one in the future if I see one for a good deal. In many ways I’m glad they are different enough to justify having both. The black SVL I had was so close to the vintage I couldn’t justify keeping both as easily, even though it was easily my 2nd favorite guitar I’ve owned. Lessons learned: if you want a vintage feeling Strat-like guitar that’s more modern/hifi sounding, get a Silver Sky. Want a vintage feeling and sounding guitar but can’t find a “player’s grade” vintage one at a good price, get a SVL.
I would argue the opposite. The Silver Sky doesn’t sound or play like a vintage Strat at all. Which to me is good news, means it’s worth having both. The SVL ‘61 Reserve on the other hand plays and sounds like a vintage Strat so much so that I can’t justify both.
I'm going against the grain here and just say it. Roast me all you want. If I closed my eyes the Strat sounds like the Silver Sky but with a blanket thrown over the cab. The Silver Sky sounded clear and articulate and more my taste. Great comparison. Thank you!
No need to worry, in this comparison I would say you’re pretty much right. I set the amp so that the Silver Sky wouldn’t sound bad, if I was just using the Strat I would bump the treble and presence up a bit and be able to turn up the gain and volume. The PRS has more output and quite a bit more treble that in person gets a bit spiky, but records well and let’s you set the amp up to be more mellow.
Both sound fantastic. I prefer the vintage Strat which isn't much of a surprise but what is almost shocking is that for a literal 1/10th the current market value of that strat (maybe even less) the silver sky comes wayyy closer than I'd have ever expected! Almost indiscernible at certain points throughout... really quite impressive! Even in the less than perfect lighting the finish on that silver sky looks stunning - can only imagine what it offers in-person. Great playing and thanks for sharing this A/B comparison! I think you've got two undeniable winners there, well done!
Thanks for the kind words. The Silver Sky however is already sold, so down to just one Strat style guitar... for now. PRS guitars are definitely some of the best deals on the market. Custom shop and higher quality guitars at less than custom shop prices. However a vintage Strat can be had for much less than people think, with my Strat coming in under $10k. Still a lot of money for sure, but obtainable with hard work and saving.
@@GuitarTonePro Clearly you have to know the market well. Of course we don't know what is original, but your vintage Strat looks VERY clean and you look very happy playing it :-) I wonder is it a refin given how clean it is, because so far I've only really had players grade '60's Strats in front of me and $15,000-$25,000 price tags. That is of course in vintage guitar stores where they are trying to get top dollar. Did you get yours through a private sale? I'm just curious if you are willing to share some tips on acquiring such a vintage Strat without going wildly above the $10,000 price mark... and thanks for the sweet tunes through your Bloomfield Drive. I'm about to place an order for a CRS so I'm always interested in Two Rock demo's at this time :-)
@@GuitarTonePro Wow, I would absolutely love to know how you managed that beautiful vintage Strat for $10K or less. Is there any way we can get in-touch to discuss that a bit more? I'd be very interested, to say the least, in pursuing that myself. Please let me know if/how you'd be willing to share more detail! Thanks, again!
CRS is an incredible amp and I plan to get another one at some point. As far as my Strat, I’ll probably do a video on it at some point but it’s a refin, has a headstock crack that was repaired in the 60s and the volume pot was recently replaced. Wood is all original, pickups original, plastic almost all original (pretty sure the tone knob for the middle pickup was replaced, but long ago if it was) and all the wiring and cap is original. It’s a true “players grade” guitar as all the issues are cosmetic really.
Digging the attire. Velociraptors are smaller than Jurrassic Park lead us to believe. Oh Silver sky takes the cake for me. I got the dodgem blue version, and I have a strat. I get what people like about the strat, and I love it too, however I guess my season of life is attracting me to the sound of the Silver Sky. 😆😎
Thanks! The Silver Sky does play great. It’s a hard comparison to record as I didn’t want to set the amp in a way that would make the Silver Sky sound bad, but typically using the Strat I’d dial in a little more gain and treble. Both great guitars and I’ve come to realize that PRS guitars are actually incredible value for money.
Wow, that’s really weird. This is the second silver Sky, first one I had for a year or so. Only issue I had with it was the tip of the pickup selector would just touch the pickguard on the neck pickup side. Playing rough meant it eventually cracked and fell off. Otherwise tuning was never an issue for me.
In the 2 & 4 positions the PRS is hum cancelling thanks to a reverse wound/polarity center pickup, but you do give up a tiny bit of chime or presence on those positions with that setup.
Guitar Tone Pro potentiometers, caps, and wire all get worst with age, specifically; the resistance and continuity shits over time. As far as the pickups, I don’t think 50s era pickup winding techniques could really come close with the nuanced and consistent modern manufacturing/materials. Having played a lot of vintage les Paul’s and strats, I do believe that modern pickups are much more consistent/balanced with output and eq between positions. I also found that modern made “vintage style pickups” have found ways of eliminating harsh and uneven frequencies, while giving you much more string definition and note separation than the old pickups. Don’t just take my word for it though, grab a voltmeter and shootout the wiring between your two guitars and see for yourself. The old strat acoustically, I’m willing to bet sounds better than the prs. But the modern electronics in the prs are a step ahead.
I agree consistency (especially PRS) of electronics are way better these days, this guitar for me has been put up against a lot of great guitars and to my ears have always came out ahead. Enough so that I sold this guitar a couple years ago, and eventually bought it back. These pickups (again to my ears) are as balanced as any modern set I've tried (and I have tried many with the intent of replacing this guitar when I sold it) with just enough upper mid push to really have the "Strat sound". In other words, I actually feel the aging of the electronics has mellowed the shrill top end that modern Strats often have. It would be an interesting test though, but not one I'm willing to do in case the tone changed in the disassembly and reassembly of the guitar.
Guitar Tone Pro yea that’s definitely fair, if you like it don’t touch it then. I Was listening to a podcast with Eric Johnson and Joe Bonamassa and they were talking about how they swapped pickups in guitars only find out that the originals were better, except when they tried to put the originals back, it didn’t sound the same. This can be true, but if your good with a solder iron then there won’t be a difference, nice part about strats is that you can replace the whole pick guard without changing any original electronics. Anyway it’s great sound your getting, I have the Bloomfield as well but I have the head.
Awesome. I’ve been considering swapping the combo for the 100 watt head, as I miss the clean headroom I had with my classic reverb. May end up with a 100 watt TS-1 instead if I can get one for a good price.
There is a richer midrange in the old Strat that the PRS can't quite capture. It came pretty close when you (I think) rolled back the tone knobs but it seemed to be harder edged and less resonant. It's difficult to describe musical tonality in words, but there's a certain overall fullness of the tone spectrum in older instruments. The PRS has more top end brightness, almost too much, while the Strat has just the right amount. Anyway, that's my take. Wish I still had the older guitars that were bought, sold and traded in my younger years. Haha! I sat listening with two of my cats and your excellent playing calmed us all nicely. Thanks!
Thanks for your kind words. Your description is pretty much how I hear it as well. Almost ironically, the old Strat with no tone pot on the treble has none of the spikey presence and a more pronounced upper mid. The controls on the PRS are very good though, so volume down to 9 gets rid of all the harshness and the tone pots work great at cutting treble without getting muddy. It still misses the upper mids and the 2/4 positions in the old Strat are to die for when you setup the amp to work with them.
Not sure what happened with the color on the video, I'm guessing I was working on it too late and "nightshift" mode kicked in making everything yellowed causing me to overcorrect and make it too blue.
thank u for taking the time to make this!!!! This is the ultimate comparison....two rock..at home..sm57...and fender vs prs..and the songs! !!
You’re welcome! Requests are always welcome.
@@GuitarTonePro to add to this comparison, using john mayer's pedals like her knows for, like the Tuber screamers, blues breaker, and the Klon (or the KTR clone/ or any other Klon's clone for that matter) would be amazing to hear too! Really appreciate you doing all of this in solo. I noticed, I really hate the silver sky's sound, when its in full 10, for my ears, through the studio monitors, seems too bright. Your vintage strat, is the holy grail for sure, sound full, and sweet, specially when you play yellow led better. Just having the volume at 9.5...9, lets see how it compares in other videos! Next time, just sticking to one guitar, and playing as much as possible, and then switching the guitar, that would save you time ( although you would need to do minor video editing, its easier than unplugging the guitars over and over ) :) thank you once again for this valuable comparison. Help me make up my mind, and not constantly wonder ..
@@jasonshrestha Probably be a while before I do a Silver Sky and Strat comparison as I sold the Silver Sky and am selling 2 more as "open box" meaning not played. If they don't sell quickly I'll probably do another video using one of them so it may still happen.
@@GuitarTonePro Did you buy three lunar ice?
I may have! Lol. See my new video for the story, but short answer is yes.
You can definitely hear a difference in that the stratocaster does sound a touch warmer and more organic. I wonder if some of that is not due to fretboard wood. I have found maple fretboards can tend to be a bit brighter / more percussive over rosewood. You made both guitars sound great though, very good demo.
Thanks! I do agree and tend to find maple boards a bit brighter typically, but in this case I feel a lot of it comes down to the electronics as well. Very low output pickups and electronics that have changed their capacitance over time due to corrosion and wear. If only we could find a hermetically sealed ‘59 to compare and see what age really does to a guitar.
100% agree, the electric component degradation over 50+ years would also affect the sound. My point was that if you would have had a rosewood PRS silver sky, the difference might be smaller.
Yes, I have had a couple rosewood Silver Sky’s and I will they they are still quite a bit brighter than my Strat. Either way, turn the volume down to about 8.5 and it matches close to the Strat on 10.
Umm, no it does not. Thanks for this simple and clear demo. But which guitar is your favorite?
The ‘59 is my main guitar and likely always will be. For now I do not have a Silver Sky but can see myself getting one in the future if I see one for a good deal. In many ways I’m glad they are different enough to justify having both. The black SVL I had was so close to the vintage I couldn’t justify keeping both as easily, even though it was easily my 2nd favorite guitar I’ve owned.
Lessons learned: if you want a vintage feeling Strat-like guitar that’s more modern/hifi sounding, get a Silver Sky. Want a vintage feeling and sounding guitar but can’t find a “player’s grade” vintage one at a good price, get a SVL.
So "Princess and the Pea"....... Barely perceptible differences if any. Just everyone relax and play.
I would argue the opposite. The Silver Sky doesn’t sound or play like a vintage Strat at all. Which to me is good news, means it’s worth having both. The SVL ‘61 Reserve on the other hand plays and sounds like a vintage Strat so much so that I can’t justify both.
SILVERSKY
Right on.
I'm going against the grain here and just say it. Roast me all you want. If I closed my eyes the Strat sounds like the Silver Sky but with a blanket thrown over the cab. The Silver Sky sounded clear and articulate and more my taste. Great comparison. Thank you!
No need to worry, in this comparison I would say you’re pretty much right. I set the amp so that the Silver Sky wouldn’t sound bad, if I was just using the Strat I would bump the treble and presence up a bit and be able to turn up the gain and volume.
The PRS has more output and quite a bit more treble that in person gets a bit spiky, but records well and let’s you set the amp up to be more mellow.
Both sound fantastic. I prefer the vintage Strat which isn't much of a surprise but what is almost shocking is that for a literal 1/10th the current market value of that strat (maybe even less) the silver sky comes wayyy closer than I'd have ever expected! Almost indiscernible at certain points throughout... really quite impressive! Even in the less than perfect lighting the finish on that silver sky looks stunning - can only imagine what it offers in-person. Great playing and thanks for sharing this A/B comparison! I think you've got two undeniable winners there, well done!
Thanks for the kind words. The Silver Sky however is already sold, so down to just one Strat style guitar... for now. PRS guitars are definitely some of the best deals on the market. Custom shop and higher quality guitars at less than custom shop prices. However a vintage Strat can be had for much less than people think, with my Strat coming in under $10k. Still a lot of money for sure, but obtainable with hard work and saving.
@@GuitarTonePro Clearly you have to know the market well. Of course we don't know what is original, but your vintage Strat looks VERY clean and you look very happy playing it :-) I wonder is it a refin given how clean it is, because so far I've only really had players grade '60's Strats in front of me and $15,000-$25,000 price tags. That is of course in vintage guitar stores where they are trying to get top dollar. Did you get yours through a private sale? I'm just curious if you are willing to share some tips on acquiring such a vintage Strat without going wildly above the $10,000 price mark... and thanks for the sweet tunes through your Bloomfield Drive. I'm about to place an order for a CRS so I'm always interested in Two Rock demo's at this time :-)
@@GuitarTonePro Wow, I would absolutely love to know how you managed that beautiful vintage Strat for $10K or less. Is there any way we can get in-touch to discuss that a bit more? I'd be very interested, to say the least, in pursuing that myself. Please let me know if/how you'd be willing to share more detail! Thanks, again!
CRS is an incredible amp and I plan to get another one at some point. As far as my Strat, I’ll probably do a video on it at some point but it’s a refin, has a headstock crack that was repaired in the 60s and the volume pot was recently replaced. Wood is all original, pickups original, plastic almost all original (pretty sure the tone knob for the middle pickup was replaced, but long ago if it was) and all the wiring and cap is original. It’s a true “players grade” guitar as all the issues are cosmetic really.
See my other reply, it’s not a perfect collector’s Strat, but a perfect player’s Strat.
Wow... fender sounded better to me! Thanks 🙏
👍
What’s any difference between this Silver Sky and Any other Silver Sky?….other than color……
The price. 😝 No difference, everything other than color is the same.
Digging the attire. Velociraptors are smaller than Jurrassic Park lead us to believe. Oh Silver sky takes the cake for me. I got the dodgem blue version, and I have a strat. I get what people like about the strat, and I love it too, however I guess my season of life is attracting me to the sound of the Silver Sky. 😆😎
Yeah, turkeys with claws in more appropriate. But you’ve got it right, have both. They are similar, but different enough to justify keeping both.
Dude! Killer playing! Both sounded really good! I kind of like the Silver Sky a tiny bit more. I can imagine the feel was great on both.
Thanks! The Silver Sky does play great. It’s a hard comparison to record as I didn’t want to set the amp in a way that would make the Silver Sky sound bad, but typically using the Strat I’d dial in a little more gain and treble. Both great guitars and I’ve come to realize that PRS guitars are actually incredible value for money.
Silver sky sounds like a modern vintage instrument. I like both. Not as much quack as newer strats I feel.
I agree, less quack and mid focused tones, more hi-fi and scooped.
more warmth on the strat
I agree, still lots of treble available, but smoother. It begs for the amp to be cranked.
@@GuitarTonePro I had a silversky but always struggled to keep it in tune on the B string. Also some of the knobs kept falling off.
Wow, that’s really weird. This is the second silver Sky, first one I had for a year or so. Only issue I had with it was the tip of the pickup selector would just touch the pickguard on the neck pickup side. Playing rough meant it eventually cracked and fell off. Otherwise tuning was never an issue for me.
I hear more hum from the strat than the prs
In the 2 & 4 positions the PRS is hum cancelling thanks to a reverse wound/polarity center pickup, but you do give up a tiny bit of chime or presence on those positions with that setup.
Wow I wonder what the vintage strat would sound like if you upgraded the electronics.
Upgrade? How do you upgrade from original ‘59 gray bottoms? These are one of the pickups all the makers target when they’re designing pickups. Haha
Guitar Tone Pro potentiometers, caps, and wire all get worst with age, specifically; the resistance and continuity shits over time. As far as the pickups, I don’t think 50s era pickup winding techniques could really come close with the nuanced and consistent modern manufacturing/materials. Having played a lot of vintage les Paul’s and strats, I do believe that modern pickups are much more consistent/balanced with output and eq between positions. I also found that modern made “vintage style pickups” have found ways of eliminating harsh and uneven frequencies, while giving you much more string definition and note separation than the old pickups. Don’t just take my word for it though, grab a voltmeter and shootout the wiring between your two guitars and see for yourself. The old strat acoustically, I’m willing to bet sounds better than the prs. But the modern electronics in the prs are a step ahead.
I agree consistency (especially PRS) of electronics are way better these days, this guitar for me has been put up against a lot of great guitars and to my ears have always came out ahead. Enough so that I sold this guitar a couple years ago, and eventually bought it back. These pickups (again to my ears) are as balanced as any modern set I've tried (and I have tried many with the intent of replacing this guitar when I sold it) with just enough upper mid push to really have the "Strat sound". In other words, I actually feel the aging of the electronics has mellowed the shrill top end that modern Strats often have.
It would be an interesting test though, but not one I'm willing to do in case the tone changed in the disassembly and reassembly of the guitar.
Guitar Tone Pro yea that’s definitely fair, if you like it don’t touch it then. I Was listening to a podcast with Eric Johnson and Joe Bonamassa and they were talking about how they swapped pickups in guitars only find out that the originals were better, except when they tried to put the originals back, it didn’t sound the same. This can be true, but if your good with a solder iron then there won’t be a difference, nice part about strats is that you can replace the whole pick guard without changing any original electronics. Anyway it’s great sound your getting, I have the Bloomfield as well but I have the head.
Awesome. I’ve been considering swapping the combo for the 100 watt head, as I miss the clean headroom I had with my classic reverb. May end up with a 100 watt TS-1 instead if I can get one for a good price.
There is a richer midrange in the old Strat that the PRS can't quite capture. It came pretty close when you (I think) rolled back the tone knobs but it seemed to be harder edged and less resonant. It's difficult to describe musical tonality in words, but there's a certain overall fullness of the tone spectrum in older instruments. The PRS has more top end brightness, almost too much, while the Strat has just the right amount.
Anyway, that's my take. Wish I still had the older guitars that were bought, sold and traded in my younger years. Haha!
I sat listening with two of my cats and your excellent playing calmed us all nicely. Thanks!
Thanks for your kind words. Your description is pretty much how I hear it as well. Almost ironically, the old Strat with no tone pot on the treble has none of the spikey presence and a more pronounced upper mid. The controls on the PRS are very good though, so volume down to 9 gets rid of all the harshness and the tone pots work great at cutting treble without getting muddy. It still misses the upper mids and the 2/4 positions in the old Strat are to die for when you setup the amp to work with them.
@@GuitarTonePro
Thanks for your reply. You described what I was trying to say with "harshness". Good word choice! 👍
Gear can’t fix bad dynamics and timing that’s for sure.
Thanks for the constructive criticism, I’ll work on trying to play better and at least warm up before recording.
Actually you can…through practice and playing ..which is what he’s doing, as well as offering value to others, not being a RUclips dick.
@@pbosche 🤣 Thanks!