Blackstars are nice. Their little Fly 3 amp is cool. And that PRS! *drool*
I had seriously been considering a Marshall CODE as well. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts after you've been able to put it through its paces.
This is a modeling amp. If you like a convenient combo with a lot of different tones, there's little to complain about here. I have a few modeling amps and simulators, and the CODE sounds great, possibly the best of them. I really should get an A/B pedal. I don't have a real Marshall tube amp to compare it to, but I like what I hear. At low volume, I do prefer the THR-10 or VOX DA5, but you don't buy an amp because it sounds good quiet! The 25 watts is more than enough amp for me right now. If I ever need a gigging amp, I intend to get a VOX AV-30. Of the 100 tones, I'd say there are only 5 or so that are obviously bad enough that you'll overwrite them immediately. The controls are on top of the amp and are easy to use and self-explanatory. The screen on the 25 is a little small. I like that you can turn off the effects with a button press, though this makes all the individual entries that are just the standard patch each with a different effect dialed in kind of superfluous. They should have just included one basic amp entry that you could augment and made more unique tones (you can do that yourself, though). I haven't played any pedals through it. The Bluetooth has been wonky, which is a shame, as controlling the amp through a phone app is one of the better things about it. You can stream music to it, but I prefer to jam to tracks through a separate amp. I'm assuming the BT/app issues will be worked out. The footswitch doesn't come out until Fall. There are 9 Marshall amps, 1 "British" (Vox), and 3 "American" (Fender) in clean, crunch and hi-gain, 2 Marshall power amps and 1 each of British and American, and 8 Marshall cabinet types. I hate the headphone out sound, but I'm not sure if my headphones/ears aren't to blame. I think for $200, the CODE 25 is a good-looking, great-sounding, convenient package.
So I plan on fixing up my old Squier Strato and one of the things I want to replace is the Tremolo. It's made in Indonesia so I was wondering
if this will fit or if I have to buy the
Mexican version.
I also feel spoiled for choice regarding pick ups. No idea what I want. Can I make due with just one new pickup or should I replace them all? If I buy more than one are there any benefits for mixing or should I get a set?
The USA bridge won't fit. The import version should. Measure in mm and check.
I would go for a full replacement set of Strat pickups. I have a wonderful set of Bill Lawrence Keystones. Unfortunately, with Bill's recent death, they stopped making the Keystones. I've heard great things about their
Microcoils. I have a set of
Ken Rose pickups for another Strat, the "Morticia" S-90s. They sound great. These are both small boutique pickup makers, so there's a little bit of wait (there's actually a LOT of wait for the Bill Lawrence pickups, but worth it; don't order them if you want an immediate replacement). If you're already shopping at Guitar Fetish, their pickups seem fine. I have a GFS Gold Foil pickup I like. A full set costs about the same as the much better pickups above, though. If I was going to mix-and-match, I'd go with Seymour Duncan, though that will cost a lot more, and I'd wait until your sure what "Strat sound" you like. A full set is easier to re-sell, also.
