Hey Chris! Didn't see ya reply!welshchris wrote: ↑Wed Nov 27, 2019 10:34 am Think ya have it figured.
Get the guitar the way you want it, if you like the bareknuckles get another set and drop in this guitar (do the caps as well if you wanted, though am sure you'd agree caps are that last tiny tiny difference, really sounds like you have bigger issues than wrong material caps. Regarding pickups for me I find messing with a set of pickup height vs the strings can make a fair bit of difference, I'd spent plenty of time with an amp tweaking up and down slightly so they react just the way I like with my picking style.Might be worth just tweaking what you have up or down a touch and costs nothing.
On the amp front know someone mentioned the modern oranges, I've played a few of the high watt ones at fly in shows and they take pedals really well, I'd imagine the lower wattage valve jobs would do the same for you and I'd imagine on budget. I generally just use the clean channel on them and let the fuzz do any dirtying.
I'd also suggest find the best luthier local and pay for a decent setup, know whenever my guitars are back from a quality setup they are so playable and just makes me want to spend more time playing. I'm lucky to have an outstanding luthier fairly local and his attention to detail is something else so much better than a lot of "techs" who've done very reasonable but not exceptional jobs.
Good luck!!
I'll also throw in another cheap "amp" suggestion, I've a Quilter that takes pedals REALLY well. I'm running the 200w toneblock version with a GT120 biamped in the practice room for stupid loud but know they do lower wattage versions and have a few friends who've grabbed the small pedal sized amp and are dead happy with it. You'd need a cab, I'll be honest was blown away with mine all for the cost of a fuzz pedal.
Anyway here's a demo of the inter block 45 that might work for you
https://www.quilterlabs.com/index.php/p ... erblock-45
I just got to get the guitar first! A used 2013 R8 with OX4s installed came up but its $4.5k dollerydoos (which isnt too bad with OX4s already) too bad im moving house next week
Ill probably wait for a studio/tribute and just upgrade the electronics again. The R8 that I had really paled in comparison with fuzz compared to my studio (not sure if it was a dud or just the electronics)
Thanks for the hot tips! Im kicking myself for not keeping that studio around...