hey sweeps.
I've been on a tone quest lately as well. The thing about the strat is the pickups...Joe uses Fralin Blues specials in goldie and i believe stock pickups on the clapton strat(which i believe is the ballsiest tone ive heard joe play with). ive gotten a fairly good Blues deluxe tone with my strat(62 reissue, Brazilain rosewood fretboard, jumbo frets, texas special pickups. I know, i know your all saying "Texas Specials are only good for stevie" you all could not be more wrong, ive gotten some incredible tones out of those pickups that arent anything like stevie. if you really distort the texas specials they get a really ballsy strat tone.) the one thing that you need to get right is the delay, joe uses it like reverb, it really makes a huge difference in tone and feel. I run a Marshall Valvestate 100, with a JCM 60's 4 12, its really sweet, the way to really push the gain over the edge is with a tubescreamer, it really works for me. but like i said you gotta get really good strat pickups and fool with the tone knobs on your guitar. its that and the delay thats really helped me.
hope my input has helped...remember a lot of tone is in the fingers and just the way you play, to get that loud screaming tone out of the strat you have to play it HARD, i mean like REALLY dig, even with lots of gain. goodluck man!
Conner
i almost forgot....at leasta 11 gauge strings and a heavy pick, if its hard to play fast with a heavy pick than youve gotta drill yourself to do it, it really makes a big difference. peace
Fender '62 reissue Stratocaster, 2001 Gibson Les Paul Studio(Stock), Marshall JCM900 100W Head, Original 1972 Carvin 4/12 Cabinet,Ibanez Ts9 Reissue, Keeley Compressor, Boss DD-3 Delay, Vox Wah