Dear Joe...

Hello Logan. 
         I think the Fender / Marshall thing is great.  I use a hybrid version on that.  Marshall/Two Rock/ Dumble/ Carol Ann/ Van Weelden..  Its Marshall/Fender based Basically.  Thats a no brainer.  On your Strat.  Im a fan of the maple neck strats.  In the right hands they sound warmer yes warmer than rosewood IMHO.  I would start by modifying yours so the bottom tone knob works with the lead pick up.  That will open up a new world for you.  You can get very dark lead tones from doing this.  Its a one wire mod.  Id buy a Les Paul too.  Get a plain top historic.  They are the best bang for the buck right now.  I find the Gibson a better guitar for lead.  Just make sure in picking out a Les Paul that its a good one.  Heres the litmus test..... play the low strings.  then play the high strings.  There shouldnt be a huge frequency change in the tone.  I know Low to High..  But the good ones dont change.  You dont want one thats too bright.  Thats the worst. They are firewood in the winter..   As far as scales.  I use alot of hybid combinations.  Pentatonic/ Myxolydian ect.  Its all about feel and the connection with your audience. Theres no scale for that.  Just play with the more soul and fire/ bad intentions you can.    Its also about what works for you. Pedals...... I dont use many.. heres my board.  DD 3 boss delay.  TS 808 reissue Tube Screamer.  Gas Pedal.  Vox wah..  TC Chorus and Boss Reverb on the Carol Ann/ Van Weelden only. 
Thanks hope its helpful
Joe Bonamassa

Yeah, answered in less than an hour! Logo33, you must be smiling.

I totally agree with you Joe about maple over rosewood necks for Strats-far warmer and more diverse also..."bad intentions", now THAT is a totally cool motivational speech!!!

Rock On & Keep the Faith,
Rocket

Oh yeah welcome aboard new guys

"He still doesn't charge for mistakes! "
http://jbonamassa.com/tour-dates/
"Everybody wants ta get inta the act!"
“Now, this isn’t your ordinary party crowd, here.  I mean, there are professionals in here.”

My favorite part of the whole post.

PC

I meant to say " Just Play with the most fire and bad intentions"  That will trump anything gear or scale or anything else techincal.  IMHO. 
Joe Bonamassa

that was a good one joe.
I remember the HTCT tour where there were two full pedal boards and some hanging off the side.  I was thinking how is his signal still good? I thought it was shanannagans reminiscent of when Kiss used to have a wall of Marshall cabinets with no speakers in them. I know you've downsized since then. At first I thought I read "Pedals...... I dont use ANY" - I almost laughed out loud at the sarcasm.

Logan-

yeah dude if you are contemplating a 2x12 Marshall cab, I'd say play it next to a 4x12 - there is a big difference. 4x12's really fill up a room better and add (what I like to call) "meat" to your tone. I have a 55watt Rivera 1x12 combo, when I unplug the combo speakers and go into my Marshall 4x12 - its a completely different animal! It is crazy.

With what you were saying about scales, I learned the blues (pentatonics) first. I dont think I should have. The Diatonics have more notes, and if I'd have learned them first, blues would've been considered more simple. One things Im trying to is sing or (bah'bah'bum') my solos and then play what I just sang. That or sing along with my solos....it helps where I am (and my ear) and challenges me to find where I want to go but cannot find on my guitar.

Rock on with your socks on!

I just learned what IMHO is...thanks to acronym research...IMHO.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping.

I find scales are a bad way to learn, when taken too seriously. Being able to run up and down a mixolydian scale should only be a means for improving accuracy and speed. Most of my own playing (bear in mind I only play by myself or jam with friends) is based on pentatonic scales, and I find them perfectly capable for anything the blues asks of a guitarist. Rather than expanding my playing with other scales as such, it's often nicer to get a feel of how other notes influence the scales you are already playing. Look at the impact Santana makes with the use of the 6# ontop of a pentatonic scale. It can be quite nice to run through a 4b in a blues solo, especially during the V chord in a 12 bar. Now combined those (4b 6#)into a run, C F F# G A C and you have a common opener to blues numbers (Blues Deluxe for one, Have You Ever Loved A Woman). Now god knows what scale this is, Locrian#2 or something with a flat 4th, but it sounds beautiful, but essentially we have come across a complex musical scale by adapting our existing pentatonic scale with more colourful notes.

The  1960A cabinet can be mono 4x12 or stereo two 2x12's. Joe used to have two marshall heads plugged into one cab. The Marshall 4x12 is like the "gateway drug" into more and higher end speakers totally upgradable while the stock celestions are still a step above the similar competition. As long as the ohms line up you can put a marshall combo amp through the cab 2x12 and the Fender through the cab 2x12  by using the stereo switch.

while the 2x12 offers a different sound than all 4 12's...there is room for experimentation and fun.

experiment and have fun with it!

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping.