AkiraSpectrum
Well-Known Member
Just grabbed a Limited Edition (FSR) Fender American Pro II HSS Stratocaster w/ Rosewood Neck in Sonic Blue [exclusive to Canada and parts of Europe I believe].
Tried it out in a local music store (L&M) and fell in love with it. Because I already had a Fender AmPro version 1 with a roasted maple neck I had to decide between the two, and while both are fantastic, this AmPro II squeaked out a win, so I sold my previous FSR Fender AmPro Roasted Maple Strat HSS to fund this one. Luckily I still have a FSR Fender AmPro Tele with roasted maple neck, so I still have a guitar with that beautiful look.
QC on this one is 100% perfect from what I can tell. Not a single issue that I could find, even the frets were perfectly polished. Nut seems cut really well and the trem is smooth and stays in tune wonderfully.
What's the difference between the roasted maple vs. rosewood necks?
While I can't say what sound differences are attributable to the necks and what is attributable to the pickups (slightly different pickups--although the single coils are very very similar), I would say that the Roasted Maple lends a more 'focused/narrow' sound spectrum, with a lot of high-mid and 'crunchiness/crispness'. The Rosewood neck is kind of the opposite in that its more 'broad/full/wide' in the frequency spectrum, more mids, more low-mid, more highs even, but a lot less of that 'high-mid / crunch '.
Both sound great and feel great. Can't go wrong with either. I do really dig the feel of the rosewood neck.
Heel:
Honestly, the shaved away /sculpted heel on the AmPro II makes playing in the higher register significantly more pleasant. With the traditional square heel, it was easy to jam your hand on the corner when going up for a quick solo in the higher area of the fretboard, but the AmPro II sculpted heel, as seemingly insignificant as it may seem, makes for a significantly more comfortable experience. Obviously Fender has used this heel sculpt before, but its definitely a welcome feature in my book.
Pickups Singles:
The V-Mod II pickups are similar to the original mkI versions and I can honestly say I don't notice a huge difference, but there are probably more mids on the II's and more high-mids on the I's.
Pickups Humbucker Shawbucker vs. V-Mod II Double-Tap:
For me, this is an easy one, V-MII Double-Tap is the winner (largely due to the awesome coil-split). Both humbuckers are similar in EQ (big, thick, fat low-mids ; scooped mids ; big treble). The VMII Double-Tap Strat humbucker is different than the regular Double-Tap in that it uses an A5 magnet instead of the A4 like you'd find on the Performer Series, or an A2 like the Ultra Series.
Without question though, the VMII Double-Tap in coil-tap mode is THE BEST coil-tap I've ever heard by a mile. While I've always found coil-taps cool and fun, I've never found them to really satisfy the single-coil sound. They always sound 'dead' and 'lifeless', and when transitioning from humbucker mode to single-coil you usually lose a bunch of volume, so going back and forth in a live setting just seems largely impractical....NOT ANYMORE... I wont say the Double-Tap in single-coil mode sounds 100% like a single-coil but it is very very close, and you don't get that huge volume drop either. VERY IMPRESSED. I can't ever imagine having an HSS strat without a Double-Tap in there to be honest (or that same tech employed at least).
Pics:
Tried it out in a local music store (L&M) and fell in love with it. Because I already had a Fender AmPro version 1 with a roasted maple neck I had to decide between the two, and while both are fantastic, this AmPro II squeaked out a win, so I sold my previous FSR Fender AmPro Roasted Maple Strat HSS to fund this one. Luckily I still have a FSR Fender AmPro Tele with roasted maple neck, so I still have a guitar with that beautiful look.
QC on this one is 100% perfect from what I can tell. Not a single issue that I could find, even the frets were perfectly polished. Nut seems cut really well and the trem is smooth and stays in tune wonderfully.
What's the difference between the roasted maple vs. rosewood necks?
While I can't say what sound differences are attributable to the necks and what is attributable to the pickups (slightly different pickups--although the single coils are very very similar), I would say that the Roasted Maple lends a more 'focused/narrow' sound spectrum, with a lot of high-mid and 'crunchiness/crispness'. The Rosewood neck is kind of the opposite in that its more 'broad/full/wide' in the frequency spectrum, more mids, more low-mid, more highs even, but a lot less of that 'high-mid / crunch '.
Both sound great and feel great. Can't go wrong with either. I do really dig the feel of the rosewood neck.
Heel:
Honestly, the shaved away /sculpted heel on the AmPro II makes playing in the higher register significantly more pleasant. With the traditional square heel, it was easy to jam your hand on the corner when going up for a quick solo in the higher area of the fretboard, but the AmPro II sculpted heel, as seemingly insignificant as it may seem, makes for a significantly more comfortable experience. Obviously Fender has used this heel sculpt before, but its definitely a welcome feature in my book.
Pickups Singles:
The V-Mod II pickups are similar to the original mkI versions and I can honestly say I don't notice a huge difference, but there are probably more mids on the II's and more high-mids on the I's.
Pickups Humbucker Shawbucker vs. V-Mod II Double-Tap:
For me, this is an easy one, V-MII Double-Tap is the winner (largely due to the awesome coil-split). Both humbuckers are similar in EQ (big, thick, fat low-mids ; scooped mids ; big treble). The VMII Double-Tap Strat humbucker is different than the regular Double-Tap in that it uses an A5 magnet instead of the A4 like you'd find on the Performer Series, or an A2 like the Ultra Series.
Without question though, the VMII Double-Tap in coil-tap mode is THE BEST coil-tap I've ever heard by a mile. While I've always found coil-taps cool and fun, I've never found them to really satisfy the single-coil sound. They always sound 'dead' and 'lifeless', and when transitioning from humbucker mode to single-coil you usually lose a bunch of volume, so going back and forth in a live setting just seems largely impractical....NOT ANYMORE... I wont say the Double-Tap in single-coil mode sounds 100% like a single-coil but it is very very close, and you don't get that huge volume drop either. VERY IMPRESSED. I can't ever imagine having an HSS strat without a Double-Tap in there to be honest (or that same tech employed at least).
Pics:
congrats.
