I get a great maiden sound out of my strat (Phantom, Aces, 2mins etc). I use a mashall jackhammer distortion pedal, touch of reverb, & the secret weapon, a pitch shifter (very different to chorus). If used correctly a pitch shifter is awesome for thicking sounds, what I do is send the right channel down a 10th of a semitone & the left up a 10th. I am not a great lover of expensive guitars, look at it his way man went to the moon on technology that was weaker than a scientific calculator which was placed in a washing machine, but look at the pc's we have today. The same is for guitars on the whole £250 get's you a great guitar. I am sure many of the older players would agree that us babies are very spoilt for choice. SO on that note, just think of how many FX units are out there, today you can get almost any sound these units & of course you ears. However the only sound that I think a strat just can't get, or any other guitar for that matter is the gibson SG, if I ever get rich I am going to by me a few of these. See YA phil