Comparing me 1999 GbL LE and my 1991 SC-3

Last week yowhatsshakin's lunch report asked about people's opinion on pre-BBE versus BBE instruments. I have a GbL LE from 1999 and an SC-3 from 1991, but I have never played them side-by-side for a comparison. This last Sunday I did exactly that.

Both guitars have S500 pickup set, but honestly I don't know if the mfds from 1991 would be the same as mfds from 1999. The LE has a toggle to combine bridge and neck, or even all 3 pickups. The SC-3 does not have such wiring so I can't compare for those settings. The LE is semi-hollow mahogany body and the SC-3 is solid maple. The necks and fretboards are more similar, with ebony board on the LE and rosewood on the SC-3.

For testing I played through my Swart AST, I played them both clean, and then I tried them both with tremolo or reverb on to see if that makes much difference. I played each guitar on each of the pickup positions back to back, occasionally switching more than once just to verify that I'm getting my impressions correct. I found the SC-3 tone to be more pure and focused, it seems to have very little overtone, and I would describe the tone to be mid-emphasized. The LE, on the other hand, has more overtones to its sound, and the sound has more 'air' to my ears. The LE has a bit more high frequency component to its tone, and, surprisingly, significantly more bass to its tone compared to the SC-3. Other than those differences I found both guitars to perform equally well in pickup positions 1, 3, and 5. For positions 2 and 4 I hear more quack from the LE than the SC-3; but in even those cases I'm not talking a lot of quack. May be that's just the nature of the ceramic mfds. Both guitars love the tremolo and reverb on the Swart, although playing without effects sounds great already. I personally prefer the more pure frequency tone of the SC-3. But that is just my personal preference, plus I can see situations where the overtone-loaded sound of the LE can fit very well. Bottom line is, I love both guitars and I am happy to have both

Good info Kit, what it means to me is if you ever go to the studio, you do the rhythm wit hthe LE and the leads with the SC-3 and it will cut like nobodies business. Sounds like they are quite complimentary.

...For positions 2 and 4 I hear more quack from the LE than the SC-3; but in even those cases I'm not talking a lot of quack. May be that's just the nature of the ceramic mfds...

Turning down some bass gets more quack for me on my S500 with MFD's, especially on wound strings.

Thanks for the report Kit.

I'd imagine the 'air' and extra bass in the LE would be because its a hollow body, that something I've noticed in my own guitars. The eight year difference in age might have something to do with it too as the magnets in the pickups will have de-Gaussed somewhat more on the SC-3. The pickups on my '97 ASAT have a noticeably 'sweeter' sound than on my '08.

I've come to the same conclusion when A/B'ing my guitars - they're all good!!!

Thanks Kit. Wasn't aware I actually inspired at least one person to do A/B testing. Guess you had a fun Sunday!

- Jos