Lunch Report: Friday, April 15, 2011

Dateline: Friday, April 15, 2011 – Washington D. C., – Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced a Pentagon budget trimming plan that includes switching to G&L guitars for all of the military bands. Secy Gates added, “Not only will we save money, but the G&L guitars rock hard, and due to a previous Top Secret defense project in conjunction with Leo Fender, these G&L guitars are also secret weapons that add to our defense arsenal”.

3 scrambled eggs, home fries, and English muffin, cooked for me early this morning by Angelina Jolie before waking me up. (yeah, eggs & dreams)

Your Lunch Reporter for next week will be none other than MULEYA!!

G&L Topic: Most major brand USA guitars come with Alnico mag pups. Most popular aftermarket pups are Alnico mags. And there are now popular pups using other types of magnets, such as the Fender Samarium Cobalts. G&L on the other hand, has bucked this trend with the very popular ceramic mag MFD pups. While I’m no magnet guru, the only other reasonably popular pup using ceramic magnet is the PRS HFS. I’m sure there are a couple other examples, but that’s not what this is about. It’s about why you think Leo decided to use ceramic and why it’s so much more popular than other ceramic pups. Sure, ceramic mags are more powerful, but they’d be more powerful in other pups as well, and those are generally poopooed on. Other designs such as blades, or Carvin’s 22 pole piece, increase the area of the magnetic field, but most don’t like Carvin pups and I don’t see much praise for blade designs. MFDs only seem to be disliked by those who really want a vintage sounding pup. Personally, I don’t care if it sounds ‘vintagey’, I just want pups that sound great. And my ASAT Classic S doesn’t sound like a vintage Tele, or even a traditional Tele….it just sounds….great.

Non-G&L Topic: The last amp I sold was an original Fender Blues Deluxe that I bought in ’95 from Ray Hennig’s Heart of Texas Music in Austin, the same place where SRV bought his beat up #1. While I’ve had several great amps, this one would be my favorite stand alone amp. When they added the extra gain stage (Hot Rod series) it lost some of it’s great bluesy clean tone. Eventually, they read enough comments about it to reissue the original. Unheard of to reissue an amp after only about 8 years and it’s update cousin is still very popular and selling well. That should tell ya something. That amp made every guitar I plugged into it sound great. What is your favorite amp you’ve had or have, that sounds great with at least most of the guitars you tried it with, and by itself….no pedals, cabs, or anything?

Disclaimer: Actually I’m not hung up on Angelina…well, not since she took out all those Restraining Orders on me, anyway. I just figured everybody would know who she is.

FLOTD – An attempt at layering and interweaving several guitar parts…
http://www.kaneva.com/asset/assetDetails.aspx?assetId=5558520&communityId=0

G&L: A bit of useless trivia...Leo was an avid crafter and was deep, deep into the ceramics world. His yard was covered with garden gnomes in a veritable riot of colors and sizes. Having a large kiln at home was directly responsible for G&L choosing ceramic magnets for their guitars. Leo would 'cook up' a batch of pickup magnets whenever the need arose. Sort of a DIY JIT operation. Yeah, I have nothing on this.

Non-G&L: No amp can make my guitars sound great. The tone dies before it leaves my fingers. <sob> At least I'm realistic.

Great week, Jack! Good job!

Cermamic magnets, why did Leo use them? Well I think 1 was output. He got a new pickup design and wanted more output, partially, but I think he chose the higher output pickup so he needed to use less winding. Less winding typically = more spectrum (more winding = darker progressively). Ceramic magnets also track a bit faster, are tighter, sometimes percieved as harsher as they stop and go a bit faster. They have a slight mid range bump if I recall inherently too, so there is a more modern sound. Put it all together, then tweak it for a sweat sounding clean even though it is ceramic and Leo made magic. Ceramic magnets are a bit more popular in the metal community, for the greater tightness. Carvins 11 pole per coil I don't much care for. When I switch to a higher output, similar magnet, humbucker (Bare Knuckle) the result was a lot less string damping from the pickups, my sustain increased a lot. I think the expanded and different field causes more damping. There were obvious other sonic differences (drove much better, less jangly on cleans though, no mid scoop, better response, more open, more harmonics).

If you took a gander at the recording I posted you will hear my Mark V in action for all guitars. I think the tone on that thing is a monster, and others agree, at least no one has complained about it. The amp never lets me down, I like it, the amount of usable tones it has is staggering.


Interesting track, one thing I would suggest is to make the layers blend a little better try to tailor the EQs for each track, find out what it needs, remove some of the rest, boost other tracks in those removed spots (sort of giving everything its own space). The rhythm track is dominating by far.

yeah i was experimenting with mixing tracks...previous recordings tended to lose too much of the rhythm guitar so i made sure this one stayed prominent...but probably too much so...i wanted some of the lead lines subdued in the mix with others higher...i think if the rhythm was a tad lower, the mix would benefit overall...

Well, I have to say I'm a bit afraid to see those poll results! Being outed as a spy for Fender AND a domestic clod all at once is a bit much!! Anyway, thanks for the nomination...I'll do my best next week!!

I've never had ceramic pickups...well, I guess that's not quite true. The humbucker in the Surfcaster I described recently had a ceramic magnet in it. But I swapped it out with an Alnico pickup. To be honest, I'm a little afraid of them. Though having said that, I do really like the DiMarzio Super Distortion, which is a ceramic magnet. But I have no experience with MFDs. My uneducated guess is that Leo was wanting to maximize output in a single coil, and ceramic got him there??? Though I also like Dick's explanation!!

My amp of choice for the past few years has been a Marshall JVM 205 (the 2-channel, 50W version), which is hooked up to a 2x12 greenback loaded cab. It has great cleans, and a plethora of Marshall tones, from vintage to modern. It's not a JTM-45, Plexi or JCM 800, but considering it's versatility, it gets admirably close and goes well beyond. Between my friend and I, we've run a number of different styles of guitars through it, and they all sound great!

just try to steer clear of any guy who votes that you're 'kinda cute'....

I have 2 G&Ls and they both have mfd pickups. My 2 are my 1999 LE and a 1990 SC-3. On both of these guitars I find the pickups very smooth sounding and very even over the frequency spectrum. My Fender Stratocaster has alnico pickups, and the difference from mfds is that the alnicos definitely have more quack in the 2 and 4 positions.

My only good amp is a Swart AST, but I really don't play it that often since I mostly practice without plugging in. My other amps are a couple of solid state amps many times cheaper than the Swart. One of these, the Yamaha G50-112, I keep at my hobby band practice place.

Your recording with layering guitars sounds very cool. I personally would mix the lead lines with a bit more volume and the rhythm down a bit. I play with recording myself. I use a Fostex MR8 for recording raw tracks and I use a program on my PC to mix the tracks down. Here's a version of "For Your Love" that I recorded a few year ago shortly after I bought the MR8. When I listen to it I believe I have 7 layers of guitar tracks, one bass track, and a drum programmer track.

During the last minute of my recording there is an acoustic melody (actually an acoustic simulator on the J-Station) through the right channel. Bonus points for identifying the particular melody. A hint to identifying the song, borrowed from GDub's response yesterday, is "Bobby Darin."

Kit

Leo was a genius who loved pickups. He cared more about pickups than amps, guitar necks, finishes, cases, headstock shapes and what kind of mixed nuts were in the next can he was going to open.

In Leo's mind the big failing of traditional Fender Alnico pickups ( and all of the copies that have followed including the pickups in your Legacy) was the fact that the coils were split between North and South. The top half of the coil had a north pole and the bottom half had a South pole. Leo tried to address this in the Mustang bass pickup that had pole pieces twice the thickness of the coil!

A ceramic magnet under the whole coil was the better answer. Ergo MFD pickups!

Its OK to be hung up on Angelina Jolie. She does have a lot of kids to look after these days, so scheduling your tryst may be difficult.

I wonder if anyone has tried to mod a MFD with an Alnico mag??? The guys at the Duncan Forum are really into swapping magnets, trying various pickups with alternate A2, A3, A4, A5, A8 and ceramic. I never knew there were so many different types, and how they affected tone. It would be fun to experiment, but these days I'm more of a plug-and-play guy.

I think the Gotoh Blades are ceramic (one of my favorites!!!), and so are Gibson's 496R/500T pickups know as the "Hot Ceramics". You'll find these on Les Paul Classics and some Explorers and Flying Vs. They do sound good, but they do have insane output...perfect for driving the input of a BF Fender or a non-MV Marshall. I took them out of my LP Classics as they were just too hot for the high gain modes of my Mesas, but I did like the tones.

Well, one of the amps that I wish I had back was a Paul Rivera-designed Fender Super Champ with the EV Speaker. Bought it used from a guy for $65, back in the 1980's and I credit it with being the amp that got me back into tube amps after running my SS SUNN Solos II 212 combo for so many years. I took that SC to band practice and few times and ran it full up and the tone was glorious. The 1965 Deluxe Reverb I had also had great tone, but that amp always felt a lttle more fraglie to me than the Super Champ. My old 1965 Bandmaster was also a good amp, though I was pretty young then and didn't realize what I had until it was stolen. But the best of my vintage Fenders might have been my smooth blonde tolex covered 1964 BF Tremolux. It certainly met your criterie, as every guitar sounded great through it. Big tone at a manageable volume with only 35 watts pushing a closed back 210 cab. But it was simply mint condition and too pretty to take to a smoky bar gig. It really broke my heart when I had to sell it.

The JCM 800 combo I had sounded best when cranked, and it was finicky about the guitars I could use--and pedals, too. And like the Tremolux and Bandmaster, I missed not having reverb. I bought that Fender 75 head, and it was channel-switching, and it did have reverb and that Fender sound; but I was still not satisfied. Not a fun thing when you have a bunch of amps that aren't really doing the job. The Super Cham and the DR were really too small for the band I was in; the Tremolux too pretty; but neither the Marshall or the Fender 75 were hitting it right.

But man, things changed when I discovered a Mesa Mark III head in a pawnshop. The guy thought it sa a .50 Caliber model and sold it to me for the unbelievable price of $450--this was about 1995-96. Great price, especially when I realized that it is one of the highly coveted 200-watt Coliseum heads--very rare. A few days later, I found a Mesa 412 Half-back cab with C90s in the top and EVMs in the bottom. The cab was pretty beat, but I repaired the tolex and cleaned it up. It was the perfect amp for me at that time. I usually use it on the 1/2 power (75 watts-2X6L6) setting--with the full six tubes, the amp is just tremendously dynamic. Notes just EXPLODE out of the amp. Incredible headroom and punch. It likes to be played right at about 3 on the Master Volume, anything louder will rip your pant legs to shreds.

My playing got a lot better and I started getting compliments on my playing and my sound--which pissed off the other guitarist no end. After all he was the "Lead Guitarist", whlie I was only rhythm. The band did get louder, as his ego got in the way; but I pushed back--and his 5150 just didn't have the tone of the Mark III. He finally sold the Peavey, and bought a small combo--a red-knob Fender Super 60 112...and then tried to convince me that I didn't need the halfstack. I just smiled and said I didn't have any money, so the halfstack would have to stay--and stay it did.

It is still a wonderful amp, though I usually only play it anymore for outdoor festivals. And to tell the truth, I now have six Mesa amps, and I love them all. The Mark IIIs (halfstack and two combos) are pretty much plug and play. Stay in the recommended sweet spots, and you are guaranteed good tone. The Mark IV 112 EVM combo is what I now use the most with my band. Mark IVs are a bit more finicky than Mark IIIs, and they have many more options in the power amp section that affect the feel and output of the amp. But when it is right, it is really good. I use the 35-watt DC-3 112 V30 combo for jams and open mics in small rooms or for practice session. I did use this a couple times with my old band and it worked great; and I used it once outdoors with my new band where I had to really crank it, and of course, it sounded awesome.

I actually have two Mesa Maverick 212 combos, though I am going sell one. The Mav is 30-watts Class A, kind of a modern take on a AC-30-meets-Mesa. Great sounding amp, another "every guitar sounds great" amp. I like using the Mesa 112 EVM Theile cabs under the 112 Mark and DC-3 combos; and what works extremely well with the Maverick is a 212 Horizontal Recto cab under the Mav. It's a very manageble half stack, and the Recto 212 and a lot of low-end grunt to the Mesa. If I set it right, with a Les Paul, I can nail that Dickey/Duane Plexi tone that I love so much--AND, like most Mesas, I can quickly get that liquid, sustained Santana tone.

I am SO blessed to have such great amps. It can be hard to decide which one to take to the gig--and sometimes, I want to take them all!

Good job this week, Jaxx.

Bill

Geez Bill, thats a lot of Boogies!

I recently bought a new amp which is the best one I have ever used - a new production Supro Dual Tone. Its a rehoused Zinky Blue Velvet. 25 watts, 12" Eminence speaker, 2 EL84 power tubes, spring reverb - everything you could need in an amp. Bruce Zinky, the designer and maker of these amps, worked for Fender for a while designing some of their best loved amps before going out on his own. I used it at a gig last night and I've never had such a good sound. It's forced me to do some herd thinning and I'll be getting rid of my Ampeg J20 and Ceriatone 5E3 clone this weekend Those amps have done me well over the last year or so, but the Supro wipes the floor with them.

I'm beginning to sound like a broken record on the topic of pickups, but here goes. I'm addicted to replacing them. It's Bill Lawrence's fault. They are simply amazing pickups. His newest ones use neodymium (spelling?) magnets. I'm not sure what the others use but they're all good. I've tried a lot of those vintage correct A3 magnet pickups and they feel weak - I prefer more output in my pickups.

Great week Jaxx. Really looking forward to Muleya's stint next week.

thanx for all the responses, info, and compliments, guys....
hope ya'll enjoyed my reports as much as i enjoyed writing them...