Help picking out a G&L

[skipster]

So far i'm more than impressed by all the innovations that Leo made since his Fender days. If i had to pick a G&L i'd surely pick the USA legacy because of the way it looks and because i've heard it has the most classic sounds. I've tried the G&L next to the fender deluxe 2010, and G&L simply blew Fender out of the water (I tried both instruments at a low volume on a regular sized amp).
Next I compared my G&L to my current strat. I hope i don't offend anyone but... I'm a little disappointed; not in the craftsmanship or the look or feel of G&L guitars, (all of that blew me away). I even love the PTB tone circuit. It just isn't vintage sounding! It sounds great, just not like a traditional strat. It seemed very bass and middle oriented, and there was high end, but the high end was very clean. Call me crazy; maybe it was the amp i was using or something, but the pickups sound much smoother than my current fender CS 69 pickups. I'm certainly not here to criticize G&L but merely ask other people's opinions and advice. I normally play a Fender Custom player 60's strat through a Fender blues junior, (I try to get Jimi Hendrix, or Jeff Beck tones). It's only recently that i've discovered G&L. My main question is: Could i get vintage sounds out of a G&L U.S.A. made Legacy? Could it perhaps be that I didn't turn the store amp loud enough? I normally turn the pre amp on my home amplifier all the way up, perhaps this is the reason for getting the classic sound. From all of your experiences does the G&L Legacy sound vintage? I do want to buy a G&L, i'd be a little disappointed if i had to go back to fender.
Sincerly,
Skip
P.S.
please don't get mad or remove this because it sounds like i'm putting down G&L. I'm impressed by just about everything from G&L, I'm just looking for something somewhat specific.

[Philby]

Unfortunately I don't have a G&L Legacy, but I do have a Blues Junior. When you crank the preamp on the BJ, all the top end is crushed and is replaced by thick, gooey mids. That might be happening to you, and would account for the loss of some sparkle. FWIW, the best settings I've found for getting classic Fender cleans out of a BJ are Treble 3-4: Mid 4-6 and bass 7-9. Make sure the FAT switch is off, though you could leave it on at really low volumes. Set the preamp gain to about 4-5 and then crank the master volume. All the goodness in a BJ is in driving the output tubes IMHO.

Having said that, I've played a Fender Custom Player 60's (sonic blue with a mint green guard) through a Blues Junior and that particular guitar sounded superb. I would have bought it if I had the money. The CS69 pickups are beautiful and organic sounding. If I had to guess at a reason why your G&L doesn't sound quite like the strat it would be (a) the pickups and (b) the PTB tone system. A lot of vintage purists don't like the PTB, hence the reason for the Fullerton Legacy which has traditional strat wiring. See if you can try out a Fullerton model. The G&L will be much better built than a Fender. Even if a Fullerton doesn't quite get you there for tone, you could easily drop some CS69 or 57/62 pickups in it.

Hope that helps.

[blargfromouterspace]

Amps sound crappy at low volume, and it's waaaaaaaaay to hard to tell differences between guitars when the amp is messing up the sound. Go back to the store and wind that sucker up to the level you play at home and compare them again.

Like Philby has said, you can always change the pickups and electronics to the traditional - it wouldn't cost much at all either.

[Miles Smiles]

Next I compared my G&L to my current strat.

On the same amp or just with your memories?

I've got a Legacy, and compared with my other strats, a Hohner ST59 with Fender Texas Special pickups and a very good sounding Squier 50s CV with original pus, the legacy has the most classic sound and is for sure not bass oriented.

Some time ago, when I bought the Squier, I made some comparisions.
These are pretty boring examples, I did just strumm some chords. Each chord is strummed twice, then the guitar changes. All samples are done with the same cable and for sure its the same amp, because I recorded without amp with a Line6 Pod Xt and the simulation is done on the PC by the Line6 Soundfarm plugin.

The file names are in German I cannot change them, but you may simply click on the urls to play them:

1. Neck (Stratvergleich-Hals.mp3)
2. Neck-middle (Stratvergleich-HalsMitte.mp3)
3. Middle (Stratvergleich-Mitte.mp3)
4. Middle-bridge (Stratvergleich-MittesSteg.mp3)
5. Bridge (Stratvergleich-Steg.mp3)

So, always first is the Squier CV, then the G&L Legacy and at last the Hohner with the Fender Texas Specials. The squier got some modifications: a new Tremolo with a steel block, a new switch and new controls. Pickups are the original alnicos. The Legacy is all original except some Schaller locking tuners, which will probably not be heard.

The Legacy has been build in 1994, but there's not much difference how they are constructed now, I guess. Except the 3 point neck joint of course.

There are some pictures from that guitars too:
http://i.wuell.net/gallery/view_album.p ... =GL-Legacy
http://i.wuell.net/gallery/view_album.p ... ame=Squier
http://i.wuell.net/gallery/view_album.p ... ohner-ST59

[skipster]

On the same amp or just with your memories?

I compared them off of memory. Thank you for all the support and help finding an answer.

[skipster]

If one wanted a more traditional strat tone (60's, jimi hendrix or jeff beck tone) With the same bite that a pre cbs guitar would have. Would it make sense to swap out the pots? I know that the PTB has a 250k volume, 500k treble, and 1m bass. If i'm not mistaken, this changes the tone. What would give a person the most classic vintage tone while still keeping PTB? does it make a difference? Would it be safe to swap out the pots? lemme know.

[blargfromouterspace]

You would get a different effect by altering the values of the pots and keeping the PTB. While it would be safe, I would imagine that it would suck. The pots and capacitors are filters and changing the value of either of them will change what frequencies are filtered out.