Hello and help!

[Gos]

Hey all. I'm a new G&L owner and new to forums. Please pardon me in advance if I ask any dumb questions, and feel free to assist me on forum etiquette.

I just bought a 2012 Legacy, an upgrade from the Strat I've played for over 10 years. Having some issues and I'd appreciate some feedback. Pickups are the stock Alnico single coils. I'm finding the tone is considerably mellower than my Strat, less of that classic single coil bite and twang, and my volume is lower overall. The honk of the position between bridge and body pickups is somewhat lacking. Similarly, I'm finding my amp overdrive, and o/d & fuzz pedals aren't reacting as anticipated. It feels like they just make my signal louder and noisier and don't give me that tasty breaking-up I'm used to. I realize it's not my old Strat and maybe I just need to take the time and find the sweet spots.

I bought this guitar with the expectation that it would be like my Strat only way better. In some ways it is -- it's got great playability and feel, and I LOOOOOOVE that trem. And the pickups definitely have a unique clarity to them. But I'm frustrated that I can't quite dial in the tone I'm looking for (I play surf rock, btw). Could there be something wrong with the pickups, any known issues? Could it be as simple as a height adjustment? Is that just the G&L sound, and I'm barking up the wrong tree? Anyone have suggested EQ settings for a Hot Rod Deluxe, or recommendations on pedals (o/d, boost, compressor)?

If it helps, my current setup is: Boss tuner, Whammy 4, Boss OS-2, Pro Co Rat 2, Danelectro Tuna Melt Trem, Boss Leslie sim, Ibanez AD9 analog delay, Boss DD6 digital delay, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I realize that's a long chain but I assure you I am not simply experiencing monster tone suck. If that was the case, presumably I would have the same problem with my Strat (which I don't).

Thanks!

[louis cyfer]

the tone controls operate totally different from a strat. read the manual, and play around with them. what pups did you have in your strat?

btw, it's not that it's a long effects chain (mine is a lot longer), but mostly non true bypass, pedals with very poor buffer circuits, and adding them together causes all kinds of issues.

[Philby]

Hi Gos and welcome.

I have a G&L Legacy with stock pickups and a couple of strats - one US and one Japanese. As Louis says, the PTB tone controls on the Legacy work totally differently to the 2 tones on a strat. With the PTB you'll have to make adjustments for each pickup position as it is a master treble/bass arrangement. My Legacy pickups are on the wiry/zingy side compared to my strats. I usually start off with the treble and bass both on 5 and adjust the treble from there. I generally add bass only on the bridge pickup to fatten it up a touch.

The output of my Legacy is noticeably lower than my strats. I play the Legacy through a clean boost pedal which bumps the volume up enough to compete with my other single coil guitars.

Hope you get your tones dialled in eventually. The Legacy is a great instrument, just slightly different to what you're used to.

[helle-man]

Raise your pickups as high as possible and see if that helps.

[Gos]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I never realized the tone controls were so totally different on G&L pickups! That will take some getting used to. I took helle-man's advice and raised the heights on the pickup screws. But does anyone know if the individual poles can be adjusted (or if they even should be)? Am also researching boost pedals and would be glad for any recommendations on that.

I'm comparing this to stock pickups in a Mexican Strat, circa 1998. Doubtless that will bring out a few corksniffers, but they have as much chime, twang, bite, and as wide a range as any Strat I've ever played. The time came to buy a 2nd guitar and I decided an upgrade was in order. I was really taken with the clarity of the G&L pickups in the shop and the smoothness of the trem. I assumed I could get the same grit out of the G&L as my Strat only with the added dimension of more clarity. So it was surprising when I finally got to rip into this guitar at gig volume to find the G&L doesn't break up the way I expected it would. I will remind myself that this is a different instrument and I will have to reconfigure some gear and playing mentality accordingly. But again, suggestions welcome on how to get more bite and heat out of this bad boy.