Tuesday Lunch Report 3/19/2013

[Sprinter 92]

Lunch: Two grilled chicken wraps.

G&L's, 80's era super-strats don't get a lot of attention on this forum. In my opinion G&L made some of the best. Today's photos are my Rampage & Invader:



I've been looking for a matching Superhawk to complete the trio. The Rampage is a restoration project that is nearly completed.

I also have a late 80's Interceptor project guitar:




Tube Amplifiers: When buying tubes for your amp, do you buy vintage NOS American and European made tubes or do you buy modern Russian made tubes? Do you think there is a real difference between modern and NOS tubes?

I do both. I always use NOS tubes in my vintage Fender amps. My newer amps get JJ tubes.

Here are my amps:



They are: '56 Princeton, '71 Princeton Reverb with a Bogner 1x12" extension cab, '97 Top Hat Club Royale & Peavey Delta Blues


Tomorrow, I'll share a picture of my bass. I also have a question tomorrow regarding the saddle lock and dual fulcrum bridges. We'll also talk about my other hobby which is in the photo below:

[darwinohm]

Steve, I had leftover ham and bean soup that Ginny made when I was gone on Saturday. It was great.

I do not have any 80s G&Ls but there is no doubt that they are superb instruments. I like the resto on the Rampage and it should be sweet when finished.

Your amps are very nice, and a great assortment. Some of these smaller tube amps are incredible. I was going to post a picture of my Valve Train and Spring Thing and just realized I am on a temporary laptop as I am trying to get the hard drive replaced on my Mac. I may be getting a new Mac and that will certainly put the damper on the Invader that I have been eyeing. -- Darwin

[blargfromouterspace]

Great collection Steve. I'm not generally a fan of superstrats any more (used to love them when I was into metal in a big way), but I do like the look of G&L ones, especially the Rampage. Strangely, I dreamed that someone installed a Kahler bridge on one of my ASATs last night

I'm not fussed with tubes. I hear little difference.

[gitman001]

Hey Steve,

You have a very fine collection of gear indeed!

I just ordered a new set of KT66's for my Dr Z today.... I had one short out before the St. Pattys day gig on Sunday night.... It was quite the fireworks show inside that little glass bottle let me tell ya! I have yet to try NOS tubes... I am sure the new ones get pretty darn close!

Have a good night
Scott

[KenC]

Strangely, I dreamed that someone installed a Kahler bridge on one of my ASATs last night

Jamie,

If that person shows up again tonight, be sure to thank him:



I don't understand why Kahlers get such a bad rap around here. I'm not big on whammy bars, but I really appreciate the fine tuning capability. Neither of my Kahler-equipped G&Ls are lacking in tone compared to their DFV or SaddleLock counterparts.

Ken

[KenC]

I've been looking for a matching Superhawk to complete the trio. The Rampage is a restoration project that is nearly completed.

I was wondering why your Marketplace ad was so specific about it being red. Makes sense to me now! I'm not holding out any hope for finding an original Rampage at a decent price, but I would like to find an Invader eventually. I've passed on a couple of black ones so far. I really like how they look in red or pink, so I'm holding out for either of those to show up.

That Rampage will be great when you're done. What work has gone into it so far?

They are: '56 Princeton, '71 Princeton Reverb with a Bogner 1x12" extension cab, '97 Top Hat Club Royale & Peavey Delta Blues

Do you have a preference for amps with your SuperStrats? Strangely, I've preferred my Jazz Chorus with the Superhawk. Maybe I'm not running the best settings on my tube amps...

Ken

[Sprinter 92]

That Rampage will be great when you're done. What work has gone into it so far?

The body was poorly painted with a rattle can when I got the guitar. Thankfully the headstock was untouched! I took the body to Seuf's Guitar Repair in Kansas City to be stripped and refinished. When they stripped the paint they discovered that someone had started to carve out a neck pickup cavity. They didn't finish the route and had filled it in with wall spackle. Seuf's straightened out the hole and installed a maple plug. They refinished the body and then aged it to match the neck. The original pickup, pot and cavity cover were missing when I got the guitar. I tracked down the correct pieces for it. I'm still looking for an original copper ground plate and a correct knob. My total investment so far is $600.

Do you have a preference for amps with your SuperStrats? Strangely, I've preferred my Jazz Chorus with the Superhawk. Maybe I'm not running the best settings on my tube amps...

I use the '71 Princeton Reverb most of the time. For overdrive I use a MXR M-66 overdrive pedal.

[Skyhawk]

I own two F-100s and I think they are great guitars.

I'm kind of with you on the amp tubes. I have a champ and NOS tubes are not that expensive to buy for so I go with those if possible. Yes, I do think there is a difference in sound. With my Carvin vintage nomad I have gone with the JJ tubes. I owned a Carvin Belaire years ago and retubed it with JJs, and personally I thought it sounded better with the original tubes Carvin had put into their amps. I think the Carvin tubes were made in China.
skyhawk

[Boogie Bill]

I love your G&Ls. I don't have any Leo-era gits...just my BBEs and my MM Sabre IIs. I'm sorry now I didn't invest in them back in the day, but I was so in love with my Sabres, I didn't really need one.

But I do have my AD that is a twin of your 3CSB...but mine has a DFV. I would love to hear them side by side.

I stick to new production tubes. My oldest Mesa is circa 1986, so nothing vintage. And, there's too many scams in the NOS market.

Bill

[louis cyfer]

Hey Steve,

You have a very fine collection of gear indeed!

I just ordered a new set of KT66's for my Dr Z today.... I had one short out before the St. Pattys day gig on Sunday night.... It was quite the fireworks show inside that little glass bottle let me tell ya! I have yet to try NOS tubes... I am sure the new ones get pretty darn close!

Have a good night
Scott

the nos tubes have a lot of advantages. they last a lot longer, i am talking about 10 times or more. the materials and methods used on those old tubes are no longer possible because of environmental and work safety laws. so, no new tube will be the quality of the nos ones. the newer amps that were designed for new tubes are not gonna sound significantly different, but on my old amps i really notice it. i prefer the telefunken pre amp tubes and old rca and ge power amp tubes in my vintage stuff.

[gitman001]

Hey Steve,

You have a very fine collection of gear indeed!

I just ordered a new set of KT66's for my Dr Z today.... I had one short out before the St. Pattys day gig on Sunday night.... It was quite the fireworks show inside that little glass bottle let me tell ya! I have yet to try NOS tubes... I am sure the new ones get pretty darn close!

Have a good night
Scott

the nos tubes have a lot of advantages. they last a lot longer, i am talking about 10 times or more. the materials and methods used on those old tubes are no longer possible because of environmental and work safety laws. so, no new tube will be the quality of the nos ones. the newer amps that were designed for new tubes are not gonna sound significantly different, but on my old amps i really notice it. i prefer the telefunken pre amp tubes and old rca and ge power amp tubes in my vintage stuff.

Great Info Louis. Makes total sense.
Scott

[westsideduck]

None of the leo era guitars get much attention here since the changeover, G&L basicly got what they wanted with the new format, out with the old time leo fanantics and in with the new guys playing newer G&L's.

Darwin, what's taking you so long to try a Leo era guitar? I promise you will get hooked, or is that what you're afriad of?!!!

I don't use any newly manufactured tubes, I have quite the collection of old tubes and Louis is right, they just don't make em like that anymore. If you don't use old tubes you have to try them. If you're scared off by the sometimes crazy high prices of NOS try used strong testing tubes for half the price, they will still out perform and out last the new tubes.

[darwinohm]

Duck, I will have a Leo era at some point. There is a bass that keeps showing up on CL that is tempting!

I agree with Louis on nos tubes. I recently traded a 1966 Fender Bassman that still had the original tubes in it and it sounded fine.--Darwin

[Elwood]

None of the leo era guitars get much attention here since the changeover, G&L basicly got what they wanted with the new format, out with the old time leo fanantics and in with the new guys playing newer G&L's.

What? I don't see it that way...sounds to me like a grape went sour.
(that's be a nice finish color...sour grape ?

[Elwood]

That's a nice trio of Super G&L's, the interceptor looks like it could be close.
Are you going to leave it white?

Did you see that adulterated rampage on ebay...it was just above 150 last time I checked?
The fingerboard on that one is a lighter rosewood, not real common...though it's hard to beat ebony if your
going dark.

I'm a little intrigued by the wiring in the blue ASAT. What have you figured out about it so far?...or let us know when you do, maybe there's some cool wiring trick that can be used in the future .

I have just begun to get my feet wet with tube swapping
(don't worry, I have a thick rubber mat)

There can be a world of difference between them, I appreciate the sound advice about the NOS/older tubes.
So far the coolest sounding pre-tube I've encountered is an old telefunken ecc83 that must be on some sort of it's last legs. It fires up really bright when I power up, then settles down to a nice low glow.
I often leave it on all day if I'm going to playing throughout the day

elwood

[sirmyghin]

Nice amps you got there. I don't bother with NOS tubes, but I don't bother with much in terms of tubes as I don't feel like playing when my amp is still under warranty to mesa (therefore bound to their tubes if I would like to keep it that way).

I love me super strats, preferably with a lot more change in contour and access than G&L does though, they still have a lot of the failings I see in the strat design. Lower horn areas are too small, and that they could feel a bit less planky. Not that these every stop me from playing them, but I would sooner strap on a JP or a PRS to my ASAT, or C66 for a reason, overall comfort. The ASAT still gets is turn, but the C66 (a run of the mill standard shaped super strat) has lived in its case for the last 8 weeks. Its only saving grace is having a floyd really, otherwise it is outclassed in every department, by multiple other things. The ASAT, at least, has a unique sound and can keep the pace, despite hanging a little flat.

A bit of a tangent there, but I feel a lot of the older shaped are pretty well tired, and moderately uncomfortable beside the progression of guitar shapes available now. This is easily becoming the biggest point of contention when sitting down to play, and I don't even have the beer gut to work around.

None of the leo era guitars get much attention here since the changeover, G&L basicly got what they wanted with the new format, out with the old time leo fanantics and in with the new guys playing newer G&L's.

Darwin, what's taking you so long to try a Leo era guitar? I promise you will get hooked, or is that what you're afriad of?!!!

I have always been mildly amused by the 'vintage' guitar market, in that something, older, devoid of the precision achievable now, is instantly better, because it is older (and no other saving grace is accorded). Or is it that things are always better when they start, and those treasonous changes in the name of improvement sour people? Guitars today are built to a more exacting standard than they were in the past, by and large, hell even the low end stuff is leagues better than what was around when I learned, only 12 years ago.

Then again, I also do not subscribe to the mystical 'mojo', you get from a guitar what you put in. If the mojo is anywhere, it is you, not the hunk of wood.

[LeoFThe Champion]

You do make some good points about vintage guitars. I am a pre BBL era man and It is unlikely to change.
Yes guitars are,are made better nowadays but the problem is in the sourcing of wood. thankfully you can't just cut down ancient trees anymore . I would much prefer an old body made of Nthwestern soft maple or Honduran Mahagony. If you want good timber now you will be paying for it.Also, Take nothing away from the people working in the factory but they cannot possibly have the creative ideas of Leo, Dale and George.If you take a vintage G&L to a great luthier to address some of the short comings they left the factory with you will be left with magic. Far better than anything made now, in my humble opinion.

[y2kc]

Very cool guitar pictures this week. The color looks good on the rampage!

The old stuff made by Leo just isn't any good. The necks fall off and the electronics catch on fire. Send all Leo era G&L's to me for safe disposal.

Seriously,


y2kc

[KenC]

I have always been mildly amused by the 'vintage' guitar market, in that something, older, devoid of the precision achievable now, is instantly better, because it is older (and no other saving grace is accorded). Or is it that things are always better when they start, and those treasonous changes in the name of improvement sour people? Guitars today are built to a more exacting standard than they were in the past, by and large, hell even the low end stuff is leagues better than what was around when I learned, only 12 years ago.

Then again, I also do not subscribe to the mystical 'mojo', you get from a guitar what you put in. If the mojo is anywhere, it is you, not the hunk of wood.

My collection runs about 6:1 in favor of Leo-era instruments. I won't claim they are better made than the newer ones. My BBE-era G&Ls (two '98s and a '00) have beautiful finishes, great sounding pickups, and near perfect construction. The biggest draw toward the older ones for me is the fact that they've been played for years and have a lot more resonance than newer products. None of mine are closet queens. They've all been played, and most have a few scars to show it. The new ones will get there eventually with enough use. I'm not sure whether I'll still be up to playing in another thirty years, though.

Part of the draw for me is also the fact that Leo-era instruments are completely and obviously products of the 1980s. That was when I started playing and living with GAS. These guitars and basses really bring back the feeling for me.

Ken

[Fred Finisher]

y2kc,
That reply should be archived with Louis Cypher's pickguard color, knob finish etc. effects on tone reply.
Fred

[louis cyfer]

y2kc,
That reply should be archived with Louis Cypher's pickguard color, knob finish etc. effects on tone reply.
Fred