Anyone Familiar with the G&L Legacy Tone Setup?

[velorush]

I've never had the opportunity to be around G&L guitars, but was watching this video from JustNick were he gets into the tone controls on the Legacy (at around the 5:00 mark):

The Tone controls are masters: a (passive) bass roll-off and a (passive) treble roll-off.

This to me seems like a great idea. Anyone have any real-world experience with this system? G&L actually has the schematic on their web site (!).

If I can ever put down the Kiz' Senior and if I can get Murkat to knock down a high fret on Fender's warranty replacement neck , I might actually be interested in getting my Strat out of the case and giving this a try.

[JohnnyB]

I've had at least one Legacy in my herd for sixteen years. Starting from the strumming position, the three knobs are volume, passive treble control, and passive bass control. It's extremely handy for several reasons, one being that it's easy to match the tonal balance you want to your amp and the room. It's a lot less disruptive to tweak a couple of onboard knobs than to fiddle with the EQ on your amp. It also enables you to get sounds you don't otherwise get.

I find this arrangement particularly useful for G&L's under appreciated Legacy Special.

It has three Strat-sized dual blade humbuckers. The humbuckers have more bottom end than a SC Strat. This is fun in a lot of situations where you want a Strat with more balls and low end. I tried mine side-by-side with a Gibson Lucille and the G&L had more slam and as much bottom end. However, when you want a glassy vintage Strat sound, just roll the bass down to somewhere between 4 and 6 and it nails the tone.

At the treble end it also works for dialing back for jazz or rhythm. I had one of these in ash with maple board and it was awesome. It's the guitar I most regret getting rid of.

[Bennyboy-UK]

I can't help thinking I'd love one of these, currently in MM camp for strato's, but these could cost me money if I was to try one

[JohnnyB]

I can't help thinking I'd love one of these, currently in MM camp for strato's, but these could cost me money if I was to try one

Even the lower cost G&L Tribute (import) series will clean the MIM's clock. That's a Tribute in the demo video. G&L owners have the same general feeling about Fender that Hamer heads feel about Gibson--too much money for not enough guitar. Many have solid ash bodies, such as this gently used example.

[Bennyboy-UK]

God I knew these are head and shoulders abound MiM, sorry fella, I meant Musicman

[SouthpawGuy]

I have a few G&Ls, generally the higher the output of the pickups the more the use of the PTB is required.

The Legacy has G&L alnico V single coils, which are a little hotter than my late '90 Am Std Strat pickups and sound fatter than the Fender. The S500 uses G&L MFD p'ups with ceramic magnets, they're a lot hotter than alnicos and very fat and full sounding, neck pickup almost sounds like a humbucker at times, great for clean jazzy tones while the bridge can really rock out. The Legacy Special uses Gotoh Dual Blades, single coil size humbuckers, for neck and middle with a Power Blade in the bridge, it does rock and metal no problem.

The point of explaining the different p'up configs is that the PTB will allow them all to be tamed. Rolling off the bass to about seven on the Legacy will yield a more typical strat tone, with the S500 and Legacy reducing the volume and maybe rolling off the treble a little on the S500 will yield similar results.

Don't expect to just leave all the controls on 10 and have them sound like your usual strat type guitar, they won't.

I also have an early F100 which has MFD humbuckers and the exact same PTB, that one is usually run with bass, treble and volume on 5, the pickups have serious output and it sounds fairly harsh with everything up full, but it wasn't designed to be run with everything flat out.

PTB controls are master volume, master treble ( middle knob) and master bass ( lower knob)

pics

Legacy with alnico Vs

Legacy Special with Gotoh Blades

S500 with MFD singles

F100 with MFD humbuckers

They all have the same basic PTB wiring, I think the S500 has an extra capacitor to tame the treble.

[JohnnyB]

That was so well-stated, Southpaw. I'd forgotten that you definitely need PTB for the S-500, and even the regular Legacy can benefit from it. Think of G&Ls as having built-in boost. You use the vol. and PTB knobs to dial it back from the guitar.

[Jeff R]

I found the bass roll off knob particularly handy for faking a tele's bridge pickup tone.

[velorush]

Thanks for all of the great insights.

I'm not sure I want to do this on this Strat as the pickps are fairly fatty-traditional Suhr ML/ML/V60LP, but for something like a P90'd Strat, this would be perfect (I still cannot get the PRS KL380 out of my head - and that's been more than two years ago since I played it!).

[django49]

I gotta go back to the Legacy and give it another shot before I sell it......I probably did not use it right......Or maybe my initial reaction WAS right......I just do not adapt as well to "Strat" types.....

[JohnnyB]

I gotta go back to the Legacy and give it another shot before I sell it......I probably did not use it right......Or maybe my initial reaction WAS right......I just do not adapt as well to "Strat" types.....

A few years ago I was thinking of thinning my herd, and since I'd largely been playing 24-3/4 scale setnecks, I figured that the 25.5" boltneck Legacy would be the easy first choice to go. I figured I'd check it out first, then clean it up and change the strings before consigning it. As soon as I started playing it, I gasped, "Are you kidding? This thing is exquisite!" The USA Legacys are so nicely turned out they render moot the issues of scale, fretboard material, body material, bolt vs. set neck, etc. As with most amps, they mate better with some than others. I heard a guy use one to light up a Mesa Subway, and mine sounds great through my Top Hat Club Deluxe.

Since you're talking P90s, maybe you should get a Monaco III and do the G&L wiring/pot scheme on that! Then you really could cop phat blues tones, Switchmaster style jazz tones, and airier, woodier Strat tones.

[django49]

^^^^

Sounds like a good idea. I DID pickup up an MIII a while back. Highly tricked out with Lollars. In fact, that is one of the things that got me on the (too) fast track to acquiring Hamers! I like it so much I would be reluctant to go the mod route.

Along the line, I also modded a Strat with a pickguard wired with 2 Duncan P-rails and a SC sized middle. With 3 push/pulls, it gives just about every pup combination I can think of. That is no small part of the reason I was thinking in terms of letting either (or both) the Legacy and Comanche get away. However, at the same time, it is not as "pure" a "Strat".

[jettster]

I've had a couple, S-500 and a Legacy Deluxe, found the setup very versatile and useful. As previously stated to get the more traditional Strat tones you have to back off the bass a good bit but it's nice having the controls on the guitar versus having to go to the amp. I couldn't bond with the pickups in the S-500 and ended up trading it for a Hamer Studio, still have the Deluxe though. Loved the neck on the S-500, it was after they starting using the Plek on them. Just like Hamer's great guitars for a great price.

[killerteddybear]

Being able to dial in/out the bass tones adds a lot of flexibility on board.

[tbonesullivan]

It's a great system. Very useful. The stock pickups are a bit more bottom heavy than the standard Fender sound you expect, so you get a lot of variety. The one I have is not super fancy, but it gets the job done.

[dragan]

Ive got 2 f100s, series 1 red & series 2 brown . the red series 1 is passive & the red mini switch puts the PU s out of phase on the brown series 2 the red mini switch turns on the preamp( which I dont really use ). theyre very unique guitars.aside from the wiring & pus they have a very narrow neck at the nut & have ebony fretboards. I think the guitar/pus sound great if your thinking of pickin up one the original case is important ,the headstock is about 1' longer than a strat and doesnt fit in a strat case.