Adam S
Active member
Just scored a nice 1982 Super Power for ?270. I have had a few Orvilles in the past, how do these compare?
Just scored a Greco!!
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Koubayashi
Well-known member
Adam S said:Just scored a nice 1982 Super Power for ?270. I have had a few Orvilles in the past, how do these compare?
There is a big risk it has hollow top.
The Super Power was the budget line at the time.
However, it looks nice.
I think an Orville is better.
My two cents, others might differ.
Adam S
Active member
Koubayashi said:Adam S said:Just scored a nice 1982 Super Power for ?270. I have had a few Orvilles in the past, how do these compare?
There is a big risk it has hollow top.
The Super Power was the budget line at the time.
However, it looks nice.
I think an Orville is better.
My two cents, others might differ.
It does have a hollow top, thats why I bought it!
Adam S
Active member
dB said:Adam S said:
You bought the Tokai 1982 Super Power, plus you had a couple of Orvilles in the past and you're asking how they compare?
Seems to me you're the expert on this now :wink:
I havn't got the Greco yet! its still on the other side of the planet.
dosmun
Member
I have a Super Power Goldtop with mini HB's and it's a very cool and great sounding guitar. It is very light so it is probably chambered or hollow but I like it a lot. I have USA Gibsons, a OBG and a couple other Greco's and it hangs with the best of them. Sometimes it feels wierd because it is lighter but it is not lacking in tone.
JohnA
Well-known member
Played a few Super Powers with semi-hollow bodies, and while they don't tick all the boxes if you are looking for a tru Les Paul clone, they are very nice guitars in there own right.
Don't compare it to your Orvilles, enjoy it for what it is, afterall ?270 isn't a lot of money.
Don't compare it to your Orvilles, enjoy it for what it is, afterall ?270 isn't a lot of money.
Adam S
Active member
Well, it arrived this morning and Im quite impressed, it sounds a little muddy though. Im not sure if this is due to the semi-hollow top or the pups. Any ideas beore I run out and replace the pickups?
Adam S said:
First thing to check - pickup heights, if you can move them further away from the strings without killing all the level, this may reduce mud.
Second thing - pot values, humbuckers sound less muddy when loaded by 500k pots, see if yours are. (they could also be crap pots or worn out). The way to be sure is to solder one of the pickups directly to the output and run the guitar into 1 meg load (many amps have input impedances this high).
What are the pickups like by themselves? If it's only the neck pickup that's muddy, you might be able to put a different tone cap in there to roll off more bass from it. (Clapton's "woman tone" mod uses a 0.015 instead of the 0.022 that comes standard on LPs).
That's the cheap stuff, next you'll have to try another pickup. Also watch out for what I've found to be the classic indication of a cheap humbucker - sounds pretty good clean but through distortion/OD seems to lose tone, and produce a greyish sound when dirty. Although, all guitars seem to have levels of dist/OD that they prefer! :wink:
BTW, I like that Greco, and briefly considered buying it!
Adam S
Active member
JVsearch said:
MIJvintage
Well-known member
I had the below pictured 1980 Greco EG-450 Super Power Model
I believe yours is the same model, just a couple years later
Mine was equipped with the standard black FUJICON .022 caps, and it sounded great plugged in; nearly just as good as many of my Grecos with Scream'in pups
It also sounded slightly muddy but I prefered to think of it as sounding closer to a 335 8) and it did have a different 'feel' because of it's hollow nature
What kind of caps are in yours?
Agree with JohnA, enjoy it for what it is
I believe yours is the same model, just a couple years later
Mine was equipped with the standard black FUJICON .022 caps, and it sounded great plugged in; nearly just as good as many of my Grecos with Scream'in pups
It also sounded slightly muddy but I prefered to think of it as sounding closer to a 335 8) and it did have a different 'feel' because of it's hollow nature
What kind of caps are in yours?
Agree with JohnA, enjoy it for what it is
hi
i got a super real with cambered body from 1979 .... and i think the pickups are great it is not in any catalogs i think is is a great guitar and i will not change anything on it ....
all the best
otto
i got a super real with cambered body from 1979 .... and i think the pickups are great
it is not in any catalogs i think is is a great guitar and i will not change anything on it .... all the best
otto
Adam S
Active member
Another thing I need to change are the tuners, they are rubbish! Overall I think it is a great guitar that has potential to be even better.
Adam S
Active member
I have just added a GFS Mean 90 and dropped some 500k CTS pots and Sprague orange drop caps in there, it has made a HUGE difference! It sounds really nice, just as thick and creamy as any Les Paul but with an added sparkle and not muddy at all.
Sounds good!
But... you did change a humbucker for a single coil. Now I'm going to wonder for years whether the stock buckers could have been brightened up!
Did the bridge humbucker improve with the pots and caps?
Seriously though, glad to hear you've got some good tone from the guitar.
But... you did change a humbucker for a single coil. Now I'm going to wonder for years whether the stock buckers could have been brightened up!
Did the bridge humbucker improve with the pots and caps?
Seriously though, glad to hear you've got some good tone from the guitar.
Adam S
Active member
JVsearch said:
Yes, the bridge sounded dull before, now it has bite and depth.
