Godin LGX-SA / LGXT

Started by feloniouspunk, February 01, 2008, 08:04:33 AM

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feloniouspunk

My Godin is a bit older than yours.

http://www.imageposter.com/uploads/get/185336

I have the LR baggs setup so I use the Piezo L parameter.  It sounds great.  I would start with the Piezo R setting, assuming your LGX-SA is brand new and go from there.  When you get your guitar hopefully you will have lots of time to experiment and see what sounds best to you. 
Lots of Gear. :)

ztones

I really like my LGXT.  It feels and plays amazing.  I played a strat for decades then a tele for a bit and I can't tell you that it's like either one of those.  All I can tell you is that it feels more comfortable and natural than any of my other guitars.  Its a bit on the heavy side, but that's to bee understood if you consider all the gizmo inside.  THe tremolo works well.  My issue with the tremolo is not "how" it works, rather how the tremolo arm is attached to the body.  I hate it!  The tremolo arm goes inside a hole which then you tighten by a tiny screw on the side.  This tiny screw is next to impossible to get to and when you do manage you can only turn it a half a turn at most with an allen wrench.  That's a couple mins to set up each time.  Then what happens is that that little screw eventually eats through the plastic bushing which is supposed to spread out the pressure from the screw so that the screw does not dig into the tremolo arm.  Well, guess what.  After a couple of months of usage, that plastic bushing gets chewed up by the screw and you do end up digging into the arm.  what all this translates to is the tremolo bar ends up being loose unless you tighten the screw into the arm itself (sinceyou don't have the plastic shield bushing anymore) and then its so tight that you can't turn the sucker.  So, its a load of fun.  My work around was slicing a pic down to a sliver which I pushed into the hole together with the tremolo bar and i don't use the screw at all.  This seems to work OK for now but its defenitely not how I want a nice guitar setup to work.  Yet at the end of the day, I LOVE the guitar.  Its a great instrument and its great to play it.

philflood

I don't have an LGXT, but I'd vote for the Godin on simple practicalities. The Godin is made by an established active company that continues to produce high quality guitars in North America. Brian Moore has closed their US Custom shop in New York, and continued production of the iGuitars in Asia is questionable. The 1.13 is a Korean-Made guitar. FWIW, both Godins and Brian Moores play extremely well, but in the unlikely event that you will need some support with guitar in the future, Godin would be the better choice.

szilard

I'm still playing around with settings. I currently have three setups for the LGXT one in the 10s, one in 20's, and one in the 30's. I may narrow that down to 2. I updated to v1.04 and didn't run into any problems. I reinstalled a GK2A on a strat for comparison (synth COSM - particularly GR-300) and the strat with levels around 90 compares to the LGXT between 10s & 20s. I'll play around with the strat for a while, but I'm sure I'll stick with the LGXT.

Someone asked why lower the levels? I got the LGXT for use with a GR-33 a few years ago and the information that came with it said that for the GR series of products the sensitivity should be lowered, but of course it's dependent on playing styles, etc. That was true for me with the GR-33 and I carried it over to the VG-99.

I'm pretty happy with the GTM now. At first I set it up for COSM and then tried using it for midi and that didn't work too well for me and I also hadn't updated the firmware. I think I'll end up with one setting optimized for COSM and another for GTM, but I may keep three, two settings for COSM and one for GTM. At this point I may not need the GR-33. Although it has some good sounds I mostly use external sound modules.


Gatormike

Cool.  Thought I would also report some of my findings now that I've had my VG for over a week.  I'm finding that I can stay where I am for both COSM and Guitar2Midi (ranging between 18/19 - 22/23 for all strings).  It doesn't appear that I need to lower it for Guitar2Midi. 

Speaking of Guitar2Midi, I had very good success this weekend noodling around with a variety of soft synths/instruments in Logic Studio (8).  I have had to thin out pitch bend; set Play Feel to "Feel 3" and set the Chromatic setting to Type 2 (just seems to work best for me so far).  I've been focusing on mostly piano and other keys as this is the main area where I did not want to have to learn to play keyboard for recording.  I'd say my tracking is at least as good if not better than using the same guitar with the GR-33, so from purely my humble perspective, I don't see why people are complaining about VG-99's guitar to midi functionality/tracking if they have a Baggs piezo setup.  Could it be better?  Yeah, but I am A/B'ing the Guitar2Midi with my Edirol controller keyboard (PCR-M30) with the same melody lines and I'm pretty darn happy.  And I can play record/midi passages that I could otherwise never play on the keyboard (or I'd be forced to step sequence).   

On the Guitar2Midi "Hold Function", can someone explain this setting to me and how to apply it?  Is it like a sustain pedal on a piano -- when activated it holds the note(s) struck???  I'd like to figure out how to have that sustain pedal effect for Guitar2Midi.  Any ideas or suggestions would be great.

One final thing, anyone with the LR Baggs using Noise Suppression with COSM guitars and amps in any way?

Thanks.  Mike

kenc

#30
Well I found out that there is a Godin dealer in AZ - Milano Music in Mesa

I called and they did not have and Synth access model but they did have a low end LG model.

So I went on my lunch hour and played it , my impressions
  -- Heavy body
  -- fat , rounded neck
  -- felt more like a les paul then say a Strat.....

I tend to like the feel of Stat necks so I have to really think about switching :(

FYI: I played one of the 2008 American Stats that got shipped in that day -- played and sounded awesome



EPILOG:  Bit the bullet and ordered a Brian Moore 8.13 off ebay and love it ....  I liked the thin neck after all

Elantric

#31
Re owners of Godin LGX series with internal LR Baggs Piezo Boards -


There some LR Baggs preamp boards with INTERNAL String GAIN POTS that  can be adjusted +/- 4dB

See pic!


This might explain why everyone with a  LR Baggs equipped Godin reports inconsistent sensitivity settings with the VG-99.

feloniouspunk

Very interesting Steve. Thanks for this invaluable info. You are the man!  I cant wait to get home and check to see where mine is at.  Funny, the lgx-sa manual says nothing about that at all.
Lots of Gear. :)

Elantric

#33
Its on pre 2002 instruments - though the transition date is not specific - I understand these boards pop up in 2005 era Godin's too.

An for LGX-SA -  add foam string mutes  -these were added to all Godin LGX-SA after 2009
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=653.0




feloniouspunk

#34
Steve, I unscrewed the back last night and my board looks nothing like the one in the pic.  I emailed Godin with the serial when I bought the guitar so I know for certain that it is a baggs from sometime in 2002.  I  also didnt see LR Baggs printed anywhere on the board.  Do you know what was changed or what the differences are between the two boards?  I will take a pic today and post it a bit later.  Thanks.

After further viewing of your pic, one difference I can see right away is that the Godin in the pic looks like it has only two ouputs, one 1/4 inch and one 13-pin.  My Godin has three, two 1/4 inches and one 13-pin. I wonder if these earlier models had the "three Voice" system.

Chris
Lots of Gear. :)

Phaze

#35
Hi all.

I recently purchased a Godin LGX-SA to use the piezo pickups with my VG-99.  Previously I was using an external GK-3 on my Fender Strat with the VG-99.  The sounds using the GK-3 were excellent (clear and accurate) but the LGX-SA seems to sometimes have a slight screeching or feedback type sound as I play.(clear but residual noises)  I'm finding these residual sounds to be a bit annoying....especially once I started noticing them.   I've upgraded the VG-99 to the 1.04 firmware and tried all of the different piezo settings (usually use type R).  Also tweaked the sensitivity of the strings to 25 or less but the slight unpleasant sounds still persist. I wondering if the piezo pickup may be much more sensitive than the GK-3 and there's nothing I can do about it.  Is that possible?   Does anyone have any suggestions that I can make to tweak my patches to eliminate these unwanted noise/sounds?

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions! I love the VG-99!

reegez

just got my brand new godin lgxt and vg-99 and i can't get rid of the dry signal (it's there on all patches more obviously so on open tunings). I have the 3-way switch in synth only pos (rightmost). I'm a total newbie so i know it's something obvious but it's baffling me somewhat at the moment.

feloniouspunk

#37
I have a Godin lgx-sa, I am going to check your manual at the site, but without even touching the vg-99 you should be able to shut off the mag pickups.  Do you have two switches?  One momentary and one three way?

Yeah, you do have a three way, by switching that all the way towards the floor should shut off the mags.  Also page 7 of either guitar model you have the mix level.  Make sure that NORMAL PU is set to 0.  (I think it is page 7, I am not at home right now)

Chris
Lots of Gear. :)

feloniouspunk

#38
Is it a new one with an RMC setup or does it have the older LR Baggs setup?  If it is indeed an RMC you should read this post:

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=568.0

You are not the only one who has had this issue. 
Lots of Gear. :)

Phaze

#39
Yes, I meant LGX-SA.  Sorry for any confusion.  I've now corrected the text in my original post.  My LGX-SA was purchased new from an authorized retailer only a couple of months ago.

feloniouspunk

Did you check out that link?  I think that might be what you are talking about.  RMC has made a mod for it.
Lots of Gear. :)

charles.monteiro

I have a lgxsa . off the top of my head I believe that you actually need to be plugged into your humbuckers in order for the humbuckers not to be fed into the SA signal i.e. the 13 pin output, however I also believe that you have control of whatever straight signal comes in the mixer panel i.e. you can mute or turn it down etc.

I run my humbucker output into a studio projects preamp and then blend that back in at my DAW, to me that's one of the major reasons why I don't buy anything but Godin's i.e. the multiple voice capabilities.

ajvdn

#42
My first guess is that you have the dry signal mixed to your main outputs. See the manual for this.
If you mean that you also hear the normal guitar (not per definition a dry sound) see if you aren't controling that volume somewhere.

It is correct that even with the three way switch in the "VG-99 only" position that the normal guitarsound comes thru. I don't have this continously but it does occur. (is this correct English?)

Regards,
AJ


Kevin M

I have an LGXT also.  I agree about the tremolo arm being a bad design.  Overall, it has the feel of a very high quality guitar.  I had thought about parting with mine to help pay for another guitar purchase, but just couldn't do it, I like it that much.

ajvdn

Hi,

I have one of the first Godin LGXT series. I was saving up money for the LGX and when I stopped saving the LGXT was there. I never had any problems with the tremelo. And I hated tremelo arms. I had a really bad experience with a Hohner guitar that couldn't stay in tune. However I never go to the extremes with the tremelo so perhaps it just suits my needs.

The LGXT has a whole range of sounds onboard. The seymour Duncan elements give a great spectrum of posibilities. And don't forget the electro acoustics of this guitar.

BTW I never had a strat, I did however have a Fenix Les Paul model. So I'm more a Les Paul guy. The VG-99 opened my ears so to speak for the sound  of the Strats.

Regards,
AJ

Phaze

Thanks feloniouspunk.  Yes, I checked out the link and contatced RMC.  He's going to send me one of the filters to install in my VG-99 after he receives my postal money order.   I'll post some feedback about it once I've installed it and tried it out.  Thank you for your replies!

dhaiphi

Phaze, have you received the RMC filter ?

Phaze

Yes, I did receive the RMC filter and installed it in my VG-99.  It was very easy to install.  To be honest I can't tell any difference with my LGX-XA.  The piezo pickups just seem to be "hot" and somtimes create slight noise/feedback that I don't have with the GK-3 on another guitar.  I did adjust the string sensitivity to "zero" for all strings for the and it seemded to improve the problem somewhat but unsure if it's the result of the RMC filter.  I've got the Piezo pickup set to "R" and have tried all the other pickup settings too. 

dhaiphi

#48
Quote from:  Phaze on May 11, 2008, 04:04:37 PM
To be honest I can't tell any difference with my LGX-XA.  The piezo pickups just seem to be "hot" and somtimes create slight noise/feedback that I don't have with the GK-3 on another guitar. 
Apparently, the filter has failed. This is a bad news : RMC piezo-pickups don't work with the VG-99.  ???
QuoteI did adjust the string sensitivity to "zero" for all strings for the and it seemded to improve the problem
This is not a real solution.  :'(

Billy Kaffadrin

#49
Quote from:  dhaiphi on May 12, 2008, 08:45:29 AM
Apparently, the filter has failed. This is a bad news : RMC piezo-pickups don't work with the VG-99.  ???This is not a real solution.  :'(

      That's not any way to draw a conclusion, Phaze.  RMC must have had some success in the lab in order to present a beta test to the public, I seriously doubt Mr. McClish has a whole lot of time to waste on non-profitable excercises in futility.  Lots of variables, pickup settings, guitar setup, trem/non trem, etc. could affect a particular user's outcome, so a more scientific approach is needed I think.

     RMC piezos are on a lot of guitars, not just Godin LGX's.  I think my Brian Moore I9 has them, and even with straight guitar models I have noise problems if I try to use the tremelo or thump the bridge.  But used as a straight acoustic piezo pickup the noise is non-existent, so I have to conclude this is the VG99's reaction in it's "ears" and well may be subsonic's inducing false triggering.  Also it could be that for example the 50Hz signal being filtered on the E and A strings varies from guitar to guitar, if so on some guitars more than a 3db cut may be required.  I'd like to order a filter and see if it helps.  It might be it's something that requires tweaking on some instruments, but this is being called a "test".

     Let's see.   Has RMC distributed a questionaire with the filter?

Billy