A Funny Thing Happened…

[Neal]

I have owned a 1953 Guild X-150 prototype for close to a decade now. A lot of other guitars have come and gone. Still, I was never completely in love with it, until…

I got into the wonderful world of Fender Silverface Champs and Princeton Reverbs. My, oh my. All of the true, angry meatiness in the Franz pickup comes to life the minute you plug it into that clean Fender tone. Crazy good.

 

[Vermonter]

Hmmm... I have a '53 X-220 and a '73 Princeton Reverb, but I've never paired them up. I'll give it a whirl. I might try it with my '76 Musicmaster Bass amp too, or my '60 Champ. Sounds like you've assigned me some homework for the weekend.

 

[GGJaguar]

Franz pickups aren't my favs, but they sounded best (as I could get them to my ears), through Fender tweed or brown amps. The scooped mids of the BF/SF Fenders didn't work that well for me. YMMV, of course. I'd be interested to know what @Walter Broes thinks as he plays his Franz'd X-175s day in and day out.

 

[Neal]

I had been playing it through a modern-era Fender Pro Jr. The amp was loud but had no real soul. Very sterile sounding, in retrospect. I gave it away to my local non-profit music school once the Silverface Champ and PR kicked it's butt.

I made an extension cab for the Champ with a 4 ohm Warehouse Veteran 10” speaker in it. It turned the Champ into a real beast!

 

[mad dog]

I haven't tried my Franz equipped Guilds through all the amps here. The big winners so far are solid state. Two Evans amps, both S150, 1x15 combos. Really fine amps for any guitars. But man those Franz p/us sound so fine through them.

 

[zizala]

I also have a '53 X-150 and a non cutaway '53 X-100.
My experience is the same as Neals.....those old Franz pickups with the black covers sound expecially great through my '69 Princeton Amp and Princeton Reverb.
So does everything else to be honest and likewise quite effective with early 60's Franz equipped Guilds.
But something about these early ones makes them sound exceptional to me.

 

[teleharmonium]

Franz pickups aren't my favs, but they sounded best (as I could get them to my ears), through Fender tweed or brown amps. The scooped mids of the BF/SF Fenders didn't work that well for me.

I hear things about the same way. I have 3 guitars with the Fransch pickups (I think, I haven't popped the hoods on all of 'em to check for the possibility that some are Todd pickups), but it's because I like the guitars and the value in vintage Guilds.

I like them best through the old Vox amps that have no tone stack as such (=full midrange), or my little Magnatone 440 reverb combo. A 6v6 Ampeg or Gibson combo would probably be just as well for the latter.

 

[mavuser]

pick up a SF super reverb if u really want to fly!