Albert Lee MM90's

[art027]

I own two Albert Lee guitars. The first one has the 3 seymour duncans. It is a '94 translucent pinkburst version, and this is a fantastic sounding guitar. It has typical Strat sounds but typical tele sounds as well, actually it sounds better than any Strat i ever heard.
I just received the second A.L , this one has the MM90's. It has a black finish, and a white pearloid pickguard. And a trem as well.
It is truly a beautifull piece.
The sound of the P-90 pickups is a bit warmer than the SD's but still has a twangy sound and this can still sound like a telecaster.
I don't see to many threads and comments about the Albert Lee signature unfortunately.
Are there any Albert Lee fans out there that like to tell me about their expieriences with this amazing instrument? It's such a great guitar but strangely enough it seems to be not a very popular instrument.

Michell (Holland)

 

[kerndog]

Michell,

I love my A.L.'s I also have two, an older model with the 3 single coils and a newer model with the single coils and a piezo bridge...I wouldn't want to play anything else at this point, well maybe Suhr, but...

I 'm amazed that more pickers haven't discovered these instruments yet, but good deals can be had because of these things flying under the radar!

Peace...out!

 

[art027]

albert lee mm90's

Hi Kerndog,

Is that piezo bridge working fine? i mean how is the sound of that, and how would you use it? I guess it would be great to have it as an extra option.

I think it's amazing that most musician's aren't familiar with albert Lee as well. He's so good!

What kind of music do you play with this guitar?

Michell

 

[bigman]

I just got an AL with p90s, and I LOVE it.
I just sold my Hamer Korina Artist, which it is replacing.
The AL is a bit brighter, and THE NECK! , I love the neck.
The body is also awesome, 1 piece ash, and it resonates like a bell.

 

[art027]

Hi Bigman,

What a discovery this instrument is right? That neck feels incredible smooth and makes you want to play on and on. What color does your guitar have? and pickguard?
And i also love the fact that it's actually a simple instrument, but very solid. Everything on it works real well, and nothing's there without a reason.
You bought your A.L. used didn't you? Is the neck still looking clean?
I have a 93' one, also bought it used. The neck looks a lot darker than my new A.L.
I think that is caused by the fact that these neck don't have a finish.
Were you especially looking for one that would have the MM90's?

 

[kerndog]

Is that piezo bridge working fine? i mean how is the sound of that, and how would you use it? I guess it would be great to have it as an extra option.

Yeah, it's very useful...I run one lead from the guitar into an EB stereo vol/pan pedal, it goes from the pedal to the two inputs of a Badcat Hot Cat amp, which I pan between the high and low inputs, for a clean or/and dirty option. The other lead from the guitar which carries the piezo signal I run straight to the board...this allows me to go from an acoustic sound to an electric sound on the fly live. I like it much more then changing guitars to an acoustic mid set.
I guess that means I think the piezo bridge sounds good! I haven't had anyone figure out that it's me doing the acoustic work, our singer who likes to "pose" with a guitar on stage has the people fooled he's playing ; - )

KD


Oh...I play country/blues/pop.

 

[bigman]

I was looking for a used one, and I was looking for the mm90s - they have a little ballsier sound to them.
The guitar still has a fairly "clean" look to the neck, but it won't take me long to get mu funk all over it.
My guitar is violin burst with a white mot pickguard.
I actually just dropped it off at a local shop to have it set up.
I can't wait to get it back!
I'm looking forward to my next Music Man.

 

[Butch Snyder]

I received my Albert Lee model about a moth ago. It's a used 1998 model. I guess that was before the silent circuit. No matter... It's absolutely fantastic!!

The finish is either Blue Pearl or Teal Pearl. I don't know and don't care. It's just beautiful. It has a white pearl pickguard that has a sort of aged, yellow-cream look to it. The pickups are Seymour Duncan APS-2's (Alnico II Pro Flats). They are my favorite single coil pickups. It came with (2) little metal strips underneath the bridge and neck pickups. I persuaded Evan Skopp, VP of Sales & Marketing at Duncan to send me a copper-plated steel baseplate. These are the same baseplates that they use for their new Twangbanger Strat pickups. Let me tell you, there is a big difference. If you think the Albert Lee model's bridge pickup is Tele-like now, slap a real baseplate under it. You'll be astounded.

Cheers,

 

[Butch Snyder]

Hey Butch, nice guitar.
I love the sound of this guitar, especially the 2 & 4 'quack'
positions. They really sound much better than a Strat, i think.

Does it have an effect on the '2' position when you put a baseplate under the bridge pup?
I never heard of this 'twangbanger' pickup. Is it supposed to give tele sounds to a Strat?

cheers,

Michell

Thanks....

To my ears, the bridge/middle position isn't affected; but the bridge pickup alone is astounding.

 

[ratter]

My Al, Ed, and Axis. Ultra-cool guitars. I picked up the Al used for what I thought was a decent deal...until a couple of weeks ago I saw a NEW one (same config. as mine) in a GC being blown out for $650!! Axis for $799...it was PAINFUL!

 

[Butch Snyder]

Hey Ratter, nice AL!!

Give me the skinny on those MM90's. What's the tone like?

 

[ratter]

Hey Ratter, nice AL!!

Give me the skinny on those MM90's. What's the tone like?

Hey Butch, thanks. I don't have a real strong opinion formed yet. The sunburst EVH in that picture gets most of my attention, and I've only had Al for a few months. Initial impression is that they're somewhere between a strat and tele, but with more juice. Probably more strat-like, but the ash/maple combo and hardtail bridge brings out some tele-like qualities. They're really cool for rock/hard rock. Enough output, but lots of single-coil stringiness to the sound so that you're not just hearing gain, gain, gain.

I haven't settled on a string gauge either. I think the pickups are maybe a little thinner than they should be with the 9s that I use on my other guitars. I think my favorite for the Al is probably a 10-38 Fender set. Tone-wise , you get lots of girth on the high E and B, but retain the twang on the low strings, and the G is real light...makes crazy steel bends a lot easier.

I'm looking for tips and suggestions if anybody has any!