Question meaty pickups now!

[billy carr]

I have an Albert Lee hss model. Its comfortable, easy to play, bends easy as pie. Mine I feel the pickups are too whimmpy. I need more bass and punch, loud and sleezy breakup. Has anyone popped higher output pickups in? did you dig it, or what happened?

 

[billy carr]

And I'm playing through a mesa electradyne fyi.

 

[billy carr]

Anyone have an opinion on high output pickups in an Albert Lee?

 

[beej]

I've seen lots of guys swap them out. Myself, I've got 2 ALs with non-stock pickups.

There are tons of pickups on the market these days though- you might have better luck if you laid out what kind of sounds you were looking for beyond just output.

 

[Pott]

I have a Bareknuckle Rebell Yell in my Al HH; but the guitar is made of Mahogany and the pickup is a little bright.

To 'bassify' a bright guitar, I'd go with a Bareknuckles Crawler or HolyDiver.
The Crawler will make a broom sound huge. The Holydiver is less extreme but great for thickening a bright guitar.

FYI I had a Crawler in a very, very ballsy sounding Strat, and it made it sound way too big. Just HUGE. It was too much.

 

[headcrash]

Hi Billy,

you must have a one-off guitar. Was it the one, which was up for sale a few months ago? I was damn near before buying it, but vibrato and finished neck plus shipping cost let me do without it, but not without some regret.

As far as pickups is concerned: I have something like a "sister-guitar" to yours, a Silo Special HSS original blue dawn. I put in a Dimarzio AT-1 (which I recently de-aired for an almost accurate, maybe even better interpretation of the Axis custom wound bridge pickup), a Cruiser in the middle and a Pro Track in the neck. I have it now wired like this (pos. 1 = bridge)
1 - AT-1 series
2 - AT-1 series parallel to Cruiser series
3 - AT-1 seris parallel to Pro Track series
4 - AT-1 coil tapped parallel to Pro Track coil tapped
5 - Pro Track series
Totally versatile, if I can get hands on a Air Norton S I might swap the Pro Track for it to get a fatter neck humbucker sound, but the Pro Track is pretty good.

 

[billy carr]

Headcrash: yes it is a "one off" I really dig everything about that guitar, the pickups though were a bit too vintage for my taste. I play kinda clean most of the time, but I like a little bite when I play harder. I was considering a transition for the bridge, a fast track 1 In the middle, and a chopper in the neck. I think those would really beef the tone up! The finished neck was kinda making me leary as well but its really smooth and silky and not too different feeling from an oil/wax finish. Blue dawn is definitely the coolest! The price was a little high, but I'm guaranteed no one will show up with one just like it!

 

[Lucas LeCompte]

I have a Bareknuckle Rebell Yell in my Al HH; but the guitar is made of Mahogany and the pickup is a little bright.

To 'bassify' a bright guitar, I'd go with a Bareknuckles Crawler or HolyDiver.
The Crawler will make a broom sound huge. The Holydiver is less extreme but great for thickening a bright guitar.

FYI I had a Crawler in a very, very ballsy sounding Strat, and it made it sound way too big. Just HUGE. It was too much.

BKP all the way

 

[ozzyrules]

Suhr DSH+. Just installed one in the bridge of my Silo Special. It sounds really beefy like my Axis now.

 

[billy carr]

Decided, chopper(neck), fast track 1(middle), transition(bridge). Will report after installation.

 

[T- Bone]

I thought the AL's had Axis pups in them??

 

[billy carr]

I was told mine had the same as a silo special hss.

 

[billy carr]

Pickups installed! Sounds awesome! Thinking about a 500k tone pot. This thang cooks! Thanks Keith!

 

[lock-ny]

Billy I have a transition in my silo special, pretty versatile pup, mice and clean with gain and splits well too...

 

[billy carr]

Agreed, are you using a 250k or 500k pot?

 

[Tollywood]

Nice job!

 

[mystixboi1]

How about a boost pedal?

 

[lock-ny]

Billy I have the stock pots, not sure what they are, I have a Duncan distortion in my other silo spec and that thing sounds fat...

 

[billy carr]

My luke3's transition in the bridge seems brighter and more bitey, I'm gonna try the 500k, if its too bright, I will just change it back.