need help^_^

[freeman]

I want to swap my Silhouette(HSH)'s bridge pickup. It's a DiMarzio PAF Pro, not bad, but not hot either. There are so many DiMarzio pups, I have no idea, Tonezone? X2N? Super Distortion? tips plz.
BTW, do I need to replace the middle single coil to match the new hotter pickup?

Thanks for any advise you can give. Cheers!

 

[beej]

Personal preference, but I'd recommend Bill Lawrence pickups (www.billlawrence.com) over many of the Dimarzio offerings. Bill's pickups are fantastic and because he sells direct the prices are considerably lower.

If you're looking for a good hot bridge pickup his L500L or L500XL would be a good recommendation.

 

[Raz]

Personal preference, but I'd recommend Bill Lawrence pickups (www.billlawrence.com) over many of the Dimarzio offerings. Bill's pickups are fantastic and because he sells direct the prices are considerably lower.

If you're looking for a good hot bridge pickup his L500L or L500XL would be a good recommendation.

Thanks for that link bro, the info alone is worth GOLD...I might look into a set of those pick ups aswell...I'm gonna go home and adjust my pickups...although I am not too sure about the neck pickup's position...thanks!

Oh I guess with the L-500, trem spacing isn't an issue?

 

[beej]

> Oh I guess with the L-500, trem spacing isn't an issue?

Right. The 500's have rails, so will accomodate any kind of spacing.

All of Bill's pickups are hand-made, so when you order the non-rail pickups you generally give the width of your bridge, etc. (or let them know it's standard fender, gibson spacing) and they'll adjust the pole pieces to suit.

They really are the best pickups I've ever played. Bill now makes the "SCN" pickups used by Fender in their current teles & strats. I'm actually replacing the stock pickups in my sil special with his 280s as they're completely noise free, so this eliminates the need for the silent circuit. (Plus they sound closer to the vintage pre-CBS strat tone.)

YMMV

 

[Raz]

Well I visited the site and I tried to understand stuff about Q-filter, and 500k pots...and I have no idea so I sent them an email, and asked what they would recommend for my SUb1, HH with a trem...

 

[freeman]

Thank you.
It's said that L500 has an amazing output and sounds brutal. I was wondering whether L500 sounds warm and transparency.

Cheers!

 

[OrangeChannel]

L500 is what Dimebag Darrel used to use, before he had Duncan ape the design for the Dimebucker. it's a very high output, gainy pickup.

 

[beej]

The "Dimebucker" is a ripped-off version of the L500XL - the highest output 500 - which Darrel originally used. Nuno Bettencourt uses the 500L (slightly less output), which was unfortunately ripped-off and massed produced by someone else for Washburn (long story, on the BL site somewhere).

I would definitley say the pickups are not grainy. They're warm and give you the full spectrum of output without any colouration, as a pickup should. Many pickups give you a particular flavour, but the Lawrences really give you a transparent sound and pick up the materials of the guitar.

I have a 500L and an XL (and 280, 450, etc.) in different guitars and they all sound great at high-gain and clean settings. Both are applicable from metal to Jazz. Seriously- they're great pickups. Bill doesn't pay for celebrity endorsements, but there are an incredible array of guitar greats that use his pickups.

When in doubt, call them and they'll explain everything on the phone. Or visit that "wilde-gate" link (http://pub123.ezboard.com/fguitarsbyfenderfrm8) on his site for the user-forum.

Sorry- don't mean to keep evangelizing other products on the EBMM forum, but it's just that these are great products and I've been a very satisfied customer.

 

[freeman]

L500 is what Dimebag Darrel used to use, before he had Duncan ape the design for the Dimebucker. it's a very high output, gainy pickup.

well.. I think it is not my style.

 

[freeman]

The "Dimebucker" is a ripped-off version of the L500XL - the highest output 500 - which Darrel originally used. Nuno Bettencourt uses the 500L (slightly less output), which was unfortunately ripped-off and massed produced by someone else for Washburn (long story, on the BL site somewhere).

I would definitley say the pickups are not grainy. They're warm and give you the full spectrum of output without any colouration, as a pickup should. Many pickups give you a particular flavour, but the Lawrences really give you a transparent sound and pick up the materials of the guitar.

I have a 500L and an XL (and 280, 450, etc.) in different guitars and they all sound great at high-gain and clean settings. Both are applicable from metal to Jazz. Seriously- they're great pickups. Bill doesn't pay for celebrity endorsements, but there are an incredible array of guitar greats that use his pickups.

When in doubt, call them and they'll explain everything on the phone. Or visit that "wilde-gate" link (http://pub123.ezboard.com/fguitarsbyfenderfrm8) on his site for the user-forum.

Sorry- don't mean to keep evangelizing other products on the EBMM forum, but it's just that these are great products and I've been a very satisfied customer.

500L has less gain than 500XL?

 

[beej]

> 500L has less gain than 500XL?

Yes, it comes in 4 flavours (from lowest to highest output):

500C ("clean": 2.8 Henry), 500R ("regular": 4.8 H), 500L ("lead": 6.8 H) and 500XL ("extra lead": 9.2 H).

There are also other humbucker designs- 490s (P90 like sounds) and the 450s (single-coil like sounds in a HB package).

All of the various pickups are available in different inductances/outputs so as to match up. I like the 500R in the neck and the 500L or XL at the bridge in an HH or HSH configuration.

 

[OrangeChannel]

Beej,


I said gainy. Not grainy. Even the one in the Nuno axe has an output spike.


Freeman,

You might try updating the pots in the guitar from 250k's to 500k's. That can make a difference before doing the pickup swap. There'll be some more highs that opened up that way.


Late!

Jon Z.

 

[Raz]

What about the neck?

 

[beej]

> I said gainy. Not grainy.

Oops! Sorry man. Brain's not quite working right today

 

[Raz]

Beej,


I said gainy. Not grainy. Even the one in the Nuno axe has an output spike.


Freeman,

You might try updating the pots in the guitar from 250k's to 500k's. That can make a difference before doing the pickup swap. There'll be some more highs that opened up that way.


Late!

Jon Z.

Can someone explain this to me please!

 

[beej]

A pickup is really an LRC circuit (inductance, resistance, capacitance) and is just one part of the signal chain. Chancing external factors like pot values, capacitance (including the capacitance of the cable - which can have a big effect on your sound) will affect the sound of your pickups.

By changing capacitance or resistance, you change the resonant frequency of the pickups - this is a good way to make a pickup sound brighter, darker, etc. There's a really good explanation of all this here:
http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/

Quick answer to this question is when you use larger pots (1Meg, 500k instead of 250k) in your guitar the sound of the pickups will be brighter.

Often people jump right to replacing pickups, but adding a couple of cheap resistors & capacitors can change the sound of your guitar without much expense.

 

[OrangeChannel]

Yeah they put 250k's in the Silo but the general rule of thub is wiring in 500k pots w/ humbuckers....Jon why do you guys do this? Any insight?

 

[beej]

Don't know the answer here, but not all HBs like 500k pots- it really depends on the design. I have some Bill Lawrence HBs that were voiced for 250ks, some that were voiced for 500ks, and others which are equally happy with either. In the case where they mix with single coils, often 250k pots work just fine. But yeah, all depends how the pickups were voiced.

 

[OrangeChannel]

Most of the PAF Pro installs I've done, I've done w/ 500k's.

 

[Dodgeball]

Sorry to jump in guys.

After reading the full post I feel I really need to recommend the DiMarzio Air-Zone for the bridge spot here - it's got a touch more gain and output than the Paf-Pro but not as much as a Tone Zone. I had it in an Ibanez for a while (until I sold it after gettin my Axis) and it really is the best pickup I've tried for pop-rock -> hard-rock applications, will probably do heavier too. If I get a supersport anytime soon I'll definately put one in the bridge spot there.

Just my 2cents