question : Similar pick up to ebmm albert lee single coils

[ba2m]

i just watched video of albert lee playing fun ranch boogie and i'm very amazed with his clean sound..(and amazed of his guitar playing of course)and i think it's the best clean sound i ever heard..

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqcUBdNaHq8&mode=related&search="]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]

i know those pick ups on ebmm AL are Seymour Duncan custom wound single coils, but i want to know is there another pick up which sounds as good as those pick ups on the ebmm AL?

just curious.. because i really like the sounds of single coil pick ups

and one more.. do you have any recommendation for what albert lee songs or album i should check? i'm starting to like his music a lot

thx,
abraham

 

[Spudmurphy]

Why not go for the same SD's?

 

[robelinda2]

best single coil tone ive ever heard. what a guitar.

 

[GWDavis28]

Hey isn't that BP on bass? If I remember right Fun Ranch Boogie was written at BP's place in the desert.

Hahahahahaha

Glenn |B)

 

[threeminutesboy]

yep I think that's BP without a doubt

 

[Lance Romance]

Might be wrong here, but I think the neck and middle are pretty close to SD Alnico II Pros, and the bridge a Twangbanger? Whatever the heck they are, they sound really good, and even better when Albert plays them!-Eric

 

[KungFu Grip]

Might be wrong here, but I think the neck and middle are pretty close to SD Alnico II Pros, and the bridge a Twangbanger? Whatever the heck they are, they sound really good, and even better when Albert plays them!-Eric

A full set of APS-2s, with a baseplate on the bridge pickup, would get you very close. In fact, probably right on the money.

I tried out the Twangbanger in my own AL for giggles, and I didn't like it at all. It has a baseplate, but it's wound hotter, and lacks the chime and clarity that the stock bridge pickup has.

 

[Butch Snyder]

A full set of APS-2s, with a baseplate on the bridge pickup, would get you very close. In fact, probably right on the money.

APS-2's are exactly what's in the Albert Lee Model. Mine had a basplate under both the neck and bridge pickups. Actually, it was a thin metal strip. I replaced the one under the bridge pickup with a Twang Banger baseplate Evan Skopp gave me. I liked the results...

 

[ba2m]

@Lance Romance, KungFu Grip,& Butch Snyder
thanks for the information!!!! i will check for als 2 in the Guitar Center.. (before i finally will buy the ebmm AL .. i love it)..

but i have a question about that base plate for pick ups.. is it has to be special kind of plate.. my friend said that the plate should be a ferous type(magnetic) is it important?

@threeminutesboy
ooww so that's BP on the bass??? it's very nice to see BP plays on gig..
i don't realize it when the first time i watched it.. maybe it's because that AL clean sound really made me hypnotized.. ...

 

[Butch Snyder]

but i have a question about that base plate for pick ups.. is it has to be special kind of plate.. my friend said that the plate should be a ferrous type(magnetic) is it important?

Now, you're getting into an area where my limited knowledge has peaked. However, I'll give it a go here. It makes sense to me that a plate of ferrous material, which is magnetic would be better simply because it's magnetic. The six slugs in the pickup are the magnets; so, the baseplate would react with them creating a stronger magnetic field but from the bottom of the pickup. This would, in turn, give more mids, punch, bite, etc. I don't believe a nonmagnetic plate would offer any benefits like that.

I look at it kind of like a Telecaster's bridge assembly. Everyone says you need 3 brass saddles for the best distribution of warm mass and a ferrous ashtray bridge. The American Series Teles have nonferrous stainless steel bridges with six steel saddles. Players argue that the American Series bridges don't sound as good.

Is my reasoning correct? I honestly don't know, but it does sound pretty good....

 

[roburado]

Check out which bass BP is playing on this track: [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOFpQd7aJ9U&mode=related&search="]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]

 

[uvacom]

but i have a question about that base plate for pick ups.. is it has to be special kind of plate.. my friend said that the plate should be a ferous type(magnetic) is it important?

Different materials will have different effects, and ferrous materials will introduce additional effects. But in general, no - a baseplate does not have to be magnetic. For example, aluminum and copper are sometimes used. A telecaster uses both ferrous (steel) and non-ferrous (copper) materials in its baseplate.

A very clear explanation as to why this is can be found here. Even if you don't understand what eddy currents are and things like that, the gist of it is that a baseplate will change the electrical characteristics of a pickup, and if it is composed of a ferrous material it will change the magnetic characteristics of the pickup. Depending on how the baseplate is mounted, it can also have an effect on how the resonant characteristics of the guitar affect the pickup, with both positive and negative effects.

If you follow the link at the bottom of that page to the Bill Lawrence website and check out the "Pickupology" section, you can learn all sorts of neat stuff.

Judging from the shape, size, mass, and mounting of the baseplate on the Albert Lee pickup(and my subjective, qualitative analysis of it's sound), I would imagine the effect of its baseplate is rather subtle. Of course, it would take removing the baseplate and comparing before & after to really find out. I might do that (if it's not soldered to the polepieces or something crazy like that), but not today.

 

[candid_x]

I like that clip of AL cuz he plays a lick I actually know .

 

[beej]

If you follow the link at the bottom of that page to the Bill Lawrence website and check out the "Pickupology" section, you can learn all sorts of neat stuff.

+1 I've learned a lot by reading articles written by Bill and by speaking to him.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Like I said earlier, I don't know a whole lot about how the baseplates affect the tone. I do know my ears hear different results. An APS-2 without the EBMM metal strip didn't sound as good as the APS-2 with the strip and the APS-2 with the metal strip didn't sound nearly as good as the APS-2 with the Twang Banger baseplate; which covers the full footprint of the bobbin and is made of copper-plated steel. But that's according to my ears and taste.

IMHO, you can get a stock APS-2 and attached a baseplate from Lindy Fralin or another seller and you'll have a fantastic pickup....

 

[Spudmurphy]

Is it possible to buy just the twang banger baseplate?

 

[ba2m]

@Butch Snyder
thx very much for the information, i will check in some luthiers here do they have some copper base plate or not.. because i think the base plate for twang banger is not for sell separately here(even it is no easy to find als-2 in the market here). thx butch!!

@uvacom
thank you for your explanation .. i really appreciate it..
but maybe if i'm having difficulties to get that copper baseplate here, maybe i will just put the ALS 2 without the copper baseplate on the bridge

thx guys..

.. one more question.. does anyone can explain how are the silent circuits works on ebmm albert lee and silhouette?is it affecting the sound? the sustain, the tone, etc?is it sold separately by ernie ball? if it not sold are there any other product similar with ernie ball silent circuit in the market? thx

 

[uvacom]

.. one more question.. does anyone can explain how are the silent circuits works on ebmm albert lee and silhouette?is it affecting the sound? the sustain, the tone, etc?is it sold separately by ernie ball? if it not sold are there any other product similar with ernie ball silent circuit in the market? thx

Only EBMM knows the specifics since it's a patented circuit and it's all hidden incside the little "barrel", but AFAIK it's basically a dummy coil that's wired in parallel with the pickups. Overall it makes the guitar a little quieter, and that's about it. Some people have reported a slight loss in the high-end, I personally think that's either a psychoacoustic effect from the added noise making the sound seem "brighter" or their Silent Circuit is out of calibration, because I have not noticed anything of the sort.

Ironically the circuit would probably do a lot more good in a non-EBMM guitar since the EBMMs already well-shielded and very quiet, so the overall difference in noise level doesn't seem that great. In other words there's just not that much difference between a really tiny amount of noise and a really, really tiny amount of noise.