It's got some bottom to it Fusion. You'll be fine.. Very even pickup.
0 Kudo
L45's L45's L45's L45's
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 grumpy |
#81 | |||
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Posts: 32 Tue, Nov 18, 2008 19:36:35 |
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fuzzy beard |
#82 | |||
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Posts: 1751 Tue, Nov 18, 2008 20:22:22 Contrib. Gold Charter Member
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fusion1 wrote:The Hot Rail design is possibly Bill's complete opposite. They're "distortion" pickups with a very narrow frequency response, overwound to the point where the coils start "choking" or distorting: mids are attenuated while bass and treble is reduced. For heavy overdriven sounds this is OK, but most guitarists looking for good clean sounds will look elsewere. BLs are clear, transparent and free of internal distortion caused by overwinding. They're are designed to deliver a very balanced tone. IMHO a clean, articulate and thick tele bridge pickup is a contradiction. Years back I was looking for exactly the same, with no luck. By coincidense, one of my pickups broke, and as a temporary fix I replaced it with a very low output unit. To compensate, I had to completely re-arrange my amp settings, but I finally found my tone. The output of Bill's pickups are much higher than my old "spare wheel", but by carefully adjusting the amp settings I still get "my sound". However, BL's are not to everybodys's taste, and it's not a crime to look elsewere  Maybe you'd be better off with active
pickups, e.g EMG
On the other hand, the L-48 may very well turn out to be the pickup you're searching. Edit. Spellcheck
Last Edited By: fuzzy beard Tue, Nov 18, 2008 22:31:26.
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grumpy |
#83 | |||
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Posts: 33 Tue, Nov 18, 2008 20:32:57 |
We'll I'd love to get a some for the middle and neck. I love them that much.
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fusion1 |
#84 | |||
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Posts: 15 Tue, Nov 18, 2008 22:56:05 |
Well I guess I will wait and see then. I did order 2 Strat L-45s and intend to use them in the neck of two different guitars. Hope they will work well with a
bridge humbucker (specifically a Bill Lawrence L500XL in one and a Dimarzio Activator X in the other).
I will have to disagree with some of Fuzzybeards statements. I never found the Hot Rails for tele to sound thin at all, but then again I rarely use the bridge of any guitar I play to use for a clean sound (that's what the neck or middle is there for). Fuzzy I am also getting a pickup special ordered that should fit the thick/articulate tele bridge pickup but I am still waiting on it from Bryan at BG pickups so I cannot comment on that at this time. Glad you like yours Grumpy. I hope they grow on me as well. I am just concerned the bridge sound with high gain will sound too thin. Can you review it in a high gain setting? Last thing I was looking for was a single coil jangle for the bridge sound when going for heavier stuff. |
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handsplayingbutterfly |
#85 | |||
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Posts: 277 Wed, Nov 19, 2008 02:42:11 Bronze Member |
Fuzzy never said thin
 If you're fond of the L-500 and have no problems with the treble response coming from it, you'll be able to use the L-45
without too much difficulty. There's nothing preventing it from excelling in a high gain setting.
You can use your tone pot if the amp's treble control doesn't get you where you want. Turning a tone pot to the bottom drops resonance down and will still sound clear with the L-45 instead of turning the sound to mud. You can use a smaller cap for a higher resonance, if you decide the current cap takes it too far. edit: The way I think about it, a "thick" tone comes from pushing a good tube amplifier while using a low resonance, not from lack of highs, which I would consider muddy and inarticulate more than thick.
Last Edited By: handsplayingbutterfly Wed, Nov 19, 2008 02:47:40.
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fusion1 |
#86 | |||
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Posts: 16 Wed, Nov 19, 2008 03:04:39 |
True there is nothing like the sound of a thick tube warmth, but beyond that there is still warmth with pickups. Take a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder. So warm
it is like a p-90 (almost). The new Seymour Duncan Users Group Forum pickup called the Strabro-90 is a "warm" and "Thick" pickup also
articulate.
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Grateful Ape |
#87 | |||
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Posts: 20 Wed, Nov 19, 2008 17:35:58 |
Mike Stern gets a pretty nice sound out of his hotrails-equipped tele, although that is going through a solid-state rig. I'd like to push my strat a little
more in that direction.
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vcalcaterra |
L45 installed in my electric mandolin | #88 | ||
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Posts: 8 Sat, Nov 29, 2008 02:59:24 |
I installed the L45 in my Mann EM-5 mandolin tonight. I replaced a DiMarzio ProTrack.
The ProTrack was a bit "peaky". It created hot spots at certain notes on my mando, and I had to eq them out as well as I could. The L45 has a much more even response and a big powerful sound. I like it a lot better than the original pickup. I also appreciate the fact that the L45 is taller than the ProTrack which allows me to adjust the pickup closer to the strings. I'm very happy with the L45 in this 5 string electric mando. I'm going to recommend that Jon Mann offer these as an alternative to the DiMarzio pickups. --vince |
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Pete24v.officialmatampo... |
#89 | |||
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Posts: 4 Thu, Dec 4, 2008 20:29:21 |
i've just put a set of these in my 2005 usa standard strat, very nice and clear sounding. When i first started playing it i was a tad gutted with the
bridge pickup being a little thing sounding.... but i had just been playing my N4 with a brand new L500-XL for an hour or so!!! half an hour with the L45s and
they are keepers.
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Jsams |
Output? | #90 | ||
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Posts: 22 Sun, Dec 14, 2008 19:05:42 |
What sort of output does the L-45s have?
Last Edited By: Jsams Sun, Dec 14, 2008 23:23:44.
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fuzzy beard |
#91 | |||
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Posts: 1773 Wed, Dec 31, 2008 17:11:43 Contrib. Gold Charter Member
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I've just played my new L-45 set for the very first time, and I'm stunned. For the record, I A/B/C'ed the guitar with two other guitars, one with a
set of Keystones and one with 280/280/290. All three guitars are alder bodied, vibrato bridge equipped instruments, they have fat (1" thick) maple necks
with indian rosewood fretsboards/jumbo frets and Gotoh tuners. Amp settings were identical, strings(D'Addario) and cable (BL) likewise. After a few hours
of playing, this is my impression:
IMO, clean sounds are sparklier than Bill's current offerings, including the Keystones', position #2 and 4 are simply brilliant. Playing through a clean sounding amp at high volume settings, tone and string separation is the best I've heard. Harsh? Thin or overly bright? No way! Picking up any hum? Nope! The only thing in common with these and the old L-250 is the twin rail layout. The L-250 was designed to respond like humbuckers, with Bill's trademark clairity as an added bonus. The L-45 is a true single coil in hum free disguise. With distortion (amp overdrive), the L-45 shines, too. Attack and tone is sheer single coil, but the upper mid response is stronger. Both the Keystone and my 290 were darker and lacked definition compared to the L-45. Even though the clean sounds indicated that the output of the L-45 is in the same ball park as the L-280 and Keystones, overdrive mode clearly gave the impression of a higher output. I don't know how Bill does it, but with his designs, he thumbs his nose at the rest of the designers/makers out there. I measured the impedance of the L-45 set to be 7.02/7.02 and 7.03. I put the one with the "highest" value in bridge position. I was a little curious about the bridge pickup, and had an L-250XL at hand just in case the L-45 would be too polite
but there's NO WAY I'm going to put the L-250 in! L-45's should be dispensed on prescription to frustrated guitarist 
Is it louder than the Fast Track 1? I don't know. Loudness comes from the amp, not the pickup. Is it more versatile than the FT1 ? Definitely! |
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Jsams |
Output | #92 | ||
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Posts: 23 Thu, Jan 1, 2009 02:32:56 |
Fuzzy Beard, that is just the review I am looking for.
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Rayvann |
#93 | |||
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Posts: 4 Sat, Jan 3, 2009 21:21:44 |
Just a quick question : how many wires does the L-45 come fitted with ?
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edguidry |
L45's L45's L45's L45's | #94 | ||
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Posts: 181 Sat, Jan 3, 2009 21:54:46 Bronze Member |
fuzzy beard wrote:Whoa, sparklier than the Keystones?!?!? You got my attention, because I swear after trying the keystones in my strat I thought I had found the perfect strat pickup, and I've had L-280s for a long time and was not too fond of them. I played at a loud jam last night for the first time with the Keystones and was just really knocked out with them. Does the L45 have the same responsiveness, that same punch? |
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No Bard |
#95 | |||
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Posts: 5 Sat, Jan 3, 2009 22:36:32 |
Rayvann wrote:3 wires: White, black, blue |
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fuzzy beard |
#96 | |||
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Posts: 1774 Sat, Jan 3, 2009 23:34:37 Contrib. Gold Charter Member
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The L-45 work very well with L-500-models for stage level, fat "quacky-ish" in-between tones. In the studio, a full set of L-45's or single coils
will do much better. If you use a middle L-45 by itself, and compare it to a bridge L-500, the latter one will have a more solid mid response and overdrive the
amp a little easier, but it doesn't sound any louder. A neck position humbucker on the other hand must be carefully adjusted not to overpower a mid
position L-45, at least with clean sounds. In that respect, the FT1 will fare "better", but IMHO, it doesn't have the tiniest trace of single
coil character.
No Bard already answered the wire question
Frankly, I find the L-45 just as responsive as the Keystones, and with no hum pickup, for me the choice is a no-brainer |
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grumpy |
#97 | |||
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Posts: 41 Wed, Jan 7, 2009 13:35:00 |
how does a full set sound with all the pickups at the same out put?
Wouldn't that cause a problem? |
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fuzzy beard |
#98 | |||
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Posts: 1775 Wed, Jan 7, 2009 19:57:14 Contrib. Gold Charter Member
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grumpy wrote:No. |
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grumpy |
#99 | |||
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Posts: 42 Tue, Jan 13, 2009 19:13:52 |
And Fuzzy... I forgot to tell you that is a very good review.
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Jsams |
#100 | |||
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Posts: 24 Thu, Jan 22, 2009 02:28:08 |
Based on the excellant reviews, I placed an order on the Wilde website and paid via paypal.
After a few days, I have not had any communication or confirmation of my order. Is it common to have no direct communication and the pickup just shows up one day? Thanks. |
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