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MGR/Kevin Wells « Bill Lawrence L-500XL »
Published on 01/12/04 at 15:00I found this pickup in a local music store and paid $48 for it. I had heard good things about it on other guitar gear review pages and wanted to try one. I also own other pickups made by this company and knew that they make high quality products.
This pickup is brand new and is still made by the original company that first produced it 20+ years ago, Bill Lawrence Guitar Pickups company (www.billlawrenceusa.com), aka Bill Lawrence Products, previously known as Lawrence Sound Research and Lawrence Electro Sound. It says Bill Lawrence USA in white letters on the front and in raised letters on the back.
This is my first Bill Lawrence L-500XL and I've installed it in a home made two-pickup guitar. Im very impressed. I used it to replace a Schaller humbucker and the difference is amazing. The L-500XL is bright and full of harmonics every note just sparkles. The Schaller was bright sounding but not as musical as the L-500XL. This is the loudest pickup Ive ever owned but it is still very clear, not muddy. Ive been able to get screaming blues tones, jangly Beatles tones and singing Santana tones from it, depending on the amount of gain and compression applied. I can also get great Tele-like country lead tones. Combining this pickup with the neck pickup (single-bladed Bill Lawrence L-250) produces nice Les Paul-ish quack. The L-500XL has two blades instead of pole pieces, the blades are flat and signal response is very even from string to string. This guitar has never sounded better.
Ive read reviews of this pickup in which people complained that its too trebly. But the guitar Ive installed it in is very lightweight (just over 7 lbs) and has NO TONE POT, and I can still keep the treble under control I just turn down the treble on my amp. It is much brighter sounding than the HFS bridge pickup in my PRS CE-24, but is only about as trebly as the Schaller it replaced. Ive also read complaints about these pickups squealing, but I havent experienced that with this pickup. Hard to believe it could ever be microphonic because the coils are totally embedded in resin inside the covers.
There is nothing that I don't like about this pickup. It's great.
It's built like a rock. The coils are sealed inside the cover (just like the L-250's that I own, made by the same company). No chance of coils ever coming loose or getting broken.
I highly recommend this pickup to anyone looking for a high output bridge position humbucker with clean, sparkly tone.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
This pickup is brand new and is still made by the original company that first produced it 20+ years ago, Bill Lawrence Guitar Pickups company (www.billlawrenceusa.com), aka Bill Lawrence Products, previously known as Lawrence Sound Research and Lawrence Electro Sound. It says Bill Lawrence USA in white letters on the front and in raised letters on the back.
This is my first Bill Lawrence L-500XL and I've installed it in a home made two-pickup guitar. Im very impressed. I used it to replace a Schaller humbucker and the difference is amazing. The L-500XL is bright and full of harmonics every note just sparkles. The Schaller was bright sounding but not as musical as the L-500XL. This is the loudest pickup Ive ever owned but it is still very clear, not muddy. Ive been able to get screaming blues tones, jangly Beatles tones and singing Santana tones from it, depending on the amount of gain and compression applied. I can also get great Tele-like country lead tones. Combining this pickup with the neck pickup (single-bladed Bill Lawrence L-250) produces nice Les Paul-ish quack. The L-500XL has two blades instead of pole pieces, the blades are flat and signal response is very even from string to string. This guitar has never sounded better.
Ive read reviews of this pickup in which people complained that its too trebly. But the guitar Ive installed it in is very lightweight (just over 7 lbs) and has NO TONE POT, and I can still keep the treble under control I just turn down the treble on my amp. It is much brighter sounding than the HFS bridge pickup in my PRS CE-24, but is only about as trebly as the Schaller it replaced. Ive also read complaints about these pickups squealing, but I havent experienced that with this pickup. Hard to believe it could ever be microphonic because the coils are totally embedded in resin inside the covers.
There is nothing that I don't like about this pickup. It's great.
It's built like a rock. The coils are sealed inside the cover (just like the L-250's that I own, made by the same company). No chance of coils ever coming loose or getting broken.
I highly recommend this pickup to anyone looking for a high output bridge position humbucker with clean, sparkly tone.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com