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Fender
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Manufacturer:Fender Model:Lace Sensor
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From bill@verdix.com Thu Jul 15 19:32:45 1993
Guitar or Bass : G
Gold is a well-rounded pickup. Red is too bright, in a bad way. NOT
similar to humbuckers.
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Manufacturer: Fender Model: Texas Specials by Fender Custom Shop
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My Name: PopLlama@goren.u.washington.edu
Date of Review: 8-4-93
My Personal Musical Styles:
Mostly Blues-Rock ala AC/DC, Jimi "God" Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn,
Tesla. And some more modern groups like Motley Crue, The Posies,
Gnome, Smashing Pumpkins...
Cost: List is about $175 in the states, but you'll probably get it for
10-25% off of that in any reputable shop.
Purchased From : Don's Green River Music in Aubrun WA - great shop,
with extremely knowledgeable people.
Impedance: My stock Fender's ran at about 5k ohms, these ran at nearly 7.
So they're signifigantly hotter.
Output: My VOMit doesn't messure mili-amps for output (Damn!) but I would say
that they are typical of custom single coil pickups. They are even
louder than some humbuckers that I have played through. They distort
nicely and smoothly no harshness with them at all.
Reason for Mod:
I was tired of my Blah stock pickups in my US Strat. They were far to
bright (I ran my treble tone control near 3 on my amp, and my tone on
my axe at nearly 1_ and still it was too trebley!) for my tastes.
Further they tended to be bitey and sharp. They weren't nearly as
warm as I would have liked them to be.
Review In General:
These are very nice! Expect to be pleased. They are the same pickups
on the new "Stevie Ray Vaughn" signature strat. They are well
constructed too, you pay for a lot in these puppies. I was expecting
to loose a lot of my clean sound, but found that it stayed. While it
does manage to drive an amp into distortion when the clean channel is
cranked (great for AC/DC or SRV stuff!) it tends to convey the great
acoustic sound of a strat when the volume is more moderate.
The trebly bite of a single coil is subdued - mostly because higher
impedance does not carry the treble side over to well, but boosts the
midrange (something that most strat's need IMHO). Warm and Fat are
two words that some to my mind when I listen to these being played.
Another that does as well is "Spongey" - but not muddy. A very nice
balance. Though I play with 12's so I don't know how well they'd be
on a set of 9's.
If your gonna play some metal, just throw on some flange and maybe a
little reverb and your set. Crank the amp and turn on your stomp box
and your doing a damn good rendition of the Smashing Pumpkins.
For classical, I'd still prefer my stock pickups. The brightness was
really nice there. These do well, but not as well as they should.
But they're not intended for that style anyways!
I wouldn't recommend these pickups for anyone with a thin necked
Ibanez, or a Korean Strat, or any other instrument without a good
amount of wood. It would sound nice on a mahogany instrument though!
Other notes on Fender Replacement in Specific:
These come in a set of three, I don't think you can purchase them
seperately. Whereas on your stock pickups you'd rarely use your neck
pickup alone (if your like me you'd only play it with the middle as
well, or set up a switch to play tele mode of bridge and neck) With
these on you'll love the fat tone of the neck pickup. Muddy sound is
turned into warmth and depth. An amazing improvement. The bridge
pickup gets tamed down signifigantly so that a blues solo won't make
the hair on the back of your neck stand on end and remind you of
fingernails on a chalkboard. And the mid-pickup is actually used by
itself as well!
Also, the hum characteristic of single-coils is not any worse nor
better with these pickups versus Fender Stock pickups.
Other Notes In General:
The pickups are made under warantee and Fender includes a wiring
diagram for strats (sorry all you other guys - but wait!
Its practically the same anyways!). I'd like to hear these installed
on a Mustang or a Jaguar - they'd probably make them actually sound
GOOD!
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Manufacturer: Fender Model: Texas Specials
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Your name : Kyle Grieser
email : yuf@sequent.com
Date of review : 8/4/93
Your musical style(s) : blues, rock, jazz, etc
Guitar or Bass : guitar
Pickup features : single coils, hotter than stock
Cost : $175
Purchased from : Tigard Music, Tigard, OR
Pickup being replaced : stock strat pickups from 50's reissue
Neck/Mid/Bridge position: all
Other pickups on guitar : none
Artists using this pickup:
don't really know :-). I know that SRV had some hotter single coils,
but not sure if they are the same as these.
Reason for pickup change:
wanted more variety of sound and more signal to the amp
Perceived output level :
definitly a bit hotter than your normal single coils.
Tone : fatter than stock single coils... a bit warmer too.
Candid sonic evaluation:
like I said above, much fatter, with noticably better differentiation
between positions. The "out-of-phase" positions have much more
character than the stock singles. The bridge is actually useful
now... I never liked the stock bridge pickup -- it was too
twangy/trebly... the Texas bridge PU is much fatter... not at all as
twangy and annoying as the stock.
Styles and positions for which this pickup is (un)suitable:
the set comes with neck, middle, and bridge. wonderrful for blues
through a turned up Fender. Much more control of sounds via volume
control.
On a scale of 1 to 11, I give this pickup a:
?? (I don't have enough experience to rate them, though I'm much
happier with them than my stock singles...)
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Manufacturer: Fender? Model: I just installed a set of SRV
pickups in my American Standard Strat.
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Your Name: Troy Kelley
email: tkelley@hel4.brl.mil
Dave of Review 2/25/94
Your Musical Style(s) Original Jazz Fusion, Blues
Guitar or Bass Amer. Std. Strat & Tele
Pickup features SRV Strat pickup
Cost $180 for set (includes shipping)
Purchased from Bill's Music, Baltimore Maryland
Pickups being replaced Stock American Standard Strat pickups
Artists using this pickup ...uh..hum.. Stevie Ray?.. NOT.
Reason for pickup change Wanted better tone, heard favorable things
Perceived output level Slightly hotter than stock pickups
Tone Great, Clean, Fat, Warm
Candid Sonic evalution Some might not notice a big difference
especailly in the out-of-phase selections
but positions 1-3-5 are much better.
On a scale of 1 to 11 I would give them a 9 for quality of sound
this is the tone I was looking for. They
work as advertised.
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Manufacturer: Model:
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Your name : Tim Richter
email :tjr2g@klang.music.virginia.edu
Date of review : 4-29-94
Your musical style(s) : Blues, Country, UK punk, Jazz
Guitar or Bass : Lace Sensor Blue --telecaster replacement
Pickup features : Looks just like the original lipstick tube
Cost : $70. 00 (I think I paid a little too much)
Purchased from : Charlottesville Music in VA
Impedance or other specs:
Pickup being replaced : Japanese Neck PU for 62 reissue Telecaster
Neck/Mid/Bridge position: Neck/Bridge (Blue/Blue)
Other pickups on guitar : none
Artists using this pickup:???
Reason for pickup change: Japanese Tele PU not hot enough, to cancel hum
Because...
Perceived output level : "Cool vintage" medium output
Tone: Mellow, lots of midrange on the Neck, Biting on the Bridge
Candid sonic evaluation: Amazing... Gave me the Chicken Pickin' Twang
Styles and positions for which this pickup is (un)suitable:Heavy Metal
anything requiring really hard distortion
On a scale of 1 to 11, I give this pickup a: 9 1/2
Are you satisfied with this pickup or still searching for *that* sound?: Yep, now
all I need is a Black Face Super or Twin
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Manufacturer: Fender Model: Lace Sensor
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Your name : David Bell
email : db@seachange.com
Date of review : 01/11/95
Your musical style(s) : Blues
Guitar or Bass : Guitar
Neck/Mid/Bridge position: All
Reason for pickup change:
Initially I needed a replacement for the bridge position on my '74 hardtail
strat (original pickup went bad) so I decided to try the red lace-sensor.
Since then I have experimented with all flavours of sensors, and have them
installed in all three positions of both my '74 hardtail and my '94
American Standard. Based on the type of music I play (blues) I have come up
with a combination that works well for me. The combination I use on the '74
is different from what I use on the American Standard because the two
guitars sound very different. I find my '74 has much more mid-range than
the '94, and I attribute this to the fact it is a hard-tail.
Here is my setup:
Guitar Neck Mid Bridge
'74 Hard Tail Gold Gold Silver
'94 Am Std Blue Silver Silver
I found for blues that the red pickup was just too harsh sounding on both
guitars, although it may be fine for modern rock styles. I tried the blue
in the bridge position, but found it to be on the dull side. The blue in the
neck of the '74 was too bassy, on the '94 it's perfect. The gold sounds best
in the neck and middle of my '74, and also sounds nice in the middle position
of the '94, although I like the silver a tad better. I didn't like the gold in
the bridge position of either guitar (too thin) and found the silver to be my
favorite in this position.
Perceived output level :
Hotter than the standard single-coil.
Tone:
See review, depends on the type and location
Candid sonic evaluation:
I'm totally in love with these pickups. To me they combine the best
features of humbuckers (low noise, high output) and single-coil (more highs).
On a scale of 1 to 11, I give this pickup a: 10
Are you satisfied with this pickup or still searching for *that* sound?:
Totally satisfied.
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Miscellaneous Fender Pickup Info
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Regarding Lace Sensors
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From ez004557@rocky.ucdavis.edu Thu Feb 10 09:09:29 1994
Subject: Re: Lace Sensor Pickup Questions
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Donald Parker (parker@bnr.ca) wrote:
: I am looking for specific information about the differences
: between the various "colours" ("colors" for my US friends).
Gold - close approximation of a traditional Strat single coil
Silver - "fat" Strat
Blue - humbucker-type balance
Red - high output
That's for starters - now let the games begin ...
George Kaschner
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From collins_jim@tandem.com Wed Apr 13 16:58:12 1994
Subject: Re: Lace Sensor Review Wanted
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In article <2obrk0$cad@news.duke.edu>, ceh1@acpub.duke.edu (Charles Eric
Horowitz) wrote:
>
> Just wondering,
> Last summer, the treble pickup on my Les Paul started to go, so I had to
> get something new. I ended up replaceing it with the same thing, which I
> am perfectly satisfied with. However, a pickup on the Jeff Beck Strat caught
> my ear, I think its called the Lace Sensor. Im wondering if anyone has any
> reviews of it, on the JBStrat or if anyone happened to have put it on
> a Paul?
> THANX
> CHUCK
Chuck,
I've experienced nearly every Lace Sensor they make, including their
"humbuckers". I've had them on a few different Strats and one Tele Deluxe.
Someone in this thread said that Lace Sensors are single coils, and
putting two of them in series won't make them sound like a humbucker. Not
true. Humbuckers are nothing but two single coils next to each other.
This is the key -- their proximity. The Tele Deluxe I used to have had
double reds in the bridge position, with a micro toggle that selected how
the bridge pickup assembly would be used: one "coil" alone, the other
"coil" alone, or both in series. This last combination is definitely a
humbucker tone. That guitar was an ash body that weighed considerably more
than other Teles I've owned/own. With the bridge pickup in the humbucker
state, it sounded much more like a Les Paul than a Tele, which is one
reason I no longer own that guitar.
It was also mentioned that Lace Sensors are F-spaced. This may only be
partially correct. F-spacing refers to the space between pole pieces.
Fender guitars have wider string spacing at the bridge than Gibsons do,
thus, the pole pieces on an F-spaced pickup must be wider apart. Lace
Sensors do not use pole pieces, so spacing is not an issue. The length of
the pickup may be an issue. Since Lace Sensors are built primarily for
Fender guitars, the pickup might be too long to fit in the average
humbucker mounting ring. I don't know about that for sure.
As for sound, the Lace Sensor single coil is as quiet as a mouse, which
is one of its selling points. It may sound a little too sterile, or too
precise, for some ears, but there is no single coil noise. These are
excellent pickups if you process your sound a lot -- no noise to get
processed. Lace Sensors are also excellent candidates for an active
system, as is found in the Eric Clapton Strat -- no noise to be processed
by the on-board pre-amp. Lace Sensors have one other quality to recommend
them. Because they use no pole pieces, a stretched string will not fade
out. A stretched note over a normal single coil may have a tendency to
fade out because the string moves away from the pole piece -- particularly
in neck pickups. Lace Sensors are like blade pickups in this regard.
Personally, I prefer normal single coils to Lace Sensors, but I don't
process my sound.
So what about the humbucker variety of Lace Sensor? Humbuckers are
already quiet, so that selling point of a Lace Sensor humbucker is largely
lost. I've personally never experienced stretched strings fading on a
humbucker, so that feature may also be largely lost. That leaves the
character of the sound. To my ears, Lace Sensors lack a little character
when played clean, whether they are single coil or humbucker. This is,
after all, a matter of opinion. I prefer traditional humbuckers to the
Lace Sensor humbuckers for that reason. I think there is a greater variety
of sounds available in traditional humbucker configuration than there is in
Lace Sensor configuration.
Jimmy
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From mic@emx.cc.utexas.edu Fri Mar 25 10:30:11 1994
Subject: Re: Lace sensors
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In article <2ms4u7$pe4@ucthpx.uct.ac.za>, Greg Cox <Greg@ee.uct.ac.za> wrote:
>
>Hi...
>
>What exactly is the difference (besides $$) between the different
>color Lace sensors on the Strat Plus, Deluxe etc?
Here are the tonal qualities Fender advertises for each pickup:
Gold -- traditional single-coil Strat
Blue -- 50's humbucker
Silver -- ``fat'' Strat (enhanced midgrange)
Red -- high output single-coil
The Strat Plus comes with 3 Gold sensors. The Plus Deluxe originally
came with (I think) a Blue in the neck position and 2 Silvers in the
bridge and middle position, then went to a Red in the bridge position.
The Plus Ultra comes with two Reds hooked up in series in the bridge
position for even higher output, with a mini switch to cut out one of
them.
I for one agree with people who say that Lace sensors don't sound like
conventional Strat single-coil pickups. I wouldn't call them
``sterile'' so much as ``precise''. I happen to like that, but it