Pickup suggestions for a thicker tone?

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 16 Jul 2003 4:10 am

My white MSA, which has been retofitted with the Sierra interchangable pickup system, currently has an E-66. It doesn't sound bad, but it is a little on the thin side. I want a thicker tone. Any suggestions?

Bill Moore · Post by **Bill Moore** » 16 Jul 2003 4:26 am

Mike, Not a pickup, but I just got a Peavey Tubefex, which enables a bunch of tone options. Maybe something like that would work for you.

Charlie Moore · Post by **Charlie Moore** » 16 Jul 2003 5:39 am

THE E-66 P/U IS ABOUT A 16 TO 17OOO OHM P/U TO GET A THICKER TONE YOUR P/U NEEDS TO BE ABOUT 20000 OR SO,IM SURE THAT WILL WORK, I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE EFFECT UNIT. CM

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 16 Jul 2003 9:30 am

my guess is have Mr Wallace custom wind you a True Tone to whatever specs you and he agree will accomplish the trick...

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 16 Jul 2003 12:15 pm

The George L's 12-1 will give you the tone you want, Mike.

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Jeff A. Smith · Post by **Jeff A. Smith** » 16 Jul 2003 12:24 pm

Jerry Wallace told me that he personally prefers 17.5 to 18K for tone. Not really knowing much about the subject, I decided to go along with his stock recommendation when I got a True Tone to replace an E-66 on my '76 MSA S-10.

After having had it a few weeks, I still strongly feel that overall, I made the right choice. On my guitar, with the way I play, the E-66 sounded great on country-type licks in the high and high-mid register. However, I felt it significantly lacked in other areas.

The True Tone has more than enough body, the highs are thicker and more sweet, and there is an improvement in clarity and string separation. I'll admit that sometimes I miss that classic E-66 country soul on certain licks, but I can still increase my treble on the amp to get in the same range with the True Tone. There are so many plusses to the new pickup, that it's well worth the trade off. The bit of single-coil hum isn't a problem for me, but I'll admit I haven't had it out of the house yet.

As far as winding for more bass than Jerry's stock resistance, I don't know what to say. I know that I don't feel the need for any more bass, and I'd probably miss the clear highs I now have -- particularly since I have an MSA.

Jeff Evans · Post by **Jeff Evans** » 16 Jul 2003 4:59 pm

Mike:

Your objective is appreciated.

The Lawrence 9 series p/u's (e.g., 910) are supposed to be his darkest (a relative term), and they are what I settled on after installing several different makes and models.

J D Sauser · Post by **J D Sauser** » 17 Jul 2003 7:08 am

I don't think that the resistance (impedance as you may want to call it) will tell the color of sound a particular pu will tend to reproduce... just remember the fat sounds the earliest pu's had and then go mesure them for impedance... and you will be surprised how low the resistance is on some.
I once spend a day at Bill Lawrence's offices and he told me the same thing... and then he told me in length which where the real factors that mattered but I kind'a lost him there...

... J-D.

Ray Montee (RIP) · Post by **Ray Montee (RIP)** » 17 Jul 2003 9:07 am

You MIGHT be most pleasantly surprised by what you'd likely get from one of Rick Aielos
pickups. Full bodied sound; no flat spots;
rich tonal sound from the highest to lowest all the way up the neck. Ask anyone that's tried them.......