Lace Hemi with sound clip

[Firebird211]

I have a Schecter C-1 Custom that came with some chrome Seymour Duncan pickups.  I wanted to beef up the sound with Lace Hemi's, but have only read a few reviews online.  All of the reviews that I read were very good, and they seem to be the choice I would make.  I usually go with duncan's but the ones they put into the guitar sound lifeless.

 

[Jusatele]

so, is it the axe or the pickups?
have you heard a set of the Laces? to see if they sound like what you want?
Are you going buy them unheard and accept just how ever they sound?
or take someone else's advice and go with what they want?

 

[Firebird211]

so, is it the axe or the pickups?
have you heard a set of the Laces? to see if they sound like what you want?
Are you going buy them unheard and accept just how ever they sound?
or take someone else's advice and go with what they want?

I was trying to gather more reviews from different people and deduce all of that with the info that I have seen.  The guitar itself has a great sound, and has a mahogany body, neck, and ebony fretboard.  The pickups in it are stock, so I already know they aren't typically the greatest and don't have a lot of sizzle.  There are reviews hear and there, they kind of seem highly rated, it seems not a whole lot of people have used them due to the little reviews I have found.  All reviews I have read are very good.  Here is an example:

"I wanted bright, punchy, clear, and a reasonable amount of power. Lace, with there barium ferrite magnets (the only thing I can think of as to why they're so different) and distinct construction give this pickup great sensitivity and clarity.

Tonally, think the beefiness of a classic humbucker, but with the growl of a P-90. Not at all thin, but it is so much brighter than any humbucker I've ever used (not in a harsh way). Sounds great clean, has a nice twang and bite. Overdriven, it's not muddy, or overly bassy, even on the neck pickup. Ballsy as hell, can really scream! A lot of treble to work with even in the mahogany bodied Ibanez I instaled them in, but it can easily be rolled off without ruining the overall tone. "

"I highly, HIGHLY recommend the Hemi to anyone who wants to be able to play anything on just one guitar. These have been able to play rockabilly, jazz, metal, and anything else I've been able to think of, and with the 4 conductor wiring, it can make all kinds of wonderful racket."

From similar reviews like that I was willing to give them a try, but of course, didn't want to decide without more info.  They sound like what I am looking for.  I heard them on a YouTube video too and they sound great, just like the description.

 

[Jusatele]

Well I  think we can work with that now
my suggestion, first is to get sound bites
and I hate to say this because of your not wanting to use SD
but have you heard the Phat Cat P90s, it is a hum bucker that has that P90 sound when clean
Good Luck

Personally, I do not like the tone of any Lace I have heard much, but that is an opinion, which we all know about.

 

[Firebird211]

That is cool to know.  I figured since I have found little sound clips and reviews one of the many guitarist out there might have first hand experience with them.  That info would be available for anyone else that reads this down the road.  Like I was saying, I love Seymour Duncans, but just wanted to try something different.  It is hard to know what a pickup will sound like in your guitar until you try it.  The cool thing about the Hemi possibly in my Schecter, is the Schecter has two volume controls for the bridge and the neck seperately.  That allows a slight mix of the two without directly switching, wasn't my favorite setup, but with the Hemi the volume knob has been described to change the character of the pickup.  In my particular setup that would be very cool.  From the descriptions it sounds like it can act like a p-90, hum, or a single coil just with volume control.  Seymour Duncan does such a better job of sound clips, vast array of different pickups, making wiring diagrams simple and available, but I think I want to give these pups a shot. I haven't found one shortcoming for them and they are chrome so I can keep the same look on my axe.  Here is a YouTube video so anyone can hear them.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YVFKETiYDU[/youtube]

 

[Jusatele]

would be cool if you posted some sound bites on them

 

[pabloman]

Low grade Seymour Duncans??? Most upper end Schecters either have a JB and a Jazz or a Custom Custom and a '59. If yours is newer it's probably got the Custom Custom and the '59. Either way they are pretty good choices for a guitar of that construction. But I guess if you don't like them you don't like them. I've never really cared for most of the Lace stuff I've had. They do look interesting though. :dontknow:

 

[Firebird211]

If yours is newer it's probably got the Custom Custom and the '59. Either way they are pretty good choices for a guitar of that construction. But I guess if you don't like them you don't like them. I've never really cared for most of the Lace stuff I've had. They do look interesting though. :dontknow:

 That's what they have,  I don't know what it is, but they dont seem to do it for me on that guitar.  I will keep them for sure for the same guitar or another.  Maybe I'm just used to hotter pickups, I have a feeling the Hemi's will have the same qualities and then some.  I will let you all know, but I haven't any good recording gear at the moment.  You are absolutely right about most lace pickups, from what people say they are all good in some way, but have some kind of drawback.  I take back "low grade", but you know what I mean, somethings missing.

 

[Firebird211]

Ok, I recieved the Hemi's yesterday, and already they are unusual pickups.  They feel like they weigh twice the amount of the original Seymour Duncans.  The wires coming out of the pickup are a vintage gauge and are twisted about each-other instead of being grouped together and shielded like a Duncan.  The box says "No 60 cycle Hum", but 60 Hz isn't the only source of noise I worry about, I am thinking I may have to intervene and do some shielding.  The wiring diagrams that come with the pups are the same ones on Lace's site, and are a little vaugue about the specifics.  With this overhaul I was going to make the three pot's on the Schecter Push-Pulls, but I am at a loss for what I want to do.  I have my work cut out for me so for these pups I am going to start twisting wires together to try out the circuits first, before they are commited to the guitar.  Luckily the Schecter is a rear route and I can mess with the wiring all day without replacing the strings.  I will let the forum know what I have found with these pups and how I got the most out of them. :guitaristgif:

 

[Firebird211]

After playing around with the Lace Hemi's for a while I learned that they are a hybrid pickup containing a P-90 and a single coil.  Similar to a Duncan P-rail, but the pickup arrangement is backward's.  You just can't see what under the chrome hood, which is a hot can of pickup whoop arse.  After I tried the parallel setting by twisting wires together I found it sounded like a completely different pickup.  The parallel wiring makes the hemi's sound similar to the Duncan custom-custom and the 59', just alot brighter and responsive.  I could not do without that sound, so I needed all the options the hemi's had to offer.  Lace provides some wiring diagrams, but they do not have the one I put together.  Seymour Duncan has a two push-pull wiring configuration that will give you all the options for a P-rail, so I wanted to convert the Lace wiring to that.  After discovering the pickup arrangement was backwards from a P-rail I had to go back and swap some wires. :tard:  The phase switch is great too, and it has a different sound for the series, parallel, P-90, and single coil allowing different degrees of bite.  For anyone that was looking into these pickups I can say the P-90s on the neck and bridge are similar in heat, but the single coil in the neck is very moderate and the bridge single coil could burn your butt.  I am very happy with them its like a whole different guitar.  I would recommend that if you were going to get these to use them in a mahogany body.  I am not sure what you would get with ash, it may be too bright. :dontknow:  The volume roll off that I heard people talking about only works if you use bypass capacitor in the volume circuit.  Without the caps, the pickups do not change characteristics as you roll the knob down, as you can see I added them. 

 

[Firebird211]

Lace need's this wiring configuration. If you use this, flip the picture upside down for the switches.

 

[Firebird211]

Spaghetti anyone?

 

[Firebird211]

The neck contour was one of the reasons I got this baby.

Holy crap it's a cat. One of these days it would be nice to have a workbench.

 

[Firebird211]

I know this is a very old and crusty thread, but I finally had the free time to fight with my recording software and to convert to mp3, so the clip doesn't take forever to download.  This is just some practice I caught on my recorder.  Keep in mind that I am not a beginner nor professional guitar player. :icon_biggrin:  The entire recording was raw, and I didn't mix down my mistakes.(I suck) It's just a three track of me with a drum machine.  http://www.mediafire.com/?neo8rgg2vh2wo1f Now the clip is working for real this time.

 

[Superlizard]

Lace Hemi?

Does it also provide 425 ft. lbs. of torque?  :icon_jokercolor:

 

[Firebird211]

Lace Hemi?

Does it also provide 425 ft. lbs. of torque?   :icon_jokercolor:

He he, Hemi does = power.

On a different note:
I just got the Graphtech NVS TOM, and installed in this Schecter, and man what a difference.  By the stark difference I would have to say the TonePros TOM is the weakest link in the guitar. :sad1:  The guitar has improved so much on the midrange and high end I actually need to use my tone knob for a change.  The Lace Hemi's sound amazing now, and I can actually hear myself in the mix much better playing live.  From this new found knowledge I would have to say that the Lace Hemi's rival or beat out P-rails in sound and versatility.  I have a P-rail's in another guitar that sound great, so this is a bold statement.  When my sprained wrist heals I will be able to pop out another sound clip, so you can decide for yourself.  This guitar used to go out of tune quite a bit, now not at all.  When I was setting intonation the saddle easily moved and didn't even put the string out of tune most of the time.  Damn thats slippery!!  The old stock Seymour Duncans were probably just fine, but I'm glad I switched.