Lace sensors?

[LushTone]

So, I've listened to several reviews of Lace sensors on Youtube, yet am wondering what the forum members think. I know they offer a tone that is very different to typical single coils, but I like the clean, almost acoustic tone they have. It is something that I am at least interested in.

What are your opinions on these pickups?

Do you prefer a certain model or output?

I'm considering a medium or higher output sensor for the bridge position of my strat (Warmoth), and probably a medium sensor in the neck.

 

[Cagey]

My experience with Lace sensors is old, so it doesn't really count. But, the original units were pretty sterile, kinda like active pickups often sound. I understand they have about eleventy bajillion different models now, each tuned to appeal to different tastes or marketing demographics, so who knows? Maybe now they have one I could live with. But, I'm unlikely to buy into any unless I play a guitar that has them on it into my rig.

And that would be my advice to you - YouTube reviews are worth almost as much as used toilet paper. You really need to get out and play/hear some in real life through a rig similar to yours. Short of that, you can't know what they'll sound like. You can get adjectives from dozens of users about their sound all day long that will read like wine reviews, but they're useless. Talking about sound is like dancing about architecture. Gotta use your own ears to come to a conclusion.

 

[Corey P.]

A good friend of mine plays a Warmoth Strat with Lace Sensor Golds in the middle and bridge positions.  He plays a lot of Jimi/SRV style blues rock, and in his hands it's a great sounding combo.  Like Cagey said, they're similar to active pickups, though to me that's a desirable quality - pretty honest, pretty evenly EQ'd: what you play is what comes out.

 

[crash]

I have a set on one of my strats.  I like them.  I have a Purple neck, Silver middle, and Blue bridge.  They are much hotter than traditional strat pickups.  But I also have a Bill Lawrence Q filter which basically removes inductance, making the pickups lower output.  So I can get close to some traditional sounding strat pickups.  I can get it to sound about 95% of what my Gilmour black strat sounds like, then turn the Q filter knob back up and get a P90-ish sound.

 

[Hbom]

I have LS Chromes in my W strat, Love em!  :blob7:

 

[Dan025]

I have a set on one of my strats.  I like them.  I have a Purple neck, Silver middle, and Blue bridge.  They are much hotter than traditional strat pickups.  But I also have a Bill Lawrence Q filter which basically removes inductance, making the pickups lower output.  So I can get close to some traditional sounding strat pickups.  I can get it to sound about 95% of what my Gilmour black strat sounds like, then turn the Q filter knob back up and get a P90-ish sound.

sounds like a great combo. i don't have the q-filters, i was trying to get them when bills health took a decline a couple years ago and my order was never answered. so i found some inductors online with a similar value and have a q-filter-esque circuit in my strat which i can use two ways (i have a small switch) to either give a notch filter that sounds a bit like a traditional tone control with more clarity and linearity or use to drop the inductance to a point it sounds like a piezo pickup in quite a convincing way as long as i'm playing it through a bright amp. i'll definately be employing this on my fatter sounding mini hunucker equipped telecaster (the gibson style p-90 sized ones) to get some of that strat quack with only 2 pichups.

 

[Cagey]

...I also have a Bill Lawrence Q filter which basically removes inductance, making the pickups lower output.

Bill's Q-filter doesn't remove inductance; you can't do that. It actually is an inductor that filters out low frequencies. I've been meaning to try one for years but haven't done it yet. His website isn't exactly a model of convenience, and isn't always ready to take orders (for various reasons). But, it seems like it would be a good thing put in place of the second tone control on a Strat, so you'd have both a high cut and a low cut. $24, though. Kinda stiff. But, in the grand scheme of things, it's a pretty small part of a build that returns some capability that can't easily be had otherwise.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I don't care for Lace Sensors. While they don't sound terrible, they don't sound great either.

 

[drewfx]

I have a Strat Plus that came with 3 golds, but I replaced the bridge with a blue, which I like much better in that position.

To me a lot of the bad rap they tend to get comes from them being initially marketed as sort of a modern, high tech, low noise "vintage" sound. But they don't really sound and respond all that much like traditional SC's, so people who are after a vintage SC kind of thing hate them. It's sort of like EMG HB's - if someone's standard of comparison is a traditional PAF then they hate them. But if you judge them on their own, it's often a different story.


To me they are very touch sensitive and responsive (for good and bad) like a good acoustic is. Very clean and nuanced, but I guess to a certain extent they make you do the work, as it sort of seems like they are reproducing more than creating sound.

And I definitely recommend trying them with a decent compressor pedal, which can fatten them up in a really nice way.

 

[DaveT]

I fitted one of the black 'Deathbucker' pickups in the neck position on an Epiphone Firebird.
I like it, much better than the Epiphone humbucker it replaced.
Lace Sensors do have a different sound to them, and you just might like it.
One thing, I was a bit disappointed at the build quality on the Deathbucker. Just 4 wires and no screening.
Would I buy more Lace Sensors? Probably. Seriously considering one for the bridge on my Tele.

 

[Pelagaard]

If I ever get around to building the 12er in my head, I'll probably be using the Matt Pike "Dirty Hesher" signature set by Lace.  He has them in his custom 9-string, and that's very much the sound I'm looking for.

 

[DavyDave53]

In the late nineties I found mexi stat that had a great acoustic sound to it.  It had an  excellent combination of tone, sustain and resonance.  I bought the guitar without plugging it into an amp.  I put locking tuners on it.  Replaced the bend metal saddles.  Disabled the floating bridge.  Gutted the electronics and put in three Lace Sensor slivers.  I've been happy with the sound it puts outs out.  It's well behaved and predictable with enough nuance to keep it interesting. 

Why is it the guitars you really enjoy playing end up with names?  In respond to Fender's marketing at the time, I named it “MexiPlus”.

 

[mullyman]

I have a 1997 Fender USA Eric Clapton model that came with gold Lace Sensor pups in it. I bought the guitar without listening to it because it was on the wall in the guitar shop for 800 bucks. I talked to the guy at the shop and had him throw in a Line6 30w Spider on the deal. They did them both for 800 so I jumped on it.

First time I ran the Clapton through my Mesa Dual Rectifier I was blown away by how much power that bridge pickup has. I've never hesitated to use that guitar on stage, and my band plays all cover music of bands like Metallica, Godsmack, etc....

I am a firm believer in the Lace Sensor Kool-Aid and would put them in another guitar if it wasn't for having to have a God damned battery. That is the only downside to them. If you play out a lot you gotta stay on top of the battery situation. The battery doesn't run down really fast, that's the problem. You can probably go a year without changing it then all of a sudden, nothing. If they died every 2 or 3 months it'd be easy to stay on top of it.

MULLY
better check that battery :icon_scratch:

 

[bagman67]

Do the Lace Sensors generally require a battery, or is it the Clapton TBX thingy in particular that wants the battery?

 

[LushTone]

Aren't the sensors passive?

Thanks for the opinions, it helps!

 

[Cagey]

Lace sensors are passive. He must have a little preamp in there or something. Could be why his bridge pickup is so hot. Lace sensors aren't known for that.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

The EC guitar has an active mid boost, that's what the battery is for. TBX is a passive control.

 

[mullyman]

Do the Lace Sensors generally require a battery, or is it the Clapton TBX thingy in particular that wants the battery?

To be honest, I've never had it apart to follow where the battery goes. I always just assumed it was the pups.
MULLY

 

[Dan025]

nah the sensors are passive. the EC sig model that had them also had an active mid boost but i never opened one up to see where they mount the circuit but it ain't on the pickups...

 

[mullyman]

A quick look around the web says the battery in the Clapton Strat is for the mid-boost, not the pups. But, if the battery dies no sound comes out. I've never taken the scratch plate off to see how it's wired up.
MULLY