I recently came into a set of Reed James Custom Woodbuckers (http://www.reedjamescustom.com) with matching Cocobolo bobbins and mounting rings. I loaded them into a recent Epiphone Les Paul Custom I traded my way into last month.
The Guitar itself came with one original pickup and an EMG HZ4 pickup in the bridge. I wanted to get the clearest comparison of the originals VS the Reed James pickups I could, so I devised a test.
For testing, I used my digital multi-track device (BOSS BR1180CD) and recorded a series of riffs from each pickup on its own track.
Specifically:
Track one, original neck pickup.
Track two, EMGHZ4 bridge pickup.
Track three, Reed James Woodbucker neck pickup.
Track Four, Reed James Woodbucker bridge pickup.
For Each track I recorded the same riff with its own amp model setting. For example, 30 seconds worth of Thin Lizzy riffs through a Marshall setting. 30 seconds worth of Ziggy Stardust on a Vox setting. 30 seconds worth of finger picking on a Roland Jazz setting. 30 seconds worth of blues on an overdriven Fender setting. This enabled me to go back and compare the Reed James pickups against the original pickups with the exact same riffs and amp settings just by sliding levels up and down.
One striking difference is the clarity. Both the original neck pickup and EMGHZ4 were muddier than the Reed James Customs. The Reed James pickups were louder without having all the added midrange of higher output pickups. A good example would be that the original pickups sounded like they were in the next room, the Reed James pickups sounded like you were in the same room.
In chords I hear better note to note separation than with the original pickups. Single note runs, leads, punch through the mix, the sustain was sweet and singing. When rolling the volume knob back to clean the distortion up, the volume dropped a great deal more with the original pickup, with the Reed James the volume stays put longer while the sound cleans up.
They’re very “expressive” or “detailed”. Certain aspects of the tone remind me of everything I like in single coils while still being a humbucker and sounding like a humbucker.
Over the weekend my band had our first gig in months, a wedding reception. So I had to have loads of different sounds ready to go. I used my trusty Vox Valvetronix SE pedal board straight into the PA. Yet I only used one setting all night long. I dialed in a Marshall JCM800 sound dialed up to just a little overdrive and left it there. I never hit the “distortion/overdrive” pedal models; I just used the toggle, volume knobs and tone knobs for all adjustments. The only time I used any other effect at all was for chorus on one song and a filtertron on two others. Four Sets, four hours. All I did was roll the knobs around to clean up or get the distortion. I’ve always relied on this technique, but never this much and with such great success. Our songs ran the gambit from “Bubbly” by Coby Calet, “Time In a Bottle” by Jim Croce, and some other slow dance groaners, to some high energy “Rock this Town” by the Stray Cats, “Crazy little thing called love” by Queen, “The Time Warp” from Rocky Horror, and “Are you gonna be my girl” by Jet. They sounded fantastic, and they were eye catching, I got lots of questions and comments from guitarists and non guitarists alike.
The look of the Cocobolo on a black guitar clashes at first. I’ve gotten used to it and kind of like it. This guitar is more of a “place holder” for the pickups until I can build the right Warmoth around them.
I’ve tried to come up with something I don’t like about these pickups, but I can’t. Yes, they’re kind of pricy at $300 for a pair, but given how good they sound and how good they look, I can’t see holding that against them.
One might take issue as to whether or not the wood makes any difference in the sound of the pickups. I can see why someone might declare the notion to be hogwash, likewise I can see how one might say that wood is naturally going to make a difference as the rest of the guitar is mostly wood etc… In my opinion, this argument really doesn’t matter. If these were “all show and no go”, then I’d have sent them back and wouldn’t want anyone to know I’d ever succumbed to a pickup based upon looks alone. And truthfully, that was the main reason I sought out a set. I’m pleasantly supprised at how good they sound. There are several aspects to humbucker tone that I don’t like, these don’t have any of those aspects.
The Guitar itself came with one original pickup and an EMG HZ4 pickup in the bridge. I wanted to get the clearest comparison of the originals VS the Reed James pickups I could, so I devised a test.
For testing, I used my digital multi-track device (BOSS BR1180CD) and recorded a series of riffs from each pickup on its own track.
Specifically:
Track one, original neck pickup.
Track two, EMGHZ4 bridge pickup.
Track three, Reed James Woodbucker neck pickup.
Track Four, Reed James Woodbucker bridge pickup.
For Each track I recorded the same riff with its own amp model setting. For example, 30 seconds worth of Thin Lizzy riffs through a Marshall setting. 30 seconds worth of Ziggy Stardust on a Vox setting. 30 seconds worth of finger picking on a Roland Jazz setting. 30 seconds worth of blues on an overdriven Fender setting. This enabled me to go back and compare the Reed James pickups against the original pickups with the exact same riffs and amp settings just by sliding levels up and down.
One striking difference is the clarity. Both the original neck pickup and EMGHZ4 were muddier than the Reed James Customs. The Reed James pickups were louder without having all the added midrange of higher output pickups. A good example would be that the original pickups sounded like they were in the next room, the Reed James pickups sounded like you were in the same room.
In chords I hear better note to note separation than with the original pickups. Single note runs, leads, punch through the mix, the sustain was sweet and singing. When rolling the volume knob back to clean the distortion up, the volume dropped a great deal more with the original pickup, with the Reed James the volume stays put longer while the sound cleans up.
They’re very “expressive” or “detailed”. Certain aspects of the tone remind me of everything I like in single coils while still being a humbucker and sounding like a humbucker.
Over the weekend my band had our first gig in months, a wedding reception. So I had to have loads of different sounds ready to go. I used my trusty Vox Valvetronix SE pedal board straight into the PA. Yet I only used one setting all night long. I dialed in a Marshall JCM800 sound dialed up to just a little overdrive and left it there. I never hit the “distortion/overdrive” pedal models; I just used the toggle, volume knobs and tone knobs for all adjustments. The only time I used any other effect at all was for chorus on one song and a filtertron on two others. Four Sets, four hours. All I did was roll the knobs around to clean up or get the distortion. I’ve always relied on this technique, but never this much and with such great success. Our songs ran the gambit from “Bubbly” by Coby Calet, “Time In a Bottle” by Jim Croce, and some other slow dance groaners, to some high energy “Rock this Town” by the Stray Cats, “Crazy little thing called love” by Queen, “The Time Warp” from Rocky Horror, and “Are you gonna be my girl” by Jet. They sounded fantastic, and they were eye catching, I got lots of questions and comments from guitarists and non guitarists alike.
The look of the Cocobolo on a black guitar clashes at first. I’ve gotten used to it and kind of like it. This guitar is more of a “place holder” for the pickups until I can build the right Warmoth around them.
I’ve tried to come up with something I don’t like about these pickups, but I can’t. Yes, they’re kind of pricy at $300 for a pair, but given how good they sound and how good they look, I can’t see holding that against them.
One might take issue as to whether or not the wood makes any difference in the sound of the pickups. I can see why someone might declare the notion to be hogwash, likewise I can see how one might say that wood is naturally going to make a difference as the rest of the guitar is mostly wood etc… In my opinion, this argument really doesn’t matter. If these were “all show and no go”, then I’d have sent them back and wouldn’t want anyone to know I’d ever succumbed to a pickup based upon looks alone. And truthfully, that was the main reason I sought out a set. I’m pleasantly supprised at how good they sound. There are several aspects to humbucker tone that I don’t like, these don’t have any of those aspects.
