This Hass to be the most comprehensive and useable demo on what these pick ups sound like, and just like you said it’s not which one is better it’s how are they different. Thank you so much for your work on this.
I guess it depends which high frequencies we’re talking about, I found the attenuated mids really accentuated the sparkly highs in the Lambertones, but I hear you! Cheers!
It all depends on what your palette prefers. To my earholes, I hear brightness in the Lambertones whilst the Lollars provide warmth and a thicker sound. Well done, sir!
I've never had a problem with too much midrange with p90s. I crank my amp dirty and roll the guitar volume back to between 3 and 5 and even the stock Gibson p90s in my LP Special have tons of sparkle and clarity, even more so with my Novo Serus J. My guitar volume is rarely above 5 unless I'm in Neil Young mode.
Love them both. I preferred the ristretto sound a little better, cuz I am always looking for a clear sound first, the middle push from the original P90s sounds a little muddier
I just subscribed. Awesome comparison, Scott - thank you. With the Lambertones, what value tone cap are you using for the neck pickup here? I ask because I just bought a set to replace my Lollar P-90s, which to me had a bit of an 'overwound' sound to them and the neck pickup was too dark for my playing, so I replaced the 0.22 cap with a 0.01 cap which helped, but still for sounding too deep and loud. Not sure what Kurtis recommends here. I have 500K Bourne pots btw. Appreciate your time, John
I liked the lollars more till you did the in a mix comparison then I felt like the ristrettos were cutting through the mix abit better and sounded alittle more vibrant
Yeah, kind of an unfair comparison in the mix since I would have gotten a slightly different/brighter tone for the lollars. Pickup Comparisons are tough because you often have to get a tone that kinda works on for both sets!
How do the Ristrettos compare to the Alnico Pole Lollars? I have a JA90 Tele that feels great but I'm not really a fan of the mid-heavy P90 tone. Which would you recommend for a non-P90 guy like me? As always, an excellent job. I think your videos give the audience the a better feel of the characteristics of products you're reviewing than any other channel on youtube.
Thanks Mark! That’s a good question. I haven’t played them side by side, but my guess having had both in this same guitar, the Alnico poles have a bit more zip in the highs, not as much of that chalkiness in the mids that the Ristrettos have.
@@Positivedistractions I went with the Ristrettos. They sound great -- almost weirdly smooth. But, I ended up taking them out because the Tele was a bit too dark so the tone became a bit muddy. If your Tele doesn't have that problem, I think they'd be great in it.
Everything sounded beautiful with the Lollars. Much richer, more resonance, more range, more harmonics, more overtones. Except the heavy stuff at the end -- the Ristrettos did better at that.
Were the Lollars regular wind? Would love to hear these against the 50s wind, they have great clarity. Ristrettos were definitely different. I kind of liked them for cleans though!
Neat. P90s for people who want more of the scooped Fender thing. I think the neck pickup reallllly needs the extra oomph that traditional P90s have, but the bridge Ristretto nicely tames how ice picky the Lollars can get (when you EQ your rig for primarily playing on the neck).
Well said… although I really love the balance of that neck pick up with the bridge. Doesn’t do the p90 thing, but so sweet sounding. Especially sparkly in the middle. Cheers
I have yet to find a p90 that beats a Lollar p90. The Ristretto is typical Lambertones. Crystal clear high end and not quite enough push. I have both p90s and use them for different types of playing.
Thank you so much for the comparison. So informative and useful. As an idea, it would be great to hear a side by side of the Ristrettos vs Lollar's Firebird. I think it could be so interesting. And great playing as usual. Salud!
Thanks, glad it was useful! Good idea on the Firebirds… I had a Neck Firebird a while ago, from what I remember it was a good bit brighter than the Ristrettos. I haven’t sold the Ristrettos yet so might be a possibility if I can get some used Firebirds… they don’t pop up as much as the others. Cheers!
I hadn't heard of the trisonics, so I just looked them up - interesting! Alnico pole or steel pole noiseless fralins? I'm ok with a little hum most of the time... it's nice having a few noiseless options for sure.
Did you dial in your comparison tone on the Lollar's? Seems logical since you probably already had them installed. If so, I think a fairer method would have been to present the comparison as you did, but then go back and dial in the tone to your satisfaction on the Lambertones and compare again. That would eliminate the "everything sounds how I like it on the Lollars but the Lambertones are weaker" result given here. I'm sure the Lollars would be over the top on the re-comparison, but would be nice to hear how the Lambertones sound when dialed in to push the amp. FWIW, I still prefer the tone of the Lambertones overall.
I had the Lollars in initially but dialed them in a little hotter/darker than I normally would because I knew the Lambertones would be brighter/not as hot. My primary goal with comparisons is to use all the same settings, but I agree with you and I’ve often thought about going back and getting the “optimal” tone for each pickup. Problem is, gotta do that for the lollars too (because I really like trying to shoot for something in the middle initially). Optimal is also so subjective, and from my analytics data, most people tend to tune out after the first couple rounds of comparisons anyway! Cheers… next comparison I may try it anyhow because it’d be fun!
This Hass to be the most comprehensive and useable demo on what these pick ups sound like, and just like you said it’s not which one is better it’s how are they different. Thank you so much for your work on this.
Absolutely superb demo. Thank you for that!
What an awesome comparison! I found the middle position on the P90s actually had more high end 🤔 love both though.
I guess it depends which high frequencies we’re talking about, I found the attenuated mids really accentuated the sparkly highs in the Lambertones, but I hear you! Cheers!
It all depends on what your palette prefers. To my earholes, I hear brightness in the Lambertones whilst the Lollars provide warmth and a thicker sound. Well done, sir!
A good p90 sound is what people want from paf style humbuckers a lot of the time. Ristrettos sound like p90s for people who like strats.
I don’t disagree :)
great video super helpful. i enjoyed the playing examples as well.
Also I must say, excellent playing as always!!
Great comparison video!
Thanks, cheers!
I've never had a problem with too much midrange with p90s. I crank my amp dirty and roll the guitar volume back to between 3 and 5 and even the stock Gibson p90s in my LP Special have tons of sparkle and clarity, even more so with my Novo Serus J. My guitar volume is rarely above 5 unless I'm in Neil Young mode.
Got a Lollar goldfoil in the bridge position on a '54 Harmony archtop. Gonna be a Lollar P90 for the neck position!!
Love them both. I preferred the ristretto sound a little better, cuz I am always looking for a clear sound first, the middle push from the original P90s sounds a little muddier
I just subscribed. Awesome comparison, Scott - thank you. With the Lambertones, what value tone cap are you using for the neck pickup here? I ask because I just bought a set to replace my Lollar P-90s, which to me had a bit of an 'overwound' sound to them and the neck pickup was too dark for my playing, so I replaced the 0.22 cap with a 0.01 cap which helped, but still for sounding too deep and loud. Not sure what Kurtis recommends here. I have 500K Bourne pots btw.
Appreciate your time,
John
Lollar's all day for me.
The lambetones almost remind me of strat tones for whatever reason. Especially the neck
Agreed… they def have as similar a vibe as possible given they have a soap bar construction
Maybe the ristrettos are what my baritone tele needs. It has so much more mids than my other guitars
That sounds fun! Tele bridge or cut off bridge?
@@haskitt short bridge! It’s one of the new squier paranormal baritones
I liked the lollars more till you did the in a mix comparison then I felt like the ristrettos were cutting through the mix abit better and sounded alittle more vibrant
Yeah, kind of an unfair comparison in the mix since I would have gotten a slightly different/brighter tone for the lollars. Pickup Comparisons are tough because you often have to get a tone that kinda works on for both sets!
How do the Ristrettos compare to the Alnico Pole Lollars? I have a JA90 Tele that feels great but I'm not really a fan of the mid-heavy P90 tone. Which would you recommend for a non-P90 guy like me?
As always, an excellent job. I think your videos give the audience the a better feel of the characteristics of products you're reviewing than any other channel on youtube.
Thanks Mark! That’s a good question. I haven’t played them side by side, but my guess having had both in this same guitar, the Alnico poles have a bit more zip in the highs, not as much of that chalkiness in the mids that the Ristrettos have.
I have the same guitar I’m thinking about going with the ristrettos… what’d you end up going with?
@@Positivedistractions I went with the Ristrettos. They sound great -- almost weirdly smooth. But, I ended up taking them out because the Tele was a bit too dark so the tone became a bit muddy. If your Tele doesn't have that problem, I think they'd be great in it.
Everything sounded beautiful with the Lollars. Much richer, more resonance, more range, more harmonics, more overtones. Except the heavy stuff at the end -- the Ristrettos did better at that.
Were the Lollars regular wind? Would love to hear these against the 50s wind, they have great clarity.
Ristrettos were definitely different. I kind of liked them for cleans though!
please review Lambertones Crema vs Lollar Regal next 🙏🏻
Do you mean crema versus Imperials? I’m not quite getting the connection between the crema and the regal wide ranges…
Neat. P90s for people who want more of the scooped Fender thing. I think the neck pickup reallllly needs the extra oomph that traditional P90s have, but the bridge Ristretto nicely tames how ice picky the Lollars can get (when you EQ your rig for primarily playing on the neck).
Well said… although I really love the balance of that neck pick up with the bridge. Doesn’t do the p90 thing, but so sweet sounding. Especially sparkly in the middle. Cheers
I have yet to find a p90 that beats a Lollar p90. The Ristretto is typical Lambertones. Crystal clear high end and not quite enough push. I have both p90s and use them for different types of playing.
I agree. Although, I haven’t played other Lambertones. I was close to buying some cremas, but the demos didn’t have enough mids on the Bridge.
@@haskitt yes, exactly. mid push is why I want p90's , at least for me.
Is the Lollar considered as quiet P90?
Quiet as in low noise or quiet as in output? I guess regardless I would say as low noise as any well made p90 and definitely not low output.
The Lambs should be silenced overpriced bullshit
😂
Thank you so much for the comparison. So informative and useful. As an idea, it would be great to hear a side by side of the Ristrettos vs Lollar's Firebird. I think it could be so interesting. And great playing as usual. Salud!
Thanks, glad it was useful! Good idea on the Firebirds… I had a Neck Firebird a while ago, from what I remember it was a good bit brighter than the Ristrettos. I haven’t sold the Ristrettos yet so might be a possibility if I can get some used Firebirds… they don’t pop up as much as the others. Cheers!
They remind me of the trisonics I had in a guitar... I have the noiseless Fralins in my TMG Ronnie Scott and love them. 60 cycle hum is unbearable
I hadn't heard of the trisonics, so I just looked them up - interesting! Alnico pole or steel pole noiseless fralins? I'm ok with a little hum most of the time... it's nice having a few noiseless options for sure.
Did you dial in your comparison tone on the Lollar's? Seems logical since you probably already had them installed. If so, I think a fairer method would have been to present the comparison as you did, but then go back and dial in the tone to your satisfaction on the Lambertones and compare again. That would eliminate the "everything sounds how I like it on the Lollars but the Lambertones are weaker" result given here. I'm sure the Lollars would be over the top on the re-comparison, but would be nice to hear how the Lambertones sound when dialed in to push the amp. FWIW, I still prefer the tone of the Lambertones overall.
I had the Lollars in initially but dialed them in a little hotter/darker than I normally would because I knew the Lambertones would be brighter/not as hot. My primary goal with comparisons is to use all the same settings, but I agree with you and I’ve often thought about going back and getting the “optimal” tone for each pickup. Problem is, gotta do that for the lollars too (because I really like trying to shoot for something in the middle initially). Optimal is also so subjective, and from my analytics data, most people tend to tune out after the first couple rounds of comparisons anyway! Cheers… next comparison I may try it anyhow because it’d be fun!
thanks, a very helpful comparison. Tempted to replace my p90s with some ristrettos.
Looking to sell these soon I think - keep an eye out on Reverb!
Great Imfo. Lollar got me from hello!