I just put together an L5 clone, and dropped in the Lollar Imperials, (Standard wind) and man, I couldn't be happier. I was trying very hard to get a "Wes Montgomery" tone out of the guitar. I think my luthier, and I nailed it! No phony bologney, I now have had two different people ask me how much I want for the guitar, and I love saying "It's not for sale." IMHO any three of the pickups you tested would work very well. As we all know, sound is sooooo subjective to every player. I'm not loyal to one periocular brand of pickups, I pick the ones that sound best to me. Thank you for doing this blind test. It's a great way for someone to determine who they're going give their money to.
They all sounded good. I kind of liked the PAF followed by the CC, though they just sound a bit different from each other rather than better/worse. Nice playing. Yardbird Suite is so cool.
Thank you man! I completely agree with you. The Gabojo sounds really great in a recording situation. Live in Club i think he loose a little bit his warmness the more far away you from the amp. So i took the Charlie Christian at the moment, but maybe it will change in the future - who knows :-D
While Im not a fan of humbuckers, in this constellation with your playing it sounds very good! In the blind test i heard the "Gretschy" tone on the no 2, so I was right with the Dearmond style. I like the most the Lollar here. Best wishes from Germany
Holy Cow… I was right. To me the main changes in the tone came from the warm and/or bright bias in terms of what notes came forward more. The PAF highlighted deeper mid and low notes. The Dyna had more bright punch especially in the highs. Christian was the most balance with less warm or bright bias altogether.
Thanks for taking the time to make that video. Great playing and lovely sounds. I wonder about the effect the value of the volume and tone pots has on the sound. Many folks know that a Strat is usually fitted with 250k pots and humbucker guitars are usually fitted with 500k pots. A humbucker, particularly a 'hot' one, wired to a 250k pot is a bit too loaded and can sound dull. A 'normal' output single coil pickup wired to a 500k pot can sound too bright because it's not loaded enough. In the video the humbucker and the Dynasonic should be well enough matched to 500k pots whereas the Charlie Christian pickup has an unusually low impedance of @3.5k and is therefore hardly loaded at all. It sounds lovely but quite bright and I wonder how much of that sound can be attributed to the characteristics of the pickup design and materials and how much is caused by the very light loading of the volume and tone circuit.
Nicely done comparison! It does surprise me how close the three pickups are, and I found myself repeating the adage "The tone is in the fingers!" I have a cheap Squier Telecaster in which I replaced the neck pickup with a Bill Lawrence replacement, and it sounds quite a bit like your guitar - not identical, of course, but very similar, for all of being a solidbody.
The differences are so subtle. My ears work up then got tired. Could be the pick changes flexibility.😁. So many variables. I couldn't pick one over the other.
This just goes to show you content is king. What you play and how you play it is what counts. Wes Montgomery could've played a banjo, and we would all be coveting his model of banjo for jazz. The obsession over pickups, tone woods, and everything else is a distraction, and a costly one. Wait, now that I think of it, i need an L5! :-)
I am thinking, without any Amp setting tweaks, it is simply inadequate to compare the three pickups like this in order to pick a favorite. In your format here, I perceived a fondness immediately for the first contender; I heard a few interesting qualities: spatialness...appealing subtle overdriven distortion....an elegant tonal balance. The other two, lacked these qualities generally, seemed kind of harsh...hard edges...still interesting....but I feel you would have to explore other eq's to examine their real potentialities. Still, a fun test though
Nice! Got it right. PAF is obvious since it has that smeared/phasey humbucker quality since it picks up a wider area of the string. Charlie Christian has that distortion on certain notes, which I actually didn't like so much. Dynasonic had the most punch and clarity, best articulation, dynamics, and balance.
It was a tight race! The Lollar was great but the Dearmond just had a bit more crispness. That may be due to hearing loss on higher frequencies but other videos confirm that the Dearmond works for me.Sold!
I like the single note woodiness with the Classic 57. To me, the Gabojo sort of sounded like it wanted to cut loose and rock and Roll 😆. It sounded very woody with chords, but I think it was slightly rich in harmonics for this type of jazz. The Lollar sounded great for what was being played. I would honestly have trouble choosing between the Classic 57 and the Charlie Christian if I had to choose one of them for jazz. I think the Lollar has real potential, so I would probably go with that. Awesome comparison video and great playing.
I haven't found out which one's which yet, but #1 sounds the muddiest to me, and part of me feels like it's the Dynasonic, but now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if it's the PAF...
Interesting results. I really liked the bass of the DeArmond for lower position chords. I thought the CC was a bit too smooth for lower position for solo guitar, but really liked what it did for single strings in the higher register. I think it might be a really good pickup if you're doing a lot of comping. I'm about to put a set of those in a tele build, where I think the character in the low positions should be a little different. I think I'd go for the 57 as an all-arounder. There are so many variants of those these days, and lately I'm kind of into the unbalanced coil thing.
So were the pickups in same order that you listed them, I.e. #1-DeArmond, #2PAF, #3 Lollar CC? If so, I don’t think it’s really a blind test, test. My favorite is #1 , with #3 a close second.
All three sounded great and honestly very similar. I could tell the first pickup was the PAF but the other two sounded much closer to each other; the dynasonic had a woodiness or openness during the chordal portion that the other two didn't really have. Superb playing :)
I was completely surprised! I preferred #3, then #2, but last #1
I just put together an L5 clone, and dropped in the Lollar Imperials, (Standard wind) and man, I couldn't be happier. I was trying very hard to get a "Wes Montgomery" tone out of the guitar. I think my luthier, and I nailed it! No phony bologney, I now have had two different people ask me how much I want for the guitar, and I love saying "It's not for sale." IMHO any three of the pickups you tested would work very well. As we all know, sound is sooooo subjective to every player. I'm not loyal to one periocular brand of pickups, I pick the ones that sound best to me. Thank you for doing this blind test. It's a great way for someone to determine who they're going give their money to.
Hi can you please tell me what the L5 clone is that you have?
They all sounded good. I kind of liked the PAF followed by the CC, though they just sound a bit different from each other rather than better/worse. Nice playing. Yardbird Suite is so cool.
Wow. Those pickups sound so similar. I think I prefer the DeArmond, then the Charlie Christian. Great playing.
Thank you man! I completely agree with you. The Gabojo sounds really great in a recording situation. Live in Club i think he loose a little bit his warmness the more far away you
from the amp. So i took the Charlie Christian at the moment, but maybe it will change in the future - who knows :-D
While Im not a fan of humbuckers, in this constellation with your playing it sounds very good! In the blind test i heard the "Gretschy" tone on the no 2, so I was right with the Dearmond style. I like the most the Lollar here. Best wishes from Germany
Holy Cow… I was right. To me the main changes in the tone came from the warm and/or bright bias in terms of what notes came forward more. The PAF highlighted deeper mid and low notes. The Dyna had more bright punch especially in the highs. Christian was the most balance with less warm or bright bias altogether.
Thanks for taking the time to make that video. Great playing and lovely sounds. I wonder about the effect the value of the volume and tone pots has on the sound. Many folks know that a Strat is usually fitted with 250k pots and humbucker guitars are usually fitted with 500k pots. A humbucker, particularly a 'hot' one, wired to a 250k pot is a bit too loaded and can sound dull. A 'normal' output single coil pickup wired to a 500k pot can sound too bright because it's not loaded enough. In the video the humbucker and the Dynasonic should be well enough matched to 500k pots whereas the Charlie Christian pickup has an unusually low impedance of @3.5k and is therefore hardly loaded at all. It sounds lovely but quite bright and I wonder how much of that sound can be attributed to the characteristics of the pickup design and materials and how much is caused by the very light loading of the volume and tone circuit.
I like the "whoosh" of the DeArmond style pickup. My second choice is the CC.
Lollar for the win! I identified all of them in the blind test. But ultimately your playing was the winner.
thank , that means a lot to me
Nicely done comparison! It does surprise me how close the three pickups are, and I found myself repeating the adage "The tone is in the fingers!" I have a cheap Squier Telecaster in which I replaced the neck pickup with a Bill Lawrence replacement, and it sounds quite a bit like your guitar - not identical, of course, but very similar, for all of being a solidbody.
The differences are so subtle. My ears work up then got tired. Could be the pick changes flexibility.😁. So many variables. I couldn't pick one over the other.
all sound great-
De Armond
and Lollar are what I’d prefer.
This just goes to show you content is king. What you play and how you play it is what counts. Wes Montgomery could've played a banjo, and we would all be coveting his model of banjo for jazz. The obsession over pickups, tone woods, and everything else is a distraction, and a costly one. Wait, now that I think of it, i need an L5! :-)
I listened this video thru a pair of Yamaha HS80M, the difference is there. Thanks a lot 👍🙏
I like # 1 more.
I am thinking, without any Amp setting tweaks, it is simply inadequate to compare the three pickups like this in order to pick a favorite. In your format here, I perceived a fondness immediately for the first contender; I heard a few interesting qualities: spatialness...appealing subtle overdriven distortion....an elegant tonal balance. The other two, lacked these qualities generally, seemed kind of harsh...hard edges...still interesting....but I feel you would have to explore other eq's to examine their real potentialities. Still, a fun test though
I prefer the Lollar CCs. Just a personal preference. The warmer the pickup, the better. The CC for Teles are amazing sounding, too.
3 followed by 1, followed by 2 for me. Nice video.
Exactly what I was looking for, great playing too, Thank you!
Nice! Got it right. PAF is obvious since it has that smeared/phasey humbucker quality since it picks up a wider area of the string. Charlie Christian has that distortion on certain notes, which I actually didn't like so much. Dynasonic had the most punch and clarity, best articulation, dynamics, and balance.
It was a tight race! The Lollar was great but the Dearmond just had a bit more crispness. That may be due to hearing loss on higher frequencies but other videos confirm that the Dearmond works for me.Sold!
I like the single note woodiness with the Classic 57. To me, the Gabojo sort of sounded like it wanted to cut loose and rock and Roll 😆. It sounded very woody with chords, but I think it was slightly rich in harmonics for this type of jazz. The Lollar sounded great for what was being played. I would honestly have trouble choosing between the Classic 57 and the Charlie Christian if I had to choose one of them for jazz. I think the Lollar has real potential, so I would probably go with that. Awesome comparison video and great playing.
The dynasonic feels very "acoustic", with none of the compression of the mode mid focussed CC and PAF
Love the Lollar for single note playing and the Gabojo for chords (roll off the treble a bit). The PAFs are not for me.
The #1 PAF sounds a MORE like a real first run 1960 Gibson PAF.
I haven't found out which one's which yet, but #1 sounds the muddiest to me, and part of me feels like it's the Dynasonic, but now I'm second guessing myself and wondering if it's the PAF...
Interesting results. I really liked the bass of the DeArmond for lower position chords. I thought the CC was a bit too smooth for lower position for solo guitar, but really liked what it did for single strings in the higher register. I think it might be a really good pickup if you're doing a lot of comping. I'm about to put a set of those in a tele build, where I think the character in the low positions should be a little different.
I think I'd go for the 57 as an all-arounder. There are so many variants of those these days, and lately I'm kind of into the unbalanced coil thing.
Thank you for your insight. Really good explained
CC all the way
I actually liked the softness in the attack of the Charlie Christian pickup better than the humbucker or the dearmond
number 3!
So were the pickups in same order that you listed them, I.e. #1-DeArmond, #2PAF, #3 Lollar CC? If so, I don’t think it’s really a blind test, test. My favorite is #1 , with #3 a close second.
that's true, i didn't take care of this. But at first listen you don't know it, so the effect should be the same
Great playing! Do you happen to know the exact mode of that lollar? I need that same style to fit my eastman ar403ce
Gibson first, then Gabojo. Charlie Christian rather duller and darker (surprisingly)
I guessed 1 correctly, but had the 2nd and 3rd switched.
No. 3 ty
All three sounded great and honestly very similar. I could tell the first pickup was the PAF but the other two sounded much closer to each other; the dynasonic had a woodiness or openness during the chordal portion that the other two didn't really have. Superb playing :)
They all sounded so close, I could not tell apartö
thank you!
1 LCH
2 PAF
3 De A
Charlie parker
I hear no difference. It’d be nice to hear fingerstye - there might be more playing dynamics
Nothing in it.
Thanks