one frustrating thing for me when watching pickup demos, especially for strats, is most videos are just blues guys playing overdriven blues licks when all i want is to hear the actual clean tone of the pickup so i can get an understanding of how it sounds, just simple notes ringing out and strummed chords. thank you for this no nonsense and thoughtful comparison. wish more videos were like this one. cheers
Basically the 60s compared to the 50s sound like you have new strings fitted. Nice touch playing, you aren’t death gripping and pulling chords out of tune… I’ll be surprised if you aren’t using 10s or even 11s, if you are going lighter guage.. good going.
@@JoePerkinsMusic man that’s heavy… you can really tell though , the notes are ringing out beautifully, you don’t get that so much with 10s and I can’t stand super light guages. 12-60 tho ( sure it’s 60??) would need plenty of truss rod and nut tweaks.
I wind my own and prefer A3 and the lower G magnet of 54 style. A3 has a sweet edge to it that I prefer to the glassy edge of A5. I’m a huge treble booster fan and A3 is magic. I wind closer to 6.2k.
Both sound great. I use the fralin real 54s now and that suits me perfectly. They have a very unique and addictive top end that is simply absent from anything I've tried. Super delicate and expressive. Nice shoot out.
The Fralin's sound more "musical" to me, (my choice for blues and roots music) but the Foley's sound more "60s" for sure, perfect for a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute act.
Both sets of pickups sound great in different ways. Each would be best suited for a given application I think. The great thing about Strats is you don't need to choose one set or another. You can have preloaded pickguards and easily swap them out as desired, like you did for this test. Awesome vid. Oh, and I prefer the white pickguard as well. Cheers!
I think I like the 50s in all cases, clean or dirty. The 60s have a bit of a sheen and scoop to them which I’m not loving.. a kind of Vox character almost.
Very nice demos, Joe. Thanks for your attention to the recording details and especially the seamless editing to allow the ear/brain to compare. Both great sounds and I appreciate your tasteful playing - let the pickups speak and breath. This is how I wish most YT pickup comparisons would sound like :)
At times they sound very similar. The Foleys are brighter. The Fralins sound better to me on the clean stuff, while the Foleys especially when you single notes with distortion on the low E and A strings sounded like they were much more clear and articulate. I personally never get as clean as you had some of the sound samples set, so I wouldn't want the Franlins over the Foleys. I generally get an edge of break up sound and will send it with an overdrive pedal for the basic rhythm sounds, when I need to clean up i roll my volume control down and this will magically make those sparking bright Foleys a little darker sounding UNLESS you add a treble bleed. Personally I hate treble bleeds. So crunchy amp with the foleys and roll off the volume for cleans is my vote. Boost for solos. Fralins were very close though and honestly it probably wouldn't make much of a difference in a live mix anyway. To me the Foley set just had an extra 2% of what I look for. I'd be really happy with either. But like I said cleans Fralins win, and Foley is the winner of the overdriven sounds.
Ooh those Foleys have got some mad sparkle to them. I really like the Fralins too, they sound perfect for some mean rock. Great for different applications but I'm liking the 60s set. I prefer the black guard though, reminded me of Blackmore 😁
Definitely harder to hear the differences with gain - the more you thicken things up with harmonics, the more mushed together things get and that disguises the subtleties 👍
Both sound banging, but for me prefer the 50's types. Love the white guard on natural strat, maple neck. Very Lowell. Get yourself a stratoblaster preamp, go on your so close, don't know if it is intentional. 😂
I came back to give this is a listen because I was so enamored with the clean Foley pickups into the z, but this time was listening on some air pod pros. I have an idea for you to contemplate... Listen to this in some headphones. It is so bang up the middle that it's almost disconcerting in that realm. It could benefit from some width. The first thing I'd say to try is if you have the UA stuff, the ocean way studios plugin can do a fantastic job of just giving a little dimension and width to a sound without sounding like reverb or whatever. Second, if you have a stereo pair of multi pattern mics, try a pair in Blumlein config in front of the amp at distance not too far away. Mixed in low with your close mic'd sound (which I love), it can add a hair of space and width. I'm sure you could get there with some other room plugin, but those are the "easy" ways that I know of. The real bottom line is take a few minutes and see how it sounds in headphones. I'm totally guilty of no doing that and when I do, I'm usually mad at my result. For instance, I'll pan guitars hard left/right, but that really sounds odd in headphones and sounds like the 2 guitars are kind of behind you. In headphones, 9pm and 3pm sound like hard right and left, and you don't lose much of that effect in speakers. Sort of the opposite of what I'm saying for you, but it's the same problem in reverse. I love what you do, so please don't take any of this as a negative. The point for you is to try and add some width without your core tone sounding any different. btw, I also really appreciate how well you tune your guitars. It's quite stunning.
Hi Adam :-) Thanks for all the thoughts & feedback - appreciated! To be honest, I never use headphones myself so it's all a bit of an alien world to me - I just use my monitors. I've experimented with stereo mic'ing before, and stereo room mics, but my room is so small that it tends to just sound super boxy when I do that; or I have to run them so low in the mix to sound right that they don't really add much. I never use EQ in demo videos (aside from a touch of HPF from the preamps on the way in to stop the low end sounding hyped) or any reverb plugs, and whilst I do blend in a room mic for a bit of space, you're right that I mix everything in mono as panning close mics sounds odd as it 'spreads the EQ' so to speak, and I find myself tilting my head to one side trying to compensate! I'll certainly dig out some cans and give the audio a listen though - and see if I can come up with anything that works to give a little more space. Revisiting the stereo mics could be a fun experiment - will see if I can make it work better than previously! :-) Thanks again for all the thoughts! 👍👍
@@JoePerkinsMusic I'm just throwing out ideas. I really like your tones, so don't screw that up. ;) One more thing to try... if you are blending a couple mics, put one a little left and one a little right. A lot easier than setting up other mics or whatever.
I think I've heard you played the same clean part before (the very first thing you play) and I recognize it, but can't quite place it. Is it music from a Zelda game? Nice demo BTW!
I found the Fralin 54 nice but “standard”. Nothing specially remarkable. But with the Foley 60 I can clearly distinguish between highs, mids, and lows. Its highs are glassy and has more lows. With pedals I think this difference attenuates but the Fralin gets a little muddy. I dont know how much this brands accurately reflects the differences between the original Fender’s 54 and 60s. Thank you for this comparison. PD: can the 54 make that feedback you allowed the 60s at the end ?
Thanks - and yep, I prefer the Fralins too. The feedback mostly comes from the loud amp and the resonating guitar, so yes - had I let it ring out the '54s would have fed back too. Microphonic squeal is the only real form of feedback that comes directly from the pickup 🙂
Those Foley’s do sound more like a pre-CBS early 60s tone. I wonder how the Fralin Blues Specials would have compared as I think it would have been a better match up. The 54 Fralins sounded a lot warmer and a bit softer in tone too.
This was more about comparing 50s era specs to 60s rather than seeing how close the two sets sounded per se - the Blues Specials probably would sound closer to the Fralins 🙂
great vid.found myself gurning along with the foleys mostly Joe.but they both have different qualities.horses for courses I guess, fact is they both sounded great and to my ear very close to period correct.i just got some lollar 64s and Suhr v70s.ive found I play a little bit differently according to the different feel that I get from them.anyone else find themselves doing that?cheers
Given a choice I’ll generally go for the brighter option. The Foleys, in your guitar through your pedals & amp, have an aggressive character I like. That said those pickups paired with an alder body oughta be more restrained, which would better suit folks who like their Strats more on the chill side. ☺️
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Killer demo!
one frustrating thing for me when watching pickup demos, especially for strats, is most videos are just blues guys playing overdriven blues licks when all i want is to hear the actual clean tone of the pickup so i can get an understanding of how it sounds, just simple notes ringing out and strummed chords. thank you for this no nonsense and thoughtful comparison. wish more videos were like this one. cheers
Basically the 60s compared to the 50s sound like you have new strings fitted.
Nice touch playing, you aren’t death gripping and pulling chords out of tune… I’ll be surprised if you aren’t using 10s or even 11s, if you are going lighter guage.. good going.
Thanks! I use 12-64…so definitely not a light gauge!
@@JoePerkinsMusic man that’s heavy… you can really tell though , the notes are ringing out beautifully, you don’t get that so much with 10s and I can’t stand super light guages.
12-60 tho ( sure it’s 60??) would need plenty of truss rod and nut tweaks.
White looks much better, for sure.
I wind my own and prefer A3 and the lower G magnet of 54 style. A3 has a sweet edge to it that I prefer to the glassy edge of A5. I’m a huge treble booster fan and A3 is magic. I wind closer to 6.2k.
Thank you, Joe! Loved the video
Both sound great. I use the fralin real 54s now and that suits me perfectly. They have a very unique and addictive top end that is simply absent from anything I've tried. Super delicate and expressive. Nice shoot out.
You must have flipped the video because everything looks backwards…..😂
All kidding aside, great video…thanks!
Hah - hall of mirrors! :P
The Fralin's sound more "musical" to me, (my choice for blues and roots music) but the Foley's sound more "60s" for sure, perfect for a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute act.
60's sound colder.
I have aln.2 - very dreamy and good with shread-pedals -- maybe because of their own slow response and high compression of pedals.
50s bridge pickup, 60s neck pickup - and undecided on middle pickup.
Beautiful 😍 I like the white even better. Congrats 👏
I'm loving the white :-)
Both sets of pickups sound great in different ways. Each would be best suited for a given application I think. The great thing about Strats is you don't need to choose one set or another. You can have preloaded pickguards and easily swap them out as desired, like you did for this test. Awesome vid. Oh, and I prefer the white pickguard as well. Cheers!
Yep, 100% - completely depends on your personal preferences! Both sets are mega :-)
The low end on that amp is insane!
I think I like the 50s in all cases, clean or dirty. The 60s have a bit of a sheen and scoop to them which I’m not loving.. a kind of Vox character almost.
The 50s were my favourite. But I couldn't tell much difference even side by side.
Very nice demos, Joe. Thanks for your attention to the recording details and especially the seamless editing to allow the ear/brain to compare. Both great sounds and I appreciate your tasteful playing - let the pickups speak and breath. This is how I wish most YT pickup comparisons would sound like :)
Thanks Larry!
No significant difference lol
At times they sound very similar. The Foleys are brighter. The Fralins sound better to me on the clean stuff, while the Foleys especially when you single notes with distortion on the low E and A strings sounded like they were much more clear and articulate. I personally never get as clean as you had some of the sound samples set, so I wouldn't want the Franlins over the Foleys. I generally get an edge of break up sound and will send it with an overdrive pedal for the basic rhythm sounds, when I need to clean up i roll my volume control down and this will magically make those sparking bright Foleys a little darker sounding UNLESS you add a treble bleed. Personally I hate treble bleeds. So crunchy amp with the foleys and roll off the volume for cleans is my vote. Boost for solos.
Fralins were very close though and honestly it probably wouldn't make much of a difference in a live mix anyway. To me the Foley set just had an extra 2% of what I look for. I'd be really happy with either. But like I said cleans Fralins win, and Foley is the winner of the overdriven sounds.
Sounds great either way but I like the Fralins and black guard the best. The Foley's sound like they want an alder body.
Got my Mark Foley 60s set a couple of years ago now. Done experimenting, this is it for me.
Ooh those Foleys have got some mad sparkle to them. I really like the Fralins too, they sound perfect for some mean rock. Great for different applications but I'm liking the 60s set. I prefer the black guard though, reminded me of Blackmore 😁
Great video! The difference seems less with gain?
Definitely harder to hear the differences with gain - the more you thicken things up with harmonics, the more mushed together things get and that disguises the subtleties 👍
Almost no difference on the Williams MkII
I'm liking the 60's but it's a tough choice. Guitar looks awesome!
I think the Fralin's fit that guitar perfect. But the Foley's have a nice EQ curve that I bet punches in a mix.
I like them both but prefer the Foley pickups. 👋✌👍
Both sound banging, but for me prefer the 50's types. Love the white guard on natural strat, maple neck. Very Lowell. Get yourself a stratoblaster preamp, go on your so close, don't know if it is intentional. 😂
The Lowell look wasn't intentional, but I very much see what you mean! :P
I came back to give this is a listen because I was so enamored with the clean Foley pickups into the z, but this time was listening on some air pod pros. I have an idea for you to contemplate...
Listen to this in some headphones. It is so bang up the middle that it's almost disconcerting in that realm. It could benefit from some width. The first thing I'd say to try is if you have the UA stuff, the ocean way studios plugin can do a fantastic job of just giving a little dimension and width to a sound without sounding like reverb or whatever. Second, if you have a stereo pair of multi pattern mics, try a pair in Blumlein config in front of the amp at distance not too far away. Mixed in low with your close mic'd sound (which I love), it can add a hair of space and width. I'm sure you could get there with some other room plugin, but those are the "easy" ways that I know of.
The real bottom line is take a few minutes and see how it sounds in headphones. I'm totally guilty of no doing that and when I do, I'm usually mad at my result. For instance, I'll pan guitars hard left/right, but that really sounds odd in headphones and sounds like the 2 guitars are kind of behind you. In headphones, 9pm and 3pm sound like hard right and left, and you don't lose much of that effect in speakers. Sort of the opposite of what I'm saying for you, but it's the same problem in reverse. I love what you do, so please don't take any of this as a negative. The point for you is to try and add some width without your core tone sounding any different.
btw, I also really appreciate how well you tune your guitars. It's quite stunning.
Hi Adam :-) Thanks for all the thoughts & feedback - appreciated! To be honest, I never use headphones myself so it's all a bit of an alien world to me - I just use my monitors. I've experimented with stereo mic'ing before, and stereo room mics, but my room is so small that it tends to just sound super boxy when I do that; or I have to run them so low in the mix to sound right that they don't really add much. I never use EQ in demo videos (aside from a touch of HPF from the preamps on the way in to stop the low end sounding hyped) or any reverb plugs, and whilst I do blend in a room mic for a bit of space, you're right that I mix everything in mono as panning close mics sounds odd as it 'spreads the EQ' so to speak, and I find myself tilting my head to one side trying to compensate! I'll certainly dig out some cans and give the audio a listen though - and see if I can come up with anything that works to give a little more space. Revisiting the stereo mics could be a fun experiment - will see if I can make it work better than previously! :-) Thanks again for all the thoughts! 👍👍
@@JoePerkinsMusic I'm just throwing out ideas. I really like your tones, so don't screw that up. ;) One more thing to try... if you are blending a couple mics, put one a little left and one a little right. A lot easier than setting up other mics or whatever.
Frilin or Fralin? Mine written 1950 Frilin.
www.fralinpickups.com
I think I've heard you played the same clean part before (the very first thing you play) and I recognize it, but can't quite place it. Is it music from a Zelda game? Nice demo BTW!
Just some chords I've been playing around with for years but have never done anything with....never played Zelda so certainly not from there! :P
Sounded close to the chords from Ozzy's Diary of a Madman.
Definitely appreciated the 50’s a bit more. Seemed a little more vanilla than the ‘60 set. Making the ‘50 set a bit more pedal friendly.
Pickups dont change tone
Loved the demo, thank you Joe!
Clean tones with the white ones were really special. That's my 2 cents. 👏
I found the Fralin 54 nice but “standard”. Nothing specially remarkable. But with the Foley 60 I can clearly distinguish between highs, mids, and lows. Its highs are glassy and has more lows. With pedals I think this difference attenuates but the Fralin gets a little muddy. I dont know how much this brands accurately reflects the differences between the original Fender’s 54 and 60s. Thank you for this comparison.
PD: can the 54 make that feedback you allowed the 60s at the end ?
Thanks - and yep, I prefer the Fralins too. The feedback mostly comes from the loud amp and the resonating guitar, so yes - had I let it ring out the '54s would have fed back too. Microphonic squeal is the only real form of feedback that comes directly from the pickup 🙂
Those Foley’s do sound more like a pre-CBS early 60s tone. I wonder how the Fralin Blues Specials would have compared as I think it would have been a better match up. The 54 Fralins sounded a lot warmer and a bit softer in tone too.
This was more about comparing 50s era specs to 60s rather than seeing how close the two sets sounded per se - the Blues Specials probably would sound closer to the Fralins 🙂
great vid.found myself gurning along with the foleys mostly Joe.but they both have different qualities.horses for courses I guess, fact is they both sounded great and to my ear very close to period correct.i just got some lollar 64s and Suhr v70s.ive found I play a little bit differently according to the different feel that I get from them.anyone else find themselves doing that?cheers
Yeah, different sounds/feels/responses will always make you play differently. But that's why we need so many guitars ;-) heh
I'm surprised that so many more of the overtones come through with the 60s pups! To me those are the clear winner, what are your thoughts, Joe?
Personally, I prefer the Foleys - but the Fralins are great too!
Given a choice I’ll generally go for the brighter option. The Foleys, in your guitar through your pedals & amp, have an aggressive character I like.
That said those pickups paired with an alder body oughta be more restrained, which would better suit folks who like their Strats more on the chill side. ☺️
Yep - both ace sets, just depends on your personal preferences as to which you'll prefer. I also like the aggression of the Foleys though :-)
Foley ‘60s + 2pc alder body + rosewood slab ‘board is my #1, stunning combination
Both are so nice. The 60s just has way scooped mids for my ears (not necessarily a negative thing) just a big difference!