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It’s not what I expected.
I have an Ibanez AFC 151 which is an all laminate maple and laminate spruce top guitar with a floating pickup. The guitar is great but I didn’t catch the point about a floating pickup on a laminated guitar.
Anyway I ordered this pickup don’t knowing what to expect. On the Shadow site it says that the pickup is a warm sounding humbucker pickup. Exactly what I was looking for, but on the other side, on the forums they claimed the pickup is clear and pretty bright. Well, now I can say that the people from the forum are right.
The pickup is bright, clear, quite nice sounding, but a bit muddy on the heavier strings(the pickup resistance is 15,78kOhm).But it’s not for you, if you have a PAF sound in your head(Peter Bernstein for example). And the other thing I found is that is a pretty quite pickup. On my setup the pickup needs twice as much power to be equaly laud as my guitar with a normal PAF style pickup(Dimarzio 36ann.).
Conclusin: If you are looking for a clear, almost acoustic floating pickup, go for it! The build quality is pretty nice, and for the price it’s great.
But, if you’re looking for a warm, full humbucker PAF sound, this one is not for you.
Anyway I ordered this pickup don’t knowing what to expect. On the Shadow site it says that the pickup is a warm sounding humbucker pickup. Exactly what I was looking for, but on the other side, on the forums they claimed the pickup is clear and pretty bright. Well, now I can say that the people from the forum are right.
The pickup is bright, clear, quite nice sounding, but a bit muddy on the heavier strings(the pickup resistance is 15,78kOhm).But it’s not for you, if you have a PAF sound in your head(Peter Bernstein for example). And the other thing I found is that is a pretty quite pickup. On my setup the pickup needs twice as much power to be equaly laud as my guitar with a normal PAF style pickup(Dimarzio 36ann.).
Conclusin: If you are looking for a clear, almost acoustic floating pickup, go for it! The build quality is pretty nice, and for the price it’s great.
But, if you’re looking for a warm, full humbucker PAF sound, this one is not for you.
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fa
Very good
I use it for Oberkrain music on a Framus AZ-10 and it sounds very good.
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CM
Shadow AZ48
I'm using this pickup on my Loar LH600 (on which it just about fits (!)). Pretty happy with it. The sound is perhaps a little trebly for those wanting a classic humbucker sound, but I find in combination with the acoustic sound of the guitar, or a bit of EQ from the amp or soundman, one can get a really good, transparent contemporary jazz tone. I'm using this pickup with a ZT Acoustic Lunchbox, which gets use both as a small standalone amp and a DI into the mixer on larger gigs.
String wise- this doesn't balance awfully well with bronzes (although it depends on amp). I've switched over to nickel round wounds which have a good acoustic tone and work much better with the pickup.
Thomann service - excellent.
String wise- this doesn't balance awfully well with bronzes (although it depends on amp). I've switched over to nickel round wounds which have a good acoustic tone and work much better with the pickup.
Thomann service - excellent.
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W
Fantastic Pickup
Fitted this onto my 10 year old Peerlees Monarch - lovely pickup - sounds great & has given the guitar a new lease of life.
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A
Like another reviewer, I installed this on a Loar guitar (a 650) and found that it only just fit - the neck angle on Loar guitars is very shallow, considering they're archtops. Also some problems with the width of the retaining bracket: it's really built for guitars with narrower fretboards, but the Loar has a 46mm nut, so it was a squeeze, but I got it on the guitar eventually. But these are problems with the guitar, not the pickup.
Much, much nicer sound than the stock pickup. I'm playing with D'Addario Half-Round 11s through an AER Compact 60. I tried flatwounds, but the bass was muffled and not well defined. The half-rounds really add some character, and this pickup reproduces it quite sweetly. I would say that, rather than being trebly, it's very very clear, so you get a faithful reproduction of your guitar's actual sound. A bit of care with EQ and you've got a nice, slightly punchy jazz sound. I also tried it through a Roland Cube 80, which is loaded with different options, and got a quite decent rockabilly sound.
Very pleased with this pickup, it's transformed my guitar.
Much, much nicer sound than the stock pickup. I'm playing with D'Addario Half-Round 11s through an AER Compact 60. I tried flatwounds, but the bass was muffled and not well defined. The half-rounds really add some character, and this pickup reproduces it quite sweetly. I would say that, rather than being trebly, it's very very clear, so you get a faithful reproduction of your guitar's actual sound. A bit of care with EQ and you've got a nice, slightly punchy jazz sound. I also tried it through a Roland Cube 80, which is loaded with different options, and got a quite decent rockabilly sound.
Very pleased with this pickup, it's transformed my guitar.
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A
Very good smooth jazzy pickup
This floating pickup is easy to fit, and sounds great - exactly what you want. Very smooth jazzy humbucker tone, albeit in quite a large package. Looks good too which always helps.
My only complaint is that there's only a 2 wire output, so coil taps are out of the question.
My only complaint is that there's only a 2 wire output, so coil taps are out of the question.
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