Why Don't More Guitar Players Know About This Crazy Pickup?
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- Опубліковано 3 вер 2023
- #knowyourgear
Lace Aluma 90 P 90 pickup
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3 Picks In One, But Why?
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Phil, people sometimes say the Alumitones sound "sterile" but from a technical standpoint, an argument can be made that the Alumitone (the official term is "current transformer") is a better pickup than traditional designs. It has a broader and flatter frequency response, which is what you'd typically want from some kind of sensor. It's also a lot quieter. People, though, have spent the last 70 years listening to guitar and bass pickups that have limited frequency responses and typically a midrange bump. I don't know if people actually find that more pleasant or more exciting, but it is what people are used to. It's a bit like treble bleed circuits. On paper, using a treble bleed circuit yields a more consistent frequency response no matter the position of the volume control but people got used to the sound of Leo and Ted's electric guitars without them.
One of the things that's cool about the Alumitones is that because they have primary and secondary coils, they have an additional factor that can be manipulated for voicing. You can change gain by altering the primary, but also the secondary. I think the reason why they are quieter than even humbuckers is twofold. The primary is inductively linked to the secondary by the small steel core, but it is electrically connected to ground, bleeding off RFI. Also, the secondary, copper wire coils are tiny compared to a conventional pickups, so essentially they are less sensitive antennas than the massive coils in a conventional pickup, so they pick up less interference.
Also, the folks at Lace are really good people. I've worked with Jeff Lace on a purpose designed Alumitone for the Harmonicaster electric guitar that I recently launched (harmonicaster.com) and I can't speak highly enough about the whole crew there. Good folks with great musical taste.
Good post! I agree that the Alumas avoid the (inductive?) 'bandpass effect' of traditional wire wound magnetics. But as electric guitar players tend to favor sounds shaped by a *bunch* of tone affecting electronic circuitry (tube amps) and loudspeakers that don't cover nearly the full hearing range I'm not surprised to hear words like "dry," "sterile," lost "fullness" (low mids) etc.
@@mnemonik61 I think it's funny how people use a stereo system that can reproduce 20khz to listen to music made on guitar speakers that top out at 6k.
people like mid bump because its more forward sounding and is significantly better under distortion
Thank you, Cliff Klaven. 😅
I feel like they are described as sterile because people are used to some hum and they are quite. I love them.
I love alumatone pickups. Lace are criminally underrated imo.
I love your playing in this as well!
Never heard Alumatone until this vid.
I modded my Fender mex with 2 LSP's in the neck and middle position and a Seymour Duncan humbucker in the bridge spot. The tonal combinations are unreal!
I love all pickups. I think there is a charm to be found in any one of them. The Alumatone and the Fralin both sound great to me.
The Lace Aluma 90 has almost an acoustic sound about it. It's not really a P90, but it is real good! Thanks for sharing with us!
ya it isn't a p90.
Lol, you don't need pickups. You need new ears!
One of my buddies was just saying he was gonna put some of these (humbuckers though) in a Fender Meteora. Fantastic sounding. Very clear.
I have three guitars equipped with Alumitones. A Squier Strat which got a Lace fully loaded pickguard swap, and two forgotten brand Shaman JPMs, one with SSH and one with a HH configuration. They all sound great, best described as modern (flatter, more even response), yet very dynamic, and quite a bit on the hot side. Especially the Strat is a go too when I am after less traditional Strat tones, but still seek that flexibility. A great thing of its own, a hidden gem in the tone arsenal.
Aluma 90 sounds like a finished product, post processing where other sounded more raw. Both sounds I like. thanks for sharing
I love the clarity of the Aluma. The string definition. It gives one a perfect clean canvas to build on.
I love lace pickups. Some of the best starts ever made we’re back in 90s with Lace sensor pickups. The alumitone on the neck of a tele is pretty darn nice as well
I kinda like the last configuration with the Alumitone in the bridge and the Lindy Fralin in the neck. Both seem to be awesome pickups.
Great to hear pup options I nvr knew about. Thx phil
The Alumitone has a huge range, and it's pretty much lineair. I've seen a guy who had one in his guitar, and he then moved it to his bass - sounded amazing either way!
Quite expensive, though.
I think the Fralin had a perfect P90 tone!
Agreed!!!
Sounds really good. Definitely enjoy these types of videos.
Thanks Phil I’ve been wanting to hear an alumitone comparison and you did a great job.
That’s the best format for a pickup comparison I’ve seen. Super helpful.
Awesome demo Phil, thanks again for another quality detail packed video, thanks for the share!
Always love the videos phil thank you!
Amazing pickups. The clarity is through the roof!
I'm putting together a partscaster Tele Thinline semi hollow body that's routed for a mini humbucker/P90 sized pickup in the neck position. This just might be the right fit I need for that! Thanks Phil!
Yes, please, compare all the pickups! It's really good education to hear the differences between the types, and the magnets, and the configurations.
Really fascinating footage for me in this video. Thanks, man. I love investigating outta the box, but I lack the wherewithal to do it myself. I appreciate videos like this that do it for me. Awesome! Thanks.
Cool comparison, Phil. I've been looking for something as clean as the Alumatone for ages. I'm not one for magnets on a pickup, but Damn...it's so clear for every string. Thanks for the video.
Much closer than I expected. Both sounded great
Love the sound, its clarity with warmness, plus it's noiseless and much more lightweight compared to classic pickups construction !
I wanna see it in a PRS
I love weird pickups, and I loved this video. I currently have a mustang with a lipstick in the neck and SD quarter pound strat pickup in the bridge, split as standard and full on a push/pull.
I also have a semihollow offset tele with a P90 and tele bridge pickup, and I'm tempted to try this out in place of the P90
Fralin in bridge, Alumitone in the neck. Perfection!
I've had this unique/weird custom "8 string" guitar with lace alumitones in it for 2 years and just haven't sat down to play it, this makes me want to sit down and spend sometime with it plugged in and see how it sounds. Thanks!
Some good actionable info here. Thank you, Phil!
I have a pair of these in an electric (tuned down). They are really chimey and clear when clean and the breakup is lovely. They are their own thing and personally I love them.
I want to put these in my les paul I tune to C standard but it's so hard to find good info on these. I read a review saying the edges aren't round and don't fit a normal rounded p90 route. Do you know if that's BS or not?
Do they actually sound like a P90 or should I get Alumitone Single Coils instead?
@@themuted3123 They are their own thing. Close to a P90 but... Hope you find the right PUP's!
Love everything you do. Thanks for this Phil.
Thanks for the review!
That guitar is so slick for pickup demo's. I've never heard a Lace Alumitone of any stripe before. That was quite interesting.
I appreciate all your videos. Much thanks for the info
That was a great demonstration. I can see that different configurations will be better for different pieces of music. Someone needs to create a roller with different pickups that you can change with a third or half of a roll which automatically disconnects and connects the pickups. I can see changing even during the same piece of music at different parts...quiet, loud, melodic, chordal.
Love these videos!!!
both sound sweet👍
Thanks for making the video Phil. I really like your pickup videos, whether it's a common pickup or something unique like this. I preferred the Fralin but that's because I love P90s. I preferred the Lace over other mini humbuckers or P90 shaped humbuckers.
The different Alumitones are incredible hum free pickups that have a wide range to them. Being able to “coil” split without a volume drop might give you more of the P90 sound you are looking to get. Be aware there are a few differences between the different models of LACE Alumitones. Rather a fan of the Fusion 251 neck with a Deathbucker bridge as a set for two humbucker pickup guitars. The single coil space versions are really happening, too. LACE is able to make some of their models into Extend Range variants, too.
Here I was looking for information on the Alumitone pickups, and voilà! Phil provides!
Well done, I really appreciate the way you put them through their paces.
“Punch” and more of a mid bump seem like variables a person could manipulate with amp etc settings, no?
Man, I absolutely love Alumitone pickups and have them installed in many of my guitars. They’re super articulate and sound more ‘open’ to me.
This is a definitely new on my radar, I'm hip to P90's, but not Alumatone before this video. Very cool & visually unique look to the pickup construction in addition to it's tonality. You're definitely pushing some great tone on both pickups, both sound awesome even though they each have very distinct flavors, Both sounded great in whatever overdrive signal path you're using & the clean sounded pretty fantastic as well (Just want to make sure I give Props on the playing too, those were some tasty vibes on those chord/melodic progressions, I dug the vibe of that clean picking progression especially, Really worked well with the clean tone on Both Pickups, Good stuff man!) So like you said already, the Standard P90's have that little extra pop or bite, and noticeably more low end content, which definitely adds weight to a solo jam, but the Smooth & Pleasant Discernable Clarity of the Alumatones Make me curious if it would sit well in a mix with a little less EQing than the standard P-90's to make sure it's playing nice with the Bass & Kicks etc., (depending on the genre of course haha). I feel like the Alumatone might sound awesome on like a Clean Tone "Downtempo Ambient" style track with Long Tail Dreamy Reverb & Delay Textures, like if you ran it through an Eventide Blackhole, or Valhalla Supermassive, or the Cloudseed reverb, just emphasizing that string definition with slow arpeggios or strummed chords to feed a Long Reverb... and maybe some Lucid Echo Textures for some rhythmic syncopation with Long feedback reversed delays from something like "SoundToys Crystallizer", or the Free & deceptively badass Grain Delay plugin by UrsaDSP "Lagrange". Anyway, Thanks for sharing that piece of kit, I really appreciate the Axe knowledge you drop on the regular, awesome video man! 🤘
How cool, had no idea those existed…. They sound incredible on clean settings.. will have to incorporate one into the next build !!!! Thank you 🙏
I had to listen to it twice. I kind of like the tone in the neck position, it just sounded sterile. I'd like to put one in a pine Tele body and see if that makes a difference. I'm really liking the P90's in general even more now! Thanks Phil!! 8) --gary
I started using the Alumatone years ago. I have an Epiphone ES 335 with Alumatones on it. It works great. I also play a pedal steel and it works great. I visited the factory in Huntington Beach and they gave me a lot of information for the installation.
Really well done phil. Thanks.
Thanks for diving into the pickup collection for us! I think you could have hit vids from diving into other pickups as well as personal guitars.
After decades of experimentation, the Lace alumitone has wone me over for good. I have the Aluma 90 in the bridge of my baritone and an alumitone "single coil" in the neck with tele style 4-way wiring... that guitar can do anything from death metal to convincingly imitating an acoustic.
the alumatone pickup sounds great! love the clean tone. Thanks for this video!
Great demo!
Maybe a humbucker sorta sound but man it sounds great, good info and video thx
Thanks Phil. See ya Friday.
Suggestion: Bare Knuckle Warpig or Painkiller humbucker review. Thanks again for all of your hard work for us.
WOW! I LOVE the sound of that pickup!! I’ll be buying a guitar or two ASAP just to put these pickups into!
This is the most jazzed up for new pickups in a couple of years. 🤘😎🤘
I'm glad someone talks about this. I've been using Lace product for years and they're really innovative and sound very "hifi" but lack recognition
See, I’d managed to stop thinking about trying some Alumitones, but this demo has me wanting to again. 😄 I don’t think I’d get the P-90 shaped ones, though. I have few enough guitars routed for P-90s that I’d rather have P-90s or minihumbuckers in them. It’d be nice to hear a comparison of the different sized Alumitones against each other. I’m assuming the humbucker-sized and P-90-sized ones are quite similar.
Well done, thank you.
That was helpful! Thxu !
I love Alumitone pickups. I installed the P90s, humbuckers, and strat type on some of my guitars. I don't think they make a filtertron replacement. Also, they aren't necessarily a drop in replacement, especially the humbucker. I had to slightly increase the size of the hole. And as you pointed out, it is best to change the pot and cap when replacing humbuckers. And you can do split coil wiring. Thanks for the review.
Love the clarity of the Aluma. You can just put in a bit more mid with an EQ pedal if you want that punch while still being able to retain the definitions.
I have an Alumitone in the neck of my T-type. Love it!
I’d like to see more on the Alumatone, including a humbucker size version. There is very little out there on this pickup, so we need your review!
The humbucker-sized versions do NOT sound the same as traditional humbuckers. They’re more like the P-90 sized version.
They all sound very similar due to the construction, the only real difference being the physical size of the pickup so it can be mounted in different guitars.
@@ChrisOBrien666Pretty much. And they sound great, too! You should just know what to expect in each case.
Thanks Phil. It’s really hard to get a decent review of the alumitone humbuckers and this is the first I’ve ever managed to find regarding the P90.
Was this their regular P90 or the Riffian P90 ( would be interesting to hear a comparison )
Regarding anything else it’s all personal opinions and influenced greatly on whatever we are playing the video through for the quality of the sound and a real experience so I do greatly appreciate the efforts you have gone to
I love Alumitones. I have them in 2 basses, a 5 and a 6 and they're awesome. I'm thinking of a set for a HSS guitar I have too.
Very... cool pickups Phil! You have an awesome collection! Those sound Killah! 🤘😎🎸
I like how the frailn creates a coalescing effect when strumming large chords.
It’s a tough call, you’re such a great guitarist with such technique they both sound awesome!
I have two Lace Alumitone Deathbuckers in my Explorer. They're fantastic. Plenty of output and very aggressive sounding, but so much definition. Clear as a bell, even under very high modern gain. Love them.
That is the great thing with Alumitones, with one pickup you can play the cleanest Jazz but also heavily distorted Metal. These pickups never disappoint.
I use Alumatone's in my 8-string. They have a super unique tone and they behave very differently to coil tapping/splitting. You can get a lot of really cool sounds from them.
I had an Alumna P-90 it was both quieter than the ceramic p-90 in volume and noiseless. Best with lots of pedals and gain. It is a low impedance pickup.
Nice I like this one and another with the humbucker comparsion sounds like a good idea
I’m a alumitone pickup fan in anything, bass, guitar whatever, but having a separate volume and maybe even a separate output, so you can blend it into whatever you’re playing is what I’d recommend for the most common usage in playing.
There was a big hype about them like 10 years ago, but I haven't seen them in recent years. Thanks for reminding me they exist. :)
Phil great video.. I have a couple of guitars with Lace Spencer's..for lead playing both distorted and clean to me the absolute best pickups both single and humbucking versions...I have never tried the alumitones..they look weird... but from your video they seem really great...I preferred all the allumitone sounds...
But I must say your playing makes a big difference..simple yet tasteful...and still some nice feel and expression...other videos like this seem to miss the point by over playing or their tone selection...you should post some music ..with you on guitar!!
Love that copper one!
The most favorite tone to my ear is the alumatone in the neck...id love that pickup in the neck along with pearly gates in the bridge...that would be a hell of a guitar
Interesting tones.👍👍✌️
I have a set of the Alumas, i haven't fitted them yet, still deciding which one of my moder's to instal them in. I have a Strat from the 80's. It has Sensors in it. Single coils, but they sound amazing. I have that Clapton mod on the volume, they sound superb. It was on the merit of the Sensors that i bought the Aluma's. Nice one Phil, i'll get to soldering them in something soon. I have a LP Tribute i might stick them in. Thanks mate, props from the UK.
I have a Lace Alumitone on the neck position. It has the most beautiful crystal clear Jazz bell like tone I've heard in 50 years of playing electric. Huge tone and that sustain....the sustain is unreal. Nothing quiet about them at all, in terms of volume. I alway hated the mid bump in multiwound pickups, this is on another level.
I had the same experience. Once you got used to the quality of the tone, there is no way back to a conventionally wound pickup.
Have a Deathbucker, in one of my 6 strings, always loved it.
I really like the alumitone 👍 it’s very crispy and I think I’d love to hear what it sounds like with a regular P90! Thank Phil!
against a gibson p90, FIIIIIIGHT
thanks for the review! Can you show your thoughts on the regular alumitone?
i've played with alumitones for 10+ years, and they are, in my opinion, some of the best pickups I've ever heard and used :)
I really liked this, and had no idea this was an option. I was looking for a set of humless minibucker p90 hybrids for my JS700, and these sound perfect.
I've never run across this pickup, but i like it, and it's priced reasonably. Verry, good video. Thanks Phillip
I personally really like the clarity in the chords
Hey Phil ive been on the fence on these aluma 90 for several months now, thank you for covering them! I read one review saying the corners werent rounded and did not drop right into a standard p90 route. I want to try these in my les paul and appreciate the info.
Lace makes a great pickup. I have their humbucker in a Charvel Model 5A.
Twenty-five years of guitar playing finally got ahold of a p90 guitar and eureka the tone and sound and I've been looking for all my life! The magic from the very first strike of the guitar strings! Now the Favorite guitar of all time for me Harley Benton JA60 SB! A $160 guitar! ohhhh the money I could have saved!
I'm one of those fewer ones. Lace pickups are amazing. Used some back then. Interesting tone.
Sounds great and look cool too.
I have a set in one of my guitars. I have the standard in the neck and the riffian in the bridge. I think they sound awesome!!!
Definitely dig the alumatone
As soon as I saw the title of this video I put my headphones and listened: P90 LF: Beefy/Chunky/Gritty/Meaty/Raw. LC AT: Hi-Fi/Weak/Clear/Defined. With that being said, the P90 would probably be my to go option between these two, but sure the Alumitone could have better applications, specially for clean sounds. Thanks for sharing!
I have the Xbar and Deathbar in my 8 strong Ibanez and love them to death. They're so clean and articulate, and just neat. If they had active preamps I feel like they'd be more popular, but they don't actually need them.
Alumatones are so cool! I've been wanting to put one in a guitar for a while 😎
I like it! I have LACES on my 1988 Strat Plus they are great.
One of the things I really love about P90s is how they clean up with the volume knob. I can crank my amp for plenty of distortion on the bridge pickup, then switch to my P90 neck pickup with the volume down for a nice clean sound. How do these compare in that regard?
That alumatone sounds phenomenal.
Awesome comparison have to say that aluminum pickup is very interesting in a teli realy like its tones