I used Gold Lace Sensors for 23 years in a Strat Plus I bought in 1989. I really liked them and they put me off regular single coils permanently. I discovered DiMarzio Areas about 15 years ago, and they're even quieter than the Sensors and have more top end, so have stuck with those ever since.
If you're in Melbourne, come and check out this blues jam at the Lyrebird Lounge in Ripponlea. It's a great vibe, everyone is welcome and gets a shot. It's a lot of fun. Rock on - Oh yeah, the pickups are great. 👍
I saw Greg Koch demoing a fender Strat with Gen 4 noiseless pickups. He said, “ I know some people don’t like the sound of noiseless pickups. I call those people unemployed “.
Lol I know and know of lots of very employed and famous musicians who hate them. Greg Koch is excellent but hardly a household name or my arbiter of what is right with guitars.
About buzz in a room. I once played a gig where it was horrible. They had just put a new stage in their room. It turned out they had all (cheap) dimmerpacks for the stage lights hidden directly underneath my feet inside the stage.
I've had a Strat Plus (blue,gold,red), and a Tele Plus (blue, silver, dually red)Lace sensors since the late eighties! They work great for certain venues, I never thought the tone was bad, as many have said, just different! Pickup height is critical, and guitar volume position makes a big difference too! Thanks for showcasing these pickups for a new generation. Keep Rockin!
Thanks Shane! I’ve got two Strats with Lace Sensors. My 97 has Testarossa Red Lace Sensors and I love them. My 72 Hardtail has Blue-Silver-Red Lace sensors and it’s a favorite too! You’re absolutely right that the pickup height is crucial for these, they can go much closer to the strings because they don’t have a strong magnetic field in that area.
So you’ve got a strat with all Reds? Now I’ve thought of doing that but I’ve yet to purchase one Red. I plan replacing a gold with a red in the bridge.
had same problem at a venue. most distracting noise from single coils and had to go either an in between pos 2, or to rear pick up, which luckily is a humbucker in my frankin strat. good advice is to always have a second guitar with noise cancelling ability.
Great feel Shane! I’ve had my ‘97 Tele plus w 3 LS’s since 2000 and I use it live and recording. Best go to guitar for almost any sound, I love it! I picked it up cheap at the time because the LS’s weren’t popular at all💪🏼💥🎸
I had my first proper Strat back in ‘99, it was a ‘93 fender Strat plus in sunburst w/ 3 Gold lace sensors. I was hooked. I then bought a ‘96 Blue burst Strat plus w/ blue, silver, and red LS. Then bought a ‘97 Blue burst Tele Plus V2 with 3 Gold LS. So yup! Lace Sensors are a yes for me . Shane do yourself a favor and try other lace sensors, I’m sure you’ll like them 👍🏻. Oh and great playing too ! 🎸
Awesome man. My #1 is a 1997 Strat plus that came with three gold lace sensors. I swapped them for Fender vintage noiseless back when Eric and Jeff did. Zero regrets. I still have the lace sensors and may pop them back in someday. The vintage noiseless give me a tone I love and no noise. I play a few of those noisy places as well and it's a game changer. I do lower the presence with noiseless pickups though as they are a little high end ish. No they are not better or worse than my other strats with all different pickups but they are great for live gigging.
I had a Strat plus back in the day. I forgot how good Lace are. You got me. I have to buy a set for my Strat. Thanks Shane! No really. Great gig. Loved the playing.
It seems like everyone in Melbourne was playing live lately!! I seen a stream with both Dr Ric and Ryan Lim playing at some venue! The Lace Sensors definitely passed the live test with flying colors! You definitely sounded like you without the buzz! Now that made the adjustments to the pickup height, I would if the isolation test you did before would be different. Anyway great to see you out there playing live and hopefully you can provide a complete set for our enjoyment! Cheers!😎😎🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸👍🏾👍🏾👏🏾
I have a 1996 Strat with Gold Laces. Great for recording. Very even sound. Played them for a long, long time. Ultimately I wanted more dynamics and went for a Fender 57/62 loaded pickguard.
I have owned a PBass Plus loaded with Lace Sensor Silver pickups, quite a good tone, it came complete with P/J pickup configuration, TBX tone control and a series parallel switch across the P Pickup. Great tone, lots of tonal options and low noise. I eventually swapped it against a neck thru bass that I really like the look of, however the Lace Sensors did sound pretty good.
You are quite the player; Clapton would be proud. EC has pioneered so many sounds and tones that stand out from the crowd. The period with the Lace Sensors in the Clapton strat was one of those periods that inspired many people. It was the Lace Sensors with the mid-boost that got EC to play with more fervor and energy, plus he started playing the Cream stuff again. Good luck with your new Strat.
the mystery pickups in my Burton blue paisley are said to be lace sensor... I've had that guitar sitting in its case for 5 years and never played it.. this has made me want to yank it out and give em a spin.. thanks!
I've been using a Lace Sensor's gold pickup for a few years. On one side I loved the attack and sustain, on the other it lacked in dynamic: it started responding passing a certain amount of picking. That's why I changed it. Apart from that, it's an exellent choice.
I put the Blue/Silver/Red set in my custom Warmoth hybrid Tele. They're stunning. I shielded the cavity with copper foil, and they are dead silent. Height adjustment will make a HUGE difference in tone and output. I also installed the Obsidian Wiring blender controls. No high end loss when rolling off volume, AND its a solderless system. Minutes to swap pups or wire them in different ways so you can create Tele sounds with a Strat.
If you ever want to try something different the Dimarzio Area pickups are very good and at least when I got them they would do a lefty set with no upcharge.
Guitar pickups don't have the ability to compress the signal, but a denser coil closer to the strings increases the dynamic range compared to the opposite. Non-linearity of the flux strength also creates waveform asymmetry that produces artificial 2nd harmonics. You can see it with a freq analyzer if you depress the 12th fret on any open string with only the neck PUP on. The 2nd string harmonic is canceled, but there is clearly still a 2nd harmonic. You can then see two 2nd harmonics slightly out of tune on the bridge pickup because the 2nd string harmonic is not canceled. The Lace design reduces rolls off the high end a bit more than an AlNiCo core PUP, and widens the magnetic aperture for a "fatter" sound.
They just cant quack, I had those for years and sold it for a MIM player plus a big chunk of money left over, the mim kills it in terms of actual strat tone. Laces are great for distortion and 80s style metal etc but I dont like them for anything else but to each his own.
Couldn't get on with Lace Sensors in my Strat Plus but love em in my gigging Tele. I was using a cleaner sound in those days which may have made em seen "hi-fi". But, in the Tele, with a bit more gain theyre great. Amp up, guitar dow
Very Cool, Shane Thankyou. Sounded Awesome Live. We have a number of Lace Strats for sale here in The West on Marketplace, have been tempted as they are like $250- ..... But I really don't need any more Strat copies, lol. All the best. Cheers
I don't think so. When you make adjustments to the amp to suit the pickups, you can't hear a difference worth much of anything. I mentioned in that video that pickup comparison videos are pretty useless due to the fact the amp is set up for the original recording and not the new pickups. If you change the settings everyone complains haha.
@@intheblues Just before watching this video I watched the Short you posted with the Lace and 59s... The 59s sounded so much better. Yep, I agree, if you start changing settings I am sure you can EQ different pickups to sound very similar. In the mix, like you could not tell the difference between the cheapest Harley Benton and the most expensive Fender, makes little difference other than how you feel the tone is, especially if you have issues with noise.
Got an 89 plus as my first strat and chose to ditch the Lace for something more traditional. They were BKP mothers milk single coil, and Irish Tours in the bridge. I have to try so hard to get them to buzz, I don’t know what voodoo BKP do to achieve this. Unless I’ve just been lucky wherever I’ve played it. Might pop the Lace back in, but they were very different for the 2 and 4 positions compared to single coil. Misses the funk and it’s more warm tone
A thought..see if you can get the venue to let you bring in a bunch of guitars with different combinations and noise gates and do a comparison of the amount of noise that a player can encounter and the types of pickups and how to mitigate. I remember one club also that had worse radiation than anywhere else..and it was the newest. Worse than some 6 table "holes in the walls" we played. Brutal is right :) . Be Well and Best Regards and Best Wishes!
Sometimes I forget that Brian can play the pants off of the saxophone, too. What a musician. Those pickups are sounding great, mate! Awesome playing, too.
Sweet mod, making something good a lot better. Have you ever tried the Morley Hum Eliminator? It' upposed to get rid of that ground loop hum. Might be an idea for some of these venues with electrical issues.
I like the golds, not the other colors though (I tried them). Have you tried kinmans, dimarzio areas ? I would like to try Zexcoils someday, but they are not easy to get in the euro region. They seem to be impressive
Thanks mate. It's been a fun month or two getting my live chops back to full steam - its feeling really good again getting some practice time in during the week. :)
Worst pups Ever, my worst Strat was a Deluxe Plus 90s, and watt appens with that guitar, Fender forgot it, maybe because was Crappy, and Noiseles are the same.
Thanks for the review!
I used Gold Lace Sensors for 23 years in a Strat Plus I bought in 1989. I really liked them and they put me off regular single coils permanently. I discovered DiMarzio Areas about 15 years ago, and they're even quieter than the Sensors and have more top end, so have stuck with those ever since.
If you're in Melbourne, come and check out this blues jam at the Lyrebird Lounge in Ripponlea. It's a great vibe, everyone is welcome and gets a shot. It's a lot of fun. Rock on - Oh yeah, the pickups are great. 👍
I saw Greg Koch demoing a fender Strat with Gen 4 noiseless pickups. He said, “ I know some people don’t like the sound of noiseless pickups. I call those people unemployed “.
Lol I know and know of lots of very employed and famous musicians who hate them. Greg Koch is excellent but hardly a household name or my arbiter of what is right with guitars.
About buzz in a room. I once played a gig where it was horrible. They had just put a new stage in their room. It turned out they had all (cheap) dimmerpacks for the stage lights hidden directly underneath my feet inside the stage.
I've had a Strat Plus (blue,gold,red), and a Tele Plus (blue, silver, dually red)Lace sensors since the late eighties! They work great for certain venues, I never thought the tone was bad, as many have said, just different! Pickup height is critical, and guitar volume position makes a big difference too! Thanks for showcasing these pickups for a new generation. Keep Rockin!
I had one exactly like you and it simply never really sounded like a strat, no quack at all and sterile. My MIM Player sounds way better imo.
Thanks Shane!
I’ve got two Strats with Lace Sensors. My 97 has Testarossa Red Lace Sensors and I love them. My 72 Hardtail has Blue-Silver-Red Lace sensors and it’s a favorite too!
You’re absolutely right that the pickup height is crucial for these, they can go much closer to the strings because they don’t have a strong magnetic field in that area.
So you’ve got a strat with all Reds? Now I’ve thought of doing that but I’ve yet to purchase one Red. I plan replacing a gold with a red in the bridge.
@@Patriotic327 I actually just sold it without the reds in it. Put my 97 back to all original and sold it that way
had same problem at a venue. most distracting noise from single coils and had to go either an in between pos 2, or to rear pick up, which luckily is a humbucker in my frankin strat. good advice is to always have a second guitar with noise cancelling ability.
I love Lace Sensors. I put a set (blue silver red) in a partscaster a few months ago, and they are awesome.
Great feel Shane! I’ve had my ‘97 Tele plus w 3 LS’s since 2000 and I use it live and recording. Best go to guitar for almost any sound, I love it! I picked it up cheap at the time because the LS’s weren’t popular at all💪🏼💥🎸
I had my first proper Strat back in ‘99, it was a ‘93 fender Strat plus in sunburst w/ 3 Gold lace sensors. I was hooked. I then bought a ‘96 Blue burst Strat plus w/ blue, silver, and red LS. Then bought a ‘97 Blue burst Tele Plus V2 with 3 Gold LS. So yup! Lace Sensors are a yes for me . Shane do yourself a favor and try other lace sensors, I’m sure you’ll like them 👍🏻. Oh and great playing too ! 🎸
Awesome man. My #1 is a 1997 Strat plus that came with three gold lace sensors. I swapped them for Fender vintage noiseless back when Eric and Jeff did. Zero regrets. I still have the lace sensors and may pop them back in someday. The vintage noiseless give me a tone I love and no noise. I play a few of those noisy places as well and it's a game changer. I do lower the presence with noiseless pickups though as they are a little high end ish. No they are not better or worse than my other strats with all different pickups but they are great for live gigging.
I had a Strat plus back in the day. I forgot how good Lace are. You got me. I have to buy a set for my Strat. Thanks Shane! No really. Great gig. Loved the playing.
Sounds killer! The 'Gold' standard, you might say.
It seems like everyone in Melbourne was playing live lately!! I seen a stream with both Dr Ric and Ryan Lim playing at some venue! The Lace Sensors definitely passed the live test with flying colors! You definitely sounded like you without the buzz! Now that made the adjustments to the pickup height, I would if the isolation test you did before would be different. Anyway great to see you out there playing live and hopefully you can provide a complete set for our enjoyment! Cheers!😎😎🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸👍🏾👍🏾👏🏾
I have a 1996 Strat with Gold Laces. Great for recording. Very even sound. Played them for a long, long time. Ultimately I wanted more dynamics and went for a Fender 57/62 loaded pickguard.
Impressive playing and fantastic tone in the gig. Those pups really cut through.
I have owned a PBass Plus loaded with Lace Sensor Silver pickups, quite a good tone, it came complete with P/J pickup configuration, TBX tone control and a series parallel switch across the P Pickup. Great tone, lots of tonal options and low noise. I eventually swapped it against a neck thru bass that I really like the look of, however the Lace Sensors did sound pretty good.
They work so well in a band situation. Cut through really well.
You are quite the player; Clapton would be proud. EC has pioneered so many sounds and tones that stand out from the crowd. The period with the Lace Sensors in the Clapton strat was one of those periods that inspired many people. It was the Lace Sensors with the mid-boost that got EC to play with more fervor and energy, plus he started playing the Cream stuff again. Good luck with your new Strat.
the mystery pickups in my Burton blue paisley are said to be lace sensor... I've had that guitar sitting in its case for 5 years and never played it.. this has made me want to yank it out and give em a spin.. thanks!
I've been using a Lace Sensor's gold pickup for a few years.
On one side I loved the attack and sustain, on the other it lacked in dynamic: it started responding passing a certain amount of picking. That's why I changed it.
Apart from that, it's an exellent choice.
I use Blue, Silver, Red set in a hardtail Strat and they are fine. Very versatile.
I love Lace pickups. I have the gold set on my HSS Strat.
We tend to over think stuff. Clapton did just fine with Lace.
I put the Blue/Silver/Red set in my custom Warmoth hybrid Tele. They're stunning. I shielded the cavity with copper foil, and they are dead silent. Height adjustment will make a HUGE difference in tone and output. I also installed the Obsidian Wiring blender controls. No high end loss when rolling off volume, AND its a solderless system. Minutes to swap pups or wire them in different ways so you can create Tele sounds with a Strat.
May I ask, what positions did you install them? Like blue/bridge etc....
@@jeffrowlette Sure. Blue neck. Red Bridge. That is how they're recommended by Lace.
@@robdavis8307
Awesome!!! Thank you!
@@jeffrowlette absolutely.
I liked Clapton's late 80s/early 90s tone when he used them. Beck Guitar Shop era also. Townsend still uses them.
I honestly thought you sounded great with those installed, Shane. I am quite eager to hear them live again with the height adjusted. 🤘
If you ever want to try something different the Dimarzio Area pickups are very good and at least when I got them they would do a lefty set with no upcharge.
Thanks for the heads up, I'll check them out :)
That sounded great live! Both the pickups & your playing 👍
Thanks!
Sounds great. The Lace Sensors seem to compress a bit but I could be wrong. I really like them.
Guitar pickups don't have the ability to compress the signal, but a denser coil closer to the strings increases the dynamic range compared to the opposite. Non-linearity of the flux strength also creates waveform asymmetry that produces artificial 2nd harmonics. You can see it with a freq analyzer if you depress the 12th fret on any open string with only the neck PUP on. The 2nd string harmonic is canceled, but there is clearly still a 2nd harmonic. You can then see two 2nd harmonics slightly out of tune on the bridge pickup because the 2nd string harmonic is not canceled.
The Lace design reduces rolls off the high end a bit more than an AlNiCo core PUP, and widens the magnetic aperture for a "fatter" sound.
I’ve been using lace sensor’s since 1991…every guitar I own has LS pick up…I’m a fan…except my Gibson, but I’m changing them to a JB and 59 soon…
Rippin' it up Shane, great playing and demo! I've never used Lace Sensors but hate too much buzz.
Love my Lace Sensors! Red, Silver, and Blue since the 80s!
They just cant quack, I had those for years and sold it for a MIM player plus a big chunk of money left over, the mim kills it in terms of actual strat tone. Laces are great for distortion and 80s style metal etc but I dont like them for anything else but to each his own.
Visually they are perfect for the guitar, they have that retro modern juxtaposition thing that fender have always embraced.
Couldn't get on with Lace Sensors in my Strat Plus but love em in my gigging Tele. I was using a cleaner sound in those days which may have made em seen "hi-fi". But, in the Tele, with a bit more gain theyre great. Amp up, guitar dow
This makes me smile. Only reason I don't have them is I got Gilmour emgs which are a different beast and don't sound very stratty
They sounded great. You think the venue would do something to lessen the feedback if it is so bad.
Very Cool, Shane Thankyou. Sounded Awesome Live. We have a number of Lace Strats for sale here in The West on Marketplace, have been tempted as they are like $250- ..... But I really don't need any more Strat copies, lol. All the best. Cheers
I have a 1992 Jeff Beck Strat that has the gold Fender Lace Sensors & TBX tone control and wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Kickin' tones Shane! Love the Live Videos again!
If they achieve the goal of reducing noise in a venue thats great. The 59´s sound so much better in isolation though 🙂
I don't think so. When you make adjustments to the amp to suit the pickups, you can't hear a difference worth much of anything. I mentioned in that video that pickup comparison videos are pretty useless due to the fact the amp is set up for the original recording and not the new pickups. If you change the settings everyone complains haha.
@@intheblues Just before watching this video I watched the Short you posted with the Lace and 59s... The 59s sounded so much better. Yep, I agree, if you start changing settings I am sure you can EQ different pickups to sound very similar. In the mix, like you could not tell the difference between the cheapest Harley Benton and the most expensive Fender, makes little difference other than how you feel the tone is, especially if you have issues with noise.
Got an 89 plus as my first strat and chose to ditch the Lace for something more traditional. They were BKP mothers milk single coil, and Irish Tours in the bridge. I have to try so hard to get them to buzz, I don’t know what voodoo BKP do to achieve this. Unless I’ve just been lucky wherever I’ve played it.
Might pop the Lace back in, but they were very different for the 2 and 4 positions compared to single coil. Misses the funk and it’s more warm tone
Great Shane!!
Its gd when you make a choice & it comes off!
They cut thru well, sounded like you had sustain for days!👍
A thought..see if you can get the venue to let you bring in a bunch of guitars with different combinations and noise gates and do a comparison of the amount of noise that a player can encounter and the types of pickups and how to mitigate. I remember one club also that had worse radiation than anywhere else..and it was the newest. Worse than some 6 table "holes in the walls" we played. Brutal is right :) . Be Well and Best Regards and Best Wishes!
Sometimes I forget that Brian can play the pants off of the saxophone, too. What a musician. Those pickups are sounding great, mate! Awesome playing, too.
Thanks, Ben. 🕺I hope you're doing well man. We gotta do some more stuff coming up next year.
@intheblues yeah dude, would be totally down for that! Looking forward to it.
Have you tried Kingman noiseless Pickups? How do they compare to the Lace Pickups? Your Pickups sounded good in the video.
Smooth & refine tone 👍🏻👍🏻
You looked like you were having a blast!!!!! 🎸🔥🎸🔥🎸
Sweet mod, making something good a lot better. Have you ever tried the Morley Hum Eliminator? It' upposed to get rid of that ground loop hum. Might be an idea for some of these venues with electrical issues.
I like the golds, not the other colors though (I tried them). Have you tried kinmans, dimarzio areas ? I would like to try Zexcoils someday, but they are not easy to get in the euro region. They seem to be impressive
Outstanding Shane...makes me want to practice. Peace!
Thanks mate. It's been a fun month or two getting my live chops back to full steam - its feeling really good again getting some practice time in during the week. :)
They sound awesome Shane. Are you still using them?
Great stuff, thanks Shane
Let’s say I really like the pickups in my American Pro 2, any pedals worth trying instead of swapping pickups?
Give Fishman a shot?? Is bad power? Maybe a power conditioner?
Sounds great. 🎉
Shane, that ripped!!!
Sounds good to me Shane.
Nice wailing, man!
ROCKIN' Shane! \m/
Why did those pickups go out of style in the early 2000s? Clapton had some of his best tones with Lace Sensors in my opinion.
Fender started making and using their own noiseless pickups.
@@davidbruce1205 Good point, but they aren't exactly comparable.
Try some Lollars... or just get a Shabat Lynx. mmmmm.....
No thanks 😊👍
Worst pups Ever, my worst Strat was a Deluxe Plus 90s, and watt appens with that guitar, Fender forgot it, maybe because was Crappy, and Noiseles are the same.
TBX is an awful invention anyways, not having it is a good thing