Lace Alumitone fusion Jazz 251, experience anybody?

[hotpepper01]

I am looking for comments. Are there any archtop players that have Lace Alumitone fusion jazz 251 pickups installed and are happy with them?
What are your thoughts about them?

[krusty]

Okay, I’ll give you my thoughts. I have had one installed on my Eastman El Rey 1 for about 2 years now. It has a fairly strong output. I’m primarily playing through a Benedetto Carino 10, but also use a Quilter OD202 with a 1x12 cabinet and a speaker that can’t handle the amp. No problem, I just don’t wind it up. I also have a rather serious tube amp head with EL34 power section that is not exactly inclined towards clean sounds.

Lace says the pickup is rather hi fi. Yes. The frequency response seems to be quite flat. On the Benedetto amp, I have to scoop the mids quite a bit. That’s as much a function of the amp as the pickup, though. Fingerstyle, I get a beautiful natural sound, as if I’m not listening to an amplifier. Through the OD202 or my tube amp, pick selection makes remarkably little difference. Only attack and release seem affected. I don’t perceive a significant tonal difference, and that’s unusual, in my experience.

I tried the regular Alumitone, and I like the 251 better. It seems to work best close to the strings, like other Lace pickups, but also works best with the amp volume lower and guitar volume higher. Other guitar/amp combinations may give entirely different results, mind you. I’m keeping this one in my El Rey. Over the years, I’ve found that I seem to have a sound that I particularly like in mind, and no matter what amp or guitar I’m using, I end up tweaking until I find that sound. I always sound much the same.

[jads57]

Thanks for the detailed review. Always been interested in the Allumitone pickups but have never been able to try one first.

[Peter C]

@Krusty - any chance of a clip with that "beautiful natural sound" ?

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Wow - I'm sorry I didn't chime in earlier. I just looked at the boxes from my Alumibuckers and they're 251s! I called Lace when I decided to try a set and discussed my needs with Gabriel. I wanted to set up my Tele 7 to be my default guitar for most gigs. Although I play one of my archtops for my weekly jazz gig, I use the Tele for all other jazz, blues, and commercial dates plus anything else that comes along. Gabriel recommended these but suggested that I have them "wound" (or however the elves make these) like the custom ones they make for George Benson but for a 7. He sent me links to sound clips of various versions and I agreed with him that these are great for my needs. They made up a set for me and I've been playing them for almost a year now.

They're dead silent, very clean, and more versatile than any pickups I ever had before. With the tone pot at about 60%, the neck p'up is mellow and jazzy. With the tone pot full on, the neck is a bit more woody and acoustic-y - and with both active, the sound is even more so (and very useful). The bridge unit reminds me of the stock bridge HB on my old LP Custom - it's fine for rock, but I don't use it much.

I did try the neck unit in my Ibanez AF207 while I was replacing the stock DiMarzio, and it sounded about the same in the archtop as it does in the Tele. The AF207 is laminated, so I don't know if a solid top would make a difference in the amplified sound. I was installing a new Benedetto B7 in the AF, so it was a convenient time to try this as well. The Lace sounded great, but I'd already bought the B7 so I went ahead and installed it. And after solving the wiring difficulties I described in an earlier thread because the diagrams from Duncan are wrong, I love the B7 too.

Here's a clip of the neck alumitone 'bucker with the tone pot full on. I was playing through a small tube head into my close mic'ed RE Bass 10.

[krusty]

Unfortunately I can’t record at the moment. I have everything in bins still from my separation and move