what do you guys think about lace sensors?

There was a guy over on the Fender Forum that did a lot of testing with the different Lace Sensor models, and he was very stoked on the "Holy Grail" pickups. You can check them out here:

Holy Grails

 

I have some old gold lace pups in a late 80s strat pro. For me it depends on the amp. They don't sound so good in my expensive boutique Carr Rambler which is just the cat's meow on my 1960 Relic strat.

However, the Lace pup strat into my low budget Peavey CLassic 50 4X10 is heavenly both clean and dirtified.

Figure that one out for me will ya.

 

Lace Sensors

 

I love the golds from the early/mid '90s on certain am standards.

 

I've got them in a "Buddy Guy" strat. They work great with the active mid-boost circuit.

 

Someone mentioned the holy grails. They really are good. They are one of the only if not THE only lace pups that has polepieces just like a reagular pup. And like kinmans and such they are dual coil except that instead of coils stacked vertically they are situated side by side one either side of the polepieces, which i believeare alnico.

They sound like a good strat pup w/o noise, but there is a difference......you have to take the time to dial in your amp differently moreso than when you go from one regular strat pup to another. Once i figured that out i now get a great sound that actually has som advantages over vintage type pups. They seem to have a less lively clean sound because of what seems to be a very hi end roll off, but once you dial them in by adding some presence from the amp they have that back and they sound very much like a vintage style pup but never sound thin or harsh. They are sort of an idealized strat sound. As tho all the traditional weaknesses in vintage style pups has been engineered out.

i've tried the original laces in all models except red, and the newer hot golds. The Holy Grails to my ear are the best, while the hot gold were good but not quite real sounding to me, and the originals sound way off. And maybe thier best feature is that when you gig with them they are one of those rare things that just has not one thing about them in a live mix that bothers you. You never seem to be thinking about having too much high end at any setting, or harshness, etc etc. They just plain work and deliver noisless strat tone. It actually took me a while to realize how good they are because they do take dialing in as i said, plus i find that this sorta "idealized" strat sound as good as the idea of that is, can be a bit hard to come to terms with at first because you aren't used to having that and you tend to hear the differences with suspicion till you realize it's a good thing. I know that probably sounds confusing but i can't quite think of how to explain it.

In any case, thats my take and YMMV a LOT ! But i would highly recommend them for anyone wanting noise free strat pups, tho i actually think i'd use them even if they hummed.

 

I own a 1991 American Fender Deluxe Plus which comes stock with the Blue/Silver/Red in the Neck/Middle/Bridge positions.

Of the three, I really like the Blue in the neck position. It's a little fatter than a standard single coil, perhaps not quite a P-90 sound.

The silver is OK it gives a reasonably good quack combined with the red or blue. On it's own I don't find anything wrong with it particular, but I rarely switch to it by itself so the sound evidently doesn't do much for me most of the time.

The red is good in the bridge position. I think the American Fender Deluxe Ultra from the same period of time had a dually red in the bridge which would have given thicker/stronger tone. I think the tone is very good, but could use a little more push. I adjusted the pickup to be closer to the strings than the silver and blue.

Overall, I think they are good pickups, not top-of-the-line-great pickups. I don't think they sound "digital and crappy" but some people don't like them. I've used them for 14 years and have enjoyed using them, so it depends upon what kind of musical style and sound you like. And probably has some to do with the amp as well.

Although I like them, I have been considering trying "higher end" pickups in the guitar (like the Harmonic Design Super-90) just to have something different for a change. Also, the design is now 15 or more years old, so a lot of the newer stuff is probably improved.

 

I have the same guitar and feel similarly. The 2 and 4 position, in particular, are great, very quacky. The other positions are their own thing, the folks who say they're not really "classic Strat" sounds are not wrong. But that's neither good nor bad, necessarily, it all depends what you're looking for.

One thing I'll say about mine is they are fairly high output for Strat-type single coils and they do compress the tone when you hit 'em hard. Depending on your touch, types of music you play, and tones you prefer that may be good or bad.

The last thing I'll say is that about the high end rolloff one guy mentions, to me that's only an issue in the quack positions (the others are plenty trebly for me) but that's not an issue in the Buddy Guy Signature Strat as it's got that dual 250/1000K pot where you can essentially dial back in a lot of highs (close, in fact, to what you'd get from an outright "blower" switch).

 

To appreciate the possibilities with Lace Sensor Golds, check out the Joe Bonamassa DVD, "A New Day Yesterday". He makes a stunning case for them being fine pickups, especially the bridge with the mid-boost engaged on his Clapton Strat.

 

Yup...Also check out Jason Barkers clips with his gold CS Strat. Those are Gold Lace Sensors in that guitar, and he gets some pretty righteous tones from them!

 

I would agree with the high-output comment. The Blue/Silver/Red are slightly higher output than the HD humbuckers I have in my ES-347 (judging from the amp volume when comparing the guitars, that is - possible that the volume/tone circuits may have something to do with that as well).

I haven't found them lacking in dynamic expression when playing on them, so the compression has never been an issue for me.

 

And i thought TGP was bad - those cats have some serious apostrophe issues!

 

Assuming you mean the original laces, i was talking about the holy grails. To me they have a roll-off but it's in the ultra high range like an amp's presence. I can dial it back in with the amp if i want. As for the 2 and 4 positions, they sound a bit weak and less quack than i wanted, but no more high roll-off compared to the pups alone than with any other pup. But what i did was put one of my vanzandts in the middle and that fixed that problem right up completely. And i don't use the middle except for the combined positions anyway.

 

Yes, I was talking about the originals, sorry for any confusion.

 

I had a Clapton set (golds w/mid boost) in a strat for years to record with. At the time I was using alot of heavy effects and they were perfect for this application as they were very consistent and even sounding. I also had a JB Strat that had the dually gold/gold/gold set and I really didn't like it much. Of course, I threw in a ton of different pickups, never could make that particular strat sound good.

 

I was playing a strat with two silver (neck & mid) and a red (bridge) in my band for a while. This strat belongs to the other guitarist in our band, and FWIW is real good piece.

Now this strat is a bit of a Frankenstien with a mid boost/cut circuit as well. But all in all I think this is one hell of a strarocaster.
The Lace sensors sound really good to me. They are fuller than a vintage strat pup, but that's a good thing to my ears. I really can't say they sound steril at all.

I will admit that they don't respond to the dinamics of your playing as well as regular pickup however. I couldn't get them to clean up by lightning my touch. I had to lower the volume on the guitar it's self. And that may keep some folks away.

MCG

 

I try not to think about them at all.

 

I have the holy grails in one of my strats and they are the best noiseless single coils I've played. I like them better than Kinmans. They have all the clang and sparkle going on, very elastic feel. Not a ton of output. I dig them.

The old style lace sensors that were oem on Fenders never floated my boat, but the holy grails are brilliant.