S-500 pickups

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BadJaxx
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Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:06 am
Location: Pittsburgh

S-500 pickups

Post by BadJaxx »

a major pleasant surprise from my ASAT Classic S is the tone from it's S-500 middle pup...
the guitar could be 'esquired' with just that middle pup and still be a great guitar...an ASAT 500 M, lol...
now i'm wondering how an S-500 semihollow would sound and how different from my ASAT Classic S...
or if a regular S-500 would replace my Strats...
or...

thanks, G&L, for giving me a new round of GAS... :crazy:
~Jaxx
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Craig
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Re: S-500 pickups

Post by Craig »

BadJaxx wrote:a major pleasant surprise from my ASAT Classic S is the tone from it's S-500 middle pup...
the guitar could be 'esquired' with just that middle pup and still be a great guitar...an ASAT 500 M, lol...
now i'm wondering how an S-500 semihollow would sound and how different from my ASAT Classic S...
or if a regular S-500 would replace my Strats...
or...

thanks, G&L, for giving me a new round of GAS... :crazy:
Here's some links that might help you decide:

S-500 or Legacy?

List of pickups used in G&L guitars

Comanches For Dummies Redux by BoogieBill (applies to the S-500 as well)

Hope this helps.
--Craig [co-webmaster of guitarsbyleo.com, since Oct. 16, 2000]
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BadJaxx
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:06 am
Location: Pittsburgh

Re: S-500 pickups

Post by BadJaxx »

thanks, i'll check those out...
the ASAT MFD pups sound great as well, of course...it's just that the middle position on my G&L sounds so much better than any middle position single coil i've tried, that it really stands out...
on a simply stellar guitar, that tells me something...
~Jaxx
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BadJaxx
Posts: 131
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:06 am
Location: Pittsburgh

Re: S-500 pickups

Post by BadJaxx »

interesting stuff there...
i'd be interested to know if you ever tried a PRS EG with the Fralin Domino pups cuz your description of the z coil tone sounds a lot like my description of the dominos...
~Jaxx
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ASATNoah
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Re: S-500 pickups

Post by ASATNoah »

This brings up a question I'm wondering if anyone can answer. Every current S-500 I've played sounds essentially the same -- and great. I bought an ASAT III, the one with the S-500 pickups, hoping I'd get something pretty close to the S-500 sound. It wasn't anything like it. I guess you'd say the tone was just kind of dead, and I tried all sorts of things -- different strings, different pickup heights, a few wiring tweaks, new pots. There were more tweaks I could have tried, but I finally gave up and sold it at a low price, figuring the next guy would either love it, fix it right or sell it himself at a low price.

I know that the S-500 has a somewhat different circuit with the PTB wiring. It also has a different body shape and a trem. All these could contribute. But even then, the pickups just didn't sound alive to me, like S-500 pups do.

So my question: Any ASAT III owners out there who can compare the tone of their axe to an S-500 they might own? Are the tones pretty similar?
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