My Wolfetones have arrived.

[b-squared]

Originally Posted by Fixxxer

This does not surprise me. To each his own.

What, pray tell, does not surprise you?

[b-squared]

I looks like you have a grounding plate in there...you don't need the ground wire between the pots...also--when you use the grounding wire it goes from the Bridge Volume->Bridge tone->Neck tone->Neck volume.

I can't tell exactly where the bridge pickup wire is going in the picture...solder joints look pretty good though!

BB

[PINKBITS]

Originally Posted by b-squared

I looks like you have a grounding plate in there...you don't need the ground wire between the pots...also--when you use the grounding wire it goes from the Bridge Volume->Bridge tone->Neck tone->Neck volume.

I can't tell exactly where the bridge pickup wire is going in the picture...solder joints look pretty good though!

BB

Thanks B, I will remove the grounding wire this arvo. The bridge pickup wire is on the bottom left hand pot in my pic, throught the first lug which also has the Cap wired to it.

[b-squared]

OK...I leave my leads long as well, but leave the excess in the pickup cavity.

Keep up the good work!

BB

[PINKBITS]

Originally Posted by b-squared

OK...I leave my leads long as well, but leave the excess in the pickup cavity.

Keep up the good work!

BB

Thank you B. Ya, it looks like a drunk Italians spagetti bolognaise in there.

[b-squared]

You should have seen my first try...it was on my R9!

I sent it to RS Guitarworks for aging, and when Billy tugged on the ground wire it came right off. :facepalm:



BB

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by PINKBITS

Thanks for the post Fix. I didn't get piercing highs, I just found them on the bright side. I didn't mind this at all.

My issue was purely a lack of thump/shove out of the bridge and lack of singing lead out of the neck.

As I said the best way I can describe it is as if the pickups were only working on 4 cylinders instead of all 8.

On Wolfes advice I'm going to try a few things and see how i go. I could have quite easily had a bad solder . If I make some changes and they I will certainly be revising my review.

I can take my lumps too.

Interesting that BB found the MH's very bright. they shoulnd't be too bright because of the size of the coils. Larger coils bleed off a little high end, and will also make them not quite as loud as a comparable 9k pickup from, say, Duncan.
About the reading you got, I think your room temps may be a bit lower than here when they were built Ambient tempurature will change the readings. What temp are you at when you read the pickups?

If you've got a couple Alnico 2 magnets laying around, I might suggest swapping those in to see if they give you the low end shove you're looking for. it'll shift the whole spectrum lower, thicken the mids, and smooth out the high end. Marshallheads with A-2's have become quite popular over the last year or so.

BB, and Pink, what is the weight of your guitars? I find that heavier guitars are generally quite a bit brighter and harsher sounding, and will lack low end. It's a wood density thing as far as I can figure.

Fixxer...it's entirely possible for a magnet to be "faulty" - IE: stronger on one side than the other, end to end. When that happens, it can cause a lack of frequency response on the side where it's weaker. To find out, flip the magnet and see if the response drops on the opposite strings....

I just saw BB's post about density... and I'm bettng Pink's guitar is on the heavy side too?

[JM Vasek]

This thread made me revisit my guitar for some adjustments. I hadn't had a lot of time to tweak and just left it where it sounded pretty good.

HOLY S**T!!! Wolfe, you weren't kidding when you said

Each pickup will have it's sweet spot, and when you find it, YOU'LL KNOW.

The pups let me know as soon as I had them in the right spot, to be sure.

It only took me a little while of fiddling around and playing through the amp to find that sweet spot, but when I did....I just about had to change my pants.

Now I just need to learn how to play well.

[VastHorizon]

Originally Posted by JM Vasek

This thread made me revisit my guitar for some adjustments. I hadn't had a lot of time to tweak and just left it where it sounded pretty good.

HOLY S**T!!! Wolfe, you weren't kidding when you said The pups let me know as soon as I had them in the right spot, to be sure.

It only took me a little while of fiddling around and playing through the amp to find that sweet spot, but when I did....I just about had to change my pants.

Now I just need to learn how to play well.

How about an instructional thread on how to find that sweet spot? Like what steps should be taken in adjusting the height, pole-pieces, etc.

[JM Vasek]

Originally Posted by VastHorizon

How about an instructional thread on how to find that sweet spot? Like what steps should be taken in adjusting the height, pole-pieces, etc.

Great idea. I just raised/lowered the pickups until I heard what I wanted. I'm sure there's already some great info compiled in this forum alone.

I seem to remember seeing an article in which a Gibson employee recommended setting the polepieces at the same radius as the fretboard.

[Standard 64]

Like my signature says-Wolfetone Marshallheads.Have had them in my LP standard for maybe 2-3 years now.I have a A5 alnico magnet in the bridge and a A2 magnet in the neck.You need to dial in the pickup height and pole pieces.Cant just drop them in a guitar and give them a flippant opinion,like I read earlier.Thats what a lot of people do with amps they do not understand,some amps (and pickups) need some dialing in,once you find it though its magic.Wolf has A1 service too.

[V!N]

Originally Posted by VastHorizon

How about an instructional thread on how to find that sweet spot? Like what steps should be taken in adjusting the height, pole-pieces, etc.

Project Guitar :: Adjusting Pickup Height

Guitar Pickup Adjustments: Pickup Height and Adjustable Pole Pieces

[overdriver]

Originally Posted by PINKBITS

I'll check out Jon Moore, thank you. That actually sounds very good.

I do have a set of Firewaters and a set of Habaneros I ordered some time ago, still waiting on them. I really want to try them.

J S Moore Pickups - Home

[nwobhm]

I'm pretty sure he said he adjusted the polepieces and heights a good bit. If he really likes the Custom 5, Something along the same vein, would possibly be more to his liking. Like the Firewater or Black Widow.

[PINKBITS]

Ok, so I rewired everthing from scratch and mucked around with the pickup heights.

Big improvement.

First of all I should appologise to Wolfe. As one poster said you can't just throw in "some" pickups, expect them just to work and then make flippant comments. I will accept that. However I really did spend quite a bit of time adjusting things with little improvement.

Although I did check my original wiring job there must have been a bad connection somwhere. My main problem was as I've said it was as if they were an 8 cylinder car only running on 4. Whatever I did improved this in a big way. The bridge has good shove and the bottom end improved significantly. Much much better.

Now although these improved in a big way they still aren't quite what I am after. The bridge pickups is fantastic, really. I think I am mainly just accustom to a hotter pickup in the bridge that hits the front of the amp with more attitude. The bridge pickup is close though, really close. The neck although again much better just isn't what I'm after. You may think I'm an idiot but I do really like the Seymour Duncan 59. As I have also said if I could could just tame the top end a fraction and add some mids it would be perfect.

I will say lastly that this has been a really good learning experience for me and I really appreciate the help I have recieved. Thanks.

I will still highly recommend the Marshallhead pickups to anyone looking for a rock/hard rock pickup. They are really, really good. They just weren't quite the flavour I was after.

[epilespaul2000]

Originally Posted by PINKBITS

OK, so I thought I'd better post my view on these pickups.

I played mostly on my Laney Lionheart L20H and matching 2x12 cab which is loaded with UK made Celstion Heritage G12H'S. If you don't know the amp it is a true class a rock/hard rock machine with el84 powers and 3 preamp tubes. Fantastic cleans and awesome drive. I love this amp.

First up, I really don't want to say too much about the DR V neck or Marshallhead bridge with A2 mag as they were in my Traditional with the stock pots, caps. Obviously having the stock electronics isn't going to give a true indication of what these pickups are truly like, however it will still give you an idea of what I was working with.

I will say in the Traditional the Dr V was still quite bright even with stock electronics, no mud what so ever. This pickup liked clean to just breaking up on the amp. For me the cleans were good but driven hard it lacked bottom end and seemed a bit dull. I could not get a singing lead tone out of the neck. Maybe it was just tooooo vintage for my liking?

The Marshallhead with a2 was quite good. The a2 mag added a little compression and smoothness, just rounded off the top end a bit which is what you would expect. Good rock tone but again for me it lacked bottom end. Just didn't really thump like a Les Paul bridge pickup should. For what I like anyways.

Now to the Marshallhead set i had in my 01 Standard.

I liked these pickups for rock, think ACDC, but again for me they lacked bottom end thump. Both pickups again on the bright side which I don't mind.
I like both a quite thick bridge tone as well has a toppy one. The main thing for me in a Lester is that the bridge has thump. You know, you hit that chord and you just sit back and go YEH BABY The Marshallhead bridge did not have this in spades. It was good but not jaw dropping.

The neck Marshallhead was good too, and again great no. As with the DR V it seemed to prefer clean to just breaking up on the amp and again could not get that singing lead tone out of the neck under gain. It was better than the Dr V but not what I was after.

What I did find is that the louder I turned up the amp the better they sounded. If it makes any sense it's as if these are a gigging volume pickup. They still lacked that real bottom end shove and singing lead tone out of the neck but certainly improved as I cranked her up.

Now you may say that you need to have your amp loud to get a good tone. I love cranking my amps and yes they sound better cranked but for instance when i had a Seymour Duncan 59 and Seymour Duncan SH-14 Custom 5 i could still get a great thumping bridge tone and singing leads on the neck at low volumes.

I actually really like the 59/Custom 5 setup. For me though the 59/c5 pickups need more mids and can get a bit harsh on the top end. They did however cover a lot of ground from me from classic rock through to metal with eq and volume adjustments on the guitar.

So for me the search continues. I will certainly say that Wolfe was absolutely brilliant to deal with and offered to rewind these for me. Customer service could not have been better. I thought about having them rewound and am certain that given time and Wolfe getting the right information from me about my wants that he would wind me a perfect set of pickups. I think however I will just flip them and try another winder, just for the sake of trying another persons craft.

I would also say that although these sets weren't for me they might be for you. Wolfe's pickups are exceptionally well made, you only have to look at them. These sets also may sound better with different style amps/eq/pedals etc. You know the drill.

I was actually hoping I would have recieved my WB Firewaters and Habaneros from Will. This would have given me a great opportunity to really compare these two winders. I've emailed him again so hopefully I will hear back soon on the progress.

Until then I may consider WCR as he seems to be very highly respected.

If I can scrape together enough cash I will probably get the American Steele set Goodwood bridge/Crossroads neck for the Traditional and Maybe an Ironman set for the Standard for the heavy stuff.

I hope I have made sense and have been some help to anyone out there looking at pickups.

I HATE BUYING PICKUPS, I F'ING HATE IT.

Thanks for the review. I'm gonna be purchasing Marshallheads soon!

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by PINKBITS

I will still highly recommend the Marshallhead pickups to anyone looking for a rock/hard rock pickup. They are really, really good. They just weren't quite the flavour I was after.

Pink, no apologies neccesary. I know each guitar, amp, and set of ears is different. SOmetimes even the same pickup in the same guitar can sound different. All the variables.
I'd be happy to turn 'em into something elsee for you. Perhaps a DrV neck/Timbre Wolf combo?

[carydad]

Originally Posted by Fletch

huh. The TV Jones ones were the ones I was going to buy before I asked about yours.

Well besides that I'd still be interested in a set of Legends as soon as I get through some bills and the house AC repair bill, hopefully before the price goes up.

fletch

The legends are very cool. I had sheps in my top three guitars and thought I was done. My JBLP was just muddy in the neck though. Tried it without a tone control and still just overflub. Looked at my pile of pups and pulled out a set of marshallheads, caretakers and legends. Flipped a virtual three sided coin in my head and went with the legends. Perfect fit, though I find myself really diggin the bridge. No more neck mud though and the pair balance out nicely.

Maybe a different mag in the shep would do the trick. Gonna stick with the legends for now. See how they rock through the full rig on saturday.