Lollar Imperials vs Seth Lovers?

[rmcfee]

I have never used Imperials but I love the Seth Lovers by SD. Has anyone compared them? Thanks.

[Lewguitar]

Re: Lollar Imperials vs Seth Lovers?

I would characterize the Seths, especially when used without covers, as having an almost raw, slightly aggressive, quality to the midrange. I like it.

When I listen to Jimmy Herring play his Imperials I don't hear that sound.

I hear a sweet, more vocal sound with smooth mids and warm treble.

Jimmy plays a lot up in Nederland, where I lived for 10 years.

The Imperials are Alnico 5 and the Seths are polished A2.

I love my Seths and have them in two different PRS guitars. But I'd also love to own a set of Imperials.

[jeremy]

Re: Lollar Imperials vs Seth Lovers?

imperials are a5 bridge, a2 neck as far as i know. jimmy used to use a pair of 59's for years in his strats and i cant really tell much of a difference having seen him with both. jimmy plays this type of guitar with both pups on almost all the time but honestly i dont know know how much it matters. ive seem him with a tele, a sss strat, a few different prs models and some other things and he pretty much sounds the same. ive tried the imperials and they werent my thing, not bad but they didnt do anything that made me want to put them in any of my guitars

[Lewguitar]

Re: Lollar Imperials vs Seth Lovers?

imperials are a5 bridge, a2 neck as far as i know. jimmy used to use a pair of 59's for years in his strats and i cant really tell much of a difference having seen him with both. jimmy plays this type of guitar with both pups on almost all the time but honestly i dont know know how much it matters. ive seem him with a tele, a sss strat, a few different prs models and some other things and he pretty much sounds the same. ive tried the imperials and they werent my thing, not bad but they didnt do anything that made me want to put them in any of my guitars

You're way ahead of me, Jeremy. I have no first hand experience with the Imperials, other than listening to Jimmy Herring at Nedfest. I liked what I heard though.

This review on Lollar's website says they are degaussed alnico 5: http://www.lollarguitars.com/300-guitars-review

The guy who wrote the review ordered a set of "Low Winds" and a set of "Regular Winds" and reviews both.

Didn't know Jimmy favored 59's. From what I've read, Santana used 59's in his Yamahas, in the 1970's and early 80's, before switching to PRS. He also used real Gibson PAFs.

I like the way both of those guys sound and I shouldn't be surprised: I'm a big fan of 59's too.

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Lollar Imperials vs Seth Lovers?

I had the pleasure of speaking with Jason several years ago, asking this very question. His comment was that the Imperials would sound clearer than the Seths. I did play a guitar with his pickups, and found them very clear though a bit bland for my taste. I ordered a set of Antiquity buckers for one of my LP 1960 Classics and Custom Shop 50th Anniversary A2 Seths for my other Classic. Good choices...I'm very happy with them.

One factor in my decision was a comparo test in Vintage Guitar Magazine, circa 2003-4...I think with 12 PAFs. They seemed to favor the Seths and the Ants, so I took the plunge. No regerts.....lol.

Bill

[jeremy]

Re: Lollar Imperials vs Seth Lovers?

jimmy was playing a hh strat for years that had the duncan 59 set, the lollars are relatively recent. i had to check lollars website after reading the review but this is what i found "Made with Alnico 2 magnets in the neck and Alnico 5 magnets in the bridge that are degaussed to specific levels unique to the neck and bridge positions." that is for the low wind and normal imperial, the high wind uses a pair of alnico 2 i guess. im really such an a2 junkie when it comes to humbuckers and that might be part of what i didnt love about the imperials. the were very clear but didnt have the character i love in my seths or antiquitys

[emadis]

Re: Lollar Low-Wind Imperials vs. Seth Lovers
There is a huge difference between both of those excellent pickups. The Lollar low-winds are partially demagnetized, as well as being a lower wind, but they are wax-potted. The Seth Lovers are not wax-potted. So really, it has a lot to do with the kind of player you are. If you a plug in and play guy, you don't use a lot of processing and you don't play heavily over-driven, then my preference is definitely the Seth Lovers. If you are a blues player, and you want a bad-ass tone, go for the Seth Lovers.

[Teleplayer]

Lollar Imperial seem to be a specialist blues pickup. They are kind of thin sounding to me. Actually not the best clean tone, and not great for rock either.

[Mincer]

Is Jimmy using the Lollars in his PRS? It sounds very close to his 59 sound, which is a great sound. By comparison, there are certainly more mids in the Seths- I like both equally.

[jeremy]

i know jimmy has lollars in a few guitars, maybe his bucker loaded prs guitars. the nf3 models are stock as far as i know.

the 3 color burst strat that gene baker made him with 59s doesnt sound much different than the white strat with lollars to my ears

[Mincer]

I saw him a few years ago with John McLaughlin, and he had such a beautiful tone. They were both using PRS at the time, although I am not sure if he had swapped those pickups out.

[jeremy]

if it had humbuckers, they were probably imperials. jimmy kinda goes all in on things like that. though he does have a black strat that had pickups from donzo

i love the "simplicity" of jimmys rig. loud amp turned way up to get plenty of overdrive into a cab. then he takes a line out and feeds it to a reverb and ss power amp into a different cab. theres a dirt box if he needs it and thats it. the reverb is on a volume pedal so he can dial in as much or little as he wants. though his monitor rig is over the top