I admittedly don't have a ton of experience with parallel axis pickups, but I recently put a PATB1 in the bridge of my Les Paul again. With almost every other pickup I've put in the guitar, I soon get the urge to tweak or say, "I need to cut the highs a little bit," or "the bass isn't tight enough." I know the pickup won't stay in the guitar forever, but that's just the fault of the operator.
If overused tone words cause your eyes to roll, you might want to skip the rest of the post. Here's what I like about it over standard humbuckers. The dynamic range is unlike any other pickup that guitar has had, and the list isn't short. It will let me clean up regardless of how much gain I throw at it with a twist of the volume knob. It doesn't need a boost, because it'll roar without any help, but I really like the tone with it boosted. The mids are voiced perfectly with presence but no upper-mid spike or harshness. Highs are the same way, and the bass is not overpowering but also not hidden in the mix.
The Crazy 8 has spent some time in the same guitar, and it exhibits a lot of the same characteristics: sustain, clarity, and dynamics. I think I like the slight extra frontend push I get from the original PATB better, and I think it might be the A5 that pushes the voicing slightly higher, which to my ears improves clarity ever so slightly over the Crazy 8.
Regardless, when I play one of these pickups, I wonder why I see so little talk about them. Please chime in with your thoughts or experiences.
If overused tone words cause your eyes to roll, you might want to skip the rest of the post. Here's what I like about it over standard humbuckers. The dynamic range is unlike any other pickup that guitar has had, and the list isn't short. It will let me clean up regardless of how much gain I throw at it with a twist of the volume knob. It doesn't need a boost, because it'll roar without any help, but I really like the tone with it boosted. The mids are voiced perfectly with presence but no upper-mid spike or harshness. Highs are the same way, and the bass is not overpowering but also not hidden in the mix.
The Crazy 8 has spent some time in the same guitar, and it exhibits a lot of the same characteristics: sustain, clarity, and dynamics. I think I like the slight extra frontend push I get from the original PATB better, and I think it might be the A5 that pushes the voicing slightly higher, which to my ears improves clarity ever so slightly over the Crazy 8.
Regardless, when I play one of these pickups, I wonder why I see so little talk about them. Please chime in with your thoughts or experiences.
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