Bill and Becky L-500XL question

alex1fly

Well-known member
Is there any point in swapping the orientation of the L-500XL? I mean I know that Dimebag swapped his around, but he had tons of gear at his disposal... would there be any differences in tone for the rest of us if we swapped our own L-500XLs?
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

well to be honest... I don't know which side is the hot blade. Can't hurt to take it out, turn it around and try it.
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

well to be honest... I don't know which side is the hot blade. Can't hurt to take it out, turn it around and try it.

Unless we're talking about pickups with mis-matched coils, there is no "hot" side.
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

that is the same thing i read in here about the dimebucker
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

They coils are identically wound. Do if you wish to, but I see it as a waste of time. There is no hot coil like JB said.
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

What's this rubbish about Dime "facing the hot blade toward the neck?"
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

i don't know, tis all i read in this forum. some discussed that it was all in his head, others said it is very subtle. and others say it is just in the head. lol
 
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Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

What's this rubbish about Dime "facing the hot blade toward the neck?"

He said that, but he wasn't really hearing anything different, unless his pickups were not wound standard. So yeah, it's pretty much rubbish.

I think I once claimed that turning a Dimebucker around sounded different, but it was probably just placebo effect.
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

he originally used the L-500XXL though, didnt he? and they dont make that one anymore. maybe it had mismatched coils
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

Yeah, remember Blackmore had a strap holder in his Strat's headstock, so that he could go to a forum where everybody and their buddies were asking if that changed the tone... and LHAO.
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

Some guy on the Dean forum said he did an A/B with a L-500XL doing the swap thing and said that with normal orientation there was more emphasis on "super highs and super lows" and with it swapped there were more "lower mids and lower highs."

BS I take it? Has anyone tried it?
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

If the coils are wound the same, it is BS. If they are wound differently, then it could very well sound different. However, I think most of it is placebo, people just hearing differences they think they should hear.
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

I have done this experiment and posted it to an older thread, you can judge for yourself:

L-500XL

L-500XL Flipped



I didn't touch absolutely anything of the settings during this. I hope it will help.;)

Hmm... the two don't sound all that different to me. Like, at all. Maybe some better trained or preserved ears can hear a difference. I went ahead and installed mine flipped just so I can be cool though. Thanks Metal!
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

those sound different to me. but in theory they shouldnt. so i dunno whats going on.
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

It's different because, when you flip it, the angle at which the pickups hits the strings is changed. It's almost like lowering a pickup or raising a pickup -- that is, when you raise a pickup, it sounds hotter, whereas when you lower it, it sounds fatter.

A word about Dimebag's pickups: During his early Dean days, he probably used DiMarzio Super Distortions, since that's what came stock on Deans back then. By the time he recorded CFH, he was using original Bill Lawrence (Before the merge with BLUSA) chrome-housed L500L's in his guitars, wired up 500K pots and with no tone control. Sometime after this, he switched to BLUSA pickups, playing L500XL's, which he bought from Stew Mac; these pickups did not have the chrome housing. By the time he got his deal with Washburn, he was using L500XL's with no chrome housing. Seeking an even higher output pickup, he modified his L500XL and called it the "XXL". Enter Seymour Duncan.

Only Dime knows exactly what he used, at any given time period. My rough summary is about as close as anyone will get.
 
Re: Bill and Becky L-500XL question

he originally used the L-500XXL though, didnt he? and they dont make that one anymore. maybe it had mismatched coils

I don't think they ever made a production XXL, I have heard they prototyped something for him that the Dimebucker is based on. But, he (and Nuno) originally used L-500Ls which be became the new XLs (before there were Ls and XLs), and Bill made a less hot version that became the "new" 500L.

As far as changing the angle of the pickup??? Only if you have an angled mounting ring and turn that around also.

Also, Bill Lawrence and BL USA did not merge, they actually were together and separated, and fight about the name to this day. For my $, the Bill and Becky models sound better, and that "Bill" is the original designer.
 
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