Golden Age Redux

[saladin]

I had posted a question about StewMac Golden Age humbuckers a few weeks ago. This being the SD Forum I only got responses of them being inferior pickups but no one had actually tried them. Being hard headed like I am, I got a used set for cheap and put them in my alder body, maple neck Tele. This guitar had a JB\59 set for the past 3 years. I've not been sold on the JB for awhile because I'm constantly turning the tone down to cut out the treble. :dance: The Golden Ages are exactly the sound I was looking for. They capture the Jimmy Page LP vibe !00%,slightly nasal lower output sound. I've put the neck 59 in my new Squire Tele along with a Tele Hot Rails bridge. Great match. Hot as hell.The 59 neck has way more bass then the Golden Ages but doesn't cut through as well. Also swiching from the Tele with Golden Ages and my Strat with Texas Specials I find I don't have to touch my amp setting as they both seem to respond closely. I'm very happy with these pickups and would recommend them to anyone looking for old school humbucker tones! :dance:

 

[tone4days]

Re: Golden Age Redux

cool

nice review

glad you found what you were looking for

any sound clips to demonstrate what you haev come up with?

cheers
t4d

 

[theodie]

Re: Golden Age Redux

For the price I have considered picking up a set. One thing I am interested in is they have a hotter version that is 12K for the bridge (duncan has nothing in this range). I may have to just give them a try.

BTW, did you get the 9K bridge/8K neck set or the 12K bridge/8K neck version?

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Golden Age Redux

Glad to hear you like them, sorry you got such bad responses before. I'm like Theodie, the med. output ones have a lot of appeal.

Luke

 

[saladin]

Re: Golden Age Redux

No clips yet with these pickups. I have the 9k/8k set. I prefer pickups to sound close to each other. As much as I like the JB\59 combo it was hard to deal with the bass response of the 59 and the treble of the JB, although the middle position gave a very nice sound. I sold a '63 SG Standard last year and it had the original Pat# humbuckers. These are the closest to that sound I've heard. Like I said as soon as I fired up my amp I got a Led Zeppelin vibe and started jamming The Immigrant Song riff it sounded that close. Love to hear these in a LP, just can't afford one right now!

 

[madstrummer]

Re: Golden Age Redux

I have a set, and indeed they are cheaply made!!! The higher output 12K model sounds great though. I can't justify placing a 9 K (or whatever the other was) in the neck and it did'nt sound as smooth and sweet as I like-- so that was scrapped.
So I spent 90 bucks and got two pups, one pickup I liked, one I didn't.
I used the magnet and chrome cover from the one I didn't and it all worked out fine.
Ultimately, the duncans one out in the long haul though...
YMMV

 

[saladin]

Re: Golden Age Redux

I'll agree SD do "sound" better, it just wasn't the sound I was looking for. When I had the '63 SG I played it side by side with my Tele when it had the JB\59's in it. Of coarse the Tele sounded "better" but I tended to play more modern sounding riffs because of it. The GA pickups capture that weaker sound that the SG had and that was the sound I was after. My new Tele has the 59 and a Tele Hot Rails in the bridge. It sounds "better" and it will cover heavier modern songs and my first Tele will be for classic style sounds. Hope this makes sense. I want to get a bridge 59 and try the two 59's together for a real comparison. The main problem was the JB, it, in itself is a great sounding pickup, just not the sound I was looking for.