Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

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pedalinbob

New member
I still love playing with different pickups, and kinda miss the tightness of the Evolution (In an Ibanez RG470 with OFR). The Evo did annoy me with that screechy upper-mid spike, but I really liked the tight rhythms.

So...I searched these forums, as well as those at Jemsite, and the reviews at Harmony Central.
But, I respect the opinions of those here at SD, so...

Is the L500XL tight? Some mention a tight low-end.
I cannot seem to find an EQ chart for it, and some describe it as overly bright.

Is it compressed? I admit that I don't own any Pantera, otherwise I could maybe check out the overall tone.

I still like the VHPAF...but, there is something lacking which I noticed on a recording (old-school cassette tape!). It seems to lack...attack? Perhaps some harmonics? Also, the "3D" thing is a bit...odd. I like it for soloing, but for fast rhythms, it is a bit of a turnoff.

I happened to play an old recording of the Evolution and it sounded really good. It recorded better than it sounded live. Strange.

Thanks,
Bob
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

its tight sounding with a strong top end and maybe a little sterile to my ears. i used to use one for a couple years and liked it but i was playing much harder stuff than i play now. if you liked the focus of the evo you will probably like the l500xl
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

I have one of the Stewart Macdonald Lawrence's that people diss all the time. I have NEVER had any problems with it. I would classify the pickup as medium output, bright, clear and resonant. It cuts through very easily. It also adapts pretty well to whatever guitar you put it in. It isn't the kind of pickup that imposes its tone on the guitar. It is very transparent and shows off the inherent tone of the guitar.
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

it is very much a WYPIWYG pickup ... whether you call it sterile or transparent is probably a matter of personal taste ... i really love mine (i have a set of 20 yr old double cremes that have aged to perfection) ... i think they drive effects VERY well .. the bass has NEVER been flubby to me and the top is clear (neither muted nor piercing) .... a lot of folks use the term hi-fi ... and i suppose that is accurate if you mean it in a non perjorative way ... it lets the guitar and amp do the work of tone crafting ...

they are my 'cold dead hands' pickups

t4d
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

Here's some good reading from Bill about pickups.

I still need to order some L-500s for my Hamers, I was having trouble deciding between Ls and XLs, but I think I'm going to go with XLs.
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

I have the 500 XL in LesPaul/Epiphone and in the DEAN From Hell. Both had SH-4s in the bridge and I was really unhappy with so much mids and lack of high end trebs and pick-harmonics. The 500XLs made a whole lot of difference. I found those to have plenty of dirty singing distortion and tweakability. I'm a beginer and I can get loud pick-harmonics very easily and this is very much remarkable. With the Boss MT-2 distortion pedal I can pull any kind of metal sound from vintage to death metal. I also Dimebuckers in a Gibson Faded SG and The DEAN-FBD. Comparing the SH-13 Dimebucker to the BL 500XL, the last is more versatile because it has that wanted "low midrange" tweakability. The Dimebucker sometimes lacks mids, it is essentially high frequency (lots of trebs). Of course player/gig counts, too. I use a JCM 800 and a 200 watt solidstate Randall.
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

Cutting it short, as far as chart, the 500XL has a nice low-end midrange. Most pick ups I know have a harsh high-end midrange frequency that is not always wanted.
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

idsnowdog said:
I have one of the Stewart Macdonald Lawrence's that people diss all the time. I have NEVER had any problems with it. I would classify the pickup as medium output, bright, clear and resonant. It cuts through very easily. It also adapts pretty well to whatever guitar you put it in. It isn't the kind of pickup that imposes its tone on the guitar. It is very transparent and shows off the inherent tone of the guitar.
Click to expand...

bill lawrence pickups not lawrence ;)
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

I have a Bill&Becky XL-500. It's powerful, but has a very flat eq, which ends up adopting the tone of whatever guitar it's in and allows you to mold the EQ through the amp and effects. It will have low end chunk in a Les Paul or Dean since thise guitars have low end chunk- you won't get that through a strat
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

Who the hell is the REAL Bill Lawrence? I wanted to try one of these but upon researching it I found two people claiming to be the original maker. There's the old guy that looks like Santa and then there is Bill Lawrence USA. I know they both worked together at one time and the Santa looking guy is the maker of the P90 for Gibson. :33: Thanks

jim
 
Re: Lawrence L500XL: tone quality?

the guy who looks like santa is the real deal

bill and becky

not the USA guy
 
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