Jeff_H
Dean Hardtail Fanologist
I have been fortunate enough to have a WLH set on loan from an amazing friend for the past couple of weeks, so I could see if they worked for me. Before I begin my review, I feel compelled to admit yet again that I am a huge Alnico 2 magnet fan and have generally struggled with A5 pickups, beginning many years ago with the C5 in an Epi LP.
The WLH set was installed in my Spalted Maple USA Dean Hardtail. For those not familiar it's a Honduran Mahoganh body, maple cap double cut guitar in the same vein as a PRS. It's a TOM/Stoptail setup with Les Paul style controls. I'll post a pic at the bottom of the post. It's a tad bit of a dark guitar, because the Spalted Maple is very soft compared to a hard maple flamed top. The tone is overall very well balanced, so I've always thought of it as a good test bed for pickups.
I though my Hardtail, being a bit dark, might provide a good gateway to an A5 pickup set. They're installed with all 525K CTS pots and .022uf/.015uf PIO caps, 50's style with independent volume controls.
Once installed I set them to my normal height and plugged into the DSL40c. I always try to dial pickups in on my clean channel. The set was VERY bright. The bridge, for me was painfully bright and a bit sterile sounding. I raised the pickup and that helped a bit, and I lowered the screws which helped a bit more, but still bright and not as organic as I'm used to.
The neck pickup was also bright, but not to the level of the bridge. I already had to keep it a bit lower than normal, since it's a bit hotter than most PAF necks. Keeping the pole pieces low also helped tame the brightness in the neck. I was able to get the neck to a point where it was fairly usable. Still bright but a bit of roll off on the tone knob made a big difference. However, now it didn't balance with the bridge. The bridge was noticeably louder. More drop off from B to N than I like in my guitars. If I lowered the bridge to balance the volume, the bridge sounded thin and trebly.
Over the next week or so I played with the heights, pole pieces, etc. I adjusted the settings on my amp which helped some. I even changed the caps to .033uf/.022uf. I was able to get some very good classic and hard rock tones out of it, but there was always a touch of brightness or almost sterility to the tone that I just couldn't dial out, for the tones I like. I was also not able to get the balance between neck and bridge just where I wanted it either. Maybe I'd like them more in an LP, or another guitar?? The only LP I have currently is my Pelham Blue '57 RI, and I finally have it dialed in just how I wanted, so I wasn't going to mess with it.
I don't want to imply that the pickups aren't good, because they are. The neck has some great bluesy and overdriven tones and the cleans are very useable. The bridge is very crunchy and driven with great tight lows and can handle everything my Marshall has to give. There would be no issue with these handling copious levels of hard rock gain. I think they do exactly what they're designed to do. If you're a fan of bright, edgy, slightly hotter pickups in the PAF vein then you'll be very happy with these.
For me, they're just a bit bright and stringent and lacking in the warmth I love from A2 pickups, but they're a great set of pickups for that bright, driven classic and hard rock tone.
I hope this opinion can help someone, but in the end it's just my opinion.
Pic of my Hardtail:
The WLH set was installed in my Spalted Maple USA Dean Hardtail. For those not familiar it's a Honduran Mahoganh body, maple cap double cut guitar in the same vein as a PRS. It's a TOM/Stoptail setup with Les Paul style controls. I'll post a pic at the bottom of the post. It's a tad bit of a dark guitar, because the Spalted Maple is very soft compared to a hard maple flamed top. The tone is overall very well balanced, so I've always thought of it as a good test bed for pickups.
I though my Hardtail, being a bit dark, might provide a good gateway to an A5 pickup set. They're installed with all 525K CTS pots and .022uf/.015uf PIO caps, 50's style with independent volume controls.
Once installed I set them to my normal height and plugged into the DSL40c. I always try to dial pickups in on my clean channel. The set was VERY bright. The bridge, for me was painfully bright and a bit sterile sounding. I raised the pickup and that helped a bit, and I lowered the screws which helped a bit more, but still bright and not as organic as I'm used to.
The neck pickup was also bright, but not to the level of the bridge. I already had to keep it a bit lower than normal, since it's a bit hotter than most PAF necks. Keeping the pole pieces low also helped tame the brightness in the neck. I was able to get the neck to a point where it was fairly usable. Still bright but a bit of roll off on the tone knob made a big difference. However, now it didn't balance with the bridge. The bridge was noticeably louder. More drop off from B to N than I like in my guitars. If I lowered the bridge to balance the volume, the bridge sounded thin and trebly.
Over the next week or so I played with the heights, pole pieces, etc. I adjusted the settings on my amp which helped some. I even changed the caps to .033uf/.022uf. I was able to get some very good classic and hard rock tones out of it, but there was always a touch of brightness or almost sterility to the tone that I just couldn't dial out, for the tones I like. I was also not able to get the balance between neck and bridge just where I wanted it either. Maybe I'd like them more in an LP, or another guitar?? The only LP I have currently is my Pelham Blue '57 RI, and I finally have it dialed in just how I wanted, so I wasn't going to mess with it.
I don't want to imply that the pickups aren't good, because they are. The neck has some great bluesy and overdriven tones and the cleans are very useable. The bridge is very crunchy and driven with great tight lows and can handle everything my Marshall has to give. There would be no issue with these handling copious levels of hard rock gain. I think they do exactly what they're designed to do. If you're a fan of bright, edgy, slightly hotter pickups in the PAF vein then you'll be very happy with these.
For me, they're just a bit bright and stringent and lacking in the warmth I love from A2 pickups, but they're a great set of pickups for that bright, driven classic and hard rock tone.
I hope this opinion can help someone, but in the end it's just my opinion.
Pic of my Hardtail:
Last edited:
