Humbucker Soup
Lace Hot Gold Pickups
Vintage Tone with an extra kick
Lace Hot Gold
Still considered by some to be the new kid on the block, Lace Music Products is actually celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. Regardless of their Peter-Pan like youthful reputation, their product line has steadily matured and diversified over the last two decades. The Gold series has been one of their flagship models for some time now with a vintage sound sans the 60 cycle hum. The Hot Gold series builds on the original sound and packs in even more “umph”.
There was a time when the signature solid case design of Lace Sensors were considered heresy. Most purists deemed them too high-tech for Blues and too processed-sounding for rock. There are many successful products that in the same manner, had to fight their way into the hearts of consumers. The noiseless Lace Sensor line of pickups has endured the same struggle amongst tone snobs. By the mid-90′s though, most everyone had come to agreement that not only were these pickups a major breakthrough in noiseless technology, but they sounded great.
Hot Gold pickups are often described as sounding like a “strat on steroids”. Funny, but also pretty accurate. You’ve got all the bell-like chime that is a requirement for any strat pickup using the phrase “vintage tone” in their marketing. I was doing a gig in Shanghai China once and this very un-assuming guy named Mike Miller got up on jam night with his strat and simply dropped my jaws. I was astonished that even going through my set up, his guitar had ten times the “stratty” sound that I was getting at the time. I immediately harassed him into letting me play his guitar on the next song and it was like driving Ferrari. Tone-wise, there was not only snap and crackle just where I wanted it, but a serious pop from the mids that was killer. I asked him after wards what kind of Lace Sensors he was using and he told me it was a Lace Sensor Gold set. When I got back to my hotel room that night, I was on eBay within 10 minutes, bidding away at a cream colored set for my grubby little hands and ears. I would up using those pickups on a two month tour of Australia and bought another set when I got back to the States.
I continue to see more and more guitarists using Lace Sensors and it is no wonder why. They not only have a great variety of classic tones in ‘em, but they hold up well when using substantial amounts of gain. And of course, they are dead quiet. If you are a big user of strat pickups and have not tried Lace Sensors, they are serious contenders. The Hot Gold drips of vintage vibe but, well.. “on steroids”. I still cannot come up with a better description.
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