Input on the Bill Lawrence L500XL

[slash-ed]

Ron - what's your take on the difference between B&B L-500XL and BLUSA XL500s? Screw the acrimonious company debates (I've read pages and pages of both side's "proof", in the end it's really beside the point), have you used and/or compared them both? I personally use B&Bs, but have never tried the USAs.

[RacerX]

Ron - what's your take on the difference between B&B L-500XL and BLUSA XL500s? Screw the acrimonious company debates (I've read pages and pages of both side's "proof", in the end it's really beside the point),

Well I'd be willing to bet they are very similar!

have you used and/or compared them both? I personally use B&Bs, but have never tried the USAs.

Unfortunately I have not (I've only tried the Wacjman version, so opposite of your experience)

and I concur with the others in this thread.

Guess I'm a Seymour Duncan man.

[charvelguy]

Well. I just got a 500XL today from JCF'r that was out of a Jackson. I'll install it and give it a comparison to the Dimebucker in the next week.
BTW.. I think the Dimebucker is more tweaked to harmonics as it is a kick ass p/u IMO.

[RobRR]

Yean, you bought the one I wanted origonally.

[charvelguy]

oh.. sorry dude.. I PM'd Jeremy on that not to long after posting..well.. if it doesn't work out for me.. I may be posting back up.

[memphiskat]

I replace the original bridge pu in my Jackson Fusion not long ago with a Bill Lawrence USA X500XL (flipped). Sounds awsome! Mind you I mostly use this for Pantera and Older Metallica material. Harmonic squels really scream. Makes it easy to get that Dimebag metalic sound (almost like metal hitting metal...think the "chink, chink, chink" part at the end of the second riff in the intro of Mouth of War). I still want to get a Bill & Becky version to compare it too, but I'm not expecting it to sound diffrent, just haven't gotten to it yet. Karl

[slash-ed]

OK the BL pickups in jacksons & washburns were the one that arent really BL's or at least i think the one bill & becky make are much closer to the originals. look into them, personally i prefer the L, its sounds a little fuller, not as much output. i tried one of the other ones with the thinner rails bill lawrence USA & thought it sounded like crap. thin harsh & just not musical, tho it maybe good for a serious rack or a mud monster of an amp cause it had great clarity & harmonics, but toneless.

Just abit of trivia... Washburn has at various times used either B&B and BLUSA pickups in their Dimes, Nunos, etc. It was originally B&B, but at some point B&B stopped supplying Washburn, so they went with BLUSA, not sure of the exact reasons but I suspect it was more of a supply/availability issue than anything.

[adoxtater]

OK the BL pickups in jacksons & washburns were the one that arent really BL's or at least i think the one bill & becky make are much closer to the originals

Ok, this might be a bit off topic, but then again maybe not... is the BL pup in the neck position of my King V Pro a non-B&B version? I might have to pull it out and take a look...

[MetalChef]

I bought a Bill and Becky L500XL a few years back and took the JB out of the bridge of my KE2.

To me, the JB was not all that great compared to the L500XL. More gain, clarity, and none of that annoying mid high spike that the JB has. I can hear every nuance of my picking very clearly-in fact, I have tightend up my picking/muting technique because of it.

I talked to Bill on the phone, and he told me that the L500XL(and most of his pickups) have a flat EQ curve. They are designed to give clean, clear sound that let the guitar's tonal qualities come through.

My .02

[RacerX]

They are designed to give clean, clear sound that let the guitar's tonal qualities come through.

..and all other pups don't?

[maxboost]

I have BLUSA 500 pup that came in a guitar I bought. i like them so far but, I don't know if they are XL's or whatever model. It doesn't say anything on the back, and Lacquer thinner took off the BILL LAWRENCE USA writing on the front. I turned it around and it didn't make any difference just as I figured, Dime was pulling everyone's leg on that one. YMMV
Its a Mahogony body, mah. set neck guitar.