Bill Lawrence L500XL??? Blade pickup recommendations

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bkemp23

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I have a Washburn N4 that has the stock BL USA L500XL in it and the top end is ear piercing. I use 10-52 in Eb. I have tried a couple of amps and speakers to resolve it but at this point I think i need a different pickup. It just always seems to poke through. The low end and the mids are fine, just the top end. I'm sure I could use an eq to dial it out but i'm very much a guitar -> amp -> cab guy so I would like to resolve it at the source. I enjoy playing music from Extreme (obviously), Mastodon, Torche, and some faster stuff like Trivium, Metallica, Periphery. I can play everything here with the L500XL so it doesn't need to be any tighter.

I have tried Bare Knuckle Cold Sweat and Ceramic Nailbomb. They were ok but the low end and mids changed too much for my liking. They lost some of the chunk I guess you could say and the mids were a little weird to me.

One option I haven't messed with is using a 250k pot (this guitar only has 1 vol, no tone) or at least something lower than the 500k in there now. Would this potentially fix the issue?

There are a "million" pickups out there so i would like to limit options to blade pickups to reduce option paralysis and $$$ flipping pickups.
Also, I like to roll back the volume for cleans so it needs to clean up relatively well.

Here are the front runners so far in no particular order:
1. Wilde L500XL (some people say there is a difference, others do not (I am very aware of the history))
2. Seymour Duncan Jupiter
3. Lollar DB (really leaning towards this one for some reason)
4. open to suggestions

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
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That piercing high end is kind of the nature of the beast with the L500XL

I would actually suggest the DiMarzio X2N for this type of sound, but out of your choices I would guess the lollar...but at the same time the DB isn't as high output as the L500XL, so I don't know if it will work how you want it to.
 
Interesting about the output. I was under the impression it would be comparable. I will also check out the X2N. Thanks for the input @DanTravis62
 
I have a Jupiter. It's a cool pickup.I haven't played the L500XL in YEARS, but I remember it being bright. I also played a Dimebucker once and found it bright too. So like DanTravis62 said, the pickups cut from that cloth all lean towards the bright side of things in my experience as well. The Jupiter is also a bright pickup, but from my understanding it's supposed to be a little less shrill than the Dimebucker. It would likely be the best one to try if you want to maintain as similar of a character as possible to what you have and maybe get just enough of the brightness control. There is also a chance it doesn't change the top end enough, so it could be a roll of the dice.
 
The BLUSA L500XL is an extremely inconsistent pickup. I have owned several through out the years. Some have been fat and chunky, while some have ripped your ear drums off with top end. The One in my N4 couldn't be taken out fast enough. I am currently running a Duncan PATB-1b in my N4 and have a Bill & Becky L500XL on order. It is supposed to be less bright. We shall see when it gets here.
 
Nigel said:
Came to post that.

Also, what is the total load on the pickup? 250k ohms or so? What value pots are on n the circuit?
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~500k I believe. The N4 has a single volume and no tone control.
fearhk213 said:
I have a Jupiter. It's a cool pickup.I haven't played the L500XL in YEARS, but I remember it being bright. I also played a Dimebucker once and found it bright too. So like DanTravis62 said, the pickups cut from that cloth all lean towards the bright side of things in my experience as well. The Jupiter is also a bright pickup, but from my understanding it's supposed to be a little less shrill than the Dimebucker. It would likely be the best one to try if you want to maintain as similar of a character as possible to what you have and maybe get just enough of the brightness control. There is also a chance it doesn't change the top end enough, so it could be a roll of the dice.
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That is my hesitation with the Wilde and SD, that it might not make any difference.
SFW said:
The BLUSA L500XL is an extremely inconsistent pickup. I have owned several through out the years. Some have been fat and chunky, while some have ripped your ear drums off with top end. The One in my N4 couldn't be taken out fast enough. I am currently running a Duncan PATB-1b in my N4 and have a Bill & Becky L500XL on order. It is supposed to be less bright. We shall see when it gets here.
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@SFW Let me know what you think about the Wilde. Did you get the chrome housing by chance? I'm on an N4 facebook group and it seems like the general consensus is that there is a difference, but it is often referred to as subtle, which makes me think that it might not take care of the top end like I am hoping.
 
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bkemp23 said:
~500k I believe. The N4 has a single volume and no tone control.

That is my hesitation with the Wilde and SD, that it might not make any difference.

@SFW Let me know what you think about the Wilde. Did you get the chrome housing by chance? I'm on an N4 facebook group and it seems like the general consensus is that there is a difference, but it is often referred to as subtle, which makes me think that it might not take care of the top end like I am hoping.
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There's your fuckin' problem right there, bruv!

That's basically like having two 1Meg pots! Insane! Turn that thing down for clean/dirty and up for solos, or throw a 250K in there and you're set.
 
I bought the Wilde version, and opted for the 500L instead of the XL. There is a nice high end but not piercing like the XL. Plenty of gain. There is some debate on whetger Nuno's pickup was the L or the XL -- Bill Lawrence himself thought he was using the L. I can get his tone easily without the ugly treble. With a 500K pot.

ZdRNy2O.jpg
 
As previously noted, X2N is a great high output pickup.
Always wanted to try a Railhammer. Supposedly a little known gem.
 
bkemp23 said:
@SFW Let me know what you think about the Wilde. Did you get the chrome housing by chance? I'm on an N4 facebook group and it seems like the general consensus is that there is a difference, but it is often referred to as subtle, which makes me think that it might not take care of the top end like I am hoping.
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Yes, I ordered the chrome housing because it is supposed to a warmer. I will let you know. I ordered it this past Friday (10/8/21) so I'm not sure when it will arrive.

The L500L from the 80s is what the L500XL is now. This has been documented by both companies. They created a lower output bridge pickup and called it the "L" and renamed the original version the "XL."
 
Nigel said:
There's your fuckin' problem right there, bruv!

That's basically like having two 1Meg pots! Insane! Turn that thing down for clean/dirty and up for solos, or throw a 250K in there and you're set.
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I do roll the volume back for my cleans but just rolling it back enough to reduce the high end seems to neuter the aggression I get with the pickup at full tilt.
rottingcorpse said:
As previously noted, X2N is a great high output pickup.
Always wanted to try a Railhammer. Supposedly a little known gem.
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I remember playing a Reverend guitar with the Railhammer Chisel in it and I wasn't that impressed. However, it was through a junk solid state amp at the guitar store so not sure if that was a fair assessment haha.
 
Now you know where the term “sliced by the Blades” originally came from.
 
Well, after some more research, I decided to go with a Wilde L500XL with chrome housing. I'll follow up with my impressions when I get it installed. Thanks again for all of the help.
 
SFW said:
The BLUSA L500XL is an extremely inconsistent pickup. I have owned several through out the years. Some have been fat and chunky, while some have ripped your ear drums off with top end. The One in my N4 couldn't be taken out fast enough. I am currently running a Duncan PATB-1b in my N4 and have a Bill & Becky L500XL on order. It is supposed to be less bright. We shall see when it gets here.
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Years ago I've played an old N2 from the mid 90's with a BLUSA and the pickup sounds warm chunky but with detail and gain (in one word amazing), so I decided to buy the same pickup and put in my rg.....but the new pickup is very ear pearcing, it lacks gain and bottom end !! :cautious:
The Wilde pickups they would be more chunky and fat
 
My B&B L500XL arrived Saturday (10/16). Installed it in my N4 and brought it to practice tonight. All I can say is wow! Big fat rock tone!! It still retains the single-coil airiness of the BLUSA, but is fat and punchy. I think it is a huge improvement over the stock BLUSA L500XL that came stock in the guitar. The original pickup simply had no bottom end. The B&B has a punchy bottom end that sat perfectly in the mix. We recorded a few new ideas that we are working on. I'll try to upload on in the next day or so.
 
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