Of course, stronger magnets have their own disavantages. They damp the strings with their magnetic pull, and actually shift where the nodes and antinodes are, making the string sound out of tune with itself; a common problem with playing at some points higher up the neck so the strings get pushed down very close to the pickups when fretted, and most of the vibrating portion is in the pickup area, especially with Strat pickups because of their repetitive even spacing and point magnetic focus. That's part of why Lace purposely have weaker magnets.
I have had a set of BL-4s in one of my basses for a few years now. They work quite well, but IMHO are not really particularly revolutionary or anything. In my usage they sound like a nice single coil pickup without the hum, which was just what I wanted.
Quite a few users have related problems with string pull, but for me just lowering the pole pieces a bit took care of that. They haven't been selling any product for quite some time now, but the website promises new models and new production eventually.
Still looks to be a darn nice bass pickup! I'm looking around because I just purchased two Kramer aluminum-neck basses. I had to sell my Travis Bean guitar and bass about two years ago to keep my house after a layoff. Prices on the Travis Beans are getting steep, but the Kramers look mass-produced in comparison. Oh well, they're still nice. But the bridges suck and I'm yet to try the pickups.
Certainly is unusual how they laid the coils down and used 3 sets of pole pieces instead of the traditional 2 for a humbucker. Will have to see whether they come back... I'd imagine they'd really have a lot of output with some of those new COBALT strings. I wish they had a more substantial magnetic structure. What do the pole-piece setscrews screw into?
Lace sure seems to be innovative by the look of the variety on their website!
Certainly is unusual how they laid the coils down and used 3 sets of pole pieces instead of the traditional 2 for a humbucker. Will have to see whether they come back... I'd imagine they'd really have a lot of output with some of those new COBALT strings. I wish they had a more substantial magnetic structure. What do the pole-piece setscrews screw into?
Lace sure seems to be innovative by the look of the variety on their website!
I still own a Travis Bean fretless, which I bought new in '77.
In comparison, Kramer pickups were all over the map and I saw many with aftermarket replacements.
The Q-Tuners do sound very nice. On the BL-4s the pole pieces screw into the epoxy potting. I expect the new ones to be even better, but Erno sure is taking is time in getting them to market.
Here's the Crescent Moon bass I have mine in, and a short sound clip of it through one of my DIY tube preamps, direct to soundcard:
In comparison, Kramer pickups were all over the map and I saw many with aftermarket replacements.The Q-Tuners do sound very nice. On the BL-4s the pole pieces screw into the epoxy potting. I expect the new ones to be even better, but Erno sure is taking is time in getting them to market.
Here's the Crescent Moon bass I have mine in, and a short sound clip of it through one of my DIY tube preamps, direct to soundcard:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
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