Bill Lawrence Pickups

[Break Zero]

I was recently talking to one of my guitar playing compadres, who has been playing guitar for 25 years and played a lot of Metal in the day (namely from guys like Gary Moore, Wolf Hoffman, Yngwie Malmsteen, Randy Rhodes, Marty Friedman, mostly 80's guys), and he was telling me how his favorite pickups were Bill Lawrence L500s. He said they were great for Metal, and produces no extra noise.

I currently play a ESP/ltd. F400FM, with a Dimarzio X2N in the bridge (for all my Heavy stuff and leads) and a Humbucker From Hell in the neck (for all my cleans), which a 3 way switch and a push-pull pot to split the humbuckers. My friend is suggesting I "Rip those shits out and put a pair of Bill Lawrences in", and imagines that my X2N must be muddy as hell (somewhat true).

So I'm wondering, does anyone have experiences with L500s and could give me some insight? I mostly play Thrashy stuff like Megadeth, Sepultura, Toxik, Vio-lence, etc. but also sludgy stuff like Black Sabbath, Type O Negative, Trouble, etc. I also like to have a nice clean sound for clean passages, playin' the blues, etc.

 

[Ironbird666]

I used to have a Bill Lawrence pickup (I want to say it was a XL500, not sure though) and it was ok. It had a nice crunchy sound, and I was able to get a good clean tone from it. I ended up putting a dimarzio pickup in that guitar though, the L500 just wasn't "heavy" enough for me. It was good for the thrashy stuff though, the tone was pretty clean and crisp, just didn't have enough balls to push hard for my style of playing (mostly brutal death). Oh, if you want to be able to play some bluesy stuff, the L500 should be a little more natural sounding than the X2N.

 

[Break Zero]

Oh, if you want to be able to play some bluesy stuff, the L500 should be a little more natural sounding than the X2N.

Thats what I usually use the Humbucker From Hell for.
Thanks for the insight though. Anyone else have anything?

 

[TekChef]

I have a real BL(watch out for fakes-you can only get real ones from Bill on his website) L-500XL in my Jackson USA Kelly, and I love it. It's balanced and it has VERY great clairty. It really allows the natural tone of your guitar to come through. Plus, you can use it for more than Metal-it sounds great no matter what tone you are seeking.

That beings said, it does not have as much gain as a X2N, EMG, etc. It's a trade off-if you want the better clarity, you will have to trade off some of that gain. However, if you have a good amp, this can be overcome easily with some adjustments on the amp itself.

 

[RideForVengance]

I think dime played with XL500's