Jerry Wallace pickup match?

Hans Holzherr · From: Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland

Has anybody tested enough pickups to be able to tell with certainty which one of the known humbucking pickup models comes closest in tone to a Jerry Wallace Truetone pickup?

Kevin Chriss · From: Carmel, IN, USA

I think the Lawerance L710 humbucker sounds like a True Tone. I'd like to hear from some more experienced ears on the subject though.

Ricky Davis · From: Bertram, Texas USA

Absolutely the 710 by Bill Lawrence is the closet to Jerry's pickup.....BUT....Jerry's is a single coil and there is nothing like that in the world for the truest sound....but 710 is dang close.
Ricky

Kevin Hatton · From: Buffalo, N.Y.

I agree with the above. Its a tough decision between the Truetones and the 710's.

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

The BL 910 "Sidewinder" is another option.It's not naturally as bright as the 710 or the TrueTone although you can brighten it at the amp. What it does have that sort of makes up for it,is that although it is technically a sort of humbucker,it has only one row of magnets - hence a single point of magnetic contact with the strings.This provides some but not all of what makes a single coil sound harmonically richer and cleaner than a humbucker.I just did an A-B test between the 710(712 in my case) and the 912 on my Excel and I liked them both but not as much as the Wallace TrueTone. If I could have the quick change capability of a Sierra on my U-12 Excel(are you listening Mitsuo?) I would have the Wallace TrueTone in there 99% of the time and I'd have a BL 910 up my sleeve for those occasional gigs where the hum from a single coil is unbearable. -MJ-

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

The BL 710 is briter and has more power to my ears than the TrueTones...They are both pretty balanced across the strings, but I think the TrueTones have sweeter highs, and have a bit more character than the BL 710's....The 710's work well in a noisy situation however...Tone wise I guess the 710's are the closest to the Truetones, but the TrueTones rule the tone nest with character and harmonics !!...Just one mans opinion !!....Jim

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

I found the 910s to be much closer on my guitars, but there's nothing like a single coil in my book. I had a S-12 Fessy that I thought sounded great with the 912 in it, but when I compared it to the TrueTone I thought I'd just pulled a wad of cotton out of my ears. Seriously. The 712 in that guitar was to hot and harsh to suit me. The TrueTone removed the harshness and evened out the tone spectrum. This is all a matter of personal taste.

Two more things to consider are:
The guitar. A bright guitar sounds better with the 900 series to my ears.
The volume pedal/signal chain. The 700 series is designed to be used with a passive (pot) volume pedal. They really sizzle (too much) with a matchbox or active pedal.

All just my opinion. The TrueTone is the best sounding single coil pickup I've ever used.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Hans Holzherr · From: Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland

Thank you guys for your helpful posts. I noticed that nobody has mentioned GL's. I only know the E66 model, and it is waaaay off. What about the GL's 10-1?

TRAP TRULY · From: Mobile , AL

I have stock single coil pickups on my mullen royal precision and when used with my hilton pedal they become real brittle and shrill.Do the wallace's get brittle sounding when used with this type of volume pedal or matchbox.

Larry Bell · From: Englewood, Florida

Not on my guitar, Trap
On the contrary, the 712 was topheavy and brittle; the 912 removed those problems and, I thought, sounded great -- a bit darker -- until I installed the TrueTone and realized what was missing; the TrueTone gave back the clarity and balance -- not too hot at all. Just right to my ears. All with a Hilton pedal through a Standel amp (or two).

And, I've played three or four sessions with the TrueTone. No problems with noise whatsoever. I'm sure I'll run into a VFW with 1920's wiring that may push it a bit, but it hasn't happened yet.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2003 Fessenden S/D-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Dobro, Standel and Peavey Amps

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

I've had a couple different GLs on another guitar - a 1980 MSA Classic SS - and they were fine on that guitar.But nowadays,I think there are a couple other pickups that have eclipsed the GL E-66.They're nice and clean but sort of neutral sounding.I have one for my Sierra and it sounds fine till you try something else with a little more color.As far as the Wallace through an active pedal/matchbox etc,they sound great in that respect. I play thru a Goodrich pedal w/built-in matchbox and it makes the Wallace sizzle a bit more which I like cause the sizzle is across the strings - not just on the high strings so it's easy to control. BTW, I'm presently experimenting with sheilding the Wallace w/copper foil around the windings and shunting it to ground and it seems to help a bit.I'm also gonna line the pickup cavity with copper foil tied to ground and see what that does - it's gotta help some.It sure helped on those old Fender Jazzmasters.Anybody else tried that? -MJ-

George Macdonald · From: Vancouver Island BC Canada

Any comments on the Lawrence XR-16? I have this pickup in my S12 Carter and find it to have lots of power, and a nice balanced tone through all 12 strings. Not harsh like some of the 710s I've heard. I'm using a Hilton pedal.

Hans Holzherr · From: Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland

I installed the Wallace pickup last Saturday and haven't used it in the studio yet. My concern with hum is the reason why I started this thread. So, Larry, that's good news from you.

I read an interesting thread from 1999 recently about pickup hum in which Bill Lawrence himself mentioned a device called 'The Antenna' that he had invented (but not patented?) to be used with single-coil PU's which totally eliminated the hum. I wonder - and I think many others with me - if there is an update to that information. Has the nature of this thing been disclosed? Bill?

David Doggett · Posted 12 Jun 2003 7:07 am

Michael, was the hum of the TrueTone bothering you? Has your experimenting with copper and ground Helped?

Hanz, you didn't mention what you thought about the single coil hum of your new TrueTone. How is it. Others have said on a scale of 1 to 10 of typical single coil hum the Wallace is about a 2. What do you think?

I'm interested in all this because I have a TrueTone and a BL-912 on order. I plan to try the TrueTone on my Emmons p/p S12 to keep the single coil sound but with less hum hopefully. I will try the 912 on my Fessy S12U to replace a 712 (I just got a new Hilton pedal). I plan to use the Emmons for louder country, rock and blues venues where I can get away with some hum, and the Fessy for the quieter venues where I sometimes back up singer-songwriters who also do old jazz standards, where a darker sound works better. How does this plan sound?

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

On my Sierra S-12, I can swap pickups in a few seconds. The Bill Lawrence 712 (12 string version of the 710) is very similar in tone to the Jerry Wallace Truetone. Actually, the biggest difference I hear is the hum!

The Truetone feels a bit more "open", if that makes any sense. It's like it has a greater dynamic range. If it was an amp, I'd say the Truetone has "more headroom".

I don't really hear much difference in tone, though. The frequency response is very similar to my ears. Test equipment might show differences I'm not hearing.

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Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

As for a comparison to GL, there is none. The GL 10-1 and 12-1 are considerably darker than the Truetone, and the E-66 lacks the rich bottom of the Truetone.

Duane Dunard · From: Troy, MO. U.S.A.

Just put a pair of Wallace True-Tones on another new Mullen D-10, wound at 17K and 18.5K. Normally with pick-ups wound that light, the guitar would sound too brittle, but on a Mullen they sound excellent to me. I like the L-910's too, but the highs sound sweeter and less harsh on the Wallace. The Wallace have some hum, but I don't notice it at all on the job.

Kevin Chriss · From: Carmel, IN, USA

I have an Excel keyless that I had strung with SS strings on the C6 and Nickel on the E9. I felt that my E9 was not brite enough for my taste and I thought Fuzzy had wound his own humbuckers for this model. So, I buy a True Tone for the E9. When removing the original pickup I discover it is a Lawerance L710. I installed the True Tone, but this time I strung the E9 with SS strings. In comparing the L710 on the C6 and the True Tone on the E9, I felt the L710 was a bit fuller with about the same amount of briteness. This was done using an old Goodrich pedal (the one with the 1 Transistor). At this point, they were so much alike, I probably would not have bought the True Tone. The problem was solved with the SS strings. I have ordered me the new Hilton pedal. I hope this makes the True Tone shine more.

Jeff A. Smith · From: Angola,Ind. U.S.A.

Great thread. Thanks for all the info guys. I've got a TrueTone on order, to replace an E66. It sounds like my curiousity about how a 710 would've sounded on my MSA will be adequately answered with the Wallace. I had wondered about how the TrueTone would go with my Hilton, but it sounds like that won't be a problem.

Hey Michael J -- I saw a nice article on you with a picture in a trade magazine; You were talking about the Nashville 1000 and playing shows overseas.

Michael Johnstone · From: Sylmar,Ca. USA

What magazine was that? I heard Peavey was gonna run something but all I saw was a recent thing on the Peavey web site.

Jeff A. Smith · From: Angola,Ind. U.S.A.

I saw it at a dealer that doesn't handle Peavey, and the title of the magazine didn't indicate it was a Peavey publication, although the tone of the article definitely promoted Peavey.

Michael, I'll be sure to ask when I visit that dealer again within a week or so, and e-mail you.

James Quackenbush · From: Pomona, New York, USA

Hans,
If it's hum you are worried about, you can eliminate a lot of hum with single coils by playing around with the position of the steel to the amp....Some positions will yeild better results...I put a set of TrueTones in one particular steel that I owned ( I put TrueTones in EVERYTHING ) and when I plugged it in, it hummed like crazy !!...Boy was I disappointed....I then brought the steel closer the amp, and had it turned a different way from the amp...I was actually just moving the steel out of the way of a passage way in my home to get it out of the way..The steel was still plugged in so I fired up the amp, and low and behold, the hum dissapeared!!...I then picked up the steel and moved it in a circle like an antenna...I get get the steel to hum, or not hum depending on the angle of the steel to the amp....Give it a try....You will always have a very slight hum from the TrueTone no matter what you do...But the tone is well worth it !!....Sincerely, Jim

Tommy Detamore · From: Floresville, Texas

Just yesterday I replaced an XR-16 in a guitar (that sounded great to me already) with a True Tone on loan from a friend. I have gone on record many times saying that I have never found a humbucker that comes close to a single coil. I may have to eat my words.
The True Tone sounds great. And it just looks like a pickup should! It may be ever so slightly clearer in the mids, and a teeny bit less harsh in the highs. It has that open quality that all single coils seem to have. I layed some "noodling" solo tracks with both the XR-16 and the True Tone so I could AB them. This is the first time where I have felt that the tonal improvements, which are in this case negligible to my ear, did not outweigh the advantages of no hum. In the past the single coil has always won out for me. In fact, it has never been close. This time it is close, very close. It is a tough call. I have album tracks to lay today and I am thinking I should put the XR-16 back in before I do them. (Wow, is this me talking?). Really, in the context of a mix I bet I could not tell the difference. Maybe I should cut the song with both and see. Might be a better test since I would essentially play the same stuff twice, rather than the random ramblings I have done so far.....
I don't know what is going on with the XR-16 that is different, except for the fact that some of the pole pieces are not flush with the body of the pickup.(They protrude slightly). If anyone can enlighten me I would appreciate it.

Jon Light · From: Saugerties, NY

The XR-16 is my current pickup. I like it. I sent Jerry an old GL TPPP that was too microphonic to use and had him rewind it as a straight-up single coil. I don't know if this can be considered a True Tone or not since the materials are GeorgeL's, not Jerry's---I thought it was important to point this out.
I absolutely loved the single coil. It is a good reminder of why all the humbuckers compare themselves to singles in sound quality. But the hum----NOT EXTREME----was distracting to me at home. On the stand, it was fine. But rather than keep asking myself if I could live with it, I put the XR back in and I'm pretty content. Wish I could do a super-quick change back to the 912 just to refresh my memory but I recall that it was a bit lacking in sparkle in my Carter which was why I moved on to the XR. I guess there aren't too many things where 'your mileage may vary' aren't more true than with pickups.

Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

I find the XR-16 to be very smooth and subtle. In my Sierra, it tends to get lost in the band mix. That can be a good thing at times. I really like it for Hawaiian and New Age music.

In contrast, the Truetone is much more "in your face", at least in my Sierra. It's more of the tone that I prefer for rock, blues and country.

It's interesting (to me, anyway) that in Tommy's guitar the XR-16 sounds very similar to the Truetone. On my Sierra it ain't so at all!

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Bobby Lee - email: quasar@b0b.com - gigs - CDs, Open Hearts
Sierra Session 12 (E9), Williams 400X (Emaj9, D6), Sierra Olympic 12 (C6add9),
Sierra Laptop 8 (D13), Fender Stringmaster (E13, A6),
Roland Handsonic, Line 6 Variax

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