N PU D. Mick Taylor set

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 4:52 pm

I've been a Throbak fan ever since I heard them in Don Butler's Les Paul Custom out in LA years ago. I couldn't believe the clarity and openness. Very PAF like. So I came home and ordered the DT-102 limited set for my Standard. The only PU to ever beat out the '69 T Tops I had in there. These were my favorite PU ever since. With a special nod to the Jim Ralphs Pretender set played. I've bought some other Throbaks since then, most notably SLE-101 Limited for my Goldtop and P90's for an R6. Always beyond happy. I did swap a magnet in a neck PU once upon Jon's suggestion, I was looking for more clarity and percussive tone.

Today I installed the Mick Taylor limited set in my Gil Yaron burst replica. FLOORED! This is a very nice guitar in it's own right. Fantastic materials and craftsmanship in every way. I've compared this to a real '59 at length in Nashville. Even at just a few months old it was 90% as good as the real thing. One way it lacked the '59 was the pots. They didn't work the same or sound the same as the old Clarostats. After trying several different pots I would up with True Vintage Taper pots and they are very, very good. I now have useable tone at all pot settings. The tone controls work right now too (it has original bumble bees).

I still felt like it wasn't quite optimal, but was hesitant to take out the PU's Gil wound specifically for this guitar. It was a dilemma. Gil's PU's tended to squeal with loud amps too, which made it less than ideal for demo'ing 100W plexi style amps.

I read about the Mick Taylor set on the Throbak website a few months ago and I've been GAS'ing hard ever since. I pulled the trigger on a whim and about a week later they arrived. With the 4th of July holiday and everything else going on in my life lately it took me another week to get them installed. Now that I finally did I couldn't be happier. I plugged into my '59 Bassman and our jaws hit the floor! It sounds like old records. The bridge is total Tele on steroids. The Neck is unbelievable. Best neck tone I've heard on any Les Paul. This is one of the only sets of PU's I've tried where I don't feel like tweaking the amp when I change between neck and bridge. That's one of my standard tests and most PU's fail.

I will try it through a 100W plexi tomorrow. I had this set very lightly potted to help with feedback. I can't wait to make clips with this guitar. And to compare it a real '59 again. The gap is much smaller now!

george

rgorke · Post by **rgorke** » Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:19 pm

Great to hear that present day gear is living up to the vintage. Can't wait for clips!!!

vanhalen5150 · Post by **vanhalen5150** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:30 am

Are the Yaron's wax potted?

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 9:38 am

The Gil PUs are not potted. That would help a ton. But I do think the Throbaks sound better overall.

Not a slight on Gil's. The Throbaks are just superb, far beyond any good and even many really good PU's. For my personal taste, that is.

George

shakti · Post by **shakti** » Thu Jul 17, 2014 4:01 pm

You know gear has to be good when you never even think about changing to something else...the ultimate test. I got Throbak SL101+ pickups in my Historic Makeover way back in 2008, and have not had *any* thoughts about even trying something else. Just about perfect pickups. As nice as the MT set sounds, I'd have to get another Les Paul to justify trying them out...the SLE101+ are going to stay in this guitar!

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Fri Aug 08, 2014 3:44 pm

Just found this after Geo recommended the MT's for a recent ES355 accquistion...

On the pots, all four the same? I don't see a choice of linear or audio taper on the retrospec site. I thought vol was audio and tone was linear?
http://www.historicmakeovers.com/store/ ... -500k-pot/

Also, anybody now how the Luxe repro bumblebee's stack up against originals? Can you even get originals anymore?
http://www.historicmakeovers.com/store/ ... apacitors/

2 .022's? I like the idea of the "woman tone" set .022 bridge, .015 neck
http://www.historicmakeovers.com/store/ ... lebee-kit/

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Fri Aug 08, 2014 4:41 pm

I agree 100% The DT-102's have been in my Standard for years and I haven't thought of pulling them once. I have SLE-101's in the Goldtop and until I heard the Mick Taylors I had no desire to swap those out.

I used audio taper for everything and the tone works great. I'm sure if the original spec was linear or audio.

No idea about those caps and how they sound. Let us know if you try them. I also dig paper in oil Jensens for tone caps.

george

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Fri Aug 08, 2014 6:01 pm

VelvetGeorge wrote:I agree 100% The DT-102's have been in my Standard for years and I haven't thought of pulling them once. I have SLE-101's in the Goldtop and until I heard the Mick Taylors I had no desire to swap those out.

I used audio taper for everything and the tone works great. I'm sure if the original spec was linear or audio.

No idea about those caps and how they sound. Let us know if you try them. I also dig paper in oil Jensens for tone caps.

george

Oh, yeah, G. Jensens PIO are nice! Mojo Dijons aren't bad either. I used them on an Epi Sheraton re-build with a MoJo pre wired kit. Outstanding diff from stock.
http://www.mojotone.com/guitar-parts/ES ... arness-Kit

syscokid · Post by **syscokid** » Sun Aug 24, 2014 5:32 pm

Hey George...
You always seem to get the nicest tones when you post any of your clips. Needless to say, I for one am still waiting for the clips on these. PU height in relation to the strings is very critical for ones preferences....where do you like yours set at?

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:48 am

Jon put the recent clip up on the webpage for these:

http://www.throbak.com/mt-102b-custom-model.html

I'm honored. Also embarrassed about the A string out of tune. D'oh! I guess the tone still comes through though.

george

stef · Post by **stef** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 1:27 pm

It does!

vanhalen5150 · Post by **vanhalen5150** » Mon Aug 25, 2014 1:29 pm

I'm embarrassed it doesn't sound out of tune to me.

Sounds great George.

syscokid · Post by **syscokid** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:12 pm

VelvetGeorge wrote:Jon put the recent clip up on the webpage for these:

http://www.throbak.com/mt-102b-custom-model.html

george

Right at the 6:48 mark...yup...that did it for me....

Post by **VelvetGeorge** » Tue Aug 26, 2014 11:24 pm

The neck pickup really steals the show with these. Very, very few Les Paul neck pickups I have encountered have been able to give you rhythm tones, clean up for pristine tone and snarl for leads. Most might do one of these, some do two. I'm hard pressed to recall anything that does all three like these.

With the 50's wiring everything just works. I can set the amp really hot and on the bright side. Then my chunky rhythm tone is either pickup with volume at 6-8. I can dial either or both back to get as clean as I want, and it stays chimey because the amp is set bright. Then roll up for leads. No pedals or switching at all, just like they did in the early days.

I feel like I'm getting my best tones ever. The ones I was shooting for since I was a teenager.

george

NY Chief · Post by **NY Chief** » Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:55 am

George, if you can please bring that guitar to the amp show. I'd like to hear it in person as well as compare to Jim's commisioned LP build with genuine PAF's. I'll even bring my "PAF"s

for a real taste test

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N PU D. Mick Taylor set

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