Tell me all about the Suhr Aldrich.

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HELSTRUME

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Is it compressed or more open sounding? Real dynamic? I'm trying to choose between it and a Duncan distortion. Thanks.
 
It is a very hot pickup.
I love the way mine split too.
But I think that they need to be put into very dark sounding guitars to start.
They go very good with Mahogany bodies.
They can be a bit too bright in alder, basswood etc
 
I just put one back in my R8 tonight. I had it in there for a week or so, then put my normal bridge pickup back in it to compare some amps. I really like it a lot in this guitar. It is hot, I had to roll the gain back a little on my amp, but it's very clear sounding, not overly compressed at all IMHO. It doesn't seem to be extremely dynamic, but it's not bad. High notes are really fat sounding, which is what I was going after, and it's fairly tight sounding on the bottom.

I haven't tried a Duncan distortion in this guitar so I can't help you with the comparison.

I didn't like the Aldrich in my Charvel though, took it back out after about 30 minutes of playing.
 
Sounded too 'polite' in my Mahog Suhr '08...not very dynamic IMO.
 
My favorite - next to MCP 2nd Degree Blackbelts.

Warm, smooth neck pick up, close to a PAF. Explosive bridge pick up, not too vintage, fairly tight, not mushy, not too much mids, not too thin - but just about right. And, what the guys before me said - it is really suited for a Les Paul or other heavy, thick, mahogany body guitar.

Steve
 
Cool, thanks. Too bright is fine, I'm use to playing Dimarzio EVOs in Alder.
 
I have it in a LP Custom. It works great, I like it a lot. i can see why people say it is bright. I guess it works with heavy dark sounding guitars the best....

It is really a high output pickup that splits very very very nicely.
Its also tight pickup with nice crunch.
 
It's a really nice pickup. I had it in an Alder Suhr and always though it would kill in a Les Paul. I like a a pickup with a little more low end chunk for a super strat. That said it's a very balanced pickup like others have said. Good string separation and clarity for a high output pickup. Others have said it's not the most dynamic pickup, but there are far worse out there in that regard. My beef with it's dynamics was it didn't clean up well with the guitar's volume. It does have a really good "juicy" feel to it, while remaining tight enough for fast riffing.

I've had the SD Distortion in a couple of guitars, but I've never compared the SD Distortion to the Aldrich in the same guitar so take this for what it's worth. The differences I noticed were the Aldrich was a bit more open sounding. It was overall a little more clear & polite sounding. The Distortion has a ceramic magnet so there are going to be some inherent differences there. I found the Distortion to be a little chunkier and more aggressive. It didn't have as much string separation. The Distortion has a bit more of strident feel compared to the juicier feel of the Aldrich. The Distortion doesn't clean up any better. Overall, both good pickups IMO.
 
I have Suhr Aldrich bridge pickups in both my Les Pauls (LP standard and '73 LP custom. In the standard I have an Aldrich neck pickup too. The Aldrich does split very well, I find myself running it split about 50% of the time as sometimes the Aldrich is too hot for what I want. Its a pretty balanced pickup in the Les Paul, sweet enough, but rude enough at the same time. I love its clarity. I had a Rio Grande BBQ in my LP custom before and it was too thick and wooly sounding. The Aldrich was a huge step up in clarity and string definition.
 
To me it sounds like a bigger JB. If you dig the JB sound this is it. Its the JB x 100. Pretty big sounding
 
I love mine. Have it in a Mahogany body guitar.
Nice growl and bite from the pickup. Yeah a hot rodded JB is a good description.
It handles metal and rock easily.
 
Is it focused or more spread out sounding? A better JB is pretty much what I want. But not as screamy as the EVO.
 
I have one of mine in a custom shop Fender Strat with Mahogany Body set neck maple/Ebony along with 2 FL singles.
I'll try to post up a clip later tonight when I get to the studio.
 
Ancient Alien":30r08qh3 said:
I have one of mine in a custom shop Fender Strat with Mahogany Body set neck maple/Ebony along with 2 FL singles.
I'll try to post up a clip later tonight when I get to the studio.
Click to expand...
Alright, cool.
 
HELSTRUME":7vvzad0l said:
JakeAC5253":7vvzad0l said:
What guitar?
Click to expand...
Its going in a Strat.
Click to expand...

If you do go with an Aldrich in your alder wood strat, please report back.

I have an Anderson H2+ in my Fat strat and love that pickup. I had an older JB before that was regular spaced and zebra, that pickup souned great. Just for looks, I bought a white tremspaced and that one sounded thin and trebley by comparison. I had already sold the other JB, so I went a head and tried anderson pickups, first the H3 and then the H2+. The H2+ splits as well as the Aldrich. I actually like the split H2+ better than a standard strat bridge SC...
 
blackba":3b6y8vho said:
HELSTRUME":3b6y8vho said:
JakeAC5253":3b6y8vho said:
What guitar?
Click to expand...
Its going in a Strat.
Click to expand...

If you do go with an Aldrich in your alder wood strat, please report back.

I have an Anderson H2+ in my Fat strat and love that pickup. I had an older JB before that was regular spaced and zebra, that pickup souned great. Just for looks, I bought a white tremspaced and that one sounded thin and trebley by comparison. I had already sold the other JB, so I went a head and tried anderson pickups, first the H3 and then the H2+. The H2+ splits as well as the Aldrich. I actually like the split H2+ better than a standard strat bridge SC...
Click to expand...
I'll let you know.
 
I think the JB is way more compressed than the Aldrich. Although, I have the stock 300K pot in my Les Paul. I'm getting ready to replace that with a 500K based on most peoples opinion that it responds better to the 500K. I've only used the Aldrich in my Les Paul. I have JB's and Duncan Distortion in my other guitars. Those are fine pickups, too.

Schaf
 
Schaf":31t0t73i said:
I think the JB is way more compressed than the Aldrich. Although, I have the stock 300K pot in my Les Paul. I'm getting ready to replace that with a 500K based on most peoples opinion that it responds better to the 500K. I've only used the Aldrich in my Les Paul. I have JB's and Duncan Distortion in my other guitars. Those are fine pickups, too.

Schaf
Click to expand...

Hmm, I've found the JB to be a very 'airy' sounding pickup. I would attribute that to the 300k pot and not the pickup itself.
 
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