IronGear Rolling Mill

IronGear Rolling Mill 2 conductor version - open coil.
This is a well made, solid pick-up. I purchased both a bridge and neck version and the spacings on the pole pieces are perfect (51 and 49mm respectively)for my Gibson Les Paul Classic.

I bought my Les Paul Classic 2 years ago and the stock pick-ups were OK but not great. I replaced them with a couple of Dimarzios (Breed) but found these to be muddy and lacking definition when on the bass strings higher up the board or using both pickups together or especially the neck pick-up.
I've only had the Rolling Mill pick-ups in a week but the difference in the frequency response is huge. The highs and harmonic quality are covered evenly thoughout the spectrum and to my ear there is a transparency about the sound which is phenomenal. But don't think that means these are wimpy in the power department because they aren't, they may only be rated as a "medium power" pick-up but they really deliver on all points.

As I've already stated, these are a medium powered pick-up but the sound quality is better than my Seymour Duncans on my ESP Horizon and certainly the Rolling Mills have the edge on power.
I'm using the Les Paul with a HiWatt 50 2x12 SER Combo and an H&K Switchblade 100 combo and to practice a Micro Cube. Just to test the new installation I plugged into the Micro Cube on "Classic Stack" setting and it was an absolute dead ringer for "Heartbreaker" it wasn't just close, it was eeriely close.
I like a lot of the old school stuff, Zepp etc, and these vintage tones are going to be great for that. Also I like Paul Gilberts stuff and these pickups give the same tones as you hear on Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar.
Both pick-ups work exeptionally well in their repective positions

If my guitars were stolen, I'd hunt down the ****ards anyway and prise back what's mine from their cold dead hands, but even more so now the Les Paul sounds so great.
I've been playing for 34 years, I've owned more guitars than I can remember and I've honestly always had an issue with using the neck pick-up because they usually sound muddy when overdriven.
I actually feel that these pickups have not only changed my mind about this but I now am using the neck pick-up and having fun with the tones I'm getting.

In conclusion, I've had a thought. When Jimmy Page and Hendrix and all those other guitarists back then that inspire us now were recording and playing live, they didn't have Seymour Duncans and Dimarzio's tweaked and voiced, they had magnets wound with wire in the tried and tested way, good solid quality materials with obviously one thing in mind SOUND. Instead of persuing a parody of that "sound" I really suggest buying a set of IronGear for yourself because you will not be sorry. I thought for the price, they would be average, but I gave them a chance and I am not sorry, quite the opposite. My Horizon is getting a pair of Hot Slags this weekend. These pick-ups in my opinion are going to become famous.
Party On Dudes

Iron Gear rolling mill humbucking open coil bridge pickup 8k

I fitted this to my Jim Reed PRS 24 fret custom special to the bridge position, replacing the stock Kent Armstrong.The Guitar is fitted with a coil tap switch to split the pickups to single coil for a strat type sound I am still using the stock Kent Armstrong in the neck position which sounds nice, but found the bridge pickup very bright sounding and wanted a more richer vintage les paul tone in the bridge pickup.

I decided to write this review following my band practice today where my ears are still ringing with the sweet tones of my new pickup (and our very loud drummer)I play 60,s R&B 70,s new wave and punk 90,s indie and some modern pop, The rolling mill has made a big difference to my tone just the sound I was looking for, a richer almost les paul kind of tone. I like the way I can roll down the volume control to just 2 or 3 and not lose any of my tone, the Kent Armstrong pickup was more like an on off switch roll down the volume below 7 or 8 and the tone turned to mud. The Rolling Mill pickup seems pretty well balanced with the Kent Armstrong still fitted to the neck position and sounds really nice in single coil mode aswell. I play this guitar through a Digitech GNX 3000 processor in to a Peavey renown 112 or Fender stage pro amp and sounds great on clean and even better overdriven.

I have been playing over 25 years and this Iron Gear pickup as exceeded my expectations of the tone I was looking for,I read many reviews for other pickups but I liked the sound clips on the Iron Gear website and the fact that this pickup was about a third of the price of some pickups I looked at. I now have the dilema of whether to experiment changing the pickups on my les paul guitar.

Humbucking passive pickups. Neck 8K, Bridge 9K. Chrome cover.

I fitted a set of these pickups into an Epiphone Les Paul Standard to replace the original Epiphone p'ups. I replaced both neck and bridge. I made this change as part of a general upgrade of the instrument including Tonepros bridge, electronics and Graphtech nut and Saddles. My previous experience with Irongear p'ups on my Strat suggested that this would be a good move. It certainly was!

Output is medium, tending to high. The pole pieces can sit very near the strings without going wolf-toned, so you can get more output than the DC coil resistance suggests. I use these with a Roland Cube 15. Clean tones are bluesy with an unusual amount of drive so you can slightly overdrive the clean channel if you wish. There is a natural upper-bass prominence which can be tamed, if required, by a little bass cut on the amp. Dirty tone has good reproduction of the fundamental through the distortion and can get almost into the metal league. It is perfect for the blues/classic rock mix I like to play.

For me this set has THE tone I want and I would immediately replace these should I need to. I chose these based on previous experience with Irongear products and as a result of listening to the tone clips on the manufacturer's Web site. I chose these after listening to the stock p'ups, Seymour Duncan JB4s and DiMarzio PAF Fred and Pro. I am completely satisfied with these p'ups. They are also astonishing value for money - price is for neck AND bridge!

Humbucker open coil pickup, black. Medium output neck pickup(about 8k)

Fitted into a Vintage SG copy. Mahogany body. Used in the neck position where it is paired with a Dimarzio bluesbucker. I replaced the stock pickups in the guitar. The guitar was bought secondhand and the original pickups, I found a little muddy at high volume.

I play punk rock, sort of 70s British punk through a Marahall JCM 800 or for smaller gigs through a Vox Solid State Q series (where an overdrive pedal is used). I occcasionally dabble in blues.
The sound is fantastic through the neck pickup, output is clear and handles volume very well. It gives a good mid range punchyness that I like. I have switched to using the mid position now, the dimarzio, has volume set to 3-4, tone to 7-8, with the rolling mill volume set to 4-5 and tone to 2-3. Using this set up I get a good mid range and the open of increased treble by switching to the dimarzio.

Sounds from the rolling mill are very balanced, it handles an increase in volume and gain really easily. Its a loud, clear pickup.

I would be gutted if my guitar was stolen, would certainly replace. Ive been playing on and off for 20 odd years and I own a couple of other entry level guitars(dean evo and a vintage av6.) I love the clarity of this pickup and the added bite you can get by cranking it up. I bought the bluesbucker for a specific sound and needed a neck pickup that was both flexible and capable of handling both clean and dirty sounds. It is easily capable of this and the axetec pickups are a serious altenative to the major pickup companies(for a third of the price). I had a good look around the major pickup sites and after comparing sounds and prices,although the former was most important, I am really happy I picked the rolling mill.

These are humbucking pickups of the kind we are all familiar with. Built around a mixture of AlNiCo and ferrite magnets, the bridge unit is wound to 9K?? and the neck to 8K5??, and are both wax potted.

I installed a pair of these into my Ibanez RG550, replacing a Seymour Duncan JB and Ibanez V8, in search for a more versatile guitar.

Compared to their predecessors, these are reasonably low output pickups, comparable to a slightly overwound PAF. I much prefer lower output pickups, as don't just overdrive the input stage of the amp.

I'm currently using them with a 1974x clone and Boogie Rectifier type amps, and they get along fine with both. I play all sorts of music, from fingerpicked jazz to classic rock to British metal, and these pickups turn their hands to all of it with aplomb.

I would not hesitate for a second in getting more of these pickups, they sound better than anything else I've tried in eight years of playing, and I will soon be getting a set of Pig Irons for my Strat. For the price, they simply cannot be beaten.