Lace Music Products Lace Sensor Hot Gold

6k "noise reduced" single coil

I have Hot Golds in Strats, Parker Niteflys and Yamaha RGXTT (super Strat).
I have the 6K in all 3 postions in one guitar & in neck & middle in 2 others (13.2 Hot Gold in the bridge of one, Pearly Gates humbucker bridge of the other).
I am replacing Fender SCN's and Hot Noiseless, Fender American Standard, Duncan Vintage Rails, Bill Lawrence L 280's and L 200's, EMG DG's and countless Fender and aftermarket single coils.

The output of the 6K Hot Golds is very Stratlike. I play rock, blues, country, world, jazz, etc. with these pickups. I play through good tubes amps (prefer Reverend) and a variety of pedals and processors. I recently added a Fractal AxeFx and play the Hot Golds through that as well.
The tone is the sweetest, most musical I have tried (out of dozens of Strat type pickups). Hot Golds just "sing" and make me want to play. They sound great clean, with OD and with all out distortion. They take any degree of drive or effect I throw at them beautifully.
They have great sustain and no string pull (no "stratitis"). Their noise reduction makes them quiet enough in a shielded guitar for any gigging situation I have played. I own a dozen Strats and several more Strat types and am always reaching for the Hot Gold equipped ones. They just feel like musical "home" to me.

My Strat tone search is over with these Hot Golds. I have played Strats professionally for over 40 years. These are a remarkable advance in single coil (they are true single coils) pickups. I was changing Strat pickups several times a year. I have not had to look further since I found these some years back. There is nothing I have to fight against with Hot Golds, they are just so easy to play! It is nice to be done with that search.

3 single coil noiseless pickups 6k neck and middle 13k bridge

installed american standard strat replaced duncan classic stak plus wanted to try since i saw a video of clapton using lace sensors and reviews were generally good

output level is good neck and middle nice hot strat and bridge beefy but no where near humbucker sound, however this is where the good news ends, in my opinion these are some of the worst noiseless pickups i have heard, made my strat sound like a cheap copy also sustain is not improved as they claim. don't waste your money duncan classic stak plus are the best i have used but will not be going back in, ordered a set of lindy fralins, accept the 60cycle hum noiseless don't compare

never buy again no more noiseless for me (fender vintage noiseless, duncan hot stak, duncan vintage rails, duncan classic stak plus) spend the money and buy some fralins, or van zandts

Single coil set, higher output on brigde

Mexican fender stratocaster s-s-s, fender locking tuners

Excelent output level, Excelent bright sound. my strat re born with this pickups!!!
Is the sound that i was looking for, very bright, it sounds to me like SRV (i know he doesn't uses lace...) bluesy, strat ringing-bells sound. Great noise reduction

Definitely, if they were stolen i'd search the m.f. s*&%cker and 2 or 3 kicks on his head would be fine...
i've been trying thru 10 years some other strat sounds, in fact, silver and gold lace pickups are great but this is my sound, if you are curious to try them, you should...

Single coil; passive; 3-3-13(bridge) black and shiny! Custom wired pickguard.

I installed these in my 1985 MIJ (E serial #) Fender Strat. This is a complete set of three single coils with a higher output one on the bridge. I bought the guitar used, so I can't be certain that the pickups installed were the originals but they look like it. I have completely replaced the electronics and the pickups.

I suppose the main reason for change was my lack of enthusiasm for the stock bridge pickup, I had also heard good things about the hot golds and wanted a set of pickups which would give me a more useable bridge sound without losing the Strat vibe. Plus they're black and shiny.

The output level is definitely much higher than the original pickups. So much so that when I first plugged them into my PC through my multi-effects pedal I got a terrible sound from some settings which made me think there was something wrong with the soldering. Turns out I was just overdriving the soundcard as the signal was now much stronger than before. All good.

I typically run my guitar through a POD XT Live into my PC's soundcard or straight into headphones. When gigging I run the effects into a Marshall combo (needless to say, the latter sounds far superior)

The tone I have now definitely has more bottom end throughout. It may be a consequence of the new electronics rather than the pups themselves but I also seem to have a lot more treble, more than I like, so I dial that down a little with the tone pots (previously I just had them open all the time) could be that the new pots are higher frequency than the old ones.

I play all kinds of rock/punk and indie and range from dry crunchy sounds to over-the-top effects. These pickups are fantastic. Not only do they distort better than the old ones but they really help the richness of the guitar's tone come through and make the effects sound fuller. The bridge pickup is absolutely killer for both lead and vaguely humbuckerish crunch. I can finally surf with the alien, rather than just paddling along.

A word of warning though, if replacing stock pickups, prepare to have to fiddle a bit with tone/volume controls if you want to re-locate your old trademark strat sounds.

Early days yet, I'm still getting to grips with them but already overwhelmed by all the new possibilities they afford. I don't think I will ever replace them. I never want to lose the classic strat single coil sounds. I certainly don't want to put a humbucker in my strat. I really feel I have found single-coil nirvana. Of course there are certain sounds my strat will never do but I can always just buy a Les Paul (or steal one of Matt Bellamy's guitars).

On a final note, I bought these pre-wired into a pickguard with custom electronics, imported from the US. I have it set up with a push/pull pot to allow neck+bridge or all three at once pickup selection. I haven't yet decided if I really like either sound, I just wanted to try the option.

They shine like polished black holes.

SSH custom wired pickguard with 2 hot gold single coils in neck and middle and a hot gold dually in bridge position

Fender standard strat with hot golds
Fender lite ash strat with chrome domes (are hot golds with chrome cover!)

Various other guitars I built or bought: All loaded with different Lace products (alumitones!)

Sound is the best I ever had! Honestly, if you are looking for this special Claptonesque tone where you always thought to yourself: how does he get that kind of tone? Especially those sweet and silent nearly not picked a string tones? - well one word: LACE

I play everything from blues to soul to funk to rock and metal and a lot of top 40 pop music (studio and live)

This pickup sounds good clean as well as crunched for blues as well as high gain for Satriani like solos (duallys in the bridge).

All you will ever want!

In my opinion, there are no better pickups out there. And I tried a lot of them! I am a pro guitar player for about 7 years now and I play for about 20. I studied guitar as well (cant remember anything though-too many drinks at the time-hihi).

Everything I tried before just doesn't have this sweetness and richness and sustain and tone as the hot golds.

If you are more interested in the quality and not in the quantity of the notes you play then go to the store now and buy lace hot golds!

If my hot golds were stolen I would find the thief and kill him with a guitar string - or maybe just buy another set. Whatever is easier! Haha!
Well actually I always have spare Lace pickups at home, in case something happens to them. Never had to use them yet!

Single Coil
6k/6k/6k

Fender US Strat (2005)
all positions
Fender American St. Pickups replaced
Reason for changing the pickup? wanted to have thicker and more accentuated sound

I use the Pickups in my Fender and they sounds well in all cases. They are good sounding when i??m playing in my Laney LC30 Amp and also in my "normal" Stereo Amplifier (with the GT8).

The sound is very balanced. The Pickups don??t have any drawbacks.
I play Music from ACDC / Marillion / Clapton

Good choice for all positions. You can also try the 13.2k Bridge Pickup. It??s very good to....not as overly powered as it seems!!

Try-hear and decide ;-)

I would buy them again. Playing several years.

Adding to my review below: I had to try the lacepups again, they could just not be as bad as the first impression. When i recived the replacment pickup i decided to put them back on again. They got a little of a Hi-Fi sound especially if they are adjusted close to the strings.
Still not as bad as i thought at first, they can sound nice in clean settings and they are silent. I will have them on the guitar for a while and see if can live with the sound considering the fact that they are noisefree.

Single coil, 3x 6,0 Kohms

Warmoth Strat
All Positions
Replacing Lundgren Pickups
Lungren make the best pickups i ever heard, put they are single coil and picking up to much hum.

5 minutes with Lace is and the Lundgrens was back on the guitar. Apart from terrible sound, one pup was defect, only 4,19 Kohms when messaured.
Only god thing abaut them is low hum.
Reminds me of my first electric guitar, A plywood axe that i bought for 20$ used in 1978. A memory that came back to haunt me when i heard what Lace pickups can do to a very nice guitar

Please come and steal them, mayby i can get some from the insurance company. My concience forbid me to sell them to someone else.

Pickup features: passive single coils+ bridge dually
Impedence or other specs: 6k for the singles, 19.2 k for the dually

Model of guitar or bass: Lag the Beast
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: stock lag pups middle and neck , Tone Zone bridge
Other pickups on guitar: none
Artists using this pickup: Don't know.
You musical style(s): blues, blues rock
Reason for pickup change: The lag pups weren't so good and I found the TZ very bassy.

Perceived output level: Not really hot , just as hot as a typical strat pup, I think.
Tone: Very balanced, never harsh sounding. Even the bridge pup sounds sweet when in single mode.
Sonic evaluation: I use a Vox AD 60 VT and combined with these new pups, it seems that nothing is impossible from jazz to hard rock.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These pups are obviously a really good match for blues. Suitable for all positions, especially with the bridge dually.

Comments: If stolen, I would buy them again, and I would order them from Bruce Martinelli again. Here is the reason why: the first dually I have received was a defective pup: it may happen and it happened to me. As I don't live in the USA, I have been particularly anxious and feared that no resolution woud be found. But Bruce found one really quickly and sent me a new pup that is now in my axe, without asking me to send the wrong pup back, what would have taken a lot of time and been quite expensive since I live far from California. I have just destroyed the defective dually and sent him some pictures. I am not sure that any dealer would have done the same: I now completely realize how much it is important to order from a dealer that knows what "customer service" means, and Bruce clearly knows what it means.

Pickup features: Passive Single Coil Pickups
Impedence or other specs: 6k Neck and Middle, 13.2k Bridge

Model of guitar or bass: Fender American Series Stratocaster
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Pickups
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Not certain who is using the Hot Golds, Beck and Clapton have used Lace Sensors' original Gold.
You musical style(s): Blues (think Robert Cray), 70s and 80s era Clapton, Deep Purple
Reason for pickup change: General curiosity about different sounds and options available. The stock PUPs were OK but I heard good things about these and thought I'd try them out.

Perceived output level: To me they sound a bit louder than stock PUPS, the 13.2k in the bridge is very aggressive and quite loud.
Tone: They have a little more mids than a classic single coil (Fender Custom Shop 54).
Sonic evaluation: I use the American Series Strat through a 70's Silverface Champ. I will occasionally put a Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal in there for distortion. I am a clean nut, I obsess over a good clean tone. I have two American Series Strats, one loaded with Fender Custom Shop 69 pickups and that guitar is THE very definition of clean...I don't think a pickup can ever outshine those CS 69s in the clean machine department. The CS 69s do not dirty up very well though, and I figured why have two identical sounding guitars. I tried some Custom Shop 54s but found the neck pickup too muddy. I have been to the Fender Forum and read many, many great reviews of these Hot Golds and decided to try them out. They sound good clean, not as good as the CS 69s but better than the older Gold Sensors that I had tried several years ago. If you put your amp on the cleanest setting and strum an Em chord lightly at the first position (open) you can pick out each note of the chord, the mids are more pronounced than a standard strat pickup I think but not in a bad way. They have a compressed sound when strummed hard, and that is a unique sound that I think I like. I bought these anticipating that this would be my hard rock/classic rock guitar but I may end up using the clean sound more than I anticipated. The 13.2k bridge is much hotter, as you would expect, and it might be a little too trebly for my taste but the only pickup I have ever liked in the bridge position was the CS 54 I had in there briefly. These pickups sound their best while being run through a slightly overdriven/distorted amp. They really do a good job of the Blackmore sound. I think they look very classy set in my pickguard, a very nice look.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These pickups suit the 80's Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore sounds I go after. They may not suit the cleaner Robert Cray or 70s Clapton clean as well, but they have their own unique compressed clean sound. There are plenty of pickups doing the traditional "original" strat sound...these capture something different and that's not so bad at all.

Comments: I would probably replace them if they were stolen, I still like my Custom Shop 69s more because they do clean so well, but these make an excellent choice for those times when a little grind is called for. I've played for maybe 25 years, I do it quietly in my house and it's usually a low gain affair. I'm giving them an 8 because I don't believe in 10s and an 8 is pretty damn good anyway. I'm still dialing in the tone on these so maybe I'll be back with additional comments when I zero-in the perfect spot. If you are interested in Hot Golds then I would have to recommend Aamp's Electric Guitar Store. I had several questions/issues while ordering these and he was very prompt with replies and went out of his way to satisfy me. I couldn't be happier with the service I got from Bruce M. Look them up on the net, or go to Lace's website and you will find Aamps as an authorized retailer.