Seymour Duncan APTL-1 Alnico II Pro Lead

Single coil

Lite Ash Telecaster. Pickup came stock, but I had switched it (along with the Duncan APTR Rhythm) for Bill Lawrence 280TN/290TL set. The Lawrence pickups are great, but the Duncans are clearer and have more of a true Tele vibe

Moderate output -- these are not high gain pups. As suggested by other reviews, keep your volume knob around 6-8 and dial the tone to about a 5 and boost the volume and gain on the amp. You'll be rewarded by some clear, but not icepicky, tone.

I suppose if the pup was stolen, then the guitar would be gone too. That said, I might buy another one of these for the next Tele. For the money, a terrific pickup

The seymour duncan APTL-1 Alnico 2 pro is a passive single coil pickup (also avalable as a full sized humbucker)it uses alnico magnents which are sand cast for a warmer more natural sound.

comes in a standard seymour duncan pro-shop box with mounting screws/rubber washers and a nice wiring diagram.

I Have a fender custom shop esquire, which came with a standard CS vintage telecaster pickup which sounded very vintage but had no real charictor behind it, it just sounded thin and powerless. then i played one of my friends lite-ash telecasters which comes with the seymour duncan Alnico 2 pro pickup as standard (which is amazing for a guitar under 500 pounds) and i took a liking to the sound it produced, so i bought the same pick up for my esquire, and it brought my guitar to life.

moderate output, no added gain produced at all by this pickup(not for you metal heads out there)
the pick up is amazingly clean and natural sounding, loads of warm mid tones and great bass tones (even on a tele) the sound of this pickup proberbly changes dramaticaly depending on the guitar its installed in, because it uses up all of the natural string vibration to create its sound.
it sounds amazing with the gain half way up on my amp (marshall jcm 900), you get the classic who/led zeppelin sound, and its great for any classic pop (the beatles, the kinks ...ect), but beware! if i turn the gain up any more that 8/10 of the way up it screams and feedsback like a bi*ch, and no i dont have earthing problems on my guitar, its because this pickup is after all a "vintage style pick up", so anything that uses hi-gain this will just not handle.
so if you like your classic rock / country / pop this pick up is a must have, but if you like your hard rock / metal then i sugest you look somewhere else as this pickup does feedback with hi-gain.

If this pickup blew-up or got stolen i'd proberbly get something different just because i like to try a bit of everything, but saying that i would definatly want at least one guitar with that pickup in.
the only thing id change about the pickup is proberbly to have it waxed to solve the feedback problems that come when you try and use hi-gain, but apart from that its near perfect if you love your vintage sounds!

Pickup features: Humbucker with 4 conductor wiring
Impedence or other specs: it's all on seymour duncan's website...

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Les Paul Standard
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: 490R and 57 Classic
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Me,
You musical style(s): Blues based rock
Reason for pickup change: Lack of clarity from the gibsons, lack of coil splitting ability with the stock pups and, my Alnico Pro2s are zebra striped : )

Perceived output level: Less than the 57/490Rs when in humbucker mode, close to my tele when in single coil mode
Tone: Rich and complex PAF sound and a biting single coil...not quite as thick as a P90 in sinlge coil mode but great tone none the less.
Sonic evaluation: I play old school stuff..I use a 1971 Marshall Super Lead and a 1962 Bluesbreaker reissue...I wired these new SD Alnicos up late Friday night and played a show on Saturday night...I was mesmerized by the clear, complex tone and when set in single coil they can really cut...In humbucker mode they are PAF all the way...classic, smooth but still defined...if you play a les paul through a marshall you need these thing!!!!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I'm stuck in the 60s and 70s...I really like Mick Ronson, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Paul Kossoff that whole blues based rock thing and these are great..

Comments: These pups allow me to cover grindy single coil stuff like Stones, CCR, Chuck Berry and then go into Led Zeppelin, Free songs without switching guitars or amp settings...I ordered mine in Zebra and they are sweet looking...they look very classy in my cherry burst les paul. I always loved the sound of PAFs and these nail it. I'm also hearing just how much Page goes to single coil on his Les Paul on the recently released Zep live stuff....Dan Torres is a great source of knowledge and I'm impressed by the quality of PUP that Seymour Duncan turns out....I can't recommend these things strongly enough...

Pickup features: Passive Alnico II Magnet single coil pickup
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Lite Ash Telecaster
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: None, this pickup was standard on this guitar.
Other pickups on guitar: APTR-1 Rhythm (neck) pickup
Artists using this pickup: I do not know, BUT Slash uses the Alnico II Pro humbuckers on his Les Pauls.
You musical style(s): American music, from acoustic Blues, ancient Country, to electric Blues, Classic/Hard Rock, Alternative.
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: This is NOT a hot pickup, this is a fantastic accurate pickup. Hot pickups have their place, BUT most amps today do the work hot pickups were intended to do in the 70s (before Gain knobs were on most amps).
Tone: The bass is pretty balanced, it's nice and present, but not overwhelmingly so. The mids are fantastic and full. The treble is full of that classic Tele "spank".
Sonic evaluation: As I stated the mids are pretty upfront, BUT this is still a single coil Telecaster pickup. Unless you are a Tele fan you'll need to get used to a responsive accurate pickup. It colors the tone exactly as an old Telecaster should be colored... spanking highs, well defined mids, and nice bass for when you want to dig in on the low E string for an almost baritone guitar kind of vibe. This pickup captured *MY* ideal of what a "classic" Telecaster should sound like (I'm sure the Ash body and non-One piece maple neck - maple neck with maple capped fretboard - helped alot too). The "beef" in the mids and uppermids have to be coaxed out of the pickup with your Amp's EQ controls a little more than typical Les Paul, or modern ceramic pickups (single coil or humbucker) would need, but there is alot of presence and weight in the pickups if you're patient (5 minutes tops, unless you have crap amps). The pickups are clean and clear, articulate pristinely, and are very responsive. I play these pickups through a Marshall JCM2000 all tube head and a Fender Blues Junior, with an old 70s Alnico Music Man speaker.
The Fender Blues Junior is an interesting amp. It's tube compliment is more like a Vox AC30 - except for the Class A aspect of the Vox, but it has a beefy midrange and a distinct (sometimes muddy) overdriven sound. Overall these pickups captured the classic old vintage Telecaster sounds (Danny Gatton, Brent Mason, Buck Owens, James Burton) the best when played at clean levels. The overdriven sounds were very vintage Blues sounding (Albert King, Albert Collins, etc). Played a little cleaner it sounds similar to Muddy Waters' Tele work. With this pickup and the neck version together you get a beautifully mellow, yet still bright and articulate sound.
Through the Marshall the pickup had a raw (Joe Strummer of the Clash) to "jangly" (Tom Petty) sound depending on how the amp was driven. The added compression of being driven was a very pleasant sound. With the volume pushed the guitar started taking on a more sustained, bordering feedback, almost Les Paul sound - a nice Led Zeppelin vibe (the first album was done with a Tele and low watt tube amp), of course pushing the "front end" of the amp (Gain or Distortion controls) sounds like it does with any guitar/pickup, thin and "buzzy". The Tele sound and character was always in there somewhere though.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: For Country this would be THE pickup. For that certain Tele Blues sound, this would be a great choice as well. For "super gain" or metal sounds this would probably not really give you what you need.

Comments: I am a firm believer in what Kieth Richards said. Basically the originals are the best right from the start - the Gibsons (Les Paul and ES semihollow guitars), and Telecasters - every other guitar since has been a copy or tried to improve on these proven designs. These pickups captured THE Telecaster Mojo perfectly. I'd love to try the original Alnico III or Alnico V types over the Alnico II magnets in these, BUT "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". They NAIL the Tele sound perfectly. I'd probably replace them if stolen, BUT only after seeing if something could top the vintage Tele sound (although I seriously doubt it).