I got my Bill & Becky Wilde L500XL today and I’ve installed it in my strat, replacing the BL USA L500XL. I didnt do any clips because I think they’re not really that useful for comparing picukps, most of the difference between pickups is only apparent to the player I think, in how the guitar feels. The Euge Valovirta video above is good for comparing the BLUSA vs B&B in his nuno sig, good video to check out if you want clips.
I’ve been enjoying the BLUSA in the strat, but does require some additional EQ work in the amp, boosting more mids and cutting more highs/treble than with other pickups. right into an amp set up for a 'normal' pickup, and it sounds harsh and overly bright/piercing. Cleans are real nice though, I usually dont like bridge humbucker cleans and I think they sound like honk-city.
I do like the BLUSA but it is very bright and piercing in the treble, almost like a single coil in the high end. It is quite stiff and tight feeling also, hard to get a saturated sound from, even piling on the gain doesnt quite do it. Also, too close to the strings and it can get kind of flubby sounding.
the B&B L500XL is quite a bit hotter (all set to the same distances from the strings), the treble is quite a bit smoother yet still quite bright. I thought it sounded a bit funny at first but then just re-dialing my amp to how I usually have it set (rather than how i set it for the BL USA) and it suddenly just sounded 'right'. Fantastic level of saturation, very clear. Maybe hotter than the Lundgren M7 in my main guitar, as it clips my buffers a lot so I had to turn them off.
The guitar is an american deluxe ash strat from about 2006, set up with 250k volume 250k tone (usually i like 500k volume and no tone on humbucker bridge pickups). Sounds very good, The BLUSA with that setup was still very bright and spikey in the highs, and a little hard to work with, but sounds 'just right' with the B&B. I would like to try putting the tone knob on a switch so i could remove it from the circuit but I dont really feel like pulling the strat pickguard again right now, especially as it sounds really good as-is. Bill Lawrence recommended 500k pots as a minimum for the L500XL and preferred 1M. While 250k were OK for the L500L and lower output models.
Fit and finish - not amazing. I like the brass tapped inserts in the pickup tabs, but the tabs are still plastic like the BL USA (chrome plated though) and one was cracked where the insert went in (I put a dab of superglue on to prevent it from breaking off). An improvement over the BLUSA which is just machine screws into tapped plastic, which i have had strip out randomly when in a guitar before which is pretty annoying.
The tops of the coils don’t sit completely flat either, and on one side have a slight ‘curl’ you may be able to see in the picture. Most other pickups I have, the coils sit perfectly flush with one another, this one is more like some of my pickups where I’ve done mag-swaps and disturbed the coils a bit, so they are just marginally askew from one another.
Not sure if they are potted as you can clearly see the tape on the sides of the coils through the gap on top, and the windings through the tape. Doesn't howl or feed back though and I play loud and dont use a gate.
Packaging - was just the pickup in some bubblewrap in a padded envelope. I mean at the end of the day the pickup, not the packaging, is the important part, and these do still sell significantly cheaper than the usual SD, Dimarzio, etc.
Measurements
Bill & Becky L500XL
series 15.17k
split 7.54k (the coil used if you follow their instructions on coil split)
other coil 7.63k
BL USA L500XL
series 11.38k
split 5.71k (the coil used if you follow their instructions on coil split)
other coil 5.67k
pickup thickness: both 21mm approx
from the readings above I started to think maybe this BLUSA is a L500L rather than XL, however after some googling, 11k to 12k seem to be what the BL USA L500XL measures. I think i had read somewhere the B&B switched to Alnico magnet some time in the mid 2000's also.
My overall conclusion is I really like it and I want to buy more, but I dont really have any other guitars that need new pickups right now. Also I should probably at least give it a few weeks to really get a feel for the pickup.
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