True Tones on MSA

Bob Baringer · Post by **Bob Baringer** » 20 Apr 2005 4:27 am

I have a "classic" MSA that I have George L E66 PU's on and was wondering if anybody has tried Jerry Wallace PU's...I have them on my Mullen and they work great on it.

Bob Eldridge · Post by **Bob Eldridge** » 20 Apr 2005 7:57 am

Bob I've noticed several pickers from PA. I wasn't aware that country music was all that popular up there. I have a home near Philly and spend half the year (the warm half) up there. Would be nice to be able to get together with some like minded folks!

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Bob's Place bobeldridge@bobeldridge.com GFI S-10D - ProFX2 + 2 Nashville 1000's

Jerry Horner · Post by **Jerry Horner** » 20 Apr 2005 8:07 am

Bob,

It dies'nt matter what brand of steel you have, a TT pickup will make it sound better.

Jerry

Fred Shannon · Post by **Fred Shannon** » 20 Apr 2005 9:04 am

I believe a check with Kyle Bennett of MSA will reveal that I probably had the very first Wallace TT installed on the new Millenniums. It was put on serial number 0009 at the factory.

I purchased a TT from Jerry and shipped it to Kyle. He fabricated the mount for it and it was at the Dallas show 2 years ago. It is a killer pickup with the best string separation I've ever experienced. It has no or very little hum.

I found that good low capacitance cords from Bill Lawrence, keeping the 1/4 inch plugs clean, and proper grounding, if not eliminates, at least brings any 60 cps hum under rein; enought so I've used the guitar in several recording sessions without any degradation in the signal to noise ratio.

An excellent pickup for this instrument. Just my dollar's worth.
Phred

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"From Truth, Justice is Born"--Quanah Parker-1904

Ulf Edlund · Post by **Ulf Edlund** » 20 Apr 2005 11:48 am

I switched from E66's to TT's on my Classic SS. Didn't make a dramatic difference, but i'm a "single-coiler" so i like them.
Jerry makes a high quality single coil pickup and he's good to deal with.
If you like 'em in your Mullen chances are you'll like 'em in your MSA too.

Uffe

Jeff A. Smith · Post by **Jeff A. Smith** » 20 Apr 2005 3:32 pm

I suppose it's possible Ulf's experience with the Classic SS is slightly different than what can be expected with an older, larger Classic.

The E-66 is supposed to be a really good match with older MSA's in general, and putting one on my '76 S-10 Classic was definitely an improvement over the old Supersustain. However, I found that I had to tilt the pickup forward (toward the keyhead)to get a sound I even liked. If the E-66 was level to the strings, there was a disagreeable midrange. This was the same no matter what amp I used, so it was a limitation I had to deal with.

I suppose that may have just been my particular guitar, or even my personal taste to a degree.

Anyway, the True Tone provided a much more full-bodied sound, more agreeable in most respects than the E-66. Very sweet and liquid-sounding. YMMV.

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 20 Apr 2005 4:08 pm

I installed a TT 17.5 Khz pickup on my natural wood body MSA Classic D-12 E9 neck a couple of years ago. It was slightly better than the stock pickup, but somehow that guitar had, for an MSA, unusually good tone even with MSA humbuckers.

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E9 lessons
Mullen D-12/MSA D-12/Sho-Bud Pro 1 S-12/Melobar/Webb/Profex II

Jim Eaton · Post by **Jim Eaton** » 21 Apr 2005 7:21 am

I was impressed with the tone that John got with the TT in his MSA when I heard him at the 2004 Perl-Jam.
JE:-)>

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 22 Apr 2005 8:35 pm

Why, thanks for the nice compliment, Jim Ives! I'm actually pulling that old faithful axe out of the closet tonight to compare its knee lever spacing with my Mullen, my E9 left KL's somehow aren't in quite the right spot, so gonna measure the MSA which fit like a glove. I'll revisit the tone of the TT on the MSA E9 while I'm at it and report back.

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E9 lessons
Mullen D-12/MSA D-12/Sho-Bud Pro 1 S-12/Melobar/Webb/Profex II

Bob Carlucci · Post by **Bob Carlucci** » 22 Apr 2005 8:51 pm

Bob... Truetones are great on any guitar I would guess... I have one in my Carter .. I have had a few MSA guitars with good single coils, and i like them much better than the stock MSA humbuckers... by the way, I'm only a few hours north of you in NY state,, If you ever want to learn some of the worlds worst cheap E9 licks,get in touch and I'll take ride down some afternoon!!! bob<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Bob Carlucci on 22 April 2005 at 09:55 PM.]</p></FONT>