Mullen G2 with a 705 Pickup

[Dennis Manuel]

To all the Mullen G2 players out there. Has anyone compared/replaced a Mullen single coil pickup with a 705 pickup? If so what are your thoughts?

[Roy Carroll]

I would be interested as well. I have a BL710 in mine now. It is pretty good. Even though the stock pickup in pretty good as well. I had a 17.5 in mine several years ago, but it was too bright for my taste. Whatching to see if anyone has installed a 705....

[Dave Mudgett]

My G2 SD10 came with a modern (black surround, non Bill & Becky) Lawrence 705. Humbucking, sounds very good, and I have never thought about replacing it. To my ears, it has a smooth sound with good upper-midrange presence - not too bright, not thin, but not muddy at all. Lately I've been using that guitar a lot with a Quilter Tone Block 201 into a high-power speaker. It works well with most of the steel gigs I've been doing the last year, which lean to country and not swing. But I think that smoothness would work with swing as well if I had it on a D10.

I am a big fan of the original Bill Lawrence 705 with chrome surround, which I have on some other guitars. I was a bit skeptical of the modern 705, but I was pleasantly surprised. I generally like the sound of a 17.5K single-coil on a couple of guitars I own, but I struggle with the noise. I have another modern 705 that I picked up in a deal with some other stuff a few years ago that I may drop into one of my D10s to mate with an original 705 - that guitar isn't getting used as much right now due to the noise while recording and at gigs. My house is particularly noise prone - using a single-coil for home recording is really frustrating.

Of course, this is all a matter of personal taste.

[Roger Crawford]

I tried the 705 in my G2, but it just didn’t have the single coil tone that I like. The stock Mullen single coil is wound a little heavier than most, around 20.5K. It’s a nice balance across all strings at any fret.

[Bryce Van Parys]

I have a new Royal Precision. I felt the mid range, and the 6th string in general, was a little narrow and bright. I put in a new 705 from Mullen (with their quick connect) and I like it a lot better. Especially live. It's more full in the mid range, and more forgiving when I pick heavy, less brittle in general

[Dennis Montgomery]

Don't know about the 705, but I did replace my Mullen G2 stock 12 string pickup with an L712 and would never go back. I've always preferred the thicker sound of humbuckers over single coils in my 6 string guitars, so it makes sense that I would also prefer one on my Mullen. I wired in a coil split switch as well to have the best of both worlds, but it pretty much stays set in humbucker mode

[Damir Besic]

I love original single coil Mullen pickups, and I think they are a great match for a Mullen guitars, I never felt a need to replace original Mullen pickup on any of my Mullen guitars , it is just a great sounding combination…

[Justin Emmert]

I replaced the stock single coil in my G2 with a modern 705. Did not notice a huge difference, but maybe slightly less brittleness up high. A normal ear would not notice the difference, but there was something slight there for sure. Considering Tommy White uses them in his guitar, I figured it was worth a try. Right hand and volume pedal still trumps new equipment for changing tone, imo.

[Roger Crawford]

Tommy just got a new G2, and it appears to have single coil pups.

[Tony Rankin]

At one time I owned two G2's; one with a 705 reissue and one with a Telonics 409. In the G2, the 409 was the clear winner to my ears. I've been very pleased with it.

[Bill Cunningham]

I have 2 G2’s. A red one that has always had Mullen single coils. My other gray and black G2 has been through a few different pickups including 705’s and single coils It sounds better than I can play but has never sounded as good as the red guitar. I couldn’t tell much difference between the single coil and 705.

YMMV

[Tim Harr]

I like it. Also, it is very quiet in the studio.