Irongear pickups.

joetele

Stevepage said:

Certainly dont look like cheap crap to me. They look no different from a Seymour Duncan. And at £25 for a single coil you're not going to lose out too much if you don't like it

How about tonal quality? I appreciate sound can be subjective, just wondering how they compare to the Seymours etc

drwiddly

I much prefer Irongear to most of the Seymour Duncan humbuckers I've tried. In particular, people often compare the Hot Slag and the JB but to my ears, the Hot Slag is far superior.

TTBZ

The Rolling Mill I had in my guitar for a while didn't sound any lower quality than the Gibson pickup in it beforehand. Only reason I got rid is because I should have got the overwound version! I've used loads of pickups and never felt like Irongear were in any way inferior.

joetele

Cheers chaps, maybe I'll investigate. The Ibanez pickups are OK but I don't think they're anything particularly special. Could do with a bit more range from them, especially the neck. 

Stevepage

joetele said:

Stevepage said:

Certainly dont look like cheap crap to me. They look no different from a Seymour Duncan. And at £25 for a single coil you're not going to lose out too much if you don't like it

How about tonal quality? I appreciate sound can be subjective, just wondering how they compare to the Seymours etc

Well to me they sound just as good as any other pickup I've had in the past (Bkp,  SD, Dimarzio etc).

prlgmnr

They should do a "premium" version which is exactly the same but costs 3-4 times as much.

baldy

I have the IronGear Hot Slag/Rolling Mill combo in a Yamaha superstrat & prefer the tone to the Seymour Duncan JB/59 combo in my Charvel superstrat. The IronGear's were about £60 compared to the SD's at about £200 I think.

TTBZ

I was really surprised by how much string definition and character there was to the Rolling Mill. With cheaper pickups I usually have the impression that they're going to be a bit muddy and a bit generic/plain sounding but this had something different going on which sounded great.

Grumpyrocker

TTBZ said:

I was really surprised by how much string definition and character there was to the Rolling Mill. With cheaper pickups I usually have the impression that they're going to be a bit muddy and a bit generic/plain sounding but this had something different going on which sounded great.

Pickups are ridiculously simple things. I can understand why hand wound ones from folks making just a few are expensive, but for factory ones there's no reason they shouldn't be cheap as chips. Like lots of things in the guitar world they are something ridiculously basic that have been imbued with some sort of magic woohoo that makes people think they are worth £100 more than they should be. 

skullfunkerry

drwiddly said:

I much prefer Irongear to most of the Seymour Duncan humbuckers I've tried. In particular, people often compare the Hot Slag and the JB but to my ears, the Hot Slag is far superior.

I prefer Irongear to any Seymour Duncan pickup I've tried.

joetele said:

Stevepage said:

Certainly dont look like cheap crap to me. They look no different from a Seymour Duncan. And at £25 for a single coil you're not going to lose out too much if you don't like it

How about tonal quality? I appreciate sound can be subjective, just wondering how they compare to the Seymours etc

I had an Irongear pickup in the neck of a Modern Player Deluxe Tele and it was far superior to the Fender pickup 

smigeon

Just saw this thread. Purely coincidentally, yesterday I ordered an Irongear "Blues Machine" neck humbucker for my Eastman AR371CE archtop. I ordered it at 4:00 in the afternoon, and it dropped through my letterbox just 5 mins ago. Impressed!

I'm also impressed with the price - it was about 40 quid delivered. 

It also looks as nicely made and nicely packaged as other considerably-more-expensive after-market pickups I've had before.

Here's hoping I'll be similarly impressed with how it sounds...

skullfunkerry

smigeon said:

Just saw this thread. Purely coincidentally, yesterday I ordered an Irongear "Blues Machine" neck humbucker for my Eastman AR371CE archtop. I ordered it at 4:00 in the afternoon, and it dropped through my letterbox just 5 mins ago. Impressed!

I'm also impressed with the price - it was about 40 quid delivered. 

It also looks as nicely made and nicely packaged as other considerably-more-expensive after-market pickups I've had before.

Here's hoping I'll be similarly impressed with how it sounds...

Did you order it from Axetec? I've been super impressed with their service every time I've used them

smigeon

Yes, Axetec.

IaMsPlatt

I have looked at the Irongear website a few times but not bought anything yet because they seem to be too cheap to be any good but perhaps thats wrong reading the comments here. These must be made in China or Vietnam or something like that right? Not saying that theres anything wrong with made in China but that seems to be a massive savings compared to the cost of more known brands so wonder about the quality of the components and the components must make the sound good or worse.

Perhaps I just try some for myself!

rossi

There isnt really much to

Grumpyrocker said:

TTBZ said:

I was really surprised by how much string definition and character there was to the Rolling Mill. With cheaper pickups I usually have the impression that they're going to be a bit muddy and a bit generic/plain sounding but this had something different going on which sounded great.

Pickups are ridiculously simple things. I can understand why hand wound ones from folks making just a few are expensive, but for factory ones there's no reason they shouldn't be cheap as chips. Like lots of things in the guitar world they are something ridiculously basic that have been imbued with some sort of magic woohoo that makes people think they are worth £100 more than they should be. 

I worked in coil winding shop and we could have turned these out on spec by the hundred per hour on the right machines as its really just magnet choice ,wire spec ,number of turns and how you set the machine up to scatter  or not scatter ,wire tension etc .There  are all the differences  .The rest is  froth and bolloxs  and your ears ,amp ,and attitude.

MikeB

rossi said:

There isnt really much to

Grumpyrocker said:

TTBZ said:

I was really surprised by how much string definition and character there was to the Rolling Mill. With cheaper pickups I usually have the impression that they're going to be a bit muddy and a bit generic/plain sounding but this had something different going on which sounded great.

Pickups are ridiculously simple things. I can understand why hand wound ones from folks making just a few are expensive, but for factory ones there's no reason they shouldn't be cheap as chips. Like lots of things in the guitar world they are something ridiculously basic that have been imbued with some sort of magic woohoo that makes people think they are worth £100 more than they should be. 

I worked in coil winding shop and we could have turned these out on spec by the hundred per hour on the right machines as its really just magnet choice ,wire spec ,number of turns and how you set the machine up to scatter  or not scatter ,wire tension etc .There  are all the differences  .The rest is  froth and bolloxs  and your ears ,amp ,and attitude.

Froth and Bollocks. Great name for a folk group......

smigeon

smigeon said:

Just saw this thread. Purely coincidentally, yesterday I ordered an Irongear "Blues Machine" neck humbucker for my Eastman AR371CE archtop. I ordered it at 4:00 in the afternoon, and it dropped through my letterbox just 5 mins ago. Impressed!

I'm also impressed with the price - it was about 40 quid delivered. 

It also looks as nicely made and nicely packaged as other considerably-more-expensive after-market pickups I've had before.

Here's hoping I'll be similarly impressed with how it sounds...

Update: just installed the Irongear Blues Machine pickup in my Eastman.

First impressions: it sounds maybe a bit clearer and a maybe a bit more trebly then the Kent Armstrong I took out. But the differences are subtle. So no major news, good or bad. But this is just in the house - I'll know better when I play it out. But so far so good. May report further, if I remember, after playing it out with a group... :-).

markslade07

Anyone tried a Rolling Mill with the Alchemist  (HB sized P90)? Tempted with something like this for my Epi LP to replace the JB and 59 and quite fancy a P90 in the neck for something a little different 

abw1989

markslade07 said:

Anyone tried a Rolling Mill with the Alchemist  (HB sized P90)? Tempted with something like this for my Epi LP to replace the JB and 59 and quite fancy a P90 in the neck for something a little different 

I've got the Alchemist 90 in the neck of the Jazzmaster-ish build I've just finished, paired with a JB in the bridge. It's my first P90 so can't be too exacting on how it compares to others but I think it sounds great. Lots of punch and 'spank' to it and very articulate. It does hum a bit, but I reckon that is just me getting to used to using a single coil for the first time.

I'd definitely recommend it.

Johnnyseven

markslade07 said:

Anyone tried a Rolling Mill with the Alchemist  (HB sized P90)? Tempted with something like this for my Epi LP to replace the JB and 59 and quite fancy a P90 in the neck for something a little different 

I have a neck alchemist in the classifieds if you're interested.