software

I posted this over at billlawrence.com, and thought peeps here may be interested. I placed it in the lounge, but no one seemed to care. Figured this may be a better place.

I was seeking a replacement for my DiMarzio Tone Zone, and already have the Duncan Distortion in several guitars, and wanted something different. Having heard about Bill Lawrence for years, I gave Bill and Becky a shot with their L500L. I'm not commenting on the Tone Zone because I think the Duncan (and now the Lawrence) slays it.

Here's my initial reactions:

Sounds great clean. Full and glassy. No complaints. I A/B-ed the Duncan Distortion and the L500L with my favorite clean tube amp, and the Lawrence was much louder and clearer. The Duncan sounded like there was a blanket over the amp, or the tone knob was down compared to the Lawrence, which had shimmering highs and mids. No surprise there - the Duncan Distortion wasn't probably made to be played clean.

With distortion, I'm still experimenting, but pleased. I first detected a slightly farty type thing going on when using my Carvin head with maximum gain and palm muting on E amp; A(not just open, but single note phrases too - like Dokken's 'Mr. Scary'). Perhaps I was being hyper sensitive to every little thing, and I'm blowing it out of proportion. Perhaps I was mistaking gain for the odd effect. It didn't happen with another amp I tried it on. The Duncan Distortion was definitely more metal sounding and a little quot;tighterquot; with the palm mutes, which isn't exactly better, just different (although the Duncan Distortion is my fave for balls-out metal). The Lawrence is slightly louder; it is much louder than the Tone Zone. I'd have to say the Duncan is better over a wide range of EQ settings on my amp, whereas I have to knob twist more with the Lawrence to dial it in over a narrower range. The L500L actually sounds best with an almost flat EQ setting.

After a bit of knob tweaking and such, I began to feel a lot of power out of the L500L. It sounded great when the amp was really turned up loud - nice and thick, with single notes really sounding defined. I think it will end up working out pretty well. It's definitely different than a typical PAF-style p/up. I'm trying to accept it for what it is, and not long for the bite of the PAF-style Duncan.

I was also surprised to find that when the volume was backed off during high gain usage, I found a bunch of good light gain sounds emerge. If it was designed to do that, I'm very impressed. If it's a side effect, well, that's cool too.

I think it will be good for my intended use: for relatively clean and slightly dirty overdrive with maximum clarity. The one phrase that keeps coming to mind with the Lawrence is quot;wide open,quot; if that makes any sense.


Originally Posted by DankerellaI was also surprised to find that when the volume was backed off during high gain usage, I found a bunch of good light gain sounds emerge. If it was designed to do that, I'm very impressed. If it's a side effect, well, that's cool too.

This is true of the Distortion as well

Tonight, the Duncan wins with distortion. The lawrence takes too much knob fiddling I'm finding.