Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Slash

137
£229
£105
(each)
£210
(pair)
Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Slash
T
he cost of Gibson’s
Appetite Les Paul might
have left you reeling,
but Seymour Duncan’s
offering means you can throw
yourself top hat first into the
Snakepit at a snip of the price.
These Alnico II Pro Slash
neck and bridge humbuckers
(available indiviudally or as a
pair, with either Black, Zebra
or Reverse Zebra bobbins) are
the same units that feature in
the Appetite Les Paul. They’re
supplied with a two-conductor
cable, so can only be wired as
standard ’buckers out of the
box. Installing pickups like this
is as easy as it gets, but clear
instructions ensure even newbies
get these into their guitar quickly.
Plugged in, both pickups
are particularly rich sounding
compared to the stock models in
our LTD Eclipse. The neck ’bucker
delivers a fat rhythm sound that
doesn’t get too flabby when
you add some distortion, and
with the tone rolled back slightly
you can achieve Slash’s famous
neck lead sound. The bridge
pickup opens up more upper mid
range, making those sustained
powerchords and cutting lead
tones easily achievable.
Conclusion: Signature gear can
be divisive and usually carries
a hefty price tag. However, the
only visual sign of these pickups’
signature status is the Slash
scrawl on the baseplate, and if
you shop around you’ll notice
that they’re not much more than
Duncan’s standard Alnico Pro II
pickups. Slash fan or not, these
pickups give more classic/hard
rock sounds for your pound.
Stuart Williams
For: Great tone at a reasonable price
Against: No coil tap wiring option
✮✮✮✮✮
SUMMARY
TG says: Marlboro not included
Pro Co Reissue ’85 Whiteface RAT
This  lthy little vermin is an alternative legend
P
ro Co founder Charlie
Wicks (who sadly
passed away in March)
first started building the
Rat in 1978 and, after a couple
of incarnations, the Whiteface
arrived in ’85. At the heart of
the Rat’s sound is the LM308
op-amp chip; it’s what many
collectors regard to be the key
ingredient in vintage versions.
This pedal is the only one in the
current Pro Co range to include it.
The Rat is a basic design with
Gain, Filter and Volume controls
and an on/off stomp switch.
With the Gain set low and Filter
rolled back, you get a dark,
vintage-sounding overdrive. As
you boost the Gain and open the
Filter, the pedal starts breaking
up and the Rat’s real character
shows it face. Push the Gain past
two-thirds with the Filter set to
max and you’re into the harshest
clipping territory. It’s this fat,
heavily broken distortion that has
made the Rat an alt rock staple.
Conclusion: The popularity
of pedals like this has taken
grot-box fuzz pedals out of the
junk shop and into the boutique
world. If you obsess about
vintage gear, you’ll love the ’85’s
faithfulness. Equally, crank the
gain and you can indulge in the
same lung-filling levels of fuzz
that Kurt Cobain, Graham Coxon
and Frank Black made famous,
too. The only thing left to
consider is the price: there’s £140
difference between this and the
£89 non-LM308 loaded Rat 2.
Stuart Williams
For: Authentic grungy distortion
Against: You need to justify the price
✮✮✮✮✮
SUMMARY
TG says: The Rat is back
Installation■
Fitting the pickups is
straightforward with the
two-conductor wiring
■ High output
Slash’s pickups have extra
windings for higher output
and greater sustain
■฀Rat sound
The ’85 reissue is a limited
run featuring the exact
circuit of the original model
■฀Controls
Different combos of Filter
and Gain settings take you
from smooth to sick
At a glance
TYPE: Humbucker
POSITION: Neck/Bridge
M A G N E T: Alnico II
WIRING: 2x conductor
FINISH: Black, Zebra,
Reverse Zebra
C O N TA C T: Aria UK
01483 238720
WEB: www.seymourduncan.
com
At a glance
Pro Co Reissue ’85
Whiteface RAT
TYPE: Distortion pedal
CONTROLS: Gain, Filter,
Level, Bypass
SOCKETS: Input, Output,
Power
POWER: Battery, PSU
(optional)
C O N TA C T: Aria UK
01483 238720
WEB: www.ratdistortion.
com
■ Slash logo
The only visual clue that
this is a signature pickup is
the logo on the baseplate
Heritage ■
‘Whiteface’ refers to the
white print surrounding
the Pro Co logo.
Seymour Duncan
Alnico II Pro Slash
Can’t stretch to Slash’s signature Gibson? Try these instead
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TGR203.gear_halves 137 25/5/10 11:29:8 am