Post by Tony Ravenscroft on Mar 13, 2021 11:23:54 GMT -6
A decent bit of flash for $369 --
This Bad Cat AC-230 is available (early 2021) on Amazon.
Will I get one? Probably not. One of the reasons I like the Dan Armstrong Ampegs is the unique "slide-in" pickups: take a thumbscrew off in the back, pop out the pickup, plug in another. Those pickups were purpose-built by none other than Bill Lawrence, based on Lawrence's experience as a European jazz phenom.
I've heard of at least seven different OEM pickups. FFI, start here.
The Bad Cat, with typical humbucker, is mostly just a pretty face, though YMMV.
A good point? The adjustable bridge. The true Ampeg has a Danelectro-type rosewood saddle, which is okay for a wood-body axe, but plastic has a way of rounding off the highs already, so a wood saddle is over-kill. (I suspect the original Ampeg pickups were wound to compensate for this tonal "darkness.") With the Bad Cat, to pull some clarity from the potential muddiness, I'd suggest using that coil-split switch regularly, both coils for rhythm, then one coil with a boost pedal for lead.
Price comparison: in the early '70s, the Univox "Lucy" clone had an SRP (with fitted HSC) of $275 -- in today's dollars that's $1,344.40.
Even a deep street-price discount would make it like $550-$600.
While the Lucy pickups weren't slide-outs, they were decent copies of the Lawrences, AND the guitar had TWO so there was less need for quick swapping.
As with many '70s Univoxes, Matsumoku made other improvements on the original, including a thinner neck and thinner (thus markedly lighter) body. As well, the neck was a three-piece, so very stable.
This Bad Cat AC-230 is available (early 2021) on Amazon.
Will I get one? Probably not. One of the reasons I like the Dan Armstrong Ampegs is the unique "slide-in" pickups: take a thumbscrew off in the back, pop out the pickup, plug in another. Those pickups were purpose-built by none other than Bill Lawrence, based on Lawrence's experience as a European jazz phenom.
I've heard of at least seven different OEM pickups. FFI, start here.
The Bad Cat, with typical humbucker, is mostly just a pretty face, though YMMV.
A good point? The adjustable bridge. The true Ampeg has a Danelectro-type rosewood saddle, which is okay for a wood-body axe, but plastic has a way of rounding off the highs already, so a wood saddle is over-kill. (I suspect the original Ampeg pickups were wound to compensate for this tonal "darkness.") With the Bad Cat, to pull some clarity from the potential muddiness, I'd suggest using that coil-split switch regularly, both coils for rhythm, then one coil with a boost pedal for lead.
Price comparison: in the early '70s, the Univox "Lucy" clone had an SRP (with fitted HSC) of $275 -- in today's dollars that's $1,344.40.
Even a deep street-price discount would make it like $550-$600.While the Lucy pickups weren't slide-outs, they were decent copies of the Lawrences, AND the guitar had TWO so there was less need for quick swapping.
As with many '70s Univoxes, Matsumoku made other improvements on the original, including a thinner neck and thinner (thus markedly lighter) body. As well, the neck was a three-piece, so very stable.