Historically associated with inexpensive student-model guitars of the 1960s, gold foil pickups are now all the rage. Before you go down the eBay rabbit hole for a vintage set, do yourself a favor and check out one of the numerous modern replicas available.
Gold Foil Surface Mount
These handmade single-coils were designed to offer clarity and power, with a pristine top-end and a wide dynamic range. Nickel, chrome, or gold covers are available.
Gold Foil Alnico Soapbar
These single-coil soapbars contain flat, alnico bar magnets that are meant to serve up a warmer, rounder high-end than the company’s ferrite versions.
Gold Foils
Designed to have the same character as an original gold foil at an affordable non-vintage price, these fully wax-potted pickups are housed in standard humbucker-sized cases.
Gold Foil Mustache Grille
These handwound gold foils were designed to replicate those used on late-’50s to late-’60s Silvertones. Made to DeArmond/Rowe specs, these pickups can also be ordered with custom specs.
Gold Foil Pickup Set
This affordable set housed in mini-humbucker-sized covers includes a bridge pickup at 10.2k ohms and a neck pickup at 10.8k ohms.
Gold Foil
Down to the specialized rubberized magnet, these pickups are exact clones of gold foil pickups from the ’60s and are intended to sound clear, powerful, and harmonically rich.
Gold Coil
Taking cues from the originals for clear and thick single-coil tones, these modern-version gold foils will fit any humbucker-equipped guitar.
Mini-Humbucker P-90 Gold Foil
Designed to deliver lots of warmth and clarity with enough output to produce that P-90 grind, this vintage-inspired gold foil comes packaged in a smaller, handsome mini footprint.
Lowrider Gold Foil Standard
Lowrider single-coils are flat-magnet, surface-mount pickups with spacing for a standard Strat-style guitar and are underwound to come in at just under 5k ohms.
Dog Ear Gold Foil SC
These custom pickups are wax potted under vacuum (unless requested otherwise) and feature proprietary I-X grounded shielding to reduce noise from external AC electric fields.
Billy Gibbons is an undisputable guitar force whose feel, tone, and all-around vibe make him the highest level of hero. But that’s not to say he hasn’t made some odd choices in his career, like when ZZ Top re-recorded parts of their classic albums for CD release. And fans will argue which era of the band’s career is best. Some of us love drum machines and synths and others don’t, but we all love Billy.
This episode is sponsored by Magnatone
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
Released in 1983, the Roland SDE-3000 rackmount delay was a staple for pro players of the era and remains revered for its rich analog/digital hybrid sound and distinctive modulation. BOSS reimagined this retro classic in 2023 with the acclaimed SDE-3000D and SDE-3000EVH, two wide-format pedals with stereo sound, advanced features, and expanded connectivity. The SDE-3 brings the authentic SDE-3000 vibe to a streamlined BOSS compact, enhanced with innovative creative tools for every musical style. The SDE-3 delivers evocative delay sounds that drip with warmth and musicality. The efficient panel provides the primary controls of its vintage benchmark—including delay time, feedback, and independent rate and depth knobs for the modulation—plus additional knobs for expanded sonic potential.
A wide range of tones are available, from basic mono delays and ’80s-style mod/delay combos to moody textures for ambient, chill, and lo-fi music. Along with reproducing the SDE-3000's original mono sound, the SDE-3 includes a powerful Offset knob to create interesting tones with two simultaneous delays. With one simple control, the user can instantly add a second delay to the primary delay. This provides a wealth of mono and stereo colors not available with other delay pedals, including unique doubled sounds and timed dual delays with tap tempo control. The versatile SDE-3 provides output configurations to suit any stage or studio scenario.
Two stereo modes include discrete left/right delays and a panning option for ultra-wide sounds that move across the stereo field. Dry and effect-only signals can be sent to two amps for wet/dry setups, and the direct sound can be muted for studio mixing and parallel effect rigs. The SDE-3 offers numerous control options to enhance live and studio performances. Tap tempo mode is available with a press and hold of the pedal switch, while the TRS MIDI input can be used to sync the delay time with clock signals from DAWs, pedals, and drum machines. Optional external footswitches provide on-demand access to tap tempo and a hold function for on-the-fly looping. Alternately, an expression pedal can be used to control the Level, Feedback, and Time knobs for delay mix adjustment, wild pitch effects, and dramatic self-oscillation.
The new BOSS SDE-3 Dual Delay Pedal will be available for purchase at authorized U.S. BOSS retailers in October for $219.99. To learn more, visit www.boss.info.