Anderson HO1 Blue Humbucker
Submitted at: 2:03, 2/11/2001
Product Info
Pickup features: passive full-sized humbucker
Impedence or other specs:
Price Paid: came stock with the guitar
Purchased from: dealer name withheld by request
Instrument
Model of guitar or bass: anderson hollow cobra
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: none--the pickup came stock on the guitar
Other pickups on guitar: anderson H2+ humbucker in bridge position
Artists using this pickup: i'm not sure who uses this particular model, but anderson pickup users include brent rowan, basil fung, tim pierce, and many studio musicians
You musical style(s): pop/rock/funk/R&B
Reason for pickup change: pickup came stock in the guitar--i didn't replace it. this is a review to illustrate why i'm NOT changing it.
Sound
Perceived output level: output is roughly the same as a PAF--in other words, a low-output humbucker. comparable output would be found on a dimarzio PAF, duncan '59, or duncan alnico II pro
Tone: i would characterize the tone as being bright and open. imagine if you wound two strat single-coils in series, and you would be in the ballpark for this pickup. however, i would also characterize the tone as being very much like a PAF-style pickup, only with a wider/extended bandwidth and a smoother overall tone.
Sonic evaluation: i use this pickup in an anderson hollow cobra into a bogner ecstasy 101B head and a bogner straight 412 cabinet with vintage 30's.
i wanted a pickup that would be more open and bright-sounding than the H1- humbucker i had in my solid cobra. in particular, i wanted a lot of clarity when i used high-gain tones and a lot of responsiveness and dynamics when i backed off on the gain. on top of that, the pickup had to split well, because i often find myself using a single-coil tone with a clean tone for rhythm parts. the HO1- does all of this exceedingly well.
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: i think this is a good choice for a lot of styles. if you are looking for a more ballsy, midrangey neck pickup, then perhaps you should check into the H1-. otherwise, i think you can cover a lot of bases with this pickup.
Overall Rating
Comments: if this pickup were damaged, i wouldn't hesitate to get another HO1-. the bottom line is that i'm going to keep this pickup in the guitar, and that it does a lot of things well.
i play a lot of styles, and this pickup covers all of them very effectively.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this pickup a: 10 Fantastic value
Submitted by: john ou <andergtr@aol.com>