[Spergie]

I'm thinking this dated but popular pickup combo will sound good in an alder body with maple neck guitar. Does anyone here have this set up? Any sound clips?

Don't laugh but they are going in this.

[greenlion]

Hope they work in that guitar. I never had any luck with the Tone Zone in Alder bodied guitars. I like it in Basswood. I liked the Breed set much better in Alder.

[Spergie]

I like it in Basswood

Indeed. I had them in a OLP MM1 (Axis clone) that was Basswood and they sounded good. I read Alder was good too but not Mahogany.

[Spergie]

Hope they work in that guitar. I never had any luck with the Tone Zone in Alder bodied guitars. I like it in Basswood. I liked the Breed set much better in Alder.

They work and sound really good. This is the first time I've had a guitar where I enjoyed the sound with  neck and bridge together. They are too low ATM

[aizenx]

TZ/AN works in a ton of wood combos. It excels is just about everything including alder, basswood, poplar, ash, etc. Also, the whole "TZ is mud in mahogany" thing is definitely a massive blanket statement (usually plagued by user error) and should not be taken as dogma. Sure, in some pieces of wood it sounds bloated/muddy, but a lot of mahogany guitars work just fine with it.

It really depends on whether your particular piece of wood is dark or not. I have a few mahogany axes that sound awesome with that combo (alder as well).

[darkbluemurder]

Many woods are marketed as "mahogany" but they are not the same species. You will find

- Swietennia macrophylla, which is equivalent to the original Honduras mahogany
- Khaya ivoriensis, which comes from Africa and looks similar to mahogany
- I think there is also an Asian variant but I forgot how it is called

Even among the same species the wood varies wildly. As a result, it is almost impossible to say "mahogany sounds like ...".

Cheers Stephan

[aizenx]

Many woods are marketed as "mahogany" but they are not the same species. You will find

- Swietennia macrophylla, which is equivalent to the original Honduras mahogany
- Khaya ivoriensis, which comes from Africa and looks similar to mahogany
- I think there is also an Asian variant but I forgot how it is called

Even among the same species the wood varies wildly. As a result, it is almost impossible to say "mahogany sounds like ...".

Cheers Stephan

Well said!

[jim777]

I have the TZ/BV/AN combo in an alder bodied/maple-rosewood necked  Ibanez 2750Q I just got, and I don't think they sound bad exactly, but I don't find it a versatile set. I'm likel going to put a PAF Joe in the neck and still deciding on a new bridge pickup. I love the look of the silver/blue UtoPIA pickups but they aren't terribly versatile either. That said, regarding versatility, both sets can absolutely sound good, but if you're doing cover band stuff you need a wide array of sounds and I don't think either set fits that bill.