I tried it in a parts caster. At first I was kind of disappointed. I thought it a bit too polite, perhaps a bit compressed/too smooth, and lacking in tonal depth.
It replaced a 36thB, though, so that was a tough act to follow. I was hoping for a similar tone just with more power. It definitely has more output, but lacked the chimey top, and the 3d depth. Also the bottom end was a bit flabby.
But, I decided to leave it in the guitar for awhile, at least until the strings had some miles on them. It was acceptable, and the ample power was nice to have. It started growing on me.
Then I ran it through a Marshall 1/2 stack loaded with Vintage 30s at rock band volume levels. Suddenly, the pickup sounded perfectly balanced across the spectrum, and sat nicely in the mix. It was now responding to picking dynamics, and to the guitar's volume knob nicely. Plus the little extra power. If you haven't run it through a turned up amp through a 4x12 you really should.
I still might go back to the 36th in that guitar, but the AT-1 won't be going very far away.
