Monty's & ThroBak SLE-101s...Mega-Money PAF Repros Compared To "Just" Boutique

Today folks, we have two titans of the boutique PAF world - the Monty's from London (though they're now based in Cheltenham!) and the ThroBak SLE-101s from Michigan, USA. Both are beyond amazing, as pickups go, and I love them both dearly.

But there is a slight elephant in the room: the Monty's, whilst definitely not out of keeping for boutique pickups (and especially PAF replicas) are pretty expensive at £275 a set. But the ThroBaks are a step above that - £412 at current currency conversion. That's a huge chunk of money to drop on some magnets wrapped in wire, right?

So...what do you get for that extra cash? Well - whilst the Monty's are super-accurate sonic PAF replicas, and have won awards after magazine reviewers haven't been able to tell the difference from original examples, the ThroBaks are a whole different tier of nerdiness. Jon Gundry has bought the original winding machines that the old PAFs were made on by Gibson back in the 50's, so the winding patterns are exactly the same. The covers are nickel plated by the same company in Kalamazoo who did the job back in the day. The pole screws are custom-made for ThroBak using steel comprised of the same carbon content as Gibson used to use. Even the internal mold numberings and slight imperfections in the casting shapes for the butyrate bobbins, the peculiar machining marks on the legs, and braided hook-up wire with the same weave pattern of mesh shielding have been copied from the originals. The SLE-101s aren't just reproductions...they are like-for-like clones (well...pretty much, anyway!)

Are they worth it though in terms of how they sound and feel? The question I want to answer today is: when it comes to the upper, geeky echelons of PAF replicas, can you get by with "just" boutique? Or, if you're a die-hard purist, should you fork out the extra bunse for something like the ThroBaks? Do you NEED Jon's money-no-object approach to the tiniest of tiny details?

What do you think? Which set did you prefer in which guitar? Are the ThroBak's worth the extra? Comment below!

Played through a Vajra JTM45 clone and Orange Retro 50 into a Zilla Studio Pro 2x12 cabintet loaded with Fane A60 and Celestion Heritage G12M speakers. Recorded with an Aston Spirit Condenser, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon mics, with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.

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jp@joeperkins.co.uk

0:00 Intro
3:55 The Importance Of Setups
5:40 Clean Sounds
9:59 Crunchy Sounds
15:50 Outro

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Видео Monty's & ThroBak SLE-101s...Mega-Money PAF Repros Compared To "Just" Boutique канала Joe Perkins